Merry Christmas!!

Its the big day tomorrow and thank fuck I'm feeling a bit better. the doc has me on loads of drugs after I was floored by a chest infection on Monday. I've been in bed for 3 days solid and haven't left the house in 5 days. I'm getting cabin fever!
Before I was ill I managed to get out for a pedal in the snow with some mates. My mate Bruce made a wee video of the cycle here. Look out for my purple face in the video.

Its still pretty cold here, its been between -10 and -4, so now I'm feeling better I'm staying in beside the stove and having a white russian. 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Winterproofing the C90.

With the weather very slightly warmer I decided to check the bodywork on the C90 to see how much rust treatment I'll have to do to stop it all rusting away when I take it to the snow on the salty roads. The C90 was running a wee bit temperamental the last time it was out and its wasn't starting at all, so I whipped the plug out to check it. It was a wee bit black which makes me think its running a bit rich. I had been farting around with the idle screw on the carb as the 90 had been idling to quick, then after my adjustment, not ticking over at all. Bastard. Anyhoo, its still getting a good spark so the plug is fine. The choke cable needs replaced though as its really sticky, this might have been causing the rich running if the choke has been stuck on a wee bit.

The rear indicators took a fair hammering when the C90 was used as a trials bike back in July, it was crashed by a fair few folk but sustained no damage apart from breaking the all ready half-fucked-and-sagging rear indicators. Faither recons he can fix them, but I think I'll have to replace the rubber stalks which go for pretty cheap on the bay.

Getting the back wheel off was a piece of piss, or it would have been if I'd read the manual properly and disconnected the brake properly. Instead I spent ten minutes hauling away at the wheel while it was still attached to the bike, what a bell end!

When I finally got the wheel off I was quite surprised a what good condition the bike is in. Under the dirt its pretty solid with only some surface rust here and there. The guy I bought it of had kept the bike in a corner of his garage for over seven years, but it looks like it never seen a winter on the road before that. This is all good, and rust proofing should make it last for ever!

Its easier with a pint of homebrew!

So next I have to decide what to paint the underside with. I'll give it a good clean and paint it with some sort of anti rust stuff and then waxoil on top of that. I'm sure all the folk on the C90 Club forum will point me in the right direction.

Eastern Bloc.

Faithir has got himself a new project. An MZ 250 ETZ! Its a proper eastern european utility bike, 2 stroke with an enclosed chain and a huge big rack on the back. I went round to see it last night.

Left foot kick-start.

Buuuaaaaaam bum bum buum                 bum bum bubububuuuum.

Check out the size of the brake lever!!

Disk brake with a Brembo caliper.

Thats the Guzzi I rode a few weeks ago on the left. 

It never came with a battery but I had a spare in the shed so I took it round. My Dad reconed he'd have it going in no time with a quick clean of the carb and fuel system.
Sure enough he phoned me tonight and......

I got out on the push bike for a wee pedal with Dave this afternoon, the first cycle in over a week. The trails are still pretty fucked with the ice though. Sometimes cycling through that is like trying to shit on the ceiling! Its forecast for more cold so no let up yet.

C90 plans are going well though.....

Mair Snow!

Its still been snowing loads here. The car is stuck in the drive because the snowplough blocks me in when its clears the snow from the main street but I managed to get to work thanks to Treeman picking me up. Here's a bunch of pics I've taken while out and about to show how snowy it is.

I've still been attempting to go cycling. I'm quite impressed at the amount of grip I'm getting with my tyres that are meant to be for dry dusty conditions. I'm getting more grip than I do in the mud! Its a different story in deep snow which is impossible but thanks to folk dragging their kids about on sledges the trails have compact snow in the midldle of them, but if you go off these bits its up to the axles in snow. HB even had a shot of the bike on the Winton Estate which now has much more grip on it than GHC experienced due to all the snow, rather than the ice rink it was before. The other thing thats been hindering me is the gear cables, they freeze up and stop the rear mech working, so I can't go up the gears. I usually only need first gear anyway as I find it easier to keep going if my legs are spinning quite fast. I've stole my mum's spare hairdryer to defrost them after a run.

HB on the 456

That was yesterday, I recon we had another half a foot of snow today!

More Snow Fun.

Ben phoned me yesterday and told me that Farmer Bob had hooked a tractor inner tube up to the back of his quad, so me and HB jumped in the car and went doon for a shot.

This is Matt in the ring taking big Aaron down good style.

I jumped on the back of the quad and got this video of Ben and Morton.

Fucking great fun.

Snaw!

Its been snowing pretty heavily here for this time of year, apparently its been the worst November snow we've seen for the past 17 years with around 5cm lying outside my Mum and Dads while HB and myself were in there having a beer. In my half pissed state I immediately wanted to get out on the snow on some wheels. The GS isn't allowed out in winter, the C90 isn't prepared for it yet so that left the pushbike! So I went home and dragged it out to play in the snow at 1 in the morning, then stopped back it at my Folk's to finish my beer. My Ma wasn't very impressed by the big puddle of melted snow on the floor, I tell thee!

I had organised a wee pedal round the Lammermuirs with Euan, GHC and my Dad the next day, but due to the weather no one wanted to drive into the hills. (and it was getting late as GHC was possibly buying a new bike and Euan was buying fish) So we went for one of the regular local trails.

It was good going to start with but the weather soon closed in on us......

...but fucked off again by the time we got to Saltoun woods. The light made everything look amazing and I kept stopping to take pictures every 5 seconds. I was also pretty amazed at the amount of grip I was getting in the snow. Over the past few weeks I have really been sliding around in the mud and toiling for traction, but on the snow it was all good. Sick!

the bikes

GHC in the woods

Bike porn.

Euan, Dad and GHC

We carried on and all was grand. Untill GHC had a bit of an off on a steep bit. I was watching everyone come down the hill while getting my camera out when I heard him sort of shout "HUP!"

That was his judo training. The "HUP!" was him getting ready to slam into the ground after flying over the bars.

My Dad  "helping" GHC

GHC went on to have two more crashes, none of them his fault though (I cant say more for legal reasons). Everyone enjoyed the snow rides and I'll definitely be up for a few more.

Glentress snow run anyone?

A rare feed.....

I had Egor, Lee, Zul and Lee over for tea the other night so I decided to make a few meals rather than one big one. First up was my Lamb Curry. Now I'm not one to blow my own trumpet but I recon I've got this one fucking nailed. So here it is.

Marinading

First up you need the meat. This time I used half a leg of lamb still on the bone. I cut loads of wee slits in the meat and stuff wee slithers of garlic in them. Then I made a marinade out of a few big spoon fulls of yogurt, some turmeric, coriander, some other spices and a fair bit of freshly ground cumin. Alternatively you can use some garam masalla. Rub this lot into your meat and leave it to marinade in the fridge overnight.

The next day you need to fry some chopped ginger, chilli and garlic, along with two big onions and a red or yellow pepper. After frying for a couple of minutes take a scoop of onions and put them in the bottom of a casserole dish and put the lamb on top, leave the rest of the onions frying till they are nice and soft.

Put this in the oven for four hours.

Once the onions are done add in a tin of chopped tomatoes, fry for a wee bit and pour over the lamb. Crumble a lamb stock cube over the whole lot, chuck in a couple of bay leaves, put the lid on the casserole dish and chuck it in the oven at around 150c for four hours. When you take it out use two forks to pull the meat off the bone. It should come apart real easy. Sprinkle some chopped coriander over the top and its done.

Next up, Beer Can Chicken.

Done

This one is a bit easier. Take one can of beer and drink half of it. Cut the top of the can off (I chucked the leftovers from the chopped ginger and chilli into the beer at this point.) Take one chicken. Shove the beer can up its ,ahem, cavity. Rub skin of chicken in your chosen spice mix/marinade. Cook. I cooked mine on a roasting try straight on the coals in the BBQ. The idea is the beer steams the chicken from the inside and the BBQ gives it a nice crispy smoky outside. It should take about an hour to cook a chicken this way.

UCI

I've also picked up this UCI (Unexplainable Cycling Injury) on my leg. I dunno where it came from, and I don't remember doing anything to hurt myself. Its not sore or anything so it wont affect my cycling progress, and I end up packing it in and spending all my time slobbing about. Like Brian does every day.

Lazy tortoise