Playing with the sheepses !

After having what felt the longest week ever last week and feeling slightly worse for wear I wasn't sure if I would be having a ride out this weekend. Each day that has been passing I have felt gradually worse and worse. At the moment I just feel like I have so much on. In reality I could drop everything and know it wouldn't really be that big of a deal. I have very supportive employers, amazing family and the most astonishing friends. The biggest barrier is me, yep that's right I'm my own worst critic. I'm my own worst motivator and I guess that makes me my own worst enemy. Something this bothersome cancer has picked up on. Ironic that cancer is your own body attacking itself.

Round 2 of treatment, then a very enjoyable bike ride to gather my thoughts...

Today was round 2 or should I say cycle 2 of my treatment. It was to get the second infusion of chemotherapy. Whilst I spent roughly 7 hours in a chair yesterday, today was much quicker as the bendamustine doesn't need to be monitored quite like the antibody drug which can cause certain reactions as lowers your blood pressure.

As I'm going through this treatment I'm learning a little about the respective drugs and what they do. The Chemo drug attacks both healthy and cancerous cells. My immune system will become very weak so I have to take care of myself. Tiredness comes in when red bloods cells are affected and the immune bit comes from the lack of white blood cells. The critical period between treatments is about 10 days in as this is when you are at your lowest, however I may be feeling tired in a few days time.

Before setting of for hospital I had to remember to take my concoction of new medication, what a pain in the arse. Tablets for this and that, but hey if they help me feel better I'm not going to complain...Much lol!

I arrived at UHND chemotherapy clinic just before 11:00am and saw a different nurse today. She was very pleasant just the sort of person you want looking after you. We shared a bit of banter whilst the nurse got all the stuff ready. She then popped off and got a warm bowl of water to soak my hand in, I found this quite relaxing. Then it was time for the unpleasantness to begin, yep the dreaded needle. First attempt was a complete fail "Ouch" I knew as soon as the needle went in that it wasn't in right as it proper stung. I've noticed over the past two days my phantom pain has been horrendous I now think I know why. You know when you see or feel something that makes you cringe, well when it happen to me my phantom pain starts. It's just like a uncontrollable subconscious reaction and it sucks. Ok attempt number 2, much more successful. I was given a quick flush with saline then the bendamustine was pumped in. Bloody hell it was cold having just come out of the fridge. The nurse kindly popped a towel over my arm, but it still felt freezing. Never mind I was only hooked up for a little over 35minutes.

I don't care what the weather man says When the weatherman says it's raining!

" I don't care what the weather man says.When the weatherman says it's raining". Well that's not exactly true, especially when the weatherman or lady says it's only going to rain intermittently maybe for an hour or so and it turns out that it actually persistently continues to persist to piss down non stop.

I'm a Firestarter

So tell me Kyle what you think of the Nettle Patch ?

Straight in from work I try to avoid the workman putting down our new engineered flooring and head up stairs to see if I can prise wor Kyle out of his computer chair to go out for a ride with me. It's been ages since we were out together and as it was a nice day thought I'd at least ask him. I was really surprised when he said "Yes", obviously he had to kill just one major boss in his game before he could get ready but hey it gave me time to sort my gear.

I had been thinking of shooting a video and Kyle would come in handy to set up my camera. I always seem to get the angle wrong, or the camera moves or something just doesn't go right. Well even though wor Kyle was with me this afters, it was no exception. Never mind even though I didn't quite catch the footage I wanted we both had a canny afternoon out playing on my bikes. Well I did I don't think Kyle had as much fun as me as he decided to follow me down a bank and I couldn't stop my bike sliding sideways and fell off and wor Kyle proceeded to crash into me. I fell in this nice sweet spot, with lovely lush grass, wor Kyle decided he would head towards these bushes...Oh hold on these aren't bushes, well I'll let the video do the talking lol.

There you go short n sweet... The bairn is now nursing his badly nettled arm... Awww... I have popped some Suda Crem on and hopefully it won't drop off any time soon.

Really bright day

Kyle doesn't like his pic taken

His dad doesn't mind lol

First ride on Bike Swanky's De Rosa Idol

Ever since returning from Seattle last September and having the opportunity to ride a road bike around town with my sponsor and buddy Brian Bartlett I have been thinking of getting one. I always thought "Me become a Roadie, No Way". My impressions of a roadie being  matching Lycra clad snobs, who never acknowledge you and think they own the road. However after having short go on a road bike I kind of saw the buzz, and whilst I don't go in for all the Lycra wear and I'm definitely not a snob, (you can't get much commoner than me)
 I can see the appeal of riding on the road as it's fast and you can keep up a good pace.

So moving along when I heard I had been approved for a running blade by the Challenged Athletes Foundation, then discovered that Arctic ONE where interested in what I was up to and wanted to help support me in my endeavours, well the next step was accepting the challenge of doing something I had never done before and that was a triathlon. 
 

Out on Bike Swanky's Demo De Rosa Idol

A night under the stars and bits and bobs from last week.

After having a relatively busy week what with appointments, work and trying to get some equipment sorted for my upcoming Triathlon in August I was feeling decidedly guilty that I hadn't actually gotten to do much riding or swimming as we approached the end of the week.

Canny hats them like

   

More goodies from my good friends over at Bike Bag Dude

Just a short blog to say a huge thank you to Kath n Kedan over at Bike Bag Dude, my gear arrived today. When I got in from work there was a large white heavy weight bag. I was well chuffed and excited and bonus no import duty, thanks guys for sorting that out and the great deal on the equipment. 

Awesome gear and pretty cool T-shirts too

   It was my awesome friend Mark Peterson who I visited like what seems centuries ago in his home town of Ogden Utah USA, however it was only last September who put me onto Kath n Kedan and ever since they have been so supportive of everything I have done, passing on kind words and encouraging comments upon Facebook and following my blog. In return I try to wear my bags with pride and always give them a mention when I do one of my small home movies or take a photo with their gear in place upon my bike.

This is going to make life easier on the bike

I was so impressed with my last bag from the guys that I decided to purchase another frame bag as well as a couple of chaff bags and a handlebar roll for my bike packing adventures which I'm hoping to do a lot more of.

As many of you will know I'm trying to raise funds for a running limb and I have this plan, idea call it what you will to do an unsupported bike packing adventure in the Hebrides, hopefully getting some good pictures and video footage so I can share it with everyone. At the moment I'm struggling with logistically I'm useless at planning and it's not just that to travel relatively light costs money. For instance I need a good sleeping bag and mat and at the moment I'm fancying the whole biving idea, though not quite sure. I have a small 2 man tent, however if I'm going to just bivi I think taking a tarp along would make good sense, so I need to purchase one of these too.

Ok then no need to do a review of the Bike Bag Dude's gear as I know it is solid having already used my other bag through some pretty hacky,dirty and mucky conditions. It has never let me down keeping everything bone dry and when requiring cleaning I just pop it in the washer on a rapid wash and low temp. Not sure if that's the right way to clean it, but so far the bag has been bullet proof and gets a 5 star rating.

Mixed feelings about biving and riding so far in 2 days.

 This is long. I've tried to write it as short as possible, however it's hard trying to condense 2 days worth of stuff into a few paragraphs and hey I had nothing better to do with my Sunday apart from look after my sore ass, have the occasional coffee and just relax.

So as I've said it's Sunday morning as I write about my adventures which took place on Friday and Saturday. I've awoke to a very stiff left leg (the one I call my good leg) although at the moment it doesn't feel all that good. Not only is it stiff, but I also have that darn niggling pain back in my ACL (cruciate ligament). I put it down to my shoes and the cleat position as it happened last time I wore these ones on a long ride. I've tried adjusting them several times, however no joy. Funnily enough I also have a pretty stiff stump too. I guess that shows the extent of the workout I gave the poor little fellow. Add this to saddle and socket sores and a blend of phantom pain and your probably wondering "errr why do you bother when it causes all this pain and discomfort". Well there's an easy answer it's because I love being out with my friends, riding my bike, seeing new places and faces and making memories. In the past I have had way too much sit in the house, thinking "well this is it for me", so now I have the ability to do things I like to grab every opportunity I can.

So lets move on to the tale of our micro-adventure. 

Mid Week Ride, with Pals

Geocaching,,, Thompa doesn't like his photo taken lol

  A quick txt around when I got in from work on Wednesday and John, Lee and David (Thompa) where all up for a ride out. A day or so earlier I had been chatting to Lee about Geocaching, something I had never heard of until a few weeks ago when I had called up to see my friend (and cameraman) Ade. When I had arrived at Ade's house as per the norm on a Friday evening around 7:30pm, his wife Amanda made me a lovely cuppa (bit disappointed no KitKat this week,come on Amanda get your act together, didn't even get a Nutella and Jam sandwich) anyhoo Ade was on messing around with his iPad trying to remember this app he had come across and was interested in getting, but had forgotten what it was. So the whole evening was spent chatting whilst Ade kept saying "bloody hell I've been through every category of the apps and can't remember where,what or which one it was". then all of a sudden as we were talking "Ahh Haa I know what it was" and he proceeded to purchase the app, install it and go on to tell me all about what it was about.
I found the geocaching very interesting, thinking "mmmm could incorporate that in a bike riding adventure".

So after mentioning this to Lee he proceed to find a geocaching website, download some map co-ordinates to his Garmin and get us some clues, so that when we went out we could go on a kind of treasure seeking outing.

Party of Five

My cycling adventures started sometime ago now. Around oh about January 2008 or there about's. I had the aboveknee amputation of my right leg on September 11th 2007 and then had to undergo a good few weeks of rehabilitation, which took place at Shotley Bridge Hospital. I waited for my wound site to heal and after around 6 to 8 weeks I was fitted and received my first prosthesis which I hated with a passion. It felt heavy,looked naff and I had to hold the dam thing on with a Tes belt. This was a neoprene, belt which was elasticated and went around my waist and secured tightly. This was the worst part initially, as I was constantly uncomfortable and I couldn't enjoy a meal whilst wearing it as it was like wearing some medieval corset. Those days seem so far away, yet are still fresh in my memory it's good to look back on them, not because they were pleasant,but because they act as a reminder just how far I have come. 

What a Motley Crew

In the early days I would head off out on my bike all alone. I had no one to ride with. I would fall off lots and I mean LOTS! This was because I was so used to having my own 2 legs,even if one of them was pretty knackered,after having surgery known as limb salvage. A huge internal prosthesis,called a Kotz prosthesis was placed inside my leg to replace my diseased bone. This procedure never really worked and I would just hobble around on it as best as I could, suffering lots of infections and really bad pain. So when I went back to riding it was after something like 11 or 12 years. It's amazing how your brain is programmed and mapped from an early age to remember how to do things and then again it's also how amazing hard it is to convince your brain "I'm Missing a Leg" When you lose a limb,it takes your brain a while to adapt and when you go to put that foot down that no longer exists, well it's not there. As my right leg was my strongest, (if you imagine it's like which hand you write with, or which leg you would kick a ball with) well I used to go to put this one down and time and again it was "oh crap" as I fell in what felt like slow motion to me.

There and a bit of the way back - The Good the Bad and the Scummy

Ever since my birthday I've had a bit of an upset tummy. I wasn't sure whether it was something I had ate, or as my usual getting stressed about nothing in particular.

On Thursday, at least I think it was  Thursday (my memory is shocking) yeah it was Thursday as I have just texted John who was with me, we went to visit our new friend Lee and his lovely wife Michelle. Michelle had contacted us on Facebook saying she was going to prepare a nice home cooked meal and I mean who can refuse that. Not only that we were heading over to discuss plans with Lee about going bike packing on Saturday, staying over Saturday night, then returning sometime on Sunday. Lee is quite clued up on the local area and he knew of a decent ride which ended with a good camp site.

As usual I left everything until last minute and found myself with John and Ern at Go Outdoors trying to pick a tent which I could quite easily pop on my bike. WoW it was more difficult than I though, so many tents to choose from and then when I did eventually figure out which one I wanted they didn't have it in stock, so I spent the best part of another half an hour trying to find one I liked. Sods law really I should have just opted for the very first one I saw in the entrance to the shop as that is the one I eventually bought. The one I got was a Vango Tempest 200,it's a 2 man and not a bad little tent for £90...Not that I know much about tents, other than they are held up mostly with stick type thingy's and bits of rope.

Once at Lee's we discussed where we would be going, had a cracking lasagne, thank you Michelle and watched a few of Lee's home bike movies which were very entertaining. Lee appears to have a more professional approach to making his video's where as I just fudge stuff together and hope for the best lol.

Oh I better warn you now, this could be quite an epic tale so if you would like to head off for a cuppa and some biscuits I'll still be here when you get back.

As the Title says "There and a bit of the way back" and  "The Good  the Bad and the Scummy. well lets start with the good huh?

Saturday morning arrives I've been feeling ill all of Friday and only had a few hours sleep. Both John and Lee were proper decent and said "hey if you don't feel up to it no probs, we can always do it another day/weekend". Sod that I thought I've just spent £90 on a tent. Maybe I'll feel better once I'm riding. So I messaged back saying that  "we are still on".

Again Mr Unprepared I set about figuring out what I thought I would need, after all John and I didn't have to be over Lee's until 12 midday. This is when it became apparent that this camping and carrying all your own gear is quite a task in itself. I had a few goes at packing various things then came to the conclusion it's never going to all fit. After sometime I managed to get everything I was going to take squared away...Jeez my bike was like a laden mule and after I added 2 litres of water to my backpack it felt decidedly heavy. I'm just pleased I had my Bike Bag Dude frame bag as without this I would have been stumped. I was able to pop various things in this handy bag, everything from my GoPro to a few banana's and my bobbly hat.

John arrived around 11'ish, carrying his gear and we had a few minor adjustments of each of our bikes and gear before heading over to meet Lee at his house.

On arrival at Lee's we were greeted by both Lee and Michelle and proceeded to make final checks, get a few photo's taken and Michelle took a little video of us all leaving so that Lee could use it in his video that he was going to shoot.

John,Lee and Myself

New friends and old bones

    I had been looking forward to today all week I was going to heading out on my bike,   regardless of the weather, well unless it was a full on down pour with thunder and lightening (I get scared in case my metal bits get struck lol)

Earlier in the week I had planned a ride to the coast with my new riding bud John. The pair of us aren't exactly fit, so we had come to the decision we would ride down to Sunderland, go along the sea front and then follow the coastal path to South Shields, then cheat a little and ring Ern (my dad for a lift home. The way I see it is it's enjoyable having a nice ride, but when you push things too far well you just sicken yourself off.

Today was also special because I was going to be meeting up with a very nice lad called Lee, who was going to be joining John and I for a look out.

Allreet there John

A few pictures from yesterdays trip to Bamburgh

I thought I'd pop a few pictures that where taken with my Pentax on my blog today. I have had a bit play around editing them and I suppose they aren't too bad. Saying that these are just the ones I managed to save I had a lot more on my camera but they were mostly terrible.

Really I just need to get out and practice more and have a little more patience I guess.

I'm sure Ern took this one

A trip to Bamburgh Beach

As I've been off on a week's hols this week and the weather was so nice, I decided to have a look-up to Bamburgh beach and just have a bit of a mess around on my Fat bike.

So sorry been neglecting my Blog a little, but I'm back now

Hi guys, thought it was about time I came out of hibernation and started updating my blog. Yeah it will probably be same old, same old, however some people must find it relatively interesting as I see I have had over 16,000 views. Now if I could just get a quid for each view I could definitely make my life more interesting and therefore write more interesting stuff in return. Anyhoo as that's not going to happen you will just have to make do with what I'm currently up to.

So holidays over I'll admit I don't particularly enjoy the festive season. I have my own reasons, however I don't think it should be cancelled as I know there are lots of people who love this time of year. For me what with the dark mornings, cold weather and what not I find myself withdrawing and become less motivated.

Yesterday was only my second time out on my bike this year. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed my mini adventure, doing a few small loops of a local wooded area. The trails were pretty sketchy in places as there were deep gulleys caused by all this rain we have been having lately. My wheels got stuck in these channels and I thought I was going to come off on a few occasions. It's scary as you want to turn and are just stuck following the direction of the washed out route.

I think what made my day so much more fun was the fact I was wearing my new Shimano MT 91 Boots. You see normally when I'm out in the wet my feet or should I say "foot" gets wet and from there I gradually get colder and colder. Well not yesterday. These Shimano boots are superb I love them, so easy to get on and off what with the "Hiking boot" lace up design. The soles are Vibram and offer great grip and they are SPD's so brilliant for me as I have to clip in, in order to keep my prosthetic foot on my pedal.

 I took a few pics yesterday and was quite happily plogging through puddles and even climbed onto a fallen tree trunk which was quite slippery without incident, which is a bonus as usually when I attempt stuff like that I go arse over tit lol.

YooHoo!

I love my new boots

My Nates certainly helped today

Nice n scenic

My Bartlett Tendon, complete with new, slightly scuffed Cam

 I attempted to get some video footage yesterday too. I decided to try and use my Wizmount back pack and whilst it's a good piece of kit I wasn't too happy with the shaky  GoPro footage. I guess you can't really expect the backpack to stay real still, as you will see as my helmet is bobbing around due to me being out the saddle and pedalling quite hard. Never mind huh! I think you will get an idea of the places I was riding in the short movie.






On my way home I came across quite a few ponies which have been introduced onto Quakies Fells. I asked my dad what type they were and he seems to think they are Dartmoor ponies. I think Quakie ponies sounds much better

Quakie Ponies

a Quakie Pony, a bit like a Dartmoor but different

Oh and I have to say a special thank you to both Kath and Kedan Griffin at Bike Bag Dude, who very kindly sent me a bag for my Sandman. I had it stuffed with gear yesterday, so much so that my bike looked slightly pregnant. The bag is fantastic, kept all my stuff bone dry. When I eventually got home my bag had turned from a rather clean looking white with green trim, to a decidedly dirty muddy looking thing strapped to my bike. All i did was whip it off, take out my stuff and then bang the bag in the wash with my slightly dirty clothing. The bag has come out like new, which is more than can be said for my Troy Lee Lumi shorts which have had to be put in a bucket of Vanish to try and get them clean. I think the power of pink may fail on this occasion lol.

Huge thanks to Kath N Kedan over at Bike Bag Dude for my new bike bag

 Firstly I have to say a huge thank you to my friend Ade for taking the time out along with his son Jordan to pop down our local mud covered woods to try and grab a few shots of me out playing and showing off my new Bike Bag which I received from Kath N Kedan and their company Bike Bag Dude.

BIKE BAG DUDE

 Ade had a few problems what with me wearing dark clothing, well I wasn't going to put my Sunday best on I mean the whole place was clarty as owt man. And with the Bike Bag being white, then the day was dull so natural light was cut out, well you get the idea, basically it wasn't the ideal lighting conditions and I think Ade did well to get any shots at all. Me I had tried earlier in the day and well mine came out shit! No literally I took a few photo's of my Sandman next to some horse manure lol.

Who is that masked man?

 Anyhoo I have decided to pop  few images on my blog, there's a few more over at Ade's Flickr page, it can be found here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ade-the-tog/sets/72157637133203986/

Should have gone to Spec Savers

Just Playing

Those Nate's look huge

Well Chuffed with my new Bike Bag Dude bag...

Sploooooosh! Well that didn't stay clean long

 So thanks Ade and Jordan, as usual we had a laugh. Oh and as for my Bike Bag Dude Bag it's awesome. I tried to keep it as clean as possible. I'm sure you will be seeing it featured in a lot more of my adventures, it's really handy as I can now carry stuff that's easy to get to, saves having to keep taking my back pack off. The quality of the bag, the fit,design,feel and looks are all awesome.

Thank you Kath N Kedan  www.bikebagdude.com

Small outing, small Blog

Just had a quick blast out today, knew the woods I intended riding would be pretty hard going after the recent rainfall. I wasn't wrong. Good job I had my Surly Nate's fitted to my Sandman as it was pretty sketchy in certain places. On a normal bike I would have been bogged down and pushing the majority of the way. The area's where there was no natural cover like beside the farmers field and the breaks between the trees the mud was about 6 inches deep.

" Holy pile of steaming horse Shit Bat...Errrr Sandman!