29 October 2019 - Midweek ride with Brian on Long Haul Trucker - Black isle

Seeing as the forecast was reasonable for once , especially after the rainy sleety weekend we have just had, I decided to take the day off work and head south as Brian said he had an idea for a road ride.
Perfect I thought!
So after being up early and dropping a visitor to the Dyer household into Thurso for the train at 8.30 I kept heading south to Brians at Dingwall.
After a warming coffee we headed out into the nice autumnal day that was slowly becoming overcast. While it was sunny in places, the heat had definitely gone for the year as it was very cold. This was not helped by snow on Ben Wyvis and snow clearly visible on the high ground to the west.
I was on the trusty Long Haul Trucker while Brian was on his Alfine equipped Voodoo.
We headed out over sections of the Black Isle to North Kessock where we dined in style at Harry Gows   :lol:  (It was fuel)
It was not pretty and it wasn't healthy but it was warming as I was really freezing despite having several jerseys on. I put my jacket on just after this and that really helped but I had made the mistake of not packing my Buff. I knew from the ride on the weekend that it was colder the last few weeks but didn't expect it to be this biting so early on.
We then rode back through North Kessock, Redcar along the shoreline before turning up the quiet single lane farm roads to zigzag our way cross country before turning back up onto the main road to Dingwall all the while taking small detours to explore. Some paved and of course, some dirt/gravel 'short cuts'. One of these was through a local woods on some singletrack that while the usual nice treelined detour it was definitely boggy in places from the recent rain. Discretion won out and we cut this section short for now, either until it freezes, dries out or we come back with the fatbikes.
A cold ride but as usual a good ride and it seems that winter has returned quite quickly. It has taken the heat and the daylight out of the day making it a bit colder and darker, the low light being quite noticeable especially since the clocks went back on the weekend. 
A good laugh and despite the cold it was a really nice ride. Good to have my riding buddy back from Oz as well.

Jamie

13/10/2019 - Local Coast Ride - Jack Taylor Super Clubman

After a really busy month where I have been away from home more than I have been there at weekends, it was nice to be back home for a Sunday where I awoke to a nice sunny day.
I had some work to do first thing and then the plan in my head was to just get out for a cruise on the Jack Taylor.  I had to sort the front wheel that had become a bit rattley after the Jack Taylor weekend and thankfully it was as expected, that the cones had slackened in the hub slightly after the last service. I had replaced the bearings so I either didn't tighten them properly or they just bedded in slightly, either way it was just a small job to readjust them and then hit the road.
No real destination in mind other than to cruise leisurely around the coast.
I rode the back roads and then after Castletown Harbour headed back through the old estate track which was still wet and boggy after the rains last week but no problem at the speeds I was going :)
Got in around 5pm just as the temperature was beginning to drop and you could really feel the difference. Summer is well and truly behind us now.
Good to be back out and clearing the head. Hopefully everyone else has had a good weekend with maybe a ride or two thrown in.

Jamie