FRBOTY

took a while to nail, after christopher and me failed to knock off a FBROTY in the comrie area, but a select VCM managed to score a proper FBROTY before the clocks changed with a circumnavigation of ben lomond.



dean, jac, chris, jon and me paid homage to the Ben with a grand loop featuring a shit load of forest road, a lot of singletrack and a wee beer. i knew it'd be a good day when i spotted the snow capped arrochar alps from the forth road bridge. quick pit stop at the services for a bacon and egg roll (remind me not to have one of those again) and it was on to Balmaha for the main course.

for a proper ride report see here.

afterwards - dragged my sorry ass home and inhaled a pizza, with an emergency chiproll delivery to boot. two glasses of pinot noir and i was off to slumberland.

great way to kick off the bigrideseason.

i am my own gunnery sergeant hartman

missing out on mallorca has left a mallorca shaped hole in my riding plans for the spring and a mallorca sized extension to my tumbet tummy . just over 1100 miles for the year so far, but that should have been at least 1800. i need to get tough to get back on track.

it's not rocket science. more exercise, less food.

so, from tomorrow it's hurt time.

backtonormal(ish)

it's been a tough couple of weeks here at the hell-on-wheels mansion.

a weekend of r&r in aviemore has helped - 72 hours of mountain cafe-mountain spirit-royal tandoori-sleep-mountain cafe-loch an eilein-inshriach nursery-cairngorm brewery-fire-old bridge inn-sleep-snow-mountain cafe-snow-bothy bikes-snow-fire -snow-old bridge inn-snow-pizza-sleep-mountain cafe sure does help mend broken spirits.

brrr!boy is go!

shaggy is now underway in the iditarod trail invitational.

gie it laldy sunshine!




read/hear more here:
http://www.dazeoftundra.com/
http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/latest_news.html
http://mtbcast.com/wordpress/

helluvaweek

on the lighter side, have worked out where the hair is going.



moustache time again?

more sad

Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

sad

After a long battle with ilness, my Mum's dog Nina had to be put down today. A lovely, daft, lazy labrador and she'll be sorely missed.

age?

managed to leave the house this morning without my rucsac. first time in 13 years of bike commuting.
i don't allow for contingency in my morning routine.

0805 rise
0806 start reading on bog
0820 finish chapter, put down book
0821 switch on radio scotland
0822 start dressing and pack rucsac
0830 leave house
0837 board train

if anything goes wrong in this tight schedule there's trouble.

trouble arrived.

realised about 500m from the train station and 1000m from home. bag contains shirt, undercrackers, socks, keys, phone, wallet tools and train tickets. thank fuck we've got rid of the yale lock...

swear-sprint-grab-swear-sprint-swear-train-phew!

EDIT: yes, i know the worst that could have happened here was being an hour late for work, but you don't know how time bound i am...

revolver

FBROTY FAIL! & beer me

chris and i met up in comrie & parked just N of the diel's cauldron for a FBROTY. plan was to cross the hills over to loch tay and return a wee bit further east.

rode for a while on tarmac with a kind tailwind. climbed up and over towards the loch lednock. before hitting the snow and boiler plate ice at the 350m mark.

i fucking hate snow and ice. might be fine in parts of the country where it falls and fucks off sharpish. but snow + freeze/thaw sucks. a hardy scottish hydro vehicle had been over the road since the last major dump and the road was mainly clear, but occassionally deep ice in the tyre tracks. the middle of the road was either clear or 4 inches of snow brake.

made it to the wee-est power station i've can think of, then a burn crossing and a humph up a hillside. to see if we could find the path.

there was no path. i called it and we headed back. into a headwind. and the same ice and snow as before. the big descent was chilly. almost AndyW's face at Irvine chilly. brrr!

car. dry socks. heater.

headed back to crieff to have a couple of coffees and enjoy the underfloor heating at chez morris.

been consoling myself with some SNPA and some Williams Bros Midnight Sun. i'm a take it or leave it type when it comes to porter, wee bit too hardcore for my palate, but this is a cracking example of the type. heavy, but not crushing. recommendo. and a rescue for a frustrating day in the hills.

damn you OS. damn you.