A lap of Belfast

The Plan was to set off from Cairnshill park and ride and complete a lap from carryduff down to the towpath, onto Colin Glen, up Divis and Black mountain, across to cavehill, down to the shore and along the cycle path back into town and the starting point.

What actually happened was somewhat different.
Before setting off, some new handlebars had to be cut down as the bike wouldn't fit through the entrance to the park and ride as it was with bars 8 feet wide.

How wides yer bars mister?

The sun was shining and a great ride down from the back of Purdysburn hospital on some super single track ensued. A quick dash into some uncharted territory lead to some Benny Hill style chasing from a less than friendly Security Guard in his trackies.

Some South Belfast Singletrack

Malone House

After a quick spin around the Giants ring and ending up in the back garden of some boys house in Edenderry, the noises from the Tango bike became more and more worrying. The noises from the rider became more and more unbearable. A quick investigation revealed that the Tango bikes cassette was only on thumb tight. Thanks to the guys at Slane cycles for the lend of a wrench!

The Tango bike has had enough

Team management suspended Team Maxbo's lead mechanic while investigations were ongoing which subsequently lead to him being sacked. He is said to be very relieved to be out of such a dead end job

Now running well behind schedule, there was just enough time to pick up a stray dog who would lead us up Colin Glen. It turns out the dog is either blind or lives in a landfill site. After finding our way out of the dump, we finally made it up to the Divis Car park and thought we were well on our way. Some bog trotting later the decision was made to abandon and get back to civilization as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we still had to pedal through a lot of Belfast before achieving this.

Well groomed trails were the order of the day up on Divis

A good solid 38 miles of riding, should have been more and the percentage off road should have been higher, but then we wouldn't have had as much time to blame each other for everything about the day then.

The Caustic bike

Take one discarded and once much loved On-One Inbred with a seized seat post. Apply some A'Level chemistry grade knowledge. Remove the last bit of stumpy post with a big screw driver. Build it up and ride!



Chemical warfare wins.



For anyone interested in the specifics. The frame is steel and had an aluminium seat post left in it for a very long time. Steel and Alu will bond over time. Normally brute force can free the bond and the frame can be saved but occasionally it just won't shift. The previous owner had cut the seat post about 1/4" above the top of the seat tube with the intention of sawing down the length of it down the clamp gap on the seat tube, then grabbing and squeezing the protruding post with a vice before twisting and pulling. The theory is that the post will collapse in on itself and come free. Unfortunately it did not.

However, Caustic soda will dissolve pretty much anything, including your hands if you are silly enough to handle it. It does not react with steel though. Very handy. Stick a plug of blu tac up inside the bottom bracket shell to seal the seat tube up as a glorified container. Mix your caustic soda to the water, never the other way around. Pour it in the top of the seat tube and stand back. The reaction is impressively violent and will go on for many hours. But at the start be ready to rinse down the volcano of liquid from the frames paint work if you want it to make it through the ordeal. Also, do this outside if you can, a lot of nitrogen is produced. Better to let it away rather than collect it inside in a nice big bubble.

Use Protection kids and dont do anything stupid!