Its been a while. Will try to be more vigilant I think.

I've got a new bike, which is great. I love it:
Nicolai AM29, Top of the Golspie Wildcat Trail, Northern Scotland. Longest descent in the UK.

Taken with a new camera. slowly rediscovering my love of photography. Need some better glass but hey, baby steps.

Here are a few photo's from recent trips, they are a bit random, but hey, so is life sometimes. All taken with my Olympus OM-D with 14-50mm lens.
:
Basecamp Dalgarry, Aviemore:

 Nicolai Helius AM29

 Dornoch, Scottish East Coast sunset

 Dornoch, Scottish East Coast dusk

 Torridon, Highlands of Scotland

Start of Special Stage Enduro race on Exmoor

Mid Stage

Social fun

 More London - budding Discus thrower

 Contrast the square where Kings and Queens of England were beheaded and the Shard in the background - Tower of London

 Foxglove - Michaelchurch Escley

 Memorial to those beheaded in past years after internment in the Tower of London

Quiet time

My lovely wife

Budding Geologist?

Waterfall - Michaelchurch Escley

Wellies and nighties

 A different perspective

Pygmy Goats to feed - Daughter number 2 and niece.

A rare sight in the UK this year, the mysterious yellow Orb

Daughter number one - Do I like butter?

Rolling English Countryside - Michaelchurch Escley

Hay On Wye - nice Dynamic range here

No2. Again..

 No1 again..

 London Bridge Paralympic symbol

 From further away

 The Shard seen from More London

I've been a little absent, apologies..the family and work has taken up time lately. No bad thing. The bad news is the training is going, erm, not very well. I have lost a couple of kilo's through good eating, but not training. The good news is, it doesn't seem to have had a huge impact on my fitness.

Had some nice meals out of late. I was in Paris, working, last week and had a wonderful meal, with good company at Aux Vieux Comptoir on Rue Lavandieres just behind Rue de Rivoli and near the Louvre. Despite being in a popular area, it has retained very reasonable prices, period, not just for Paris and yet retains the charm of a restaurant that has been largely unchanged for many years. It is my vision of a classic French restaurant/bistro. Its not formal, just a lovely atmosphere and very nice staff with high quality food. I highly recommend the Charcuterie, the Truffle risotto is a delight for starter and the Cafe Gourmand a lovely finish. They also know how to recommend a wine with your food.

In cycling matters my Fox F34 fork has turned up. looking forward to getting it fitted to the bike, when it arrives. Tubes should have been welded this last week so hopefully another couple of weeks will see it in the UK.

I've been trying the Rockshox Reverb seat post this weekend. Its nice and smooth and looks great. There is a little more travel on the lever than I would prefer to adjust travel, that might take a little getting used to for micro adjustments. My old KS i900 cable remote had better feel.

I've pimped my Hammerschmidt cranks for the new bike. Can't decide whether to leave them polished, and go with a Matt black/silver colour theme or go with a few anodised colour parts to spice it up.

One of my favourite looking bikes ever here, I must say, not usually one for copying but I think this is class..if only the F34 had a black fork crown instead of white..

I really like the look of Easton Haven wheels, but I think they have a few issues I'm really not sure about, spoke count and spoke strength, bearing fragility..I won't be using them but they do look good.

Also finally got a pretty foolproof and brilliantly simple CO2 inflator..highly recommended..

 A very wet and cold ride on the AC29 demo again today on local trails. Getting to know it a bit better now and really looking forward to the new one

On a personal note I've had a little more motivation for work of late. I had a breakthrough and it's given me a bit of a lift. I don't like just 'turning the handle' so that's all good.

My eldest had the last xc running race of the season this weekend. She ran pretty well coming 9th, but that's a top ten in all the races and helped the team win the area overall prize. Really proud of her. Looks like they might be racing county next so competitive Dad here thinks he might get her doing some training...

and on that note she's out grown her bike so its time for her to step up..a year or so ago I bought a second had Curtis T1 Comp 11" trials bike. We had a 'fit' the other day and the top tube etc is all fine now..

Its a small and nimble frame if pretty heavy, being T45 steel, but its a lovely brazed frame from a very small scale maker and very cool. I figured I could restore it and use high quality secondhand parts to build it up light elsewhere. Children's bikes usually have pretty heavy kit on them built to a price, even aluminium ones.
She's not quite big enough for it with 26" wheels so I've got a set of 24" wheels to go on, XT hubs on Sun Ringle Singletrack rims. I'm I'm planning some Aerozine super light cranks (kindly donated by a good friend) modified to 150mm crank arm length and run them single ring, fit an XT cassette, derailleur and shifter, Rockshox SID world cup 100mm forks I've been saving from an old build, some flat bars at 580mm and a 50mm stem, white frame, new graphics and bam...then we can go and do some proper mountain biking. I think in a year or so she'll need the 26" wheels which will lighten it up a little bit further..

Youngest is stepping up to the Isla bikes beinn 20". Its a nice light bike for kids too.

i think that's it for now.  Plan for the week is to try and get some training in, get up earlier and stay healthy...

Think I might have to get myself down to Lago Di Garda too from the looks of this...lucky I have friends down that way..Enduro Free ride in Italy

This was what I was up to last October 2011 in Finale. Fantastico..
Finale Ligure SuperEnduro Pro6

This is  good video for showing more of the terrain and how the top riders do it, unlike me!

Finale SuperEnduro top riders on trail.

Couple of excellent and inspiring videos

Steep and Technical with amazing scenery

This is just inspirational. Never give up, there is usually a way..

Northshore with one arm...amazing

A weekend in Wales

The variety of life. I spent the weekend in Wales friends and members of our mountaineering club at a mountain hut. Young and old(er) people, all very active in mind and body. I always enjoy the banter at these meets and the wide range of interests and characters. It was Neil, Ian and me, planning to ride all weekend where everyone else was there for the hiking. We arrived on the Friday evening in the camper loaded up with bikes after a 3hr drive into the Welsh mountains. The Hut was very full so Neil and I were in the camper. After a good evening sampling steak and ale pie and chips washed down with real ale down the local pub it was time to retire, a days biking ahead. Up with the roof on the 'Dub. It looked like a clear if rapidly cooling night. Pretty soon, as is customary for both a 'boys' weekend and mountain weather things soon deteriorated. 40mph winds, driving rain and a bit of snow for good measure, swept in. The van was shaking side to side with the wind and Neil decided that 'downstairs' was a better option, even if it meant being a lot closer to me and my bio gas production plant; freshly stocked with pie and real ale! One of the few times where you could 'hear' the wind down the valley before you felt it hit. According to Neil both from inside and out!

Saturday dawned and it was horridble(sic); driving rain, misty, low visibility and still windy. None of us felt up for a good ride, but the forecast was for it to clear by lunchtime so we headed out after a leisurely breakfast towards Penmachno and the trails in the Gwydyr Forest near to Betws-y-Coed. After a stop in Betws for a Welsh cake and some trail supplies (Waterproof shorts for Neil) it was time to head out, the weather, whilst cold, had cleared.

We got the bikes out, a trio of Nicolai full sussers, and got changed. I had forgotten all my over shorts! Just lycra and waterproof trousers in my bag. This was to prove a fortunate error!

We headed out and the trail went up and up and up. all the rain had left lots of standing and running water, the trails were firm with plenty of rocks but it was like riding in a stream, pretty hard going and very cold. Soon everyones feet were water logged and cold but I was the only one without frozen legs too. Luck not judgement.

Plenty of single track, some fire road and then suddenly towards the end of the ride freezing rain, hail and snow! it didn't matter, the last two descents were fantastic single track fun.

No doubt this would be a lot more fun in the dry but it was worth it to be out in the hills and for the last two descents. Ace. 

We had a man down on one of the corners during the last descent but he seemed ok. I really enjoyed the trail and was happy with the 29er ride, different but good. Ian was out on his new AM and getting the setup sorted. Seemed to be enjoying himself.

After emptying out the freezing water from our socks and getting warmed up in the camper van some nice hot homemade Butternut squash soup was the order of the day.

Back at the hut we had a great evening with plenty of food and drink. Lancashire hotpot went down a treat for Neil and I whilst everyone else pulled together with a Pork chop, apple and cider dish. Looked good.

Sunday dawned with fresh snow but clear. We packed up and headed for the trails at Llandegla, unfortunately only to find they were closed due to snow, added to this, it turns out Neils 'off' the previous day had injured his shoulder more than he realised so as an expression of solidarity we elected to get lunch and return to the family early for a Sunday roast dinner...

Not a bad way to spend a weekend. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Great ride last night. Real dirt again, ice and snow all gone. Grippy, a nice feeling. The Nicolai 29er surprised me by feeling pretty much as described by Richard, who has leant it to me. Not sure why I was surprised but I was.

I feel my geometry choices for the custom have been vindicated based upon my experience, even on a short local ride with just a few steeps but rough natural sections. I do want a slightly slacker head angle than standard and I expect to want the 140mm fork. I'll know more after the weekends testing in Wales.

Thinking about racing/events and holidays for 2012 now. A nice place to be I think. Links to some of the events and sites I'm watching on the right....

My training has been going pretty badly so far. That has to change..Tuesday is the day...

Managed to build up the Nicolai Helius AC29 test bike last night. Provided by Gravity Sports a bike shop near Buckie in Scotland who have given me great service over the last year or so. So many thanks to them. You don't find Helius AC29 demo bikes in very many places..

Initial impressions are very good. Much like Guitar Teds Review suggested it would be. Looking forward to a proper test in Wales soon. The last time I was rocking big wheels in big terrain was on a slightly different beast. The Jones Rigid Spaceframe..

Nicolai are building me a custom version of the AC29 as I type (I hope) it has quite a lot of changes but the feel should be pretty close. I've christened it the AC29 Enduro. Original I know...

For the engineers amongst you, heres what's headed this way later in the year..more to come on this I'm sure..

Monday, how did it get here. The weekend passes so quickly. Another weekend to remind me of the importance of friends and family and how they enrich your life. My children definitely conform to the old adage that children spell 'love' TIME! Saturday involved watching my 8yr old singing in the town centre as part of her Scout group followed by vegetable shopping. I think its very important to show them how important it is to cook from quality ingredients and how much of a pleasure cooking can be.

My wife prepared a fantastic celeriac soup and then a nice mushroom risotto followed by an evening on the Sofa snuggled with the family.  A simple but oh so great pleasure.My once cooking averse wife I think can even derive some small pleasure from her culinary competance and the look of enjoyment on others' faces..

Saturday was finished off putting the finishing touches to a friends bike in the garage. It was so cold my electric screw driver stopped working!

I've been tinkering in the garage with my best friend for 30yrs now. There are few things I enjoy more than a bit of time in the garage fixing/building stuff with a real ale just discussing life the universe and everything with good friends. Usually such things as his rather 'unique' sense of style, with examples like grip shifts on an All Mountain bike. A style crime if ever there was one!

Sunday started at 5.45am getting ready for a sub zero snowy and Icy mtb ride. Great fun was had and dinner was earned.

Dinner in the afternoon. My girls made me proud, they're 5 and 8, eating their veg., behaving well, conversing with our friends confidently. The food could have been better, but the company was lovely.

A good weekend, I slept soundly, reminded of lifes simple pleasures, finished by my favourite end to any day, just looking at my children with pride,  tucked in bed, well fed, safe and soundly asleep. We are truly very lucky.

Monday began with the 'postie' bringing goodies. A nice Nicolai AC29 to try out this week. Can't wait for that. Thankfully my amazing wife got out of bed to answer the door. I'm not always great in the morning, something I need to get better at if thats possible! Followed by the obligatory toast from home made bread
 and coffee from Hasbean coffee just fantastic, ethically sourced, freshly roasted to order coffee. Can't recommend it enough.

Looking forward to a good week and a great weekend to come. Hopefully eroding some of that engrained procrastination for things less appealing, ultimately delivering a more contented, quieter mind....

So I guess some sort of explanation for the title of this blog is in order. Post creation I understand there are links to railway carriages and people/horse capacity in the 20th century. I'm not that obscure!
48.8mm is the chain line of a standard Shimano Industries mountain bike crankset. The specific distance from the centreline of the bicycle to the centreline of the designated chainring of the crank where the chain will sit straight when in the middle position on the rear cassette. There you are.

The name Chainline stuck when I was spending much time specifying a certain bespoke bicycle I once had the pleasure of owning. That bike was a Jones Spaceframe, very nice. I laboured for many hours trying to figure out how I could run both a Rohloff internal hub or a cassette on it...I never did fir a Rohloff.

Had a good day yesterday. Made a nice loaf of bread at lunchtime, free drop boule. It came out well. I get a lot of satisfaction from making food from scratch.

I also whipped up a great Toad in the Hole with Rare Breed Tamworth sausages from a local farm and Yorkshire pudding made from scratch, buttery mashed potato and garden peas, topped off with onion gravy, with my secret ingredient, Shoyo sauce. Lovely.

Fisnished the day off with a night ride with a friend in freezing temperatures and snow. Slithering on frozen Sn(ow)ice with a fresh blanket. We stayed upright and had fun, can't ask for much more than that. The Nicolai RC I have recently built was great.







I've had a few thoughts on how to address lifes complications and my feelings of 'not enough time in the day'. Lists always spring to mind. I'm good at lists. Of course the problem is how to address them. That always leads me to think of populating my diary well in advance. But I'm just not great at routine. I must try and improve on that. I'm sure once its all out of the way. I will be able to relax....

Initiation

I've been thinking of creating a blog for about 3 years now.  My brain is in constant motion, I feel like I have parallel streams of thoughts and ideas that are constantly changing. This makes it very difficult for people who know me sometimes as I frequently assume they know what I'm talking about when I jump between subjects, often randomly,  asking opinion on thoughts I then realise have only occurred inside my head.
I'm also pretty hard on myself, always feeling like there isn't enough time in the day. Often dissatisfied with what I've achieved. Have I got the balance right?  Sometimes I'm paralysed by all the things I think I should be doing or have done.
So why the blog? I'm pretty goal driven, If I have a goal or target I do not want to fail. I want to articulate some of the thoughts and goals that I have. To document and reflect on them, to take action to make my, and my family and friends', life better, to feel better about myself either through acceptance or achievement.

Only time will tell if I'll succeed .

Thats the serious stuff over with. I'm also going to share some of my experiences and opinions on the thing in life that interest me riding bikes, engineering, photography, food and anything else that comes along..