The rain was heavy when i left the house this morning to embark on my beach ride along to seacliff, by the time i reached the tyne estuary i was soaked, no worries though as i planned on getting a lot wetter, i stopped along the way to take a few pictures, this one is of wild fire reef
As i made an attempt to cross the river tyne the sand was very soft not unlike quicksand, and on my first attempt i sunk up to my knees, the rushing water of the river was almost up to my waist, but after some perseverance i eventually made it across.
Another picture of the tyne estuary.
Drift wood is common here after a wet summer like we have just endured, the sand along the edge of the tyne was virtually unrideable even on a fat bike like the pugsley.
However once over the other side and the mussel beds gave fantastic firmness and grip, quite a contrast to the previous side of the river bank.
Once i made it across i stopped to take a picture of the bike, sometimes i still cannot believe it's possible to cycle on terrain like this, the surly pugsley is without doubt the best bike i have ever owned.
The crustaceans.
So i continued my cycle along the rugged coastline.
This is the wreak the ss ponderosa, the only visible part of the vessel left is the boilers.
A very enjoyable days riding on the coast, by the time i turned around and headed for home the rain was pouring and the wind had started to pick up from the north, it would be well after three in the afternoon before i made it home with tired legs, sleep will come easy tonight.
Early evening was bright and sunny here on the coast and i decided to grab my surly pugsley and head for the beach, as you can see from the picture above the high tide didn't leave much sand to ride over,
I love the different colors that come with the autumn afternoons here in scotland, the view looking west to north berwick law
Someones handy work, a nice little beach shack made of drift wood.
Interesting sky, not sure what you would call the cloud formation, no doubt peter with his yacht master training would be able to name them.
Doonhill and the views east as i rode back towards home, tomorrow i plan on heading along to sea cliff beach on the pugsley and take advantage of the big tides as i've not ridden this bike enough during the summer months, low tide tomorrow is at 1203 BST and 0.8 meters which will leave plenty of sand to explore.
The board here is a copy of a mcallums m-ford, jeff mcallum is a californian surfer and shaper that makes some stunning surf craft, but unfortunately for me these come with a hefty price tag to match, but i was lucky enough to find this little 6'0 board on magic seaweed, so i e-mailed the owner and we agreed on a price, three days later it was in the north sea and it goes as good as it looks, the board was shaped by jools at gulf stream surfboards, gulf stream are an English company that resides in cornwall and as you can see they kick out some beautiful boards themselves.
So last week i managed to get most of the components for the LHT build, as you can see it's almost built up with the exception of the Dura ace bar end shifters, bar tape and drive chain which should arrive shortly, so will hopefully be rolling by thursday next week, i do however have racks and pannier bags to purchase along with mudguards and of course a decent pair of peddles, at the moment i haven't made a decision which type to choose, spd's or flat peddles as i'm a newbie as far as touring cycling goes, here are some more pictures and once i have the build complete i'll post a component list next to the finished bike.
Now that we are into september and summer is all but done i made a little video of some of the things i got up to in 2012 with my tachyon camera around the coast, from the R,N,L,I to cycling along the coastline on my surly pugsley to cruising along the high tide line on my stand up paddle boards or riding the waves on my surf boards, people moan and complain endlessly about the wet summer, well mine has been wetter than most and i love it, soon the nights will draw in and it will be dark at four in the afternoon, the wetsuit size will increase from a 3mm to 6mm and the cycling gloves and thermals will replace shorts and tee shirts, i can't speak for everyone but i can't wait as i love the seasons, soon the autumn swell's will arrive which is great if you live local, but its to late for all the people that live in edinburgh and glasgow to grab a surf after work, as a result of this the crowds thin out and leave more waves for me and my mates, roll on autumn.
For some time now i have been looking at getting a surly long haul trucker, and almost ordered it at the start of the summer but decided to wait, however i went into my local bike shop and spoke to colin at belhaven bikes and ended up ordering a LHT disc frame and fork in british racing green, so now i have the task of scouring the internet for parts, so far i have ordered a chris king headset, a brooks saddle and the wheels which are 26'' xc 717 disks on SLX hubs, so the next few weeks should see the start of the build which i plan to post every time i add a new component, at this time the only thing to arrive is the brooks saddle which i was lucky to get from evans cycles for 65 pounds as they have all brooks seats on sale at the moment heres a picture or two of the saddle.
The saddle came very well packaged.
And looks stunning in dark brown, people say these saddles are very comfy once you break them in so i can't wait to get it on the bike and get rolling, but it will all depend on the pennies as to how quickly i can get the parts, next purchase will be the gears, i'll post more pictures of the frame soon.
A nice evening in Dunbar to take out my red air sup, the westerly wind died to a very light breeze, and we were blessed by a very interesting sky and some heavy showers, Gordon and laura where out with there new toy, so we had a little play around, the red air paddle board was not designed as a water ski but good fun all the same, gordons jet ski is capable of speeds up to 47 knots all great fun and a great way to spend a sunday evening, I'm glad i decided to take the tachyon camera with me as the light conditions where fantastic.
