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

Bikes!!

I've not updated my blog for a wee while but don't worry, I've kept myself busy. I've been doing a fair bit of night cycling in the local woods, but its been that fucking wet and muddy I've not taken my camera out to get piccys. The GS is pretty much off the road for winter, so that'll be getting a proper service over the next few months and the C90 will be getting winterproofed anytime soon. i just need to buy a rear knobbly tyre and new rear indicators. I've also got a couple of top recipes to share, so I'll post them up soon.
In the meantime check out this ace video I found.

Mountain Bike versus Motorbike from Amped Clothing on Vimeo.

I'm that good on both those kinds of bikes. No, honestly I am. Sometimes. Maybe. I am.


Not really.

Magicshites

I got my new lights for my push bike. I went for the new magicshine from Deal Extreme. It worked out at around £60 for the light. Thats pretty good considering most push bike lights suitable for off road use cost at least double that.

To put it simply these lights are fucking brilliant, I went for a wee run round the Winton Estate and down through the woods. They give more than enough light to see where your going and what hazards are coming at you. I took some pictures but they don't really show how good these things are.

the blue ball is an alien spaceship. Not a lens reflection.

On the back of my wee trial my mate Nickleback has ordered one of these and Woody is about to, so we'll see how they fair with the magicshines.

Now all we need is for the rain to stop.

California dreaming...

Had a wee shot of my Dad's latest project, a Moto Guzzi California. I took it a spin round the back roads before he strips it all down to tart it up. Like most Guzzis its a traverse V twin which sounds pretty good even with the standard pipes. The induction roar gets quite addictive. I was expecting it to handle like a sausage due to its size, but its actually pretty good. One I got used to it I was quite enjoying winging around the back roads on it. I was bombing down this wee road up near 'kinchie past a bit where I had to swerve through a herd of deer that jumped out on me on the C90, this got me thinking "I wonder what it would be like if I had to slam on the brakes?" Hmmmm


I went round a corner



and...



there was a fucking muckle herd of coos!!

I fair shat myself but the Guzzi stopped in time. The farmer even said "Must have gid brakes on that!"

Moto Guzzi. Surprisingly gid fun.

I enjoyed the Guzzi a lot more than I thought I would, if someone offers you a shot of one take it. You might be surprised.

My insurance on the phone I lost came though. They never had my phone in stock so the upgraded me to the uberfone. This thing does fucking EVERYTHING. It can even tell where I've been. You can see the map and stats for my cycle today here. This will be pretty useful for me. I'll be able to tell where I've been every time I get lost. Sick