Arran aftermath pics and words thread- pic heavy

clockworkgazz

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Will put up some super pics later tonight suffice to say a top day was had by all- more later after some cold ones.
 
Another awesome MacRetro day :D :D big big thanks to the Arran Bike Club guys for guiding us and waiting too :cool:

Pics are uploading now :D

Lots of thrills and spills, beer and chips and a bit of racing too ( I took 2 scalps :LOL: )

Hopefully everyone will chime in with a bit too
 
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nice bap zigzag :twisted:

some more pics and a big shout out to the arran mt bike lads again esp. for the fern trail that claimed so many old bikers :roll:

Two scalps kaiser! and his virtual big ring, however he hasn't mentioned his frank schleck antics on the uphill- you let me down my man, let me down bad.

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modern bikes are shite

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mr panda will fill you in on some of the more technical aspects of the ride, remember lots of hills fast descents and some crackin views. off to put on some aftersun :roll: .
 
Quite simply what a great day's biking.

Initially felt a wee bit left-out when Gaz, Jimi and Kaiser decided to single-speed it. Soon felt better when we hit the first climb past Brodick Castle though.

Weather and scenery absolutely stunning, great company and banter and made all the better by being shown around by those lucky b*ggers from the Arran Bike Club. On a day like today, what a place to live.

Can't believe there's a photo of me actually cycling through the dread fern (photoshopped surely?) - I now have a pathological fear of all things green and leafy, which explains why I checked my burger for lettuce and left the salad untouched. My gardening days are over...

Kaiser's last minute peek over the shoulder paranoia, willingness to undertake white vans and 500 yard run to get up to speed were the only things that allowed him to take the Brodick sprint. Honest!

Alright, here's me photies:

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This post brought to you by Radox and Savlon.
 
wow!
That looks like a stunning day out,
Weather looks like it was just right and the scenery can only have been amazing. Gutted i never bothered to tag along now.
Chips an cheese too :cool:


(next time ;) )

Gc
 
Alright, here's my educated guess at the routes for those that are interested. Keep in mind, beer goggles now in full effect and it's not like I know my way around Arran. Anyway, first up, the Brodick loop (8.3 miles apparently).

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=14218

Met up with the Arran MTB lads and Mr Panda at the pier. Good turn out, I think we started with 15? Easy enough start, with a bimble along the front, turning right and cutting through the golf course and then out onto the Corrie road for about a mile. We turned off the road just after the Brodick Castle entrance, heading up a nice and wide Forestry track. Gazz and Jimi soon set the pace for the climb. Things started out pretty mellow, with the track in excellent condition thanks to a tractor and roller coming the other way flattening everything out!

A big dip in the road was a wake up call, and we eventually ducked off onto single track at Merkland Wood, stopping for a break at a bridge by a burn. A couple of the Arran lads gave the burn a go - some nice big rocks on the bottom meant wet feet. The climb got a bit steeper and muddier from here on, but the SS boys continued to keep a move on. First casualty of the day, with Mr Panda coming off while fording another burn and skinning his knee.

A couple of nice but short bits of downhill (first roots of the day), exiting the woods and stopping at a picnic area on a point. After this, we had the highlight of the ride (for me at least). A great piece of fast, bumpy downhill that had a little bit of everything with overgrown vegetation (jaggy!) on either side. Apparently we passed a waterfall, and Gaz was raving about the great view on the way down - Me I was too busy not taking my eyes off the trail :roll:

Regrouped at the bottom stopping to mend a puncture, while Kaiser was almost moved to poetry (see picture of deep contemplation) by the awesomeness of the downhill.

Then a rolling ride up and down slogging through some of Arran's finest mud. At least one steep section here which I think pretty much everyone walked? Then back into the trees for a couple more short downhill runs, then out onto the tarmac for the short hop back to Brodick, avoiding shouty day-trippers on the beach.

Urggh, getting late, I think I'll do the Lumlash loop tomorrow.
 
Cracking day :cool: , infact the best cycling day i've had so far i think,
the weather helped a lot, could'nt asked for it any better, the Arran bike
club are a great bunch, big thanks to them for showing us around, their bikes were in complete contrast to our's, most had those new
fangled freeride contraptions, never catch on if you ask me :LOL: hope we
did'nt slow them down too much :) , terain was very mixed, quite a
bit of climbing was done but cracking scenery and some excellent singletrack downhill more than made up for it :cool: ,
i must be some
sick twisted masochist as one of the best bits for me was the Fern
descent, think it was the excitement of not being able to see the path
and the knowledge of a very steep drop to the left (but the fern caught
you if you fell), only nearly did once though.
I'd go back and do it again another time and i'd highly recommend Arran
to anyone looking for a cool biking destination
:cool:
 
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