Sunday 29th September 2024 - Black Isle Birthday ride with Brian - Long Haul Trucker

 Out last weekend with Brian for a ride through the Black Isle from Dingwall to one of the Garden Centres for a cracking lunch and some cake. 

Always a good reason for a ride. 

Brian was on his Voodoo with Alfine and drop bars while I was on my ever reliable Long Haul Trucker.

Was great to be back on the Trucker as it seems ages since I had a nice Sunday mixed terrain ride on it. This is the sort of stuff the Trucker excels at, dirt tracks, back country tarmac and laneways. Seem to have just been commuting on it this year and even those are few and far between.  

Nice weather if just a bit cooler than has been lately. Sticking to back roads and cycle paths were we could with the start few miles being around the shoreline on singletrack and dirt walking tracks. 

Good to be out after the rubbish weather up here the last month or so and also good to have lunch and cake for young Brians recent birthday. 

Hope everyone else is doing fine and getting the odd ride in. 

Jamie 

Sat 07th September 2024 - Mercian - King of Mercia - Local Coastal Ride

Wow!  I didn't realise it's been so long since I posted one the rides on the King Of Mercia! 

I have been riding it, honest, just not posting clearly  

It has seen a fair few commutes and local rides when I have a couple of hours to spare, longer rides away tend to have been on the Jack Taylors this year, or my Long Haul trucker for my few and far between Audax rides.

So yesterday was glorious up here after a foggy start and I had to go to one of the local markets for lunch and then head to town to get a couple of electrical sockets for the house, I checked the tyres on the trusty KOM and headed out into the summery afternoon.

It may have been a while since I had ridden the KOM but it only took a few peddle strokes to feel right back at home and realise what a joy this bike is. It fits like a glove, handles anything and everything with such calmness and poise that it's hard not to relax and enjoy it. It just handles so nicely and is a joy to ride.  

I stopped at the market and had lunch before heading into town, picking up the sockets before deciding on a coastal ride home. This consisted of a small bit of walking path and then some singletrack path with a bit of farm track before the last part on the main road. All of it handle with ease and a few stops for a couple of photographs, before realising the time and having to race home as we were going out. Time flies when you are having fun.

Hopefully won't be so long before posting the Mercian next time. 

Jamie

August 11th 2024 - Jack Taylor Ride Stokesley -

 Last Sunday was the annual Jack Taylor get together and ride from Stokesley in North Yorkshire. 

As has been the way the last few years this annual get together by the VCC and Jack Taylor Appreciation group on Facebook has gone from a weekend ride to just a Sunday outing. But what a great Sunday it was. 

After having such a rubbish summer really, up here in the north of Scotland it was nice to get back down into some heat and sunshine. Normally this ride is on the last weekend August/start of September bank holiday, yet even with the earlier date it was it's usual sunny and hot ride through some really quiet and beautiful country side. 

This year I had  Caleb with me.  He would be riding my Super Clubman while I rode the Super Tourist. 

We travelled down the 400 odd miles on the Saturday staying at a hotel in Stockton on Tees, but not before stopping just outside of Stokesley for a nice Jack Taylor tandem ride with one of the group. A great way to break up a long drive. 

Sunday dawned sunny, not a cloud to be seen and warming nicely. We made our way to the start at Stokesley and lined our bikes up with the others where they are all displayed before the ride. 

There was a really good turnout with about 40 or so bikes I think someone counted, with about 30 0r 35 on the ride. We made our way in 2 groups through the lovely quiet roads to a lunch spot at Swainby, before another looping ride on quiet roads ending back at Stokesley. More cold drinks and a good bit of sitting around chatting before we packed and headed off for some dinner. 

This year was even better for having Caleb with me. He rides all the time but not usually on the older bikes, except our Flying Scot tandem. He has grown so much the last 12 months though that he fits my bikes now, not sure that is a good thing ;) 

He handled it all so well and I was so proud of him. He is not used to using drop bars as he has always shied away from them, he is not used to friction shifting or downtube shifters and definitely not used to riding in a group. All of which he did perfectly, you would never have known. Best of all he had a real blast and loved every minute of it, loved riding the Super Clubman and enjoyed the social side, which was helped by everyone being so welcoming to him. 

He has his Wester Ross to get built as a road allrounder but I have already started putting tourist parts away and will most likely build up the other unused Super Tourist for him to use so we can tour together. 

For me on the Super Tourist, well I think I finally have it dialled in. It ran beautifully, handled all the different surface roads nicely and while it has new World Tour tyres, they surprised me with how comfortable they were despite the design being a good age now. They are the 700c X 35 models. This along with everything being well lubed, adjusted and double checked meant it was rolling through the sunny countryside in the way I imagined it would. As close to how it left the works as I am going to get. Somewhere along the ride I must have clicked the Subito dynamo on as Caleb came alongside and said your taillight is on solid, never even noticed so that is good to know.  

We then went on to stay down on Sunday and head to the National Train Museum in York on the Monday which was brilliant, before heading to Glasgow Monday evening to pick up mum and have dinner with family before heading home on Tuesday.    

So a great Jack Taylor ride this year, once again. It is such a nice social gathering while being surrounded by some really stunning machines. 

Jamie 

Wednesday 17th July 2024 - Jack Taylor Super Tourist - Contin - Meig Dam

 Was out yesterday on a lovely ride from Contin out to Meig dam with my usual wingman Brian (epicyclo) and my young son Caleb. Calebs first time down this road.

It was certainly a good day for it, bit of cloud, no wind but quite warm.
While not a big epic ride it was good 4 or so hours out and about enjoying the beautiful scenery.
I had the Super Tourer sorted, I hoped, everything cleaned and regreased, BB, headset, hubs, new tyres and it didn't disappoint. It really did finally feel like riding a new bike, quiet, everything slick, even the dyno that I inadvertently clicked on was hardly noticeable.
I got Caleb to take it for a ride, he doesn't like drop bars at all, but put it in a gear and said just ride the tops and see what you think. Well when I could finally prize his backside from the seat, he was all full of wonder at how nice it was. It's a start. 

It was nice to finally have the Super Tourer riding as it should. While technically it is a new bike in the sense it had only done 20 miles, it was unused for 34 years and as such had dried up/thickening grease as well as naturally perished rubber. So was nice to feel it how I always imagined it would. 
Anyway, good to be out mid week and getting a ride in with my boy. Hopefully he will be out with us on a few more of these randonneur type rides. 

I think it tired him slightly as he was asleep in the van on our 2 hour + drive home. 

Jamie

Sunday 07th July 2024 - Flying Scot Group BBQ - East Lothian - Scotland

 Sunday seen what was an informal gathering of a few Flying Scot enthusiasts gathering for a social Sunday BBQ at Andrew F's lockup near Edinburgh.

The plan was that a BBQ would be on from 11am with Andrews own very impressive collection of Flying Scots as well as many other historically significant Scottish frames on view, a couple of Graeme Obree bikes, and anyone wanting to come encouraged to bring their own Scot for everyone to see. I took the old tandem down with me.
What a turn out it was with a very big gathering of enthusiasts from the facebook group, ex racers, friends and new faces gathering to admire the many bikes, have a bite to eat and make new friends. A few Scottish racing royalty in attendance as well with Vic Polanski with a few of his grass track title bikes, Brian Temple who Andrew has his 1970 Commonwealth games silver medal winning bike, Ron Gardiner who raced the Peace Race on a Flying Scot early in the 1960's amongst other national and international races, Sandy Gilchrist and other very accomplished road and track men.
A great day was had by all for sure.
I travelled down to Brians the night before and we both headed down, spent the day down south before the long slog back up north. Very well worth it. Lots of people I had talked on line with and finally got to meet face to face and to catch up with a few old friends that I hadn't seen for a long while. Nice to meet up with Matt and Kenny formerly from Shand and especially to hear of Matts frame building now for himself in Glasgow.
Here is a couple of photos.

Jamie Nans Rattrays Star model