ON THE BIKE
The cycling Gods have been against me so far this year. Due to an illness in Jan/Feb (much worse than just the normal man flu) and with all the crappy weather we have been experiencing, my motivation to get on the bike has been pretty poor. In preparation for being “match fit”, I took my CX apart to give it a good clean and soon discovered the hub was sounding like a tombola as Tank put it. £25 replaced and fitted the sealed unit. Continue reading “Rolling with 8”
Snow snow snow,
Tis the season to board, sledge and occasionally head out on the fat tyred mountain bike and see if you can stay upright while out doing the milk and bread bingo. Continue reading “Rolling with 7”
On the road
Boy on a Bike
Lets first address the elephant in the room, Im not particularly a cyclist…… Continue reading “Rolling with 6”
With ‘Herman and the Hermits’ support band, ‘Fud and the Fuckwits’ trundling into the horizon, we can now relax. Play it as it lies, as we now head onto the next two climbs creatively titled on Strava; A839 climb 1 and A839 climb 2 . To the locals they are BH1 & BH2(Bloody Hard 1 & 2 by any chance?). We are only starting to climb, but already I don’t think another change to FH1 & FH2 would be remiss, as we are brutally slapped by a 4-5 club wind on clearing the tree line.
This Week – Graham T. I. McQueen
This week as well as starting training for the Hell of the North and grafting, I have been attempting to Distil my own moonshine while listening to Country Rock music. Continue reading “Rolling with 5”
Morning sun streams through the bathroom window, casting a naked alien like shadow against the wall. I’m stood in the bath tub and ready to shock my system with some cold exposure therapy i.e. an icy cold shower.
Five minutes earlier I had awoken, stock still and anxious to see how my body had recovered from yesterday’s exertions. A quick body scan later and the news was good, not great…just good. It doesn’t feel ma own. Aye, It’s stiff and aching, but it’s a good ache and it feels better, even a little bit stronger. Although that could still be the after effects of last nights Peroni’s right enough! Continue reading “Tour of The Highlands – PART 3”
PART 2
Stu checks his “Well I’m fucked then, I’m banging oot 187BPM ” he blurts oot with sweat cascading fae his chin. Wish I had kept ma masterplan stoom now! Anyway it has landed and he’s slowing. I don’t know whether it’s deliberate or psychosomatic. Not wanting tae upset the climbing rhythm I’ve got going, I start tae slowly edge away fae him. We turn a corner and the Lawers Dam comes into full view, but just as it does I see a photographer hunkered down beside a big rock, with a long range lens pointing doon the road towards us. Fuck knows what happens, but a switch in ma head is flicked and I come over all Berty Contador. Springing up out the saddle, shifting up a few gears. In ma mind I’m like a gazelle, prancing across the Savanah. A vision of poetry in motion. In reality, nowhere near it, probably look more like Dan Martin, putting a fire out with his feet, whilst chewing a highland toffee! Never did see that photo. Continue reading “Tour of The Highlands -Part 2”
Day 1 Part 1 INTRODUCTION CLICK HERE
It’s 5am on a Saturday at the end of May and we find ourselves in a Wig-Wam in the Trossachs.
My phone is playing a piano arpeggio. It’s cheesy but better than those needle to the eyeball beeps of the default alarm.
I bolt upright, Frankenstein like.
It’s here, day one of the Tour of the Highlands.
My hand pads the bed to find my phone. I thumb the home button and stop the alarm.
It’s been a shit night’s sleep; tossing and turning all night long in this Wig-Wam/sauna. I am half-baked with excitement, half seared by the heat. I remember being fully compes mentis since four am. At least that is when the cockerel started cocka-doodle-f*****g-doing. Continue reading “Tour of The Highlands – Part 1”
A Wee Burl in the Highlands is the story of The BCR’s participation in the Tour of the Highlands. A three day multi stage sportive that loops the Scottish highlands, tackling eight categorised climbs, four ski centres and two of the highest roads in Britain. Continue reading “Tour of The Highlands – Introduction”
Sportives and mass-participation events are ubiquitous these days. Pick any weekend between April and October and you’ll have an innumerable choice of organised events at which to indulge your passion for turning pedals.
The ubiquity, and increasingly monetised nature of much of these events leave some looking for something a bit different, though.
It’s this search for something different that now has me pinging through deepest Midlothian, at 20mph……at 1 in the morning! Continue reading “Ride To The Sun”
Braes City Rouleurs 