virgin-rider

Any Shetlanders on this forum? ain't come accross ant yet..........

virgin-rider

No takers then?

markhr

not me - I'm in tropical and hilly London.....or would that be temprate and flat like a pancake London?

All I can suggest is "another cycling forum", cyclechat, ctc forum and bikeradar if you're looking for ride partners near you. They're not nearly as friendly, populous and comprehensive as this forum but they are UK specific and may help.

Given that it never really snows properly in the UK anymore is wind and windchill the biggest hazard up there when cycling? That is, the super-uber-huge gale force warnings that we hear about in the national weather down "sarf".

Treefox

Are you looking for Shetland cyclists in general or Shetlanders on BF in particular?

If in general, look up Carlos Riise - he's the hotshot with the Shetland Wheelers. There's a fairly active local cycling scene in the South Mainland area and a sort of community bike co-op down one of the lanes in Lerwick.

I'm up in Shetland a lot on work, and though I'd've liked to, I've never been able to rationalise the extra cost to get a bike on the little airplane or on the train up to Aberdeen.

I did once get in a bit of banter here from a Glaswegian whose family, I think, was fae Shetlan'.

Treefox

Salt spray over the whole islands in storms - rusts all the little nooks in crannies!
(that's why there are far more red vans than white vans in Shetland - the rust doesn't show so much)

Nothing like a force-eight tailwind!

Les Reay

I cycled around the main island when I did the North Sea Cycle Route two years ago, and camping wild on the coast there was a highlight.

On the negative side, a car racing a motorbike nearly wiped me out. Also, despite the tourist blurb saying that friendly islanders would probably stop to chat, the only words directed at me were from a car behind on a single track road ("get out of the f*****g way").

Was I naive in expecting something different from the mainland, or was I just unlucky?

Treefox

There's an article about Shetland cycling in Friday's Shetland Times, as well as a profile of a local triathlete in the Sport section.

virgin-rider

I think you were just unlucky. I've been cycling Shetland roads for 2 years and never encountered any abuse, Shetland is known worlwide for its peoples hospitality and we are very welcoming. I read some of the posts on here from the U.S. and the cyclists over there seem to have it very rough...

Treefox

There are a lot of boy racers though.

Sheriff Graeme Napier seems to spend much of his life admonishing them, if ST quotes are anything to go by.

Les Reay

I wonder also if the oil workers there tend to be a law unto themselves. Whatever, I'm looking forward to my next visit, and hopefully, the chance to explore the smaller islands.

I heard that there is no longer a regular summer ferry from Bergen in Norway. Does this mean that the Shetlands and Orkneys are no longer part of the North Sea Cycle Route?

Treefox

There really aren't all that many oil workers there anymore. Most of the folk at the terminal are for most purposes 'local' by now anyway.

But yeah, the Norrona no longer runs between Shetland and Bergen. So one can't actually do the North Sea Cycle route in a contiguous manner - You'd have to ferry back to Aberdeen, then either train to Newcastle and ferry to Bergen or fly to Bergen from there.

There was some talk of flights between Shetland and Bergen though... Don't know what's happening to that, but the planes might be too small for bikes. There's also discussion of a freight link being put back - which would have a small number of paying passenger spots on, but would be much slower than the Norrona as freight travels more slowly to make more efficient use of fuel.

Treefox

Virgin - did you go to the Triathlon meeting?

virgin-rider

Hi, no i didn't go. Can't run and can't really be arsed with swimming. Goodluck to them though.....

Treefox

I spent many an evening weaving around the kids in the pool at Clickhimin.

Don't know why they didn't rope off lanes for lap swimming.

Pumbadoo

How's trix fellow North Islander?

I dont know about any here from your neck o the woods but, i'm a mtb'er from Orkney (the better of the north isles lol) only jokin btw.

Hows the mountain biking up in Shetland then? Often wondered about taking my steed up there for a thrashing but don't know how the trails are?

Cheers