Motorcycle Maintenance in the Art of Zen

No cycling blog would be complete without some kind of thanks for the various mechanics and bike fixers in and around Glasgow. I've had some great finds like RT Cycles in Glengarnock one day when my chain broke all of a sudden and your man replaced it on the spot. Or, Dales out in East Kilbride where Jim the mechanic did a sterling job on my worn out Trek. Or South-West Cycles at Pollokshaws West train station  whose stand pump and spanner have saved my bacon many a time. Then, there's Doolies in Paisley, again, right next to the train station(s). And of course, Gear Bikes and West End Cycles in Glasgow's West End, George being my regular goto guy for repairs in the latter (see pic below). 

So, here's to the repairmen, the galvanizers of galvanizers, all over the strath. I've only named half a dozen here, but there are many more I wish to thank, some in other countries like Poland where I  lived for three years and had some great cycling times.

If I had the space I would  probably do it myself, but I kinda like letting a professional do it. No-one can fix a shoogly wheel quite like George can. And out of all the shops and stuff about, bike shops are amongst the most essential, for they get you on your bike and back into your own body (big and small). And that can only be a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Taproute North: The Three Heron Three Golf Course Trail

Glasgow is a fortunate city in many ways due to its topography. Its circumambient hills prevent a sort of neverending sprawl like London or Paris, cities which are very flat. As such it's quite easy to get out of the city and into its empty pastoral exurbs. Although, as I discovered today property developers like British Land PLC do their best to build on land and veto councils and locals (who actually live there).

At any rate, the taproute north is the TOE or the 'Towpath of Emptiness' by the Forth and Clyde Canal which I joined at Lochburn Road at Maryhill/Gilsochill. This used to be my main staple this route when I lived in Scotstounhill and it was a great run north into the Campsies, and up to Falkirk. Since moving to Cessnock ten years ago I've only been up a dozen or so times but it's still a phenomenal root/route for its absolute primal quality of leaving Maryhill's built-upness and noise and being injected into nothingness as serenity, silence, and space.

From Cessnock, the route is actually quite pleasant, over to Partick by the river, and up through Dowanhill and Kelvinside. I used to take the Kelvin Walkway until I realised that dog-walkers are worse than car-drivers. At any rate, Dowanhill and Kelvinside are so quiet that there are no cars and if there are they go so slow that they might as well be bicycles. 

 

From bottom centre, follow the turquoise line north to Cadder, then through golf course, across bridge over Kelvin and through to Balmore. Head up and through Balmore golf course (there's a path all the way through then course) and out at Fluchter primary school. Here, we are veering west towards Milngavie through Baldernock and Dougalston golf course. All in all, with a few short stops along the way, it took about 2 and a quarter hours. The train back to Partick from Milngavie takes twenty minutes.

 

Quiet Downhill Street but still too many cars, parked or otherwise. Head straight up over Highburgh Road into Crown Terrace - Victoria Circus and across Gt. Western Road into Kirklee Road, then into Garrioch Rd up to Maryhill Rd. and then into Lochburn Rd. to get to the canal towpath...

 

The canal and towpath at Lochburn Road.

A half hour cycle from my gaff in the city and you're here! On the legendary TOE (Towpath of Emptiness).

First heron. The whole area up here before the bulldozers move in and turn it into a car-park (isn't this the trajectory for every natural space?) is almost primordial. There's nothing to reflect back your concocted self under capitalism, but plenty to remind you of your primal plant-like nature.

 

Second heron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heron #3

 

 

 

Cadder Church graveyard. See if you can find the metal mort-safe. Take the lane off the TOE down to the golf course and follow the path over the Kelvin River towards Balmore village. Cross the main road and head up and through Balmore golf course.

Just before Baldernock X, the views over Glasgow are quite something.

Heading through Baldernock Parish towards Dougalston and Milngavie.

Sooner or later some muppet is going to knock this quaint little shed down and build a seven storey block of pokey little flats. Mark my words... Probably corporate outfits like British Land who are already preparing the land out here for construction, in spite of the locals not wanting it. You may see some flyers posted on the millstone opposite to get you to sign up against these monsters who invade your home and turn it into a carnival for holidaymaking outsiders. 

From here, it's a lovely ten minutes or so through Dougalston Golf course or rather the road that splits the golf course to Milngavie train station, and a much deserved seat on another empty train ('cause everyone's got mobile gas chambers).

 

 

Cycling to Work

Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced people’s chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%. This would be front page news worldwide, a Nobel prize as good as in the post. That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: it’s called cycling to work. 

 
Peter Walker, The Guardian

 

After seeing a huge NHS advert on the internet telling us of the benefits of cycling to work I thought to myself, should we really be cycling in order to work (which is what 'cycling to work' effectively means)? I used to cycle to work (when I used to work) until I realised that I wasn't actually cycling to work but 'cycling in order to work' and thus 'contributing to the quagmire' by powering it with my clean and beautiful energy. Cycling to work just meant that I could 'work better' as in be a more awake worker and more pleasant. But that was just like putting a clownsuit on the rapist: the work became 'disguised' by your endorphins and it became more bearable even enjoyable. It was like having a good time in prison even though one should never have a good time in prison. You don't want to 'work better' (if your work is like most of the work in this world as in the unrestrained exploitation of Nature and your fellow man), you want to 'work worse' or even better, transform that work into good natural work, as in 'no work'.

 
And so I stopped cycling to work by stopping working. Now, I just cycle.

Hill of Barnaigh

The route is pretty simple. I cycled from Paisley Canal to Bridge of Weirdo and then up into the plateau. Join the blue line and head past Auchencloich and the abandoned Barnbrock Farm/Campsite (check out its little chalets!). Join the main road for a kilometre or so and then take a left down the quieter country lane towards Barnaigh. Head up the path to a private home, through the garden, over the back fence and head across the field to Hill of Barnaigh. From the top of the hill you can see Greenside so just head towards it and down onto the road. As field treks go with bike in tow it's not so bad, although these infernal electric fences with no stile to be seen anywhere are beginning to piss me off...

It is unlawful not to provide access, so you are well within your rights to cut through any fences like this where there is no alternative route. If anyone sees you or says anything tell them that they should familiarize themselves with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code before fencing off whole areas. I also passed another sign between Barnbeth and Auchensale which stated that it was 'Private Land' and that because it was 'enclosed land' 'permission' had to be granted to pass through it. What utter tosh! This in fact is illegal to put signs up telling us of such things. As long as you stay 50m or more away from any homestead then you can literally wander where you like in Scotland. If anyone tells you different, tell them weemikey gave you permission... ;)

At any rate, saving any impromptu electrocutions, from Greenside it's easy enough back down to the Sustrans path back to Paisley Canal that way, or Lochwinnoch and beyond the other way...

 

This is my summer holiday, exploring the lumps and bumps of Inverclyde. Why on earth would you punish yourself by being polluted elsewhere, to the ends of the earth, being treated like cattle, where you don't speak the tongue, you don't know the people, you aren't acclimatized to the weather? 'I am no scientist', Annie Dillard wrote in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 'I explore the local.' 

Exploring the local is what every animal (that hasn't been turned into a pet, farm or circus animal) does. It's what the universe does. What did you think? That it jumped on a jumbo jet? That it had a limo? That it had invented some spurious 'technology' that usurped its own powers whilst dislocating it and uprooting it? 

No, the universe, like every other universal creature moves under its own steam. It locomotes from place to place by itself. The universe thus 'arrives' by exploring the local. Man, by contrast, by not exploring the local, by being polluted to the non-local, mesmerized again by the admiration of distance and the promise of the exotic, does not arrive anywhere, but emphatically 'departs'. This departure is from his Self and from the aboriginal, and when you have left your Self, well its open season...

As such, relocalizing and letting the local lure you (with its natural allure) is vital to the being of the naturally wise aboriginal creature.