Sunday, 6 May 2012

Stormy weather

April has been another really busy month, so I have not updated for a while. It has been full of riding bikes, looking after kids & other things that seem to fill our lives. Now that I have returned to my work in the middle of the ocean, I have time to sit down with a coffee & catch up with the blog again

The theme for all the riding this month has been rain, rain & more rain...perfect fatbike riding conditions! we had one particular storm moved in from the Northwest, which brought very strong winds overnight, so when they started to ease in the morning, there was no better time for some virgin beach combing!

Using the tail wind to my advantage, I headed out along an empty East beach towards Garmouth



I took this just as I left lossie & I think it captures the feel of the day perfectly





With the strong surf coming in from the North, the  beach was covered with a thick layer of sea foam. Most folks often think this is pollution, but it is naturally occurring, created when organic proteins in the water are aerated my the waves & act as a surfactant & foam up


I didn't have to ride in it.....but I did


Froth shot


This is why I never ride with shorts



The strong winds over the last few days have stripped all the fine sand from the top layer of the beach & blown it over to the dunes. This left this lovely hard layer exposed, making for some very fast beachriding



I soon realised that maybe riding in the foam wasn't such a great idea...the drier sand was now sticking to everything


Oh dear. Not to worry, the rain that was heading my way would soon clean that up


Some nice big surf breaking at the start of the cobbles


This section soon becomes too loose, even for a fatbike. Time to head inland


It's Scotland after all...put on a jacket & keep on riding...


Riding up some of the great singletrack created by the enduro bike. There will be more on these in my next post


The photos end here as it was far too wet to be using the camera, but on the way home I found this wee guy. Not unusual on the coast, but this trail is over a mile inland. I guess some seagulls lost their lunch.

It was a good few hours spend on the bike, proving yet again, some of the most rewarding rides are done in the worst of conditions. Time for a hot shower & a good cup of tea.

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