Wednesday 5th August 2020 - Mid week off and bike fettling

While having the week off with family and doing lots together, this afternoon was getting those small bicycle jobs out the way. The weather has been really bad the last four days since I started my holiday, suprised, not really :) We are hopefully away tomorrow in the canoe for a day or two as like most people around the world our summer holidays were cancelled and put on hold due to covid 19. This and the fact that Heather is just out of shielding as well as a huge influx of tourists to the north of Scotland means we are quite alright with not travelling or staying outwith our area for the time being. With our usual campgrounds, wild camping spots, lochs etc currently being overun, coupled with todays news of Aberdeen and possibly other areas going back into lockdown makes it safer to stay local or at the very least just stay in the north for day trips. 

So todays cycle jobs started out with a bit of spraying some clear coat over the decals on the Flying Scot Ventoux. I really needed to finish doing this before I started building it and as I now have decided on, and put together the components it was definately time. So these were masked off and a quick spray of Plasticote clear to seal them and then let to dry for 2 hours. 

While I was at it I really thought I better mask off and clear the 'have a nice ride - Ken Taylor' signature on my Jack Taylor Sports model. It is almost 12 months since Ken signed it for me at the JT weekend so thought it prudent to get it done while I had the clear out. Then there was a bit of sun came out and I managed to sit outside at the bench and clean up some of the Shimano 600 Arabesque gear for the Ventoux. It came up really nicely as it was just quite grubby, so a good clean, degrease and quick polish. The only problem is one of the downtube shifters is misssing a washer so I will have to source another one. 

By now the postman had arrived and with came our parcel from SJS Cycles, our crank shorteners for the tandem! Great item, great instructions too which mad instillation simple. Our only problem and a decent one at that is that the crank arm that now has a bolt on the back where the pedal normally mounts is hitting the chain. Tried a few things like tapping the eccentric bottom bracket over a fraction, which allowed us to ride but every now and then it would catch a link and stop the chain dead. Lucky we were just going up and down the road testing. At least it allowed us to dial everything in and Caleb is happy with his pedal height and position etc and was a very happy little man with the tandem for sure. Tommorow I will take the bottom bracket out on the front chainset and order one about 5mm narrower which should pull the chain over enough to miss it completely. It is a TA chainset so will need to source the appropriate bottom bracket. We are getting there though. 

Then as I was putting the Ventoux and the Sport away once dry I thought I should offer up a set of guards that a freind, Chris or Peachy as he's known, gave me. They are shorty Bluemels but not just any shorties, they are matching canary yellow. He says the rear one will suite as it will allow the signature to be seen. Not usually a fan of shorties but they do suite. 

Anyway that's a few jobs sorted. Stay safe 

Jamie 

Saturday 1st August 2020 - Evening ride on the Jack taylor Super Clubman

Well back out this evening before dinner as a busy day meant if I wanted a ride I had to squeeze it in late on. Only problem was the sun had slowly been disappearing for the previous few hours and I left home under ever darkening skies. Managed to get a good few miles in headed south until I crested a hill to see the rain heading north. Luckily up here you can see it coming from a good way off. I turned and headed home, no rush as I was already getting a few drops but not hanging around either. Very similar scenic photo stops as one of my Jack taylor posts a couple of months back. Very different looking though :) The Super Clubman was it's usual well handling joy to ride. I really am finding this my most enjoyable ride, it just handles so sweetly and maybe it's just the right style to suite how I ride these days but everything from the handling to the fit is just spot on. Jamie

Sunday 26th July 2020 - Ben Wyvis Loop ride - Long Haul Trucker

Yesterday I was out on a ride on the Long Haul Trucker with Brian and also Mark, Anna and Paul from the Highland Classic Bike group for a ride/loop 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 for a few miles before crossing the road to Ullapool and following the track further north/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 Raining steady while waiting on the others before starting Brian Anna Paul Mark Mid piont and my phone died so only a couple of borrowed photos ;)

Monday 20th July 2020 - Flying Scot tandem - makeshift ride

Managed a quick short makeshift ride using a couple of blocks on the peddles to raise Calebs reach while we await the delivery of the crank shorteners. Not very succesful but worth a try :) Jamie

17th July 2020 - Friday evening Jack Taylor ride

A couple of photos from yesterday evenings ride out after dinner on the Jack Taylor Super Clubman. It turned a really nice evening and was glad to have an hour or two to get out to just meander through the small backroads, amongst the farms. Much quieter than the main roads this last week. With lockdown easing here in Scotland and people being able to travel more than 5 miles combined with being into school summer holidays, it is like the place has exploded. All the courtesy of the last 4 months that has been shown on the roads is gone in one weekend. 
Still, once away from the main road and the traffic it was a blissful ride, not long out but an enjoyable couple of hours. 

Jamie

July 14th 2020 - Flying Scot Tandem pickup and setup

This is the other bike I had bought back at the end of February/start of March. 
It is a Flying Scot tandem Continental model. This is a later one built by M Steel in Newcastle, very much in the Dave Yates style. Early eighties I think judging by the sizing etc. 
This was bought to take up the mantle of touring with Caleb as he is now getting too big for the Big Dummy Cargo bike. Like he has been saying since he was three that we needed a tandem so he can help me on the hills, this I finally agreed with after that last Orkney trip :) 
I finally managed to get down to Fife to George and Margaret Berwick to pick it up along with a huge assortment of seats, seatposts, handlebars, brakes etc. I had a great few hours in their company sitting in their lovely garden talking bikes, drinking tea and Margaret showing me bits from their journals with all the various trips the tandem had done over the years.  George had said it is built by them the same as his two Dave Yates tandems, the jammy dodgers. He and Margaret said that this had done the least miles of the three and in their words ' had hardly done much at all' as her journals had the mileage for these three around twenty eight thousand from memory😳 This could also be down to the fact that being slightly higher on the front, George was stoker with Margaret on the front. despite this I looked through many many pages and photos of this tandem touring Portugal, Spain, multiple French trips, the pyrenees as well as Ireland. One of the photos he sent me originally showed Margaret astride it atop of Mont Ventoux. I just hope we can give it as adventurous a home as it has had previously.
Had a bit of time this afternoon to try and make a start on sorting what sort of modifications to make for Caleb to ride on the back of the tandem. Will experiment with bars and stoker stems etc but for now just transferred his bars from the Cargo bike so he felt comfortable. I was thinking I may need to fit kiddie cranks but am sure if I can find some crank shorteners for his pedals he will be fine. My cockpit is usable and fits as is so that will come in time. Still need to give it a good clean and tidy up, but getting there on our first afternoon.
Really looking forward to the next step in Calebs and mine two wheel adventures. 

Jamie