the ubiquitous blog

I thought it was time for an up-date on my bike build project, which is slowly making progress. Just to recap, my project bike is based on the frame and carbon fork of a Genesis Croix de Fer (2009), which I have been given for free. Since my last blog post on this subject, I have been gathering advice and making a wish list of parts.

First up there were a few decisions to be made, such as: do I use straight bars or drops, and do I reinstate the disc brakes or do I try change to cantilever brakes? As well as this, I had to think about which chainset I would like, do I go for double or triple chain rings?

The choice of bars was easy, as I had been given a pair of Shimano STI 105 dual-control levers in a box of bits that had come with the frame. I had also been given drop bars and a stem, but these were not the ideal size for me, so I decided to replace them with some that fitted me, and by getting another pair of drops I wouldn’t need to get new levers. This did mean that I was tied in to using Shimano, but I don’t have the budget to stretch to Campagnolo anyway, nice though that would be.

Next up, reinstate the disc brakes or change to cantilever brakes? The frame and fork both have mounting points for disc brakes, but the forks don’t have mounting points for cantilever brakes, and come to think of it nor does the frame. So that is easy then, disc brakes it is! As I am going to be using drop bars and STI levers, this means that I have to use mechanical disc brakes, and I have been advised that Avid BB7 are the best, so that is sorted, too.

That leaves the chainset and the decision on double or triple chain rings. Having read around a wee bit, I found that the left STI shifter fitted to the Croix de Fer is a triple, even though in its original spec it had a double chainset. So I have the option of using a triple chainset should I wish to do so – which I do, as I am planning to be able to use the bike for touring. The next thing to decide is the range of components to buy. For the 2009 model, Genesis had fitted Shimano 105 components (for the 2010 model this was downgraded to Tiagra). But the question for me was, if I buy carefully, can I upgrade to Ultegra? Cue a web search for prices. After some hunting around for the lowest prices I discovered that I could get all the Ultegra bits I wanted for just £20 more that the 105 equivalents. Great, Ultegra it is, then.

I have been lucky with finding discontinued lines for things such as the handlebars, seat post and saddle. I had budgeted for a mid range pair of alloy handlebars, but then I came across a pair of 3TTT Carbon bars at 72% off and in the size I wanted. Together with an alloy stem they came in at £5 under budget! Looking for a saddle, I had the Selle Italia SLR on the possible list, just the standard model with titanium rails, but was delighted when a Selle Italia SLR Carbon Time Ulteam Flow version turned up at about the same price. Isn’t the internet wonderful!

One lesson I learned the hard way when bargain hunting, be quick, I saw an Ultegra Chainset Triple FC-6603 at a very good price, but wasn’t sure is it was a better buy than the FC-6604 (I still haven’t quite worked out what the difference is). So I asked advice (by e-mail) and went away for the weekend, thinking I would buy it on Monday. Sunday evening, having got home, I checked to see if it was still there, only to find that it had sold out and was discontinued, no longer available to purchase. Damn.

Looking back over the above, I realise there is something missing, the wheels. Having asked around a bit, it is generally considered the best way to get a pair of wheels is not to buy factory made ones, but to choose the components and have them hand built. Besides, finding ready made 700c disc wheels is not straightforward. I did try asking Hugh at the Tri Centre (he does a wee bit of cyclo-cross riding, so should know), but then I lost the bit of paper with his suggestion on it, when I went back and asked again, he had forgotten what he had suggested. I did consider trying to build the wheels myself, but I am on enough of a learning curve with this project as it is.

To spec up the wheel set, I decided to start with the hubs and work my way out. Probable the best disc hubs in my price range are Shimano XT Disc Hubs (six bolt), yep, back to the Japanese fishing reel maker again. OK, so Hope hubs are better, but the ones the guys in the bike shop recommended (Hope Disc Pro II) wouldn’t have left much in the pot for rims, let alone spokes and labour. Next up, spokes, well a spoke is a spoke, isn’t it? I thought I would just leave that to the wheel builder to decide. Rims, after much searching for information, I came to the conclusion that the Alex TD17 (Disc) is possibly the best rim for my purpose. It is light (for a disc rim) at only 505g, with a 17mm internal width, which allows for 25mm to 37mm tyres. But there is one small problem, I can’t find anywhere that sells just the rims. The next best disc rim option is the Mavic A317, which is heavier at 538g and, according to Mavic, take tyres between 28mm – 47mm (but I don’t think that can be right a 47mm tyre is very wide for a 17mm rim). The other option is to use Mavic Open Pro rims, technically this is wrong as theoretically disc brakes put greater torque on the rims. However, Open Pros has a reputation for being bomb proof and are widely used with disc brakes on the road. They also have the advantage of being lighter at 435g, but they are narrow at 15mm, which only allows for 23mm to 35mm tyres.

While there are still other details to sort out and I have still got a lot of stuff to buy, I feel that I am making progress…

Saturday morning: Galashiels. We had arrived by bicycle the evening before, having ridden along the NCN 1 from Berwick upon Tweed. The route had been well signed posted until we entered Galashiels along the old Tweedbank railway line and had then faded out. This hadn’t bothered us the evening before as, at that time, we were more interested in finding our B&B for the night. However, in the morning it became more of an issue, we rejoined the old Tweedbank railway line and followed it west, but this led us to a dead end. We looked at the OS map we had with us, and found that this showed the NCN 1 stopping in Galashiels, then starting again some miles away at Peel, to the south of Clovenfords.

We found our own way to Clovenfords along the A72 which was not ideal, as even early on a Saturday morning it was a busy road. When we reached Clovenfords, we noticed a few cyclists hanging out outside the Clovenfords Hotel in the middle of the village. Then, as we turned off the A72 on to the B710, we saw a temporary sign say “Watch out for cyclists”, and we started to wonder if there was a cycling event somewhere in the area. At Caddonfoot, we briefly picked up the A707 before crossing the Tweed to join the old road and the NCN 1, at Peel. This road is a very pleasant ride, undulating above the river Tweed, through fields and along the woodland edge. It is sufficiently far from the new road, on the far side of the Tweed, that you don’t hear the traffic noise and the views are better. Indeed, in many places along the old road you can’t even see the new road.

It is a single track road with passing places and gets very little motor traffic, but, on the day we were riding it, there seemed to be lots of cyclists coming the other way. When the first rider came past with an event number on his bars, we thought it might be a local race, but then we passed more riders, not all of whom where on road bikes and they didn’t seem to be racing. It turned out to be the Bethany Trust Cyclosportive, we were meeting outbound cyclists on the 72 mile (115.9 Km) route, there was also a 111 mile (178.6 Km) route. We found this out from a marshal standing at the junction of the B709, where we turned right across the Tweed.

Arriving in Innerleithen, we found that there were bicycles everywhere, many of them attached to cars. Unfortunately some of the drivers of these cars seem to be unaware that cyclists have the right to use the roads, which is rather sad, but that is mountain bikers for you. Our first stop in Innerleithen was a supermarket to pick up some cake, then on to see some friends. In my experience arriving at friends bearing cake is a sure way to be warmly welcomed, especially if said friends have a child under the age of six months and are unlikely to have had the time to prepare anything ahead of your arrival. As predicted, we (and the cake) were welcomed with open arms and invited to come sit in the garden, at which point I asked if we could sit in the shade, as it had been rather hot cycling in the sun. We sat in a cool shady place and were plied with drinks (and ate most of the cake) by our wonderfully hospitable hosts, for a pleasant hour or so.

Suitably refreshed, we set out once more to tackle the big climbs of the day, following the B709 north out of Innerleithen to cross the Moorfoot Hills. At first the road climbs so gently that you hardly notice you are climbing, but that doesn’t last long. The road first follows the Leithen Water.

Then after Colquhar it turns to follow the Glentress Water along a narrow glen, the hills seem to close in and enfold you as you climb. Crossing the watershed at the head of the Glentress Water, the road levels briefly before trending downhill along the Dewar Burn. As we had been climbing up along the Glentress Water, there had been an anabatic wind, warming adiabatically, blowing down the glen, but now after crossing the watershed we were met by a cold anabatic wind blowing up the glen. Above us, dark cumulus clouds were forming, we had the feeling that there would be thunderstorms later.

On the way up we had only seen a few cyclists come down towards us, none of them part of the cyclosportive, but as we passed the road coming in from Heriot, they started to appear again. By now we were climbing once again, rather gratifyingly the cyclosportive riders weren’t passing us any speed, they were on road bikes and we were on loaded hybrid bikes with panniers. Topping out of final climb on the shoulder of Broad Law, we were disappointed to find the view to the north obscured by haze, on a clear day this would be a spectacular view. I was also disappointed to find that, here as well, there was an anabatic wind which would have been a delight to a hang-glider pilot, but to a descending cyclist looking for speed it was just a nuisance. Indeed the only decent speed I achieved was on a relativity modest slope after turning left towards Middleton, which was sheltered by trees.

The road beyond Middleton is appalling, with the surface breaking up badly. At one point there was a traffic cone at the side of the road, just past it there was a hole over 1.5 m deep and almost 1 m across. Fortunately there was little traffic other than cyclists on the road, as to be forced over by a motor vehicle into one of these pot holes could be fatal. There are quarries marked on the map, it is not clear if these are all still active, but if they are, this would do a lot to explain the state of the road.

Eventually we popped out on to the B3672 just east of Temple. We followed it west to the Braidwood Bridge, and we were back on familiar ground, so we carried on to Carrington, where we stopped to decide which way to go next. Neither of us was keen on taking the NCN 1 route into Edinburgh. We decided that going home via Polton, as we had done the week before, was not such a good idea, as we knew just how steep the hill was (there is an arrow on the map indicating a 14% gradient on both sides). I suggested going via Auchendinny, but that was too far out of the way, so as a compromise solution we settled on going via Roslin Glen. We were aware that there was a bit of a climb on the far side, but there were no arrows marked on the map. When we crossed the bridge over the North Esk, it came as a bit of a surprise that there was a sign giving the upward gradient as 16%. We both dropped into the granny ring and prepared to grind our way up. Personally I was surprised to find that I was able to smoothly pedal all the way up without resorting to the smallest sprockets, Ulli didn’t seem to struggle either. However, we did pass a couple who were pushing mountain bikes up. Beyond Roslin, we picked up the main road at Bilston and followed the familiar commuter route home. Just after reaching home ,the threatened storm finally broke and the rain bucketed it down, with thunder and lightening in the distance over the Moorfoot Hills.

There is a map of our route here.

My stats were (mostly lost):

• Distance cycled – 75.2 Km
• Vertical climb – ca. 790 m

After some effort, we managed to secure reservations for two bicycles on the train from Edinburgh Waverley to Berwick-upon-Tweed, that was the good news. The bad news was that it was on the 08:11 departure, and this was a Friday. We had decided to set out on Friday for two reasons, one because the weather forecast for Sunday was increasingly poor and we wanted to be back before the weather broke. The second reason had something to do with the date, which I always forget.

As we set out, the weather was glorious, blue sky, sun shine, light wind, what more could you ask for? The train journey south was uneventful, I dozed through most of it. Getting off the train in Berwick-upon-Tweed, it was grey and dull, no real surprise, well we were in England after-all, or maybe it was the haar caused by the onshore breeze? On our way out of the station, we found signs for the NCN 1 telling use that Edinburgh was 100 miles (160.9 Km) away, doable in a day for those who are into that sort of thing, or a good distance for a two day jaunt.

Photos taken, we set off. The route is refreshingly well sign posted and quickly takes you out of town on quiet roads. However it wasn’t all good news, little more than 2 Km from the station you get a typical Sustrans experience. The route turns off a quiet farm road (which has a bridge over the A1) and down a narrow overgrown path with hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) on both sides, and then it pops you out on the A1 to cross a dual carriageway without a marked crossing. Safely across, we were soon back on a quiet country road, pedalling along through open farmland under a dull grey sky. Then, as we crossed over the Whiteadder Water and approached Gainslaw Hill, the sky started to clear and the sun come out, the explanation for this was clear, just ahead there was a large sign “Scotland Welcomes you”.

This was one of the three border crossings on the route, each time the pattern was the same, on the Scottish side there would a sign saying “Scotland Welcomes you”, but on the other side there would be a sign saying “England”. This speaks volumes about the different cultural attitudes towards strangers of the two nations . Not that we were in Scotland for long, as only 5 Km further on, the route took us back across the Border. This time crossing the River Tweed on the Union Chain Bridge, one of the interesting things about this bridge is that there was a toll booth on the English end of the bridge. So you had to pay to get into England, but on the west side of the river, “Scotland Welcomes you”.

Just up the road from the road from the Union Chain Bridge is the next point of interest, the Chain Bridge Honey Farm. It is well worth the visit, but a warning to the touring cyclist, when you pick up a jar of honey, the weight marked on the label is the weight of the content not the whole weight you will end up carrying. That said, it is worth it, as is getting some of the Beer and Honey Cake for later consumption, taking in calories is important if you are cycling distance.

Next stop of interest is Norham Castle, first built by the Bishop of Durham in 1121 and encapsulating 900 years of turbulent borders history in one building. Ulli was keen to stop and take photos, but I, to be honest, was more interested in the road down to Norham village, wide swooping bends dropping by about 30m in about 200m, great fun. Beyond Norham we crossed the river Tweed and the border once again and were welcomed back into Scotland. The riding was easy along quiet back roads, sometimes lined with trees, through rich rolling farmland.

Mostly, along this section, the routes seems to avoid settlements, which is probably why there was so little traffic. The route is well signposted, so there is little chance of getting lost, but it is worth carrying a map if you want to branch out to explore or look for supplies. It does pass through the occasional villages such as Eccles and Ednam, but these are just wee places. It also bypasses Kelso with its ruined abbey, which is worth a diversion. We stopped for a long lazy lunch in a small café (the Hoot ‘n’ Cat) not far from the abbey, which was very welcome. There is little left of Kelso Abbey now, much of it destroyed in the wars of the three kingdoms, but in its heyday it must have been massive.

Leaving Kelso, we had to negotiate a short section of A road (the A6089), which is also part of the NCN1. It was odd to realise this was the busiest road we had encountered since crossing the A1. The other thing of note on leaving Kelso is the large gilded gateway to Floors Castle, a clear statement of wealth and power. Our route took us round the back, past the tradesmen’s entrance, and once again we were on quiet roads with great views across the Borders countryside.

Looking to Hume Castle in the distance:

Or looking to the Eildon Hills:

While were stopped for photos, we were passed by a speed walking lady who was in training for the MoonWalk. We then moved on, only to stop again just round the corner to take more photos (from a better angle or without power lines in the way), and a couple of minutes later we would be overtaken by the speed walking lady. It felt like being in one of Aesop’s fables.

Next off was Dryburgh and its Abbey, but first there was the little matter of Clinthill. Given the rising temperature, we were fortunate to be going down the hill, unlike the couple on the tandem who were working hard on the way up, well the guy on the front was, the lassie on the back was taking easier. We didn’t actually go into the Abbey and visit Sir Walter Scott’s grave, we got as far as the shop at the entrance where we bought ice cream, then sat in the shade to eat it.

Ice cream eaten, we were off to cross the Tweed once again, this time by a beautiful traffic free bridge. Of course, having crossed the river, we then had to climb up the other side, but at least it was shady and cool. Then on across the A68 and along the old road. Just beyond Newton St Boswells the old road is closed to motorised traffic, which makes for pleasant cycling. We passed round below the Eildon Hills, which we had earlier seen the distance, but now we were so close we didn’t see them above us. Then we dropped down into Melrose, skirted past the Abbey and decided to visit it another day. We picked up an off road cycle path along an old railway through Tweedbank. It is not yet clear where the NCN 1 will go when the railway line is reinstated in a couple of years time.

It was then on to find our B&B for the night in Galashiels. There was still on surprise to come, between Newton St. Boswells and Tweedbank we had passed a number of touring cyclists, eight of whom proceeded to turn up at our B&B a short while after we did. It turned out that 90% of the guests at the B&B that night were cycling the NCN 1.

There is a map of our route here.

My stats were (mostly lost):

• Distance cycled – 86.51 Km
• Vertical climb – ca. 510 m

As I said in a recent post, we have been looking for new routes to the south, to try and find quick and easy routes into the Borders. Mapping the route after returning from a previous ride, I had noticed an unclassified road running between Gilmerton and Lasswade, namely Lasswade Road. There was little information about this on the Spokes cycle map, it looked quiet from Google Street View, but the only way to really find out was to go and have a look. Either way, it was a good excuse to gad about the countryside.

Setting out, the direct route would have been to head up Kirk Brae, which Spokes give as a quiet road, but it is also shown as a steep climb. It was decided that taking a slightly more round about route out through Gilmerton, which was easy enough. When we got to Lasswade Road, we found it wasn’t too busy, but might be a bit of a rat run. It could make a pleasant route, passing through open farm land, but how long before it is covered with infill development? Having passed under the city bypass (A720), the road starts to trend downhill towards the river North Esk. The footpath at the side of the roads is currently over grown, if it were cleared back it would provide plenty of space for a combined walking and cycle path. However, this is Midlothian,which is one of the most backward places in Scotland, where transport issues are concerned.

Having crossed the river, we made our way through Lasswade and Bonnyrigg to join the NCN 1, which took us out of town and into the Midlothian countryside. We were climbing slowly but steadily towards Carrington, the riding was easy, nothing challenging. Beyond Carrington, the slow climb continued towards Temple. We crossed over the South Esk, fortunately the bridge was high over the river so there was no descent and climb. Shortly after, we parted company with the NCN 1, which joins the B6372 and turns east, whereas we turned uphill and went on through Temple, a small linear village on the side of a hill. As we passed the last house in the village, I noticed a couple of people in the driveway standing by a motorbike, kitting up to go out. There was a real contrast between them and us, it was a warm sunny day, we were in shorts and tee-shirts, they were donning heavy leathers.

We continued to climb steadily, the Moorfoot Hills ahead of us, but the road we were on would not cross them. At the T junction we turned right and rode through a green tunnel of hedge row trees, mouths closed to keep out the flies. Fortunately this road was no longer climbing, but following the contours, so no need to open our mouths to breath. On reaching another T junction we turned south on to a road which the map shows as being a continued climb, but actually undulates. This road is great fun if you crank hard on the downhill then freewheel on the up, starting to crank again as you reach the crest. It feels a bit like riding a roller-coaster.

On the final section, approaching Gladhouse Reservoir, the road surface deteriorated from surprisingly good to awful. We rode along the north shore of the reservoir looking for somewhere to stop and eat lunch. There was a car park marked on the OS map next to the reservoir which looked like a good place to stop. I expected to find somewhere with a picnic bench, however when we found the place, it is now closed to cars and there is no bench or table. We sat on a rail originally meant to keep the cars out of the reservoir, the air was thick with mayflies and fish were rising. Lunch over, we carried on along the north shore, across the dam and through the few houses that are Gladhouse, noting that the visitor centre is now permanently closed. Beyond the reservoir we turned north and headed towards home.

We picked up the B6372 which took us west of Temple. Just after passing Braidwood, we looked down to Temple Old Kirk, which is worth a visit on another day. A wee bit past this, we closed the loop, re-joined the NCN 1 and followed it back to Carrington. Rather than return the way we had come, we turned left out of Carrington and headed towards Rosewell. On reaching a crossroads, we were discussing which way to go when a runner came along and advised us that it was possible to use the road straight ahead. This was black top for about 1 Km, then turedn into a farm track, no problem for us, but those on road (race) bikes wouldn’t like it. Another kilometre further on, we were back on tarmac, and decided to take a slight detour passed Whitehill House, an impressive grade A listed pile with a golf course attached. We got a few odd looks, but no one told us that it was private and that we shouldn’t be there. This is after all Scotland, and the 2003 Land Reform (Scotland) Act gives us the right of access, unlike in some neighbouring countries, where rights of access are severely limited.

Back on the main road again, we found ourselves just to the north of Rosewell, looking for a way to get back across the North Esk. We decided that an interesting way to get home would be to go via Polton and Loanhead. Leaving Polton, there are very scenic views across the glen, which leave you in no doubt about what is to come. A swift decent to the bridge, followed by a lung-bustlingly entertaining climb up the other side, which pops you out in the middle of Loanhead. From there it was a familiar route (albeit usually done by bus) back through Straiton into town.

There is a map of our route here.

My stats were:

• Distance cycled – 52.2 Km
• Time spent riding – 2:31:58
• Max Speed – 57.8 Km/h
• Ave Speed – 20.6 Km/h
• Vertical climb – ca. 470m

For a long time Ulli has talked about visiting Bute, “the Jewel of the Clyde”. Also, there have been a number of searches which have visited this blog looking for information about cycling on Bute (visiting posts where I have written about cycling on other islands with a view to Bute). So it was that Bute was the obvious place to go for a long weekend. Despite the annual Jazz Festival happening over the same weekend, we still managed to book a B&B in Rothesay. Rothesay is the capital of the island and the only real town, there is very little accommodation outside Rothesay, unless you want to wild camp. However this isn’t a problem, as Bute, unlike some other islands, doesn’t have a circumnavigatory road, so staying in one place and making out and back trips and loops are the way to see the island, without having to carry all your luggage around all day.

Day 1

Getting to Bute was easy, train to Glasgow Queen Street, then a short walk/cycle to Glasgow Central (as usual I managed to miss the turn off into Gordon Street half way down Buchanan Street), train to Wemyss Bay where the ferry terminal is attached to the station., For cyclists to get onto the ferry, you have to buy the tickets at the foot passenger ticket office inside the terminal and then go around the outside to board via the car deck. I like ferries, feeling the vibrations of the deck plates coming up through my feet always reminds me of my sea time with the Grey Funnel Line. The crossing was smooth, although the sky was grey and there were heavy showers moving along the Firth of Clyde, not the weather we had hoped for, at the beginning of May.

Once alongside the pier in Rothesay, we were piped ashore, busking at the pier seems to be a popular way of supplementing their pocket money among the local teenagers. Then it was just a short ride to the B&B to drop off a pannier. For some reason it seemed to be the lighter one, I spent the whole trip lugging 5 kg of bike tools and a camera around with me. The next task was to find lunch. As the Jazz Festival was on this, was supposedly one of Bute’s busiest weekends of the year, but we soon found a wee tearoom by the Craigmore Old Pier (the Pier is long gone) with space and sea views and didn’t have to resort to buying rolls from the Co-Op.

Lunch over, it was time to get down to the serious business of exploring the Island, first stop the Isle of Bute Discovery Centre which gives a broad overview of the islands past and present. We discover that the island is transected by the Highland Boundary Fault, with the north being more Highland like and the south more lowland, although this is less pronounced than on Arran. We decided to take on the north first. Riding along the shore road through Port Bannatyne we saw a sight which wasn’t mentioned in the Discovery Centre, but one that stops tourists in their tracks and has them reaching for a camera. I refer of course to the “Hanging bike of Port Bannatyne”, no I don’t know why it is there either.

Having exited Port Bannatyne, we turned left at Kames Castle onto the road for Ettrick Bay. There is a short hill here, nothing challenging, but it does give a good view point down on to the castle, which is one of your bog standard tower houses so favoured by Scottish lairds, in fact they like them so much at Kames there are two. At the crest of the hill we passed St Colmac with its ruined church, built in 1836 by the second Marquess of Bute, closed in 1980 and now being left to collapse. Just there, the road forks and we took the right fork, alongside which runs the line of an old tramway. Back in the halcyon days of Bute’s tourist past a tram ran from Rothesay to Ettrick Bay, where there was a dance hall and tea rooms. Well the dance hall is long gone, but tea rooms are still there and the ice creams they serve are very good. Beyond Ettrick Bay, the black topped single track road runs along a raised beach as far as Glecknabrae. It is possible to follow the farm track to Kilmichael, but disappointingly the road doesn’t continue to Buttock Point and the Maids of Bute. We decided to turn round and go back the way we came (not that there was much choice).

Having crossed the island back to the eastern side, we turned north once again, up along the east coast, where the raised beaches are far less pronounced. We went as far as the Rhubodach ferry. Just after the slipway there is a short stretch of new tarmac and the road bends. I turned to ask Ulli how much further the road went (she had a map on her handle bars), as I turned to look forward again I saw that 10 m ahead there was a closed gate with a rough track beyond, which kind of answered my question. Time to turn around again. At least this time the wind was at our backs.

Photos from Bute are here.

There is a map of our route on day 1 here.

My stats for day 1 were:

• Distance cycled – 49.43 Km
• Time spent riding – 02:23:34
• Max Speed – 56.30 Km/h
• Ave Speed – 20.66 Km/h
• Vertical climb – ca. 210 m