Longing for home

I have just found this on you tube which features video from Earth & Chord sounds by Moby...

Simply stunning... but I am left feeling a little homesick, sitting here on my little metal island in the middle of the ocean. Good news though, not long till I get home again to friends, family & 4 weeks of summer riding!

Moray Firth Coast & Coffee

A few weeks ago, I took some time out, for a lazy sunday ride on one of my favourite routes along the coast here in Moray. With perfect riding weather, no wind & a low morning tide, everything was in place for a great day out on the bike. It has been a really busy few weeks, so a chilled out ride was exactly what the Dr ordered! 

Heading back down to the coast near Hopeman

Very low tide at Burghead. I have never been this far out on the beach here. This is one of the things I love about beach riding, the landscape is always changing & each ride always has something new to offer

The beach is all mine. Even though it was a Sunday, there was very few folks on the beach all day

 

West side of Roseisle, heading towards Kinloss

The end of the line. This is the sandbar at Findhorn, where the river meets the sea. What you can see here is the Eastern edge of Culbin. I had the legs to ride on here, but with a fatbike, it takes nearly 1hr just to make the road detour to get over there. This is where I finally decided there is a use for pacrafts in NE Scotland, so watch this space!

 

It was not far & the conditions were perfect for a paddle across......

I really like it here ;o)

Following the river back towards the village

I found an alternative to the packraft, but I was full of coffee & cake by this point. It gave me an idea to do a coastal 1 way all the to inverness & return home by train!

 

It was time to head for home through the dunes where I meet this wee guy

 

Moonlander test area?

 

Chilled out riding in some lovely locations - fatbiking - what's there not to like ?

Sunset rider

As you probably know, my riding over the last while has taken a back seat to my duties as a father & family life. One of the benefits of riding when most people are either going to bed, or getting up, is you do get to witness some spectacular sunsets..something most people miss when they are sat in front of the TV eating crisps....

These were taken last week while riding down the West beach at lossiemouth on the way to the cliffs at covesea. Fantastic evening, no wind & an empty beach...Perfect!

The following evening, the bike was prepared for some bikepacking trips I have planned, so the racks were refitted & a couple of mods were made to the forks to allow a pair of bottle racks to be installed.

I have had issues in the past with not being able to carry enough water, so the bike is now fitted with 5 racks in total, which should be amble for the longest days in the saddle, or solo camping trips. (The 5th rack is not shown here, but is installed under the downtube)

Neat solution! I was surprised how little you notice the extra weight of the full bottles on the front of the bike

The now decommissioned lighthouse at Covesea

Unusual to find such a big vessel moored off lossiemouth? Also unusual to see a helicopter sat on the helideck?

Looking back towards home

Only real bikes look like this

Nearly time to head home for a well deserved tea & toast!

Oh, did I mention biking trips? My new wheels arrived this week! Really loving this thing, it is the perfect tool for transporting kids/ dogs / bikes & handy for camping trips. I just need to finish the fat racks for hauling bikes & we will be ready to roll! Here's to a great summer!

Audioslave - Show me how to live

A great tune that is doing the rounds on my Ipod (again!) right now. Good for getting you home after a long ride...

1 Year on....

I have had the 907 for nearly a year now! This bike has transformed my cycling world in the last 12 months & allowed me to ride from the front door, to many places I would never have taken a bike before. 

As a 24/7 full time father, when I am home, I don't have a huge amount of riding time at my disposal right now & this bike is the perfect tool for me to ride the environment on my doorstep, without wasting time driving to trails further away.

So, this is a small collection of some of my favourite photos taken during my first year with fatty....hope you enjoy!

With the addition of a new van this week, I'm planning to take the bike futher afield this year & hopefully get some good biking trips in the bag. Watch this space......