Warm winds for the last few days have done a nice job of drying the trails out and we made fast progress to the top. Aviemore looked pretty and twinkly below us, and there was an awesome orange moon which made the clouds look orange too – shame nobody had a camera. This is what it looks like in daylight:

Out riding were me, Fraser, Andy, Ollie, Dawid, other David (remarkably fresh after the Strathpuffer) and Iain. Rode some trails which were new to a few of the riders and I was happy to make my first no-dabs descent of a slabby section which always scares me. It’s funny how trails sometimes feel easier at night…

Setting off from the shop with ice spiker tyres rattling away, I began to think I’d made the wrong tyre choice… untill we hit the start of the trails proper where they came into their own!

It's a bit icy...

Fraser makes the most of the conditions

The main climb up through the forest was covered in a sheet of melting ice. I was delighted with the performance of the Ice Spikers – don’t think I’ve ever gone up that hill so quickly, it felt like riding slickrock!

I like ice tyres now...

None of the other Wednesday nighters (Fraser, Ben, Jim and Olly) were as sensibly shod and had to push most of the way.

It'll be worth it for the descent!

Higher up, we encountered deep, heavy snow so everyone was pushing, and we decided to cut things short.

Santa put in appearance with some christmas pudding (hot!), Jim had some mince pies and Ben supplied the malt whisky. Splendid.

Fun, slidy ride back down then over to the top of our planned singletrack descent. We thought it would be fine as natural singletrack doesn’t get packed down like surfaced trails.

Unfortunately, as mentioned before, we hadn’t reckoned on storm damage from the other week, most of the trails around here didn’t seem to be affected too badly, although Laggan Wolftrax needed a lot of tree clearing.

Attack of the giant Xmas pudding

The whole top section of the trail has disappeared under fallen tree after fallen tree, we kept thinking it would get better, but gave up in the end…

The alternative way down some old double track wasn’t much better, but at least everyone got to do some riding.

Encouraged, we headed up for one last singletrack descent, no tree damage here at all, though the final part where you have to hop over a stream turned out to be a major challenge…

What now?

The ford over the Milton Burn was about as deep as I’ve ever seen it, but we all made it across fine.

All good character building stuff, at least we got out there and did it!

Now most of the snow and ice has gone from the  tracks, and I’m sure the trail fairies will be out in force over the next while to return things to their former glory.

Happy Christmas!

Moonlander in a box

Moonlander out of the box

Rob from Backcountry Biking had been waiting for this one since he had an epiphany riding Iona’s Pugsley, so a call was made and he was over here before you could say ‘Fat Bike frenzy!’

Plans have already been hatched for Winter epics through the Lairig Ghru (return on pack rafts down the Feshie) and Summer jaunts round the Uists… Stay tuned here and over at Backcountry Biking for ride reports and comparisons between the Pugsley and Moonlander (fat vs FAT)

Moonlander in the bike shed at Bothy Bikes

Moonlander and Pugsley share a berth

Here’s a link to the Surly site for some more info. A complete Moonlander will costs £1999 and if you’d like one there should be more arriving at the end of January, and we’d be delighted to order one for you!

In the meantime, if you’d like to have a ride on a Pugsley, we have a 20″ bike you can try in the snow!

I’d have liked to have had more posts detailing the move (and rides we’ve done, and new stuff we’ve got in etc, etc) but here’s a few pics to be going on with:

Russwood delivering the floor

Luckilly Fraser and Ben popped by to help!

Fraser and Jim fitting slatwall

Aahhh...

Amazing the things you find when you're moving; Rob discovers SSWC 2007 memorabilia

Thank you everyone who gave up their time to help with the move. Here's Mette, Jim, Gordon, Fraser, Rob, Andy and Ben - helping instead of riding (it was Wednesday night)

Some 29ers, clothing and a flying road bike

We have stuff displayed!

November is always a time of change here at Bothy Bikes: summer staff leave for winter slopes, most of our hire bikes go to new homes and we start preparing for whatever winter will throw at us.

This year there’s more than ever going on. Phil has left to live in Edinburgh and Fraser has joined us as his replacement, but the really big news is that after 7 years at Rothiemurchus we’re moving to new premises in Aviemore.

We’ll be over the other side of town at the new Dalfaber Neighbourhood Centre (you know, where the new chip shop is!)
Right now we’re fitting out the new shop and we’re looking at opening towards the end of November.
It’s a big change and a challenge, but I think it’ll be a really great place for us to be – hope we’ll see you there!
More will be posted later!

Movin’ on up

We took the bike for a quick spin around the car park and over a few rooty singletrack bits. First impressions: fun bike! Feels playful and easy to chuck around… can’t wait to take one for a proper ride!

Here’s what the designer, Chris Mandell has to say:

“The chainstays on these bikes are 415mm which are extremely short for a 29er, we actually had to remove the front derailleur compatibility for this bike to accommodate the size of tyre that you’d want to have on an all-mountain 29er and the chainstay length that we felt we needed. So that’s why this bike comes with ISCG tabs and you’ll always see it run with a singlespeed at the front, with a 9 or 10 speed cassette at the back. The bike comes specced with a 12-36 cassette so it has a really wide range good for pedalling and good for getting up hills. It also uses the Kona CC hanger, which is a replaceable sliding dropout, so if you want to run it singlespeed you’re able to.”

I think this would be a great bike for steep trails, technical terrain and big hill rides where you’re riding for the descents.

The price is £1599 for the complete bike – frame only is available from December.

This is issue 6 of Boneshaker – beautiful illustrations, thoughtful writing – a feast for the eyes and mind. You can buy it from us for just £5 plus £1 p&p.

Didn’t think we’d see these for a month or so – Fox Talas 34 140 29er Forx – whoooo!!!

Now, which bike will they go on? Salsa Horse Theif – that’s what I’m thinking!

Available next Spring-ish, order yours now! Let’s get planning that build kit!

There’s a lot of interest in Fat Bikes at the moment, and there’s no-one more interested than our Phil. This is his newly arrived Pugsley frame (Phil hasn’t seen it yet, he’s on his honeymoon – congratulations Phil and Fi!!)  We’ll keep you up to date with as it takes shape into a bike.

We’ve dabbled with Surly frames for years, getting the odd one in for customers here and there, and keeping a decent selection of bits’n'bobs in stock. They’ve been the choice ride of Phil and Duncan, formerly the fixie twins (more on that later) for a while, so some sort of commitment to the brand seemed in order. So… look out for an Ogre and a 2012 Karate Monkey as soon as they’re ready. Oh, and we’ll have a Pugsley available to demo, so you can see what all the fuss is about…

Last but not least, we’ve got some more Green Oil products in. Check out the Eco Sponge – it has a Baah Code label, ha ha!

Just tried out their Clean Chain degreaser – it’s an “anti-lube” – apply it to your chain, ride around for a while (I liked that bit) wipe, then rinse off. I’m going to put some SuperDry chain wax on then use the Eco Sponge to polish my Green Halo (TM) until it gleams as much as my chain.