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!

Riding to Work Could Damage Your Health

Here's a link to the STV news report on the train crash... That's me with the bike pack and the muddy face!

So I've been riding down to the station these past few weeks, getting the train into Inverness then riding out to where I work. I use my Specialized Hardrock singlespeed conversion for the journey (it's mostly road riding) and I love it, it means I get to ride so much more than I would usually in the winter and it helps me to make sure my fitness is there for racing when the sun comes out.

It's been difficult for the past couple of weeks riding on 4 inches of ice on the cycle paths but I figure if I can do it now it's only going to get easier as the days get longer and the air temperature begins to climb...

So the riding is wonderful, and actually getting the train is nicer than driving for 2 hours a day (although I have to get up at 5.50am to get to the station on time!). The only issue has been getting home... last week the train was totally cancelled on one occasion and then on Friday night... WE CRASHED!!!!

That's correct, my efforts to spend more time on my bike have resulted in my being in a train crash. The train derailed outside Dingwall station on Friday night and we were suddenly surrounded by dozens of Fire crew, Police and Ambulance crew. It was all pretty exciting, starting with a massive bang, followed by the train snaking along the gravel, clearly no longer attached to the rails...  The only nervous moment came when we all felt that the train was beginning to tip onto its side, but as we came to a halt and realised that we were still upright everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The whole thing was actually a pretty exciting experience, nearly as much adrenalin as riding downhill at Golspie.

Well it hasn't put me off. The trains were cancelled for a couple of days whilst they sorted the tracks and got the train cleared, but it's all fixed now.

The best thing about it is that when I got the train this morning it was strangely quiet and there were lots of empty seats to choose from...

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...