I was doing some reading on the failure of the Carron Valley trails project, when I came across this… Funniest thing I’ve seen all week! Black diamond grade? Doubles with aggressive faces? Massive air?!

Are we talking about the same Carron Valley here?

I ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this really “massive air”?

And if that was massive air, then what’s this?!

Or were CVDG simply stitched up by the 7Stanes crew?

It’s been decided! From now on, I’m going to use WordPress as the content management system for everything. The old bare HTML site will not be updated any more, and the scopeblog will become the front page. You’ll be able to find the most popular parts of the old site through the sidebar ———->

My new Cove Hustler frame, just after I’d finished building it up with the parts off the cracked Stinky. I’m very pleased with this frame. The long top tube is much more comfortable for my lanky ass, but the head angle is still slack enough to make it handle well at high speed, and it looks reasonably sturdy. The result is a kind of cross between an XC bike and a mini freeride bike, ideal for riding up to the top of Innerleithen and back down again several times in one day! I wouldn’t feel happy doing full size DH and freeride stunts on it, but I’m scared of those anyway, so it all works out. I actually prefer the 5.3″ of travel on this frame to the 6″ that the Stinky had.

So far, I’ve taken it to Inners, Glentress and Ae several times, and raced it in the Avalanche Enduro, where I came 73rd out of 105 riders. Hoping to try the Fort Bill downhill soon, and maybe a trip to the Alps if we end up with rubbish weather in Scotland this summer.

Oh and RIP Stinky! (note the difference in cockpit size…)