Broken in 2008
- 16 punctures (9 fixie, 3 lobster, 1 threesome, 3 azzurri)
- 3 tyres (1 fixie, 2 lobster)
- 4 sets brake pads (lobster)
- 2 spokes (fixie)
- forks (lobster)
- chain (lobster)
- middle chainring (lobster)
- rear brake rotor (lobster)
- helmet
Ride Diary
2006: 9907.2 km
2007: 8604.5 km
2008:
lobster: 2910.1 km
fixie: 3299.8 km
threesome: 16 km
azzurri: 1112.7 km
Total: 7338.6 km
Average-O-Meter
To try and average 200km per week
Balance: -281.9 km
To Do
Great Karri RideSea kayak from Denham to Monkey Mia- Avon Descent
Kilimanjaro- XC race
- Build some wheels
- Munda Biddi Trail Section 2a
Cape to Cape TrackJarrahdale to MundaringExpresso 24- Paddle to work
Glen Ample and Glen Finglas
I did this long (59km), challenging ride with Stirling Bike Club as part of their weekend of mountain biking in Callander. Click here to see a route map.
From the Trossachs Backpackers hostel just outside Callander we headed up the East bank of Loch Lubnaig on Sustrans cycle route 7 and the A84. Opposite the second car park by the loch we turned right into the forest on a steep fire road. At the top of the climb the fire road became a wonderful, rocky, boggy, singletrack through Glen Ample eventually emerging at a farm.
River crossing in Glen Ample
From the farm we continued North on a good track before joining a road. A short section of the A84 and cycle route 7 again brought us to the Kinghouse Inn for some well earned soup.
After lunch the group split into two; the sensible types returned to Callander along the cycle path whilst 4 foolish souls decided to attempt a reverse of Glen Finglas even this would definitely mean several kilometres of carrying and it was snowing (still). No guesses to which group I was in.
From Balquhidder we took the minor road down Glen Buckie. It was decided to stay North of the Calair Burn on the better land rover track. The flip side of this was having to sneak through a deer enclosure and ford the rather chilly burn further upstream.
Once safely across the burn we joined the singletrack which proved to me more rideable than anticipated and after an amount of pushing and shoving in ever deepening snow we met the land rover track loop in Glen Finglas.
Pushing to the col above Glen Finglas
Decision time again; turn left and it was downhill all the way to the reservoir or turn right the long way round the loop including 160m more climbing. We went right. The higher we went the deeper the snow got and we were soon pushing again. By the time we reached our highest point most things had frozen on the bike, although thankfully not the brakes.
Descending from Glen Finglas
Having dipped our bikes in the burn at the head of the reservoir to defrost the gears we coerced our legs into one last effort round the reservoir and along the road back to the hostel arriving just before dark.