Category Archives: Chatter

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Coming Soon: 30th Anniversary Weekender

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It’s only a few weeks to the club’s 30th anniversary weekend away!  There’s still some spaces left for the trip.  The hostel is in a great location in the Trossachs, surrounded by lochs and mountains and some great biking for all abilities.  The Trossachs Tryst hostel has been renovated since our last visit with a new kitchen and bathroom facilities and it still has the great indoor and outdoor space to host our weekend.

Apart from some great rides and plenty of laughs, what can you expect from the weekend away?  Here’s a rough plan:

Friday 18th – The Starters

  • Arrive at hostel from 4pm onwards – don’t turn up early – you won’t get access
  • Meals: local food at the Lade Inn pub or make use of the new kitchen to prepare your own
  • Events: possible short, non-techy evening ride up nearby Ben Gullipen, start time TBC (hopefully at the top in time for sunset), socialising in the hostel

Saturday 19th – The Main Course

  • 10am – local rides depart
    • Ride Option 1: Angus – techy
    • Ride Option 2: Graham – mix of trails, some tech, some fireroad, looking for distance and scenery
    • Ride Option 3: TBC – if there’s any interest in this option then we’ll need a volunteer to host it – an easy ride, focus on chilling out and social
  • Rides aim to return 3-4pm, after that it’s the afternoon/evening entertainment, including:
    • team competitions
    • fantastic GMBC BBQ
    • the (in)famous GMBC Big Fat 30th Anniversary Quiz
    • prize giving/awards ceremony & cake

Sunday 20th – Just Desserts!

  • Check out of the hostel by 10am
  • Head over to Aberfoyle for a variety of ride options:
    • Dales Cycles – demo day based in Aberfoyle – details TBC
    • Local enduro trails or mix of fireroad on offer
    • Cafes and/or ice cream to finish before heading home

Some photos from the 25th Anniversary Weekend:

Mentieths

Event Details:

30th Anniversary Weekend Away

Small print:

  • No camping available
  • Bedding is provided
  • It’s a BYOT hostel – Bring Yer Own Towel
  • The Club will provide some breakfast essentials, e.g milk, teabags, fruit maybe, hangover pills, Red Bull, curry
  • Bring your own booze – if you forget then there’s an well stocked bottle shop at the Lade Inn pub nearby(-ish)
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Finding New Cycling Routes – User Survey

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Hi folks, Chris Lowe and I are developing an app to make finding new cycling routes much easier – be it an epic MTB in the wilderness or some new trails around home. It will also serve other forms of cycling (road cycling, commuting etc.) for those interested.

Could you help us out by taking our short survey (3 mins)?

The survey is here – https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3VZ6WHQ

Feel free to share it with anyone interested.

Thanks for your help,

Steve Owens

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Ochills – Ben Cleuch Loop, Sunday 30th July, 10.30am Start

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PLEASE SEE CLUB CALENDAR FOR RIDE DETAILS

Ochills loop from Alva Woodlands car park, via Ben Buck, Ben Cleuch and Andrew Gannel Hill, and back to start via Tillicoultry.

Driving eastwards to the East end of Alva (at the finish of the houses), take the wee road on the left, just immediately past ‘Burnside Farm Road – it bears North East and eventually comes to the Woodlands Car Park.  Closest post code is FK12 5LU.

10.30am start.  Ready to ride.

Easy pace going up. It’s a long, very steep in places, climb up Landrover track, then over gently sloping, heathery tops – Ben Buck, Ben Cleuch, and Andrew Gannel Hill, and down superb, but steep and technical in places, singletrack. Bits can be walked if needed.

Bring plenty of food, water, spares, a waterproof and, of course, no helmet no ride.

Decent visibility is required for this ride, both for navigation, and the outstanding views afforded – Mamores and Ben Nevis can be seen. So if the forecast turns bad, we will postpone for another day.

Come on you lot – on yer bikes!

 

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30th Anniversary Ride Series

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This has been a bit quiet.  Next three weekends, who fancies one or more of:

  • Auchendrain
  • Pitlochry/Loch Bhac
  • Drumlanrig
  • Ochills
  • Pentlands
  • Wanlochead Gold Rush (this is a big one)
  • Suggest something

Anybody that rides regularly midweek is capable of any of those (intro riders, I’m pointing at you), they’re all old skool XC, might be a bit bigger in terms of time/distance, but the pace will be regulated to take that into account.  Come and join us…

So short notice, but anybody up for one of these on Sunday? And the following weekends?

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Female Mountain Bikers For TV Advert

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Hi.  We’ve been contacted by a TV casting company looking for “mainly female” mountain bikers.  So if you’re “mainly female” and you fancy a bit of fame and some cash to buy lots of shiny bike bits then here’s the request from Danny @ etcasting which he sent to Dales Cycles…..

“I’m currently looking for mainly female mountain bikers (from all over the UK) for an exciting online commercial for a well known shopping brand.

Successful candidates will be paid £300 – £1500 each for 1 day of filming between 3rd – 6th August 2017.

To be considered you must be available to meet us via Skype or Facetime for a brief chat sometime between Saturday 15th – Thursday 20th July 2017.  No acting experience necessary. We’re just looking for people who are happy to share their stories and skills with us!

If this is you or anyone you know, please go to: http://www.etcasting.com/pages/events to apply!

We are looking for lots of mountain bikers so please spread the word!

I have also attached a printable flyer we have designed for the campaign, if you do have the time and wouldn’t mind printing and displaying to the customers of your store it would be hugely appreciated.  Please do feel free to apply yourself as well as any staff or friends as we are taking applications for both male and female mountain bikers.

Thank you for your time and help!

Kind Regards,  Danny”

Here’s a link to more info.

GMBC

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GMBC 30th Anniversary Weekend Away

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Hello, GMBCers & friends of the club!

GMBC is turning 30 this year and to celebrate we propose a weekend of riding and general good fun. The birthday party will be on the 18th – 20th August and we have booked the Trossachs Tryst in Callander. All are invited: club members, friends & family, whether cyclists or not. We don’t *always* talk about bikes…

This is intended to be a weekend for all abilities, with multiple rides planned on both days to suit all levels. Our sponsor Dales Cycles will hopefully be involved – full details of that to follow. There will also be food, quiz, BBQ and guaranteed good company.

The accommodation is a beautiful house exclusively for us. There are five dorms (two 4-bed, one 6-bed and two 8-bed) and it’s about an hour’s drive from Glasgow.

Destination for 30th Anniversary Weekend

All this for the bargain price of £40 per person! The hostel policy has a minimum stay of 2 nights, so unfortunately we can’t offer a single night option.

Don’t miss out – book your space(s) via the link below (you’ll need to sign up or sign in, buy ticket(s) for the event and then transfer the money into the club’s bank account, ideally using the reference code or else your name). If you want to bring friends & family you can buy multiple tickets and you’ll be presented with multiple forms to fill in.

https://webcollect.org.uk/gmbc/event/gmbcs-30th-anniversary

Cheers & see you soon!

GMBC Committee

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Intro Rides

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Hi, this is a request to regular GMBC riders.  We’ve had quite a lot of interest from new riders about the Intro rides at 7pm on Wednesdays.  Last week we had 18 folks out on the Intro ride with a fair % being new to the club and/or the sport.  If you’re a regular rider and fancy getting out on the Intro ride then it would be great if you could do your bit to help the ride go smoothly.  Things like either taking a split of better riders off for a faster/more techy ride or helping out with headcounts, marking junctions & turns or riding at the back making sure the group you’re in stays together.  Thanks to Chris, Rob, Neil and Ryzsard for keeping an eye out for folks last week.  With the good weather we could see a good turn out again this week so having a few regulars on hand is a great help to keep things moving.

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Club tops – ready for collection!

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After what seems an age, the 30th Anniversary club tops are now in our possession and they are looking good!

I’m away on holiday next week so Ewan Evans has stepped in to help distribute the tops to everyone who placed an order. He’ll be out on various weekday rides (and the skills training on Saturday at Cathkin), which he will post up about on Facebook or they can be collected from his work during the day. Address and contact details below, best to give him a call before you collect as he is out and about quite a lot.

Xtreme Auto Tints
104 Dalsholm Road
Maryhill
Glasgow
G20 0TF

0141 945 65555
07717577921

All of the orders are individually packaged and have your names on them so it will be easy to find your top. There’s also a sheet with your order details to confirm. If there are any problems let me know.

There are also a few spare tops for sale which I’ll post up about separately.

 

 

 

 

 

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Friday evening spin

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As the weather looks stunning for the next couple of evenings, Keiran and I are planning a ride tomorrow (Friday) evening.  Usual MO, 7pm(ish) start, out for a couple of hours, with scope for post-ride refreshment at The Burnbrae.  Pace will be relaxed.  All welcome, post up if interested.

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This Week’s Intro Ride

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Hi.  Like last week we may have a few new faces out on this week’s Intro ride so are any regular riders out this week?  If so then post up and I’ll let you know which new folks to expect.  It looks like a mix of novices and folks returning to the sport after a break.

GMBC