Trail Cycle Leader... that's me!

                                 View from the window...

A couple of weeks ago I had a fantastic time on the Trail Cycle Leader Course (TCL) at Glenmore Lodge down in Aviemore. The two day course led by George McEwan (who was a great teacher) leads to an assessment day that will see me qualified to guide groups of mountain bikers on terrain that is rideable over 90-95% of the total length' in daylight conditions.

                 Our Tutor George with fellow course member Darren


Following this qualification there is a second more complex course that results in the qualification of Mountain Bike Leader (MBL). The course was well structured and well presented, with a good mix of classroom activities and practical riding. Glenmore Lodge is a fantastic facility based at the foot of Cairngorm with some great little trails in its grounds (including some fun north shore) and, of course, hundreds of miles of great mountain trails right on the doorstep. 

                                  Got to practice those track stands....

                                           Nice room!


If you ever get the opportunity to take any of the courses at Glenmore Lodge, I would highly recommend the place. The rooms are excellent (probably the best shower I've ever had in my life), the food is very good indeed and the bar serves fantastic Cairngorm Brewery Ale on tap... What more could you want after a full day in the saddle?

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Glenmore Lodge and also thanks to the Highland Council Outdoor Activities department who fully funded the course for me. I even loved being woken up by ducks at 6.00am ready to go out riding... I can't wait to go back! 

                                                           Noisy Duck!

Garmin over all excited...

I've been trying out my new Garmin Edge 205 over the past week or so and I'm pleased with it so far. I need to get to grips with the finer features of the device but so far it logs onto the satellites quickly and seems accurate in use. It's great to have a computer on the bike that doesn't need a sensor on the forks or spokes, and therefore has no complicated setup or installation. It really is a case of just fit and go.

The only issue with this is that it doesn't know whether the wheels are moving or not, I got on the train yesterday and glanced down to see the speed registering 73 mph and the calories at 2346...

The Edge 205 has lots of interesting functions for me to get excited about, including the ability to race yourself over a set course. I'll be posting a full review of the Garmin Edge 205 as soon as I get used to using it.

Snow Falls...

Ah, the last day of freedom before returning to work. If work opens tomorrow that is, latest news is that the car park and pavements around the buildings may be too icy to allow access... we can but hope. All the snow is still here, although we've had no new falls up here for several days. The temperature is so low and the ground is so cold now that nothing is melting. Altnaharra, just to the north of us has recorded an incredible low temperature of -22.3C and the temperature here at night is generally between -7C and -10C. Still, it means more fun snow riding for us. I'm posting a wee video of my friend and I out on our local hill. It's not a video of us riding as such... more a video of us falling. We were wondering how soft the snow would be if we fell into it in a crash, so we decided to throw ourselves into a few drifts to find out. I'm planning on riding to the station tomorrow to get the train to Inverness, then riding out to where I work. Wish me luck...

Out in the Snow

Went up the local trails in deep snow. When I say deep I really mean it, check out the pictures, it was over my knees in places!

The fresh snow was supersoft and we found it really hard to get traction a lot of the time. The real difficulty was just getting going, once we were on the move we could keep it up until we hit a soft patch and then to rear wheel just dug in...

Coming down was the most fun as riding up was pretty hard. We felt like big bike freeriders having to push our bikes up slopes just to get the ride down. The great thing was that the falls didn't hurt, as we just crashed out into big drifts.

In the end we decided to see how far we could throw ourselves in the air and land without pain and spent a happy half our off our bikes just throwing ourselves into deep drifts for a while.

I have been using some of the new kit I got over the Christmas period and I'll post some mini reviews of the gear in the next wee while when I've given it enough time to work or break.

The snow up here gets deeper and deeper. I know the rest of the country seems to be catching up a little but we've had snow since the 19th December with no thaw. Each time it snows it just builds and builds. It's actually getting a bit boring now as it's making it hard to get out and really ride trails. We still give it a go though and we're getting more and more used to riding in snow now...

Jack Rides Bikes

I ride bikes. I love riding bikes. I'm lucky enough to live in the far North of Scotland with some of the best riding the nation has to offer right on my doorstep and even more great rides just down the road. I live just minutes from some amazing trail centres, like the Highland Wildcat at Golspie and the Balblair Black route and I can chuck my bikes on the back of the car and be at Fort William in an hour or so. I'm a lucky, lucky mountain biker.

So this is my mountain blog. I'll be trying to log most of my riding, reviewing all the new bits of kit I get my mits on, posting pics and videos of the amazing riding up here and doing my best to help show the sheer wonderfulness of the place I live and how awesome it is to get out and ride.

Let's do it.