A Ray of sunshine

[slim]

I was pleasantly minding my bolognase on my stove last night when a serious looking mountain biker pulled up at the bothy. I was hiking but, at heart I'm a cyclist. I've always loved the bike. Initially road bikes, when I was younger I used to race but latterly I discovered the joys of off road biking. I used to look down on MTN bikeers but now I have discovered the joy of off road biking. I'd heard a cyclist was heading my way by a walker who had arrived at the bothy 15 minutes earlier. He had overtaken the cyclist! I knew well the ground they had covered and knew from bitter experience the the East bank of Loch Lomond is not mountain bike country. It would be a foolhardy, thankless journey for any biker to attempt. It is one best left for the walkers.
Our hero pulled up tired and dis-shevelled looking and stumbled into the bothy, leaving his bike at the doorway. It was his bike that intruiged me. I'd never seen one packed like that before. I like to think of myself as someone who travels light on my bike but, I do nevertheless use panniers. This guy immediatly let me see a whole new way of packing my bike. I gazed at his bike for a bit until he came outside and took it into the bothy. I followed him in and began my interogation. During which he mentioned the Bear-bones website. I saw how I could scrap the panniers and adopt a more contained approach to packing the bike. I thought I was the only MTN bike tourer type in the world and I gladly heard that there are others like me.
After the interogation swas over with we had a wee glass of wine and rum respecively and he introduced himself as Ray. I'd like to say it was a pleasure to meet him and loved his ethos for traveling. And also to thank him for introducing me to a like-minded bunch of people here at bear-bones. I've got plans for a MTN bike ride in the Lake District in the summer and hope perhaps to enjoy a few trips with some of you guys too.
It's my long, summer MTN bike trips that I live for. Being out in the wilderness with nothing but what I'm packing. My recent trips have saw me on the Camino de Santiago 4 times as well as a few routes through Alps. I'm hoping to use the ol' road bike later in the summer to visit some WW1 battlefileds. But, that is another story. Viva le bike!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Welcome aboard Slim ... don't worry, there's lots of likeminded folk out there

[Ray Young]

Hi Slim, glad you found the site. I made it to the end of "the way" eventually and will be doing a write up on it shortly , glad to have you aboard.