September 12th,13th and 14th 2026 - Long weekend with the Surly Ogre, Aviemore and Cairngorm National Park

A bit slow posting but better late than never.
The weekend before last I managed to get a Monday off as I had to take Caleb down to Aviemore where he is volunteering for the Strathspey Railway. He does platform and train work but is mainly wanting in the engine sheds for engineering. He knows he needs to help with everything and loves it no matter what he is doing. So he needed to be there for Sat,Sun, Mon and originally all three of us were meant to go but plans changed last minute and so it was just me.
Caleb would be working from 8.30 until 5 so that gave me all day to ride pretty much. I still needed to put some miles on the Ogre as I'm still not sure about it, so Calebs Karate Monkey was loaded along with the Ogre. The Karate Monkey never even made it out the van, never moved.
Spent Friday night with Friends in Advie, near Grantown, then after dropping Caleb off on Saturday morning I had an appointment with Walter in Pitlochry where I was picking up the Alves frame I bought way back in April, this being the first time we could get us both in the same place at the same time. Met Walter at his shop, and what a great retro shop it is too, never even realised it was there in a lane off the main road. If you are ever in Pitlochry then it is well worth a visit. I picked up the frame and then hung around for a few hours before heading back to Aviemore. It is a really beautiful Alves tourer that will hopefully be built up quite soon. I have wanted an Alves for many years and a few standard road frames have come along, but I held out for a tourer for a long time, and finally this one comes along, one  careful lady owner, it is in fantastic condition. I managed to get the original Blackburn rack, mudguards and also the original Shimano canti's and bottle cages along with the headset being left insitu, serviced by Walter as well so all ready to build up. 
Picked Caleb up then dinner at the Winking Owl in Aviemore, highly recommend as well, then off to our hotel at Kingussie.
Sunday, dropped Caleb at the station after an early breakfast, parked round the back and unloaded the Ogre into the glorious sunshine with the plan being to meander up the trail for a mid morning coffee at Glenmore then ride over the mountain to Boat O'Garten. Had a lovely ride, with the Ogre running superb and feeling good, no luggage just the frame bag with a jacket and tools. Coffee at Glenmore then as started heading out towards the Green Loch the road and then the trail were fenced off due to the recent fires, end of the line. So I backtracked to the Glenmore shop and went through the caravan park heading inland back towards the southern side of Loch Morlich to just follow any interesting tracks. Had a great few hours just mucking about, some forestry road, some pathways and some singletrack as well. The Ogre and the Rohloff took it all in its stride and while I got a few miles in I wasn't exactly racing, so all relative, but for that ride it was certainly the right tool for the job. On one bit of singletrack around Loch Morlich there was a tree down over the trail and you could clearly see the textbook logging of the beaver. The clouds starting coming in as the afternoon went on and the temperature dropped as well. A really nice ride in some nice weather for a change.
Monday dawned very overcast, quite cool and very windy. It had rained a fair amount overnight so todays plan was to stay off the mountain trails and as I assumed it was going to rain again soon as you couldn't see the tops of the hills from the clouds, I would drop Caleb, then ride down the cycle route 7 and head for Drumochter and maybe explore some of the dirt trails along the way if the weather permitted. Well I made it to Dalwhinnie for a late breakfast which I definitely needed. The headwind coming straight from the south was just brutal, especially on the road section just before, miles of it exposed with nowhere to hide. So it was pancakes and maple syrup to refuel. By the time I came out it was raining proper. I still had loads of time and nowhere to be until 5 so I put my jacket on and just started pushing on. It wasn't cold as such so wasn't too bad except for the wind. The rain came and went in showers and I eventually made it to Drumochter station, chatted with some other cyclists heading north before I turned and rode the wind back. To give you an idea, I think I was riding along into it at around 15 klmh and after turning round I rode the next 20klm sitting, soft pedalling at around 31klmh. Literally time trialled back to Kingussie which took me a lot less time than heading out.
Loaded up, picked up Caleb and then we started the long drive north for home. A good long weekends riding on all sorts of surfaces.
The Ogre did very well but I am still not sure about it. Loving the Rohloff though.

Jamie

Sunday 9th August 2026 - Annual Jack Taylor Ride - Stokesley

 ​Sunday the 9th seen the annual Jack Taylor ride/get together take place at Stokesley with 2 ride loops taking place, a long and a short, with lunch in Swainby before looping back to Stokesley. 

For Caleb and I our journey began on the Saturday when we left home around 7.30 am heading to our hotel in Stockton on Tees around 450 miles away. We had loaded the bikes on Friday evening, mine being my Jack Taylor Super Clubman and Caleb taking his Wester Ross, his own classic rather than riding one of my JT's. 

Saturday seen us leave in the cool morning with some rain for the first few hours with a stop just out of Edinburgh to catch up with Andrew to make our apologies for not being able to attend the annual Flying Scot BBQ on the Sunday. It was a shame to miss but the JT weekend is one of, if not my favourite classic get together. 

We eventually made the hotel around 8pm after getting dinner on the way.  Compared to home the weather was great, very warm, sunny, nice. 

Sunday dawned sunny, we were in Stokesley quite early as we used to have breakfast here with Ken, Eric and a few others in earlier days. It's always a great social gathering with the nicest most welcoming group of people, all there to enjoy each others company and ride with many other Jack Taylor cycles. Lots of bikes on display, various items people had bought to show, and with Eric having everything from bike tags to the various fitment nut and bolts from the old workshop to give away to anyone that needed them, along with the plans for the JT workshop in Church Road, there was plenty of things to keep the conversation flowing. 

Another of these and a historical piece was the Radmore tandem of Mark and Lorna's. I will put up the photos with information but it was the tandem that went back to California with the Radmores in the 1950's and opened up the American market to the Taylors. It was a two way street as bikes went to the USA and Americans came often to pick up bikes they had ordered, ride around the UK and Europe and then ship them home. We are not quite sure how it ended up back in the UK but was found by Derek in a very sad state and then restored by Mark and Lorna. An interesting story for sure. 

Once the ride got underway it started raining!!!  Everybody said it was the driest summer and we couldn't believe it, but it was short lived and even Caleb said as it was so warm it was kind of refreshing compared to riding in the rain at home. All dried by the end of lunch/cake stop.  Even the ride is a great social affair with people riding along in groups chatting away, stopping to help each other with any problems, checking out each others rides whether Jack Taylors or other classics. The racers who have raced them or time trialled them most of their lives, the tourers, the tandem riders, the commuters, all out for a ride and smiling with it. 

After returning to Stokesley in the afternoon Caleb and I had a drink with others before having to leave and get to Glasgow that night for a late dinner with family, before I headed home on Monday morning, seeing Brian in Dingwall on my way up the road. 

A very social weekend and having covered just on 975 miles it was a long one for sure, but well worth the effort. So if you are free next year I highly recommend it, you don't need a Jack Taylor, doesn't even need to be a classic really as there were a few people from the local club on gravel bikes and a few nice modern racers, so come along I am sure you wont be disappointed. This was Calebs 3rd year and he loves it, he's been coming since he was 13, always made to feel welcome and included. 

Sadly our first year since Ken has past away not long after last years ride. While he hasn't attended the ride the past couple of years he was always keen to hear any stories or have a visit. RIP. 

Jamie    

Sunday 12th July 2026 - Jack Taylor Super Tourist - Coastal Path ride Caithness

 Well after having my few days off last week with plans to do the Badger Divide on my Ogre dashed by the abysmal weather, I then thought I would take the Jack Taylor Super Clubman somewhere at the start of the week, again we had 4 days of rubbish hit and miss weather and with my window shrinking this trip was put back to the original date of second week of August when I am off work.  Plan then is to stop and visit family in Glasgow on the way back from the Jack Taylor weekend in Stokesley, Heather will meet Caleb and I there, Heather will take the van and Caleb and I will ride home, cycle route 7 Glasgow to Inverness then Cycle Route 1 from Inverness to Home and should take about 5 days or so. That is the rough plan, though we may have to shorten if Caleb needs to be home for his summer job. If we do we may shorten it by getting picked up in Inverness or maybe even starting in Ballinluig. We will see as we get closer. 

So this afternoon I had a bit of time and wanted to make sure Calebs Wester Ross was ready to go as he had an issue with the front brakes and make sure the Super Tourist was ready for the tour home, make sure my panniers and my Carradice Longflap were fitted properly so when we go away I can just pack them and leave in the van.

Anyway it was such a glorious day here today that it seemed a shame not to go for a ride, with no where in particular to go I decided to try and get round as much of the local coast on the walking path as I could manage while just enjoying a few hours in the nice weather.

Much of it was just too overgrown in places but besides the stinging nettle, it was all enjoyable.

The Super Tourist was it's usual joy to ride, not much to say but that really doesn't do justice to such a well handling, stable, comfortable go anywhere ride.

Really love this ride and while my Super Clubman maybe just wins in the stability and handling when unloaded, though when I loaded the Super Tourist last week with a set of smaller front loader Ortliebs on the back with the Longflap and the front Randonneur bag loaded with tools and clothes, the small test ride showed it came into it's own once loaded. It was super stable, more planted but didn't notice the weight at all. No shaking, no shimmying at all. This made me very happy and relieved as I had my Ogre loaded in many different configurations for the off road Badger Divide and couldn't get it handling confidently. Maybe I am not a modern bike packer, maybe should stick to my usual four panniers and bar bag touring. 

Jamie