Big day out. Happy as Larry.

My mate Andy had got himself a new pair of tyres for his Salsa Mukluk so I bought his old one off him, a Surly Larry. The difference the Larry has made to the Pugsley is phenomenal! It grips in the mud where the old Endomorph on the front used to slither about all over the shop. Now I can belt down muddy trails with less chance of smashing into trees and stuff. Sweeet!

To try out my new tyre I headed out for what was going to be the longest cycle of my adult life. 

I headed to Longniddry and rode the John Muir Way to Aberlady where I met up with Andy. From there we headed out to Aberlady Bay. Usually I would head along to the submarines out on the sands but the tide was in. Instead we headed along to Gullane following the trails through the dunes and dropping onto the beach where we could. 

The subs are right in the middle of that.

High tide at Aberlady Bay

After Gullane we crawled over the rocks to Yellowcraigs, the big balloon tyres keep rolling where you think you're going to stall out. We were trying to figure out if a particular section was passable with the tide being so high (the sound of the waves on the rocky beach was amazing!) when along came this lady carrying her dog. She had got her feet wet and had nearly lost her dog the tide was that high. Andy and I new better though and carried on. Hardcore.

Just as we got to the end of the rocky bit my front brake started to make a funny clicking sound. A quick inspection showed my brake pads to be nearly non existent. Shiiit. Luckily the next few miles to North Berwick weren't too heavy on the brakes. When we got to North Berwick I went to see Dave at Law Cycles. Being a Fatbike shop I had no trouble getting hooked up with a new pair of pads. Cheers Dave! I also caught up with Dave's brother and  fellow Pugsley rider Eddie. It was good to shoot the shit for a while while I refueled with a pie, some cakes and a can of Bru.

Listen to the waves on the rocks.

Fux ake.

Andy on the tools.

We rode along this. Hard Core.

http://www.lawcycles.co.uk/

With the sun beginning to go down we headed along the coast towards Seacliff. Andy never had any lights with him so he headed back to Aberlady when we got to Tantallon Castle and I carried on to Seacliff beach myself. Seacliff is one of the  nicest beaches in East Lothian with great views of the Bass Rock. I had the place to myself farted around doing wheelies for a while. A posh surfer dude came along so I spoke to him for a wee while before heading over the Scoughall rocks to Peffersands and Tyningham. Some of the rocks were pretty slippy and I was aware that if I fell and fucked myself up it would be a wee while before someone else would come along so I took it steady and carefully. 

The Bass Rock

Tantallon Castle and the Bass Rock.

Seacliff.

Heading homewards I rode through Tyninghame Estate, loads of deer jumping around in the fields and on through Binning Wood. It was getting dark and I was beginning to feel fucked. I had planned to ride through Ashfield after Binning Wood but I got lost and ended up in the garden of some big stately home. The folk inside eating their dinner looked pretty miffed to see me cycling around the place. 

I put my lights on and followed the road to Haddington. I figured I would drop in on my mate Bruce to scrounge a coffee and some biscuits, and use his pump to inflate the Pugsley's tyres to make it a bit easier going on the road but he wasn't in. By this point my legs were fucked, I was slowing right down on the climbs and I was getting colder and colder. I put my waterproof on in Haddington which warmed me up a bit and took the back road home as there would be less traffic on it. Just as I was at the top of the last climb a massive shooting star lit the sky up. Awesome!

I got home having done nearly 50 miles. I was abso fucking lutely fucked. I had nothing left. I jumped in the shower to warm up and get cleaned up and HB made me a massive plate of curry washed down with a big glass of fresh orange and lemonade. 

I destroyed this.

I had my Gopro with me so here's the film I made of my ride. Remember and click the wee sprocket and put it up to HD.