Saturday 30th January 2010 Dunkeld Loch Ordie Rideout
This inaugaral Retrobike 2010 Calendar ride started of with a fantastic turnout - a record 14 for the Macretro rides. Sunny Clear Skies, inch thick ice and crusty snow on the very frozen ground.
We started of with a short swapmeet exchanging bits of old metal for bits of old rubber. After an hour of admiring each others bikes and the requisit group photo we set off up the icy trail.
After about a mile of climbing and skitting about on the ice, the first casualty of the day was Dyna-Ti - shortly after his wipeout he decided it was time to retire as he was too unwell to continue. He waited in Dunkeld keeping the seats at the pub warm for our return.
We continued upwards towards the first loch - an old mill pond. A few riders tested the ice for photo opporunities.
One of our riders, Boxxer, was on a modern bike - a Lapierre, lovely colour scheme, maybe there is hope for modern bikes after all.
The ride continued - the ice had its affects on all off us with the odd slip and dismount but nothing serious.
As we continued a lone rider on a Karakoram shot past our back markers. The rest of the group stopped to let us catch up, but Radoslaw, not knowing any of the group, shot on after the Karakoram. About 1/2 a mile up the road he realised he was alone and returned to us for the now traditional "for those about to rock" photoshoot.
We reached the main destination, Loch Ordie, and as it was busy with walkers eating lunch, we decided to plow on - But which way? 2 choices... half the group shot off down one route as we were remounting our bikes, cue comedy crashes and yells - the group returned - lets go the otherway.
This was the final climb of the day with out the ice it would have been easy, but the recent re-freeze made things very difficult and walking was the only option in places.
We started downhill at last, the track had recently been re-graded and was a bit of a mess and frozen solid. Top speed of the day was only 23 mph which showed how cautious we had to be not knowing how much traction each corner was likely to provide.
Well I found out the hard way dropping like a brick onto the icy ground. I lay there for a while trying to milk the sympathy a bit - some chance with this lot, just prolonged the slagging!
Back at the millpond we said good bye to Kaiser and did the final downhill section - a bit wetter, but patches of what appeared to be water were occasionally sheets of crystal clear ice. Gazz nearly had an off in exactly the same location as last year.
At the end of the hill there were smiles all round - a shot slog back along the road and through a forest back to the cars.
We finished the day at the Taybank Bar where Dyna-ti was waiting patiently - he had even constructed a Macretro Marquee for our arrival
- 10 versions of stovies available and fine beer.
After a bit of banter the vote was cast for the bike of the day - Radoslaw walked it easily with gazz's Fat coming a distant second. A grand day out with many new faces, roll on the next meet!
This inaugaral Retrobike 2010 Calendar ride started of with a fantastic turnout - a record 14 for the Macretro rides. Sunny Clear Skies, inch thick ice and crusty snow on the very frozen ground.
We started of with a short swapmeet exchanging bits of old metal for bits of old rubber. After an hour of admiring each others bikes and the requisit group photo we set off up the icy trail.
After about a mile of climbing and skitting about on the ice, the first casualty of the day was Dyna-Ti - shortly after his wipeout he decided it was time to retire as he was too unwell to continue. He waited in Dunkeld keeping the seats at the pub warm for our return.
We continued upwards towards the first loch - an old mill pond. A few riders tested the ice for photo opporunities.
One of our riders, Boxxer, was on a modern bike - a Lapierre, lovely colour scheme, maybe there is hope for modern bikes after all.
The ride continued - the ice had its affects on all off us with the odd slip and dismount but nothing serious.
As we continued a lone rider on a Karakoram shot past our back markers. The rest of the group stopped to let us catch up, but Radoslaw, not knowing any of the group, shot on after the Karakoram. About 1/2 a mile up the road he realised he was alone and returned to us for the now traditional "for those about to rock" photoshoot.
We reached the main destination, Loch Ordie, and as it was busy with walkers eating lunch, we decided to plow on - But which way? 2 choices... half the group shot off down one route as we were remounting our bikes, cue comedy crashes and yells - the group returned - lets go the otherway.
This was the final climb of the day with out the ice it would have been easy, but the recent re-freeze made things very difficult and walking was the only option in places.
We started downhill at last, the track had recently been re-graded and was a bit of a mess and frozen solid. Top speed of the day was only 23 mph which showed how cautious we had to be not knowing how much traction each corner was likely to provide.
Well I found out the hard way dropping like a brick onto the icy ground. I lay there for a while trying to milk the sympathy a bit - some chance with this lot, just prolonged the slagging!
Back at the millpond we said good bye to Kaiser and did the final downhill section - a bit wetter, but patches of what appeared to be water were occasionally sheets of crystal clear ice. Gazz nearly had an off in exactly the same location as last year.
At the end of the hill there were smiles all round - a shot slog back along the road and through a forest back to the cars.
We finished the day at the Taybank Bar where Dyna-ti was waiting patiently - he had even constructed a Macretro Marquee for our arrival
- 10 versions of stovies available and fine beer.
After a bit of banter the vote was cast for the bike of the day - Radoslaw walked it easily with gazz's Fat coming a distant second. A grand day out with many new faces, roll on the next meet!
