Winter run to Braemar and Gopro upgrades.

 

January! New year, same me but possible a new bike! More on that in the future, but first have a look at some of these photos. They were taken by my mate John on the way up to Braemar. We had booked some of the excellent cabins up at Braemar campsite for this years winter run. Braemar is in the Cairngorms just north of Glenshee and the Cairnwell Pass, the highest public road in Scotland. It's a great run on the bike, even in winter and it's always funny sitting with the skiers having a bite to eat.

We had lunch with Tim at the top of the pass before we rode down to Braemar. As we pulled up to the campsite Yachtmaster turned up having ridden down from Caithness. A few hours later Snake and Ferg arrived. They'd also ridden down from Caithness but on much smaller bikes. Ferg on a newly acquired CG125 and Snake on a tiny CBR125. A few hours after that Lewis and Richie arrived. They were in a car as Lew was heading back from college. The weekend was spent mostly drinking and talking pish with very little biking being done. I'll get a video edited together and get it up on youtube soon.

 

Thanks to John and Ferg for the photos.

I've also got a new microphone set up for the Gopro. Now I can get the sound of the bikes rather than just wind noise. I tried it out on the C90 while showing off my bling new wheels.

That's it for now. More to come in February, I might even share my new bike!!

Mike

I'm still here!! Films and laziness.

I've still been doing plenty biking but admittedly I've been piss poor on the blogging front, but I have an excuse! I've been trying to up my YouTube game. I'll get right in and showcase what I've been doing, starting with Cubs2Colonsay!

If you're one of the few folk who regularly read my blog, you may remember this trip from way back in 2015. Well, as indicated at the end of this post we had a plan, and that plan was Cubs2Colonsay. This is where I'll direct you to the first in the series of the YouTube videos. Remember and set the quality to maximum for the full viewing experience.

The first video is just me gibbering pish, but the following three feature lots of bike riding and calamity as we prepare the bikes and figure out the best way to travel on our wee, underpowered Honda Cubs. The fourth video is a bit longer and includes a shakedown camping trip.

If you've made is this far then thank you and well done. Hit that subscribe button and all that. This next video is a bit of an epic so grab a coffee, open a cold beer, roll a fat one, grab some snacks or do whatever you do, sit back and enjoy........ Cubs2Colonsay The Movie. It's a long one!

Please leave any feedback you like. It's always good to see what folk think of my videos. Here's a few of the photos from the trip.

I've been away on the Africa Twin a fair bit too, I'm still editing all the footage into something. All this writing blogs and making YouTube videos takes loads of time but I really will try and remember to post stuff. Here's some photos and a video from a run to Kinloch Hourn, another place I'd not visited for ages. We had a night there followed by one in Braemar.

Loch Hourn

Freezing fog rolling down towards Braemar

So for 2022 I'm going to set a target at one post a month for the blog, even if it's just a moaning rant about how crap new bikes are or something. If you want to help my motivation or tell me to get my finger out my arse and get posting you can do so on YouTube or find me on Instagram @yodagoat.

More soon, honestly.

Mike

Riding on ice

I get pretty excited when we get snow. I've always enjoyed driving, riding bikes and cycling on the white stuff. We've had a few dumping's recently but instead of taking the C90 out this time I used the XR. I wanted to get a spin on it to properly try out the new Supertraap pipe. I had visions of drifting around, gracefully spraying plumes of powder everywhere. Unfortunately what I found was that everything had frozen into one giant ice cube. Still, it made for a funny video.....

   

Mike

Timmelsjoch Top Mountain Crosspoint Motorcycle Museum fire.

There's been some photos and video appearing on social media showing the Mountain Crosspoint museum on the Timmelsjoch pass engulfed in flames. I've been unable to get any further information or find out if any of the bikes were saved. It's a huge loss if not. Joe and I visited a couple of years ago when we stayed at Sölden. It was a great experience and there were some very rare old bikes in the collection. If you hear any more can you let  me know?

UPDATE:

Here's the video. It looks pretty bad.

Mike

November rain.

 Back in November our area dropped to level 2 covid restrictions so HB and I decided to get away for a couple of nights. I was pretty desperate to get away on the bike so I took the K75 while HB kept nice and warm in her car. I serviced the K75 and treated as much of the bike as I could with ACF50 in an attempt to keep the damage from the salt at bay.

We decided to posh things up. We'd booked the Applecross Inn and Tim's big cabin at Strontian. Covid restrictions, the lack of daylight and freezing temperatures meant I had to take the most direct route to Applecross. Usually I'd do my best to avoid the A9 between Perth and Inverness but this time I was so grateful to be able to get away on the bike I actually enjoyed it. It was however, freezing. It was wet for a fair chunk of the run too. I rode from East Lothian to Inverness in one go and by the time I got to the cafe in Tiso at Inverness I was properly shivering. I felt much better and warmer after I'd eaten half the food in the cafe and I set off once again.

Inverness to Applecross was a pleasant run. I was hoping for a nice sunset from the top of the Bealach Na Ba. Unfortunately the teaser at Tornapress was clouded out at the top. Still, it was a nice run over and it was great to get down into Applecross.

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We had a quiet but good night in the Inn. It was good to catch up with Judy and the folk at Applecross. The weather was cold but sunny the following day making for a really nice run to Strontian. HB was a bit concerned about the icy conditions on the Bealach Na Ba but I never noticed it apart from a few frozen puddles.

Judy Fish MBE loves the K75.

It was a cold run down but I really enjoyed it. I even seen a few other bikes out and about. The salt on the roads may wreck your bike but the scenery makes up for it. We had another good night at Strontian, discussing plans and hopes for 2021. We're still hoping to have the Sunart Wildcat rally, although we'll be waiting till it's deemed safe to do so before we announce anything.

It was another freezing run home the next day. Once back the K75 got a good wash down and I warmed back up with a long shower. I had the Gopro so I'll knock up a YouTube video which I'll post up here later on.

Mike