Lets see if it works this time?

 Yet another lie in, following a late night. My body clock is totally out of sync, due to being off work. Normally I have my alarm set for 6:30 am, Sunday through to Wednesday, which gives me enough time to get up, have some breakfast and then head through to Newcastle for work.

Hopefully the Disability Service Centre will sort me out with a new prosthetic socket soon, and I can get back to work. It has been so frustrating and stressful being off, it's not like I am actually sick, I just don't have a limb I can wear for a prolonged period without it causing me a lot of pain and discomfort. It kind of comes with being an amputee I guess.

I have noticed my weight fluctuate quite a bit over the last few months, going from my old socket being way too big and requiring a smaller socket to be made to, jumping on the scales the other day and weighing in at just over 14 stone, with my prosthetic leg on. That is the heaviest I have been for quite some time. It is probably as a result of my changed diet, having decided to go from a vegetarian, to more of a flexitarian. Plus my ongoing exercise routine, which I do every day and has been going on for well over 2 years now.

Anyhoo just a bit of background there... It's relevant, in that the exercise, which includes my cycling, has really kept me sane. There is nothing worse than feeling just when things are getting back to normal, something else comes along to take the wind from your sails.

Orbea Gain M20 1x sporting new bottle cage

 

So upon waking up this morning I didn't give my little internal voice the chance to say "ahh just stop in, you can always go out another day". Instead, I quickly got my bikey gear from my wardrobe, got ready, popped my Bartlett Tendon on, using it without tendons as I was intending on using my new Orbea Gain gravel bike.

Orbea at the bottom of the Black Path

Yesterday I had fitted a new VEL RL Carbon bottle cage to my Orbea, got it as it matched the colour of my bike. I also bought a Camelbak Podium bottle and filled this up with water straight from the fridge.

Made sure I had the required gear in my Camelbak, how do they say in the US? "Fanny pack", and I was just about ready for the off. I asked Ern to watch me set up the Mahle Smartbike app and connect it to my bike. If you read my other blog post about the first ride on my Orbea, you will know I was most disappointed with the app. I just wanted to make sure I had actually connected the bike to the app.

Ern and I watched as the display said connecting, then a count-down and Go. I decided I would just go out for a ride and not keep stopping, fannying on with the app if it wasn't working. I had figured out the Orbea computer, which sits out in front of the bike's stem. If I hold down the left lower button it resets the distance and the right button when held turns off the bike's lights. Pleased I discovered the button for the lights as I think it's a right faff on trying to switch them off by the frame mounted button, I end up just switching the bike off.

Orbea computer

Oh! And I forgot to mention I adjusted the motor map from custom which is one of the settings to urban. Urban if I remember correctly gives 40% power assist on level 1, 70% on level 2 and 90% on level 3. Now I know that sounds like a lot, however the bike only has a 250w battery, so the power, and its delivery feels a lot less than say on my Specialized Turbo Levo, I will explain as I get further along.

As per usual no real plan of where I was going, I was just out for a ride, it was a canny nice day too. I jumped on the bike, felt weird riding without the resistance of the tendons on my BTK, in a way I didn't feel as confident. What I did notice immediately is without the resistance how much easier it is just to spin. That said, as I didn't have much air in my shock, I couldn't stand out of the saddle if I wanted to do any out of the saddle climbing or if taking in a bumpy trail.

I headed over Durham Road and cut through Holly Hill coming out at St Marys, then headed up towards South Moor passing the "Pinneys", as we used to call them back in the day. Once at South Moor I went up Pine Street and at the top of the street went past the allotments and came to the Black Path. Little photo opportunity.

Dear me, me and technology. I tried to connect my GoPro to my phone, and it just wouldn't connect. This got me thinking, does technology actually help or hinder us? I mean, here I was out for a ride, stopped to take a picture and ended up fucking about with gadgets. In the end, I manually pressed the GoPro button and then spent the next 5 to 10 minutes riding up the Black Path muttering under my breath. I rode up the Black path with my bike set on level 1. I could feel I was still having to put some effort in, but could feel some gentle assistance.

At the top of the Black Path as I passed the houses at Langley View, I used the Orbea computer to turn off all assistance, so selecting "0" on the display. From here to Consett and all the way down the Lanchester Valley, I just rode with no assistance. Have to say the bike rides really well, feels quick and not heavy at all.

Lanchester Valley

Lovely Day

Going down the Lanchester Valley I came to Langley Park and knew which ever way I decided to head there would be a bank. I choose to head towards Jaw Blades, knowing it was a long climb, however thinking this would be a good opportunity to try out the Orbea and see what the assistance was like on all levels. As I started climbing the bank I went from level 1 and 40%, stepping up to level 2 and 70%, then as I reached the toughest bit I had to drop to the smallest cog and climbing at about 4 mph using Level 3 and 90% assist. Again, I know it sound like a lot, however I still found I was working hard. I could hear my rapid heart beat in my ears as I pushed myself up the bank.

Just before coming into Burnhope, I turned right and went down the quiet single track road, where the wind turbines live. Here I was able to turn the bike to level 1 and pretty much coast along the road in a high gear. As I reached the end of the lane, which turns right and heads down a pretty steep bank, I was on the cabs doing about 25mph. My eyes were streaming, and I almost crapped myself when I hit a pothole, and it sent my bike a bit squirrelly. It brought back memories of when I was a teenager and a bus knocked me off my bright red racer, when coming down Crook Gate Bank. Following the squirrelly incident, I then took more care coming down the bank towards the scrapyards at Sacriston. The road here is pretty bumpy, could lose a filling.

From Sacriston I was back on the road and headed towards Daisy Hill and Edmondsley... "Wheeeeeee!" all the way down Edmondsley bank and turned Right at the bottom. Scary being on the road and travelling quite fast, then knowing you have to indicate with your arm out, luckily upon checking over my shoulder no cars behind me.

A climb up another bank, mainly using level 2. This brought me to the road that goes from Craghead down to Chester Le Street, pretty much opposite Fox Parrot Wood. I turned Left and headed up into Craghead using a combination of power especially towards the cross roads at Craghead opposite the Punch Bowl Pub as there were cars about, and I wanted to get away from the junction. It's difficult getting started off as an amputee on an incline, as you sometimes cannot get your good foot up on the pedal quick enough to give you that initial push away.

From Craghead a pretty easy ride back to Durham Road and home. A check on the Mahle App when I arrived at home ad it had tracked me all the way, and then went on to upload the data to my Strava, today being Day74 with a total of 834 consecutive days ridden. Covered 26.77 miles today, my longest ride for a while.

I really like the Orbea Gain, in that it offers just enough assistance, however unlike my Specialized Turbo Levo where if I left it on Turbo all day I just wouldn't get a workout, the Orbea makes you work. By that I mean if you were relatively unfit and had this bike on 100% assist, you would still be knackered after a good ride out. The power delivery also works in a very different way. When I have my Specialized assist on as soon as I push down on a pedal I can feel the motor kick in, whereas on the Orbea it is kind of like a delayed response, then as you pedal it is a weird feeling in that you cannot really feel the assistance, however you know it is there.

Hopefully next time out I will get a lot more pictures, to make up for all this writing, Oh! And get all my tech to work.