Barbarian Madness

April 13th 2010 a red letter day for this year.  We managed to get the tandem out of winter storage and hit the road.  The sun was shining with a slight cool easterly wind.  How far did we get? About 10 miles.  Not far but it was good to be riding again.  Lands End to John O Groats next year seems a long way at the minute!

It’s been a long time since we posted to this site – the reason we have not been out on Barbarian in the last few months. The weather in August let us down again. September & October gave us no time due to other commitments, then winter is upon us – and what a winter!

Rest assured we will be back on the road in 2010. See you all there

Sore Bums and exploding legs were the result of our latest adventure.  We set out again last Tuesday with the intention of undertaking another 1st – a round trip. 

We did not get off to a very good start, a very heavy rain shower as we approached the Gordon Arms after about 4 mile.  The worst thing about it was we were there at 11.50 but they did not open to 12.00.  Sheltering under the eves until opening and we waited the rain out with a cup of coffee.  We nearly turned back but as we left the sun was shining, so to Peebles we set off.

Lunch at Peebles at the Ramblers to show to its previous owner that Barbarian was still in our hands and being used.  Good soup Trevor.

The real moment of truth – turn back now or do the full route.  To Dawick we set off.  Tea & cake in our minds at the cafe.  The breeze was blowing down the Tweed valley and of course we were going up hill it was becoming very hard work.  A 3 week layoff since our last ride was starting to show.  After Dawick Tweedsmuir was the next milestone before the ride along by the Talla & Megget Reservoirs.  We admit to walking up the hill at Talla head but it was not long before we were freewheeling down by the megget dreaming of cold beers.

It hurt but we enjoyed – where to next.

Yes County not country (yet). This week ventured into Dumfries & Galloway for the first time. We had a lovely ride down Moffat water with a bit of a wander around Moffat and lunch at Hammerlands. The weather was very kind to us – sun (got a bit sunburnt) and a following wind home.

We often come back from Moffat to St Marys Loch late at night but it was nice to take the time to remind us of what a beautiful area Moffatwater & the Upper Yarrow truly are

Riding along the roads can be scary.  Imagine a lump of metal overtaking you on the outside around a blind left had bend on a narrow single road.  How many times has this happened – more than once.  How many times have we been overtaken where we have had to ride on the rough pot holes on the side of the road – many times.  There just seems to be a lack of consideration on the roads these days.  Everyone is in a rush.

We had a couple of crazy mountain bikers in our cafe over the weekend. They are undertaking a challenge which has blown my mind away – the Tour Divide. 2780 miles down the Rocky mountains from Canada to Mexico. They will be totally self sufficient with no outside support. Allan from Kendal did it last year in 23 days 22 hours 55 Minutes. His aim is to do it in less than 3 weeks this time.br /br /There are a couple of other Brits. Steve from Newcastle who was with Allan this weekend and John. You can follow their progress on the website a href=”http://www.tourdivide.org”tourdivide.org/a. They will be wearing satallite trackers which you can follow on an interactive map.br /br /Good luck lads and enjoy it

Yes we are having a great time on Barbarian. We have had 3 or 4 rides now venturing to the Tala Reservoir, Innerleithen & the Ettrick Valley.  The problem is it is all either up or down!! We are trying to get out once a week which now we are open our 6 days at the cafe is proving difficult. The weather, visitors and other essential things to do are taking their toll. Warmer weather is coming though so watch out on warm evenings in the Yarrow Valley or Moffat water for us peddling by!!

There have been many monumental moments throughout history but I think that today we exceeded all of these – We went for our maiden ride on Barbarian (the tandem)

Boy was it good fun?! taking to it like ducks to water. We think that we will have to do a few more than 2 miles next time, but that next time will not be far away (weather permitting)

Well we have had the Tandem nearly 2 weeks and it has not seen sight of the road yet. Neither have we as it is below snow amp; ice. br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.barbarian.me.uk/blog/uploaded_images/winter-view-702350.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 208px;” src=”http://www.barbarian.me.uk/blog/uploaded_images/winter-view-702329.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ //aNot the weather to be out for the first time on a Tandem, but it makes for beautiful views around St Marys Loch

Lands End to John O’ Groats. Cycling the length of the country. We’ve been thinking about it for some time. The idea and the Chalenge was growing since neither of us have ridden our bikes much in recent years. We then came up with a crazy idea of doing it on a Tandem, and within 24 hours we had bought the much loved steed of Trevor and Sharon. We should be in good hands as the tandem has done the journey before.br /br /So 2010 is the year. We will need the time to prepare for this journey and are looking forward to adventure before then. We also have the aim of giving our range of bamboo clothing a good testing and it will help us source the best products which are available.