Show us what you did today, thread

That Fuchs is looking really nice, I'm really liking the look of the box section stays as well as the build, which just sits right.

Yesterday I was out on a ride on the Long Haul Trucker with Brian and also Anna and Paul from the Highland Classic Bike group for a ride around Ben Wyvis. It was a fantastic day out though a long one.
I left home just on 7am and returned just after 10.30pm after a couple of hours driving and a long hard days riding.
We did around 43miles of which about 90% was off road on a mixture of forestry road, pathways and remote trails. We managed around 3200 feet elevation.
We met the others in Dingwall in the pouring rain which had us all worried about how far we would get but as we went on the sun came out, some light rain throughout but always just enough to make you think about a jacket before stopping.
A quick stop at Strathpeffer for cake and tea before heading over familiar ground over the hills on the Puffer course before following the forestry track through to Garve, then on to the silver bridge where we had some lunch in the sun before following the river before crossing the road to Ullapool and following the track further west before turning off road proper again to head upwards to our highest point. This fire road started out easy enough but went on forever and near the top it just kept ramping up and up with the gravel seeming to grow in size as well. Once over our summit we hiked a bike across a few landslides before stopping for second lunch of which Brian and Anna generously shared with me.
From here it was a long run down to Loch Glass and Wyvis lodge with some truly beautiful scenery down through the valley. A quick stop to rest on the banks of the loch before pushing on back to Evanton over the Black Gorge. Here we stopped at Marks as this is where the others started from so we had a tea and some biscuits before Brian and I rode the five or so miles back up to Dingwall on the quiet backroad. We almost made it but the rain had other ideas, we stopped and put a jacket on a it was quite heavy once again but even this couldn't dampen what was such a lovely ride.
For the first post lockdown ride out of Caithness and back with the usual riding suspects it was a cracking day.
Hope everyone else had a nice weekend as well.

Jamie

IMG_3493 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3499 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3520 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3528 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3535 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3542 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3543 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3546 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3558 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3561 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3565 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3578 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

115419247_183496159835572_741984236184931668_n by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

115804201_10158545630882418_4714236251155091354_o by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3536 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Re:

A woman in MacRetro thread, that must be a first!
Looks like a cracking ride. In need of a big hill day myself. Getting a bit fed up of the usual locals during lockdown. Mind you, very well acquainted with every swing park within pedalling of the village now.

Re: Re:

clubby":3hy9ctn2 said:

A woman in MacRetro thread, that must be a first!
.... .

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How could you forget Roberta??

clubby":3hy9ctn2 said:

In need of a big hill day myself. Getting a bit fed up of the usual locals during lockdown.

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Aye, I need to do some actual "mountain" biking before summer (if you can call it that!) has gone. I stripped my proper Mtb down months ago and haven't bothered to put it back together yet

Scenery looks stunning on the photos Jamie, you were lucky with the weather too

Re: Re:

clubby":26xhvxbg said:

A woman in MacRetro thread, that must be a first!
Looks like a cracking ride. In need of a big hill day myself. Getting a bit fed up of the usual locals during lockdown. Mind you, very well acquainted with every swing park within pedalling of the village now.

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Not just any woman.

She rode the legs of 3 of us, crashed heavily once early in the ride but bounced up and kept going, shot up all the steep hills, and while the rest of us were on mtbs, she did it all on an old Dawes mixte with skinny tyres.

To top it all, she then went for a swim in the loch while we lads were too timid to get in the cold water.



Just shows how awesome Jamie and I are, the really awesome girls hang out with us, sorry lads...

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jimo746":edlsdlbf said:

Aye, I need to do some actual "mountain" biking before summer (if you can call it that!) has gone. I stripped my proper Mtb down months ago and haven't bothered to put it back together yet

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Hoping to make it out somewhere decent on Sunday as I’ve volunteered to go the the mother in laws on Saturday.

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clubby":1fjv1fxf said:

Hoping to make it out somewhere decent on Sunday as I’ve volunteered to go the the mother in laws on Saturday.

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Hope you make it out tomorrow mate

After a nice but busy day I managed to get out for a ride just before dinner. Typically as I was riding south I came across the rain headed north
Managed to finish my ride and get in with just minor wetness before it really came in. A nice way to finish the day with riding the Super Clubman.
Hope everyone else's weekend has started nicely as well, but maybe had the sun last a little bit longer

Jamie

IMG_3597 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3599 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3600 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3603 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3604 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Looks like that lot would have had a bit of wind (aka Caithness mountains) with it.

Made it up the Sidlaws for a couple of hours. Amazing how the wee man can have you up at 6.30 but it's still after 9.30 before you're actually ready to leave the house.
Very overgrown up there this year. Don't know if it's lack of foot traffic early in the growing season due to covid or if most people just stick to the main paths these days. Did my usual run down from the quarry to the bombholes but ended up at a different exit. Thought I'd just missed my turn but repeated it later and the old path has been completely swallowed by gorse. Was trying to think how long it was since I'd been, but pretty sure I'd been up with Peem just last summer.

Been busy the last couple of weeks taking trips all over the west coast from Oban to mull and mora to mallaig to Skye and upto Dingwall on the east coast with the family since we can never took a bike sadly but I took a rod and caught plenty mackerel.

Now to start building these and stop buying frames lol

Well having had this week off work I should have known some of the weather would be pish but thankfully the last two days have gotten better, long may it continue.
I have been busy with other things earlier in the week and have been out riding on Saturday but since then it has taken until Wednesday to get back out. Have also been doing lots of those little jobs with the bikes that need doing but just never seem to do.
Wednesday seen me spraying the lacquer over the decals I had put on the Flying Scot Ventoux way back earlier last year as well as masking up and spraying the signature from Ken Taylor on the back of the seat tube on the '63 Sport. I really wanted the Ventoux done as I have some really nice Arabesque stuff to build it up with but thought I must do the decals first and now after also cleaning and polishing the Arabesque gear I am almost ready to build, just need a washer for the shifters. When the 63 Sport was dry I offered up some bright yellow shorty Bluemels that Peachy had given me for it. Not usually a fan of shorties but these look good to me.
By the time I got this all done the sun came out and the postman arrived with the crank shorteners for the Flying Scot tandem, so that was the next job. Brian had loaned me his shorteners but they didn't fit both cranks. They are both TA cranks but one, the right is the later triple alloy version while the left is the tandem version hooked to the forward crank. In the end I bought a set from SJS Cycles that were to fit either due to the design and included the bolts for TA cranks. The design, ease of fitment, quality was all first class but we soon hit a problem, in that the left crank was catching the chain in front due to a washer needed on the rear of the crank arm, just catching but enough to catch fully every now and again. We managed a short ride and set them up so Caleb can now peddle easily and also dialled in his position but now had to fix the chain line some way.
I thought I found a solution today while driving and that was to get a shorter bottom bracket by about 5mm or space the BB out by a couple of spacers on the right to give us the space to suite. Pulled it out when we got in and then I realised I haven't had a TA crank extractor for many years, I gave the last one away due to never needing it, doh! Then I came upon the cunning plan that was more cunning than a cunning fox hatching a cunning plan, and that was to slacken the eccentric bb on the front chainring and push it to the right, maybe even tap it slightly to move it all a couple of mm's. I believe the distance I moved it was just slightly more than a midges baw hair, which seems to have been enough! So it was we had to have an evening ride to check
Earlier today seen us get the Old Town HW canoe onto the van ready for the next couple of days paddling. We did manage to get out to Loch More for a shakedown as the family has been in shielding for the past six months before we head to Loch Maree tomorrow morning. While the sun was out and the temps were up this afternoon so unfortunately was the wind, which made the loch so choppy it just wasn't worth it. So gutted as while I have been out in my other canoe, this wood and canvas HW hasn't been out since the end of last year. She was meant to have been repainted ready for her birthday from the off white and burgundy to the original bright white and burgundy. She might make it yet for the end of her birthday period.
Topped this off with a walk to the beach after dinner.
Anyway busy times in the Dyer household and a slow start to the week due to weather but now looks like it is going to be a pretty busy weekend.
Hope the weather stays good with everyone else.

Jamie

Today by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Today by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_3227 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_2734 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Today by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Today’s canoe HW by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Today’s canoe HW by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr