A snowy ride along a trail next to Tanfield Railway

Opened my blinds this morning to be greeted by quite a bit of snow. Got ready, grabbed my gear and I was off out on my Fat Bike.

I wasn't really sure where I was thinking of going, needed to clear my head and riding my bike generally helps. I've had a bit of a crap week this week, firstly being informed I've been turned down at my appeal tribunal to be kept in the Support group of Employment Support Allowance and then on Thursday finding out I can't claim Job Seekers Allowance because of me doing voluntary work, so basically I have very little money coming in and it's canny worrying. Anyhoo no good stressing and I certainly don't want to get anyone down by listening to me bleat on, this blog is supposed to be about fun,following my adventures and well just letting you see what I'm up to.

It's so difficult trying to get a shot of yourself

09.02.13 Short early morning ride

      I had my alarm set for 7.00am this morning...it's usually the time I get up each morning during the week for work. I have been doing my voluntary job for roughly 4 months now, so I'm quite used to the routine. 

My plan was to head out for a short ride...I'm pretty much back to square one fitness wise so knew it was no good going out intending on doing miles and miles and sickening my self off or over doing it and not feeling well come Monday.

On my way out of the house I checked our cooker and it read 7.22am. It was a strange morning over in the East where the sun was poking his or her head, depending on how you view it, it was  beautiful shades of yellow, whilst to the North,South and West it was a muted hazy kind of morning.

I set off towards Craghead, intending to go up the top road and past the wind turbines. Wow I an tell I'm unfit as what with having the new Surly Nate's on board and climbing up the bank at Craghead I was puffing and blowing...I didn't get off though and pushed on.  The turbines looked pretty cool as the sun started to come over the horizon and bathed then in sunlight. "Smashing" I thought,even though it was quite chilly I thought we would have some nice rays beating down.

I rode along to the top of "Wilka's bank" and headed off down towards the farm on the trail. As the sun was out I thought it may look good in a video so setup my GoPro and got some footage. As I continued down the trail this is when I became a bit disappointed, the sun had decided to leave me and it set in a bit colder.

I continued on the trail and when I reached the bit where two paths crossed decided I would head back home, taking footage as I rode. I cut down into what we call the "Drift", think it gets it's name from the old mining days...way before my time. As a kid I played here and my pals and me have always just know the place as the drift. A short ride along and I got to the start or finish, depending on how you look at it of South Moor Park...Really when I've thought about it it's probably the finish as the gates to the park are at the other end lol. A nice ride through South Moor Park, which has seen quite a bit of storm and flooding damage by the look of it, what with trees down and thick mud across the pavements, as well as a small bridge which has suffered really badly, it now has no rails in place along it's sides, they look as if they have been washed away.

Once at the gates of the park I turned left a quick check of the road and I crossed over to where the new school that will replace my old school Greenlands is being built. I had to chuckle to myself at the sign on the fence which read something like a tidy site is a safe site, man that site was anything but tidy, in fact if I didn't know better I would say a small explosive device had gone off.

A small ride past the new school and I came to a wooded area of conifer trees. I can remember as a kid spending lots of time in this wood playing alongside my mates. We called this place the "Pines" and I dare say if I was to see any of my old friends and was to mention the "pines" they would know immediately where I was talking about. It's funny the memories that places bring back to you. I can remember playing a game of "Tally Ho" in these woods, they were much denser as I recall and myself and a school friend hid for hours afraid we would get caught as we were playing with bigger lads and knew we would get beaten up if we were caught. I can laugh about it now, however at the time I was petrified lol.

Ok out the other side of the woods...wow it was nice reminiscing lol an easy ride down the bank, a sharp turn left at Rescue Station House, then over the other side of the road and cut through South Stanley Wood, which is supposed to be a nature reserve...I'm ashamed to say this but it's more like  dumping ground. My dad and myself affectionately call this wood "Glass Wood" and that's because all the Lambrini girls and their Chavy boyfriends hide out there on a night, smashing bottles and chucking larger cans all over the shop, oh and lets not forget starting the odd fire or three. Of course it's not just the kids... lazy grown ups are just as bad, there are remnants of all sorts down that wood, old car tyres,shopping trolleys,old mattresses...oh you get the picture. Last year the wood was decorated by some incompetent with video tape which was strung from branch to branch. I must be getting old lol...It's just that this particular wood is only just across the way from where I live and I would like to see it looked after and preserved as when it's tidy it's quite pleasant to walk through. And so ends my whine oh and the end of my adventure I'm at the end, a quick cross over the road and up the back street and I'm home.

WoW that was a tough outing!!!

OMG!!! I'm either really, really unfit, or today's outing was just really, really tough, maybe it was a bit of both to be fair as I'm absolutely knackered after today's adventure.

Invited to do a chat on BBC Radio Tees...Awesome!!!

Quite out the blue I got a phone call a few weeks back asking if I would like to take part in a afternoon chat show upon BBC Radio Tees. well of course I jumped at the opportunity. I had already done a small slot with Neil Green last year, which I found most enjoyable and everyone down at BBC Radio Tees were brilliant on that occasion, setting my nerves at ease (I mean it's live and well I get the jitters). This time round was no different, again I was a bit nervous, but the staff at the station were fantastic, everyone from the secretary on the front desk who made both my dad and I a nice cup of coffee (my dad was doing his normal duty chauffeuring me around lol) I feel rather guilt actually as like I say this was my second visit to BBC Radio Tees and this is the second time I have forgotten to get the secretary's name. She is a lovely lady and told us she was retiring soon, so in the off chance she gets to read this on my Blog I would  like to wish her the best of luck and hope she has a very happy retirement.

John Foster BBC Radio Tees presenter and myself

 We were led upstairs just before 2:00pm and I was due to go on air and this is when I met a cracking lad named Rob Law, he took us through to the studio and this is whereI was introduced to John Foster the afternoon shows presenter. John immediately set me at ease explaining what was going to go on and promising not to ask any "Jeremy Paxton type questions" as he put it lol. John's a real easy guy to get on with, very warm and friendly a credit to the BBC.

And so I went on air at around 2:00. I had been asked to choose a few of my favourite tunes before going on air, this was actually quite difficult as I have so many tracks floating around in my head. I think I made some canny song choices as a few people have commented since listening to the segment.

I thought the chat went very well, the time flew by and I tried to pack in as much information and recall as much stuff as I could. I also tried not to slip to many "err's and umms" in between my words, this is very difficult to do, as when your speaking live the odd err or umm gives you time to think of what your going to say next. One of my friends commented that he thought the interview was really good as I didn't come across as some "thick Geordie" who puts "like" at the end of the sentence "if ye knaw what a mean like" lol. I'm proud of my accent of course, however thought I should probably put my "telephone voice" on as not everyone may understand me. Another of my American Facebook friends who listened in complimented me saying he could understand me perfectly which was very nice.

So I really enjoyed my experience yet again on BBC Radio Tees, it's nice to feel that little bit special now and again, what I think is more important is showing people what you can do if you set yourself a challenge or goal. I was asked by John do I feel inspirational and I answered truthfully saying not really, however if  by seeing me someone can take inspiration and then go on to improve their circumstance, situation or life then I don't need thanks I'm just happy to have played some role.

I had real probs trying to upload this,  if you would like to listen to my afternoons chat on BBC Radio Tees with John Foster you can find it here along with some of my photo's...

First ride of the year,so excited,knew I'd forgotten Something...

I awoke this morning to a fresh covering of snow. I was really excited as this was to be my first ride of the new year. My Surly Nate's had arrived Friday and my dad had fitted them whilst I was at work, great stuff. 

I got myself sorted and popped out to our shed to just check my bike over. "Dam" I noticed I had a flat on the back. Don't know how that happened as it wasn't like a nip of the tube when my dad had put the tyres on. Never mind it was a fairly quick fix, the hardest part was actually trying to find the hole as it was tiny, no bigger than a pin prick. I used one of my Leyzne ready glued patches and this did the trick sealing the tube nicely. It was then just a case of re-inflating the tyre. I pumped them up to 8psi, not entirely sure what is the best pressure for snowy conditions, however thought this would be a good start to try.

My plans were to just have a short ride out and kind of get back in the swing of things see how the Nate's performed. I had also arranged with a Ade a good friend of mine to get some "fun" shots as he's pretty handy with a camera. 

So Ade met me down mine and he brought along his son Simon who was going to be the sherpa for the day carrying Ade's camera gear.

And so we set off Ade and Simon in his car and my dad and myself in ours (Ern wanted to tag along to see if I fell off in the snow I think) To be honest my dad is my number one fan, he's a great bloke so is well deserving of a mention.

 I like to cheer people up and make them chuckle so had come up with the idea of doing something maybe a little different whilst out on my bike and in the snow. 

This was to prove hilarious especially when Ade spotted some walkers out along the trail. We were in the woods and he kind of panicked saying "quick hide there's someone coming"..."No really Glenn I'm not joking there's someone coming". The walkers didn't come along our trail, however imagine there surprise if they had. To be confronted by a half man, half mechanical dude in the buff riding a Fat Bike...Coldest part of me today btw was my fingers, note to self...must buy some new winter gloves...

  What a difference the Surly Nate's make when riding on stuff like snow and thick mud. Yeah I found they dragged a bit when I was on my way home and had to venture onto a little bit of tarmac, however it wasn't too bad.

My Bartlett Tendon also performed well. My confidence has grown immensely over the years I have been using the unit and what with the way the new "cam" helps make the knee feel more progressive, well it's just brilliant.Oh and check out my shiny Pace carbon Fibre socket, everything has just come together and I feel so lucky to be able and get out on days like this...

Anyhoo thoroughly enjoyed my first small ride of the year. It was really fun filled with loads of laughs. It does you good to go a little mad now and again.

 When we had finished shooting the pics we returned to the cars. I decided I would just ride home. To be honest I wasn't all that cold considering all I had on was a pair of shorts with nowt underneath & a base layer, jersey and jacket...The coldest part of me being my finger ends and toes on one foot (the other actually felt remarkably warm and toasty, it's funny the sensations you get as an amputee)

 I was a little sore when I got in around where I have recently had surgery, good news my wound is intact and hasn't split. It now appears to be healing nicely, only a few anti-biotics left to take. So looks like I'm ok to get back out on my bike. Hoping to get some nice photo's and video's this year and achieve a few more goals I have set myself...

Huge thanks to Ade & Simon I think we all had a really good day out, it's one of those days you can look back on and say "Can you remember the time". Oh and also a big thank you to my dad, what with helping put my tyres on yesterday then helping me sort my bike and ferrying me around these past few months back and forth to work, well I know I have a dad in a million. For me this is what it's all about just getting out there and having a laugh & some fun especially with good m8's and it's a bonus when you can bring a laugh and a smile to your dear old pop through your mad antics lol....

Christams Bimble, from Craster to Alnmouth and back.

I met up with Bruce (Coastkid) & Si (Doc) yesterday at Craster. Craster is situated on the cost of Northumberland to the north east of Alnwick, it's around 52 miles from where I live and roughly a hour and a half's drive away. Bruce had brought his Surly Moonlander equipped with 4.7 Surly Big Fat Larry's, whilst Si was on his Surly Pugsley equipped with 3.8 Nates which offered a lot more grip.

Weather wise the day wasn't too bad, which was surprising as according to the radio on my drive up it was supposed to be very windy and wet.

The coast line was beautiful, with some smashing trails (though the majority of trails where really hard going as they where so thick with mud). I found myself falling off a couple of times as I just had no grip and my bike slid away from under me.

I really enjoyed the ride out and back though did feel a bit guilty as both Bruce and Si had to keep waiting for me to catch up. I'm just not as fit and find some of the terrain difficult to ride. On a positive note I did manage to ride on some stuff I've never really ridden on before without getting off my bike, which is pretty scary when your clipped in and only have one leg. Stuff like slippery rocks and stretches of pebble strewn beach.

When we arrived in Alnmouth we managed to find a lovely hotel/restaurant type place, don't remember the name. Bruce, Si and myself put in an order for 3 fish and chips and Bruce and Si also got a nice refreshing bottle of Crabbies. We decided to take our meal to go, even though the lady behind the bar was very kind and said we could sit in in our muddy gear. Once outside we realised the wind was getting up and we were starting to cool off, so we took shelter in the back of the restaurant which was deserted.

One of the ales on sale in the hotel

 It was then a case of riding back to Craster, the light was starting to fade and the tide had come in so riding back along the same route wasn't possible. We followed the coastline as much as possible, using coastal trails and only really popping onto the tarmac roads on a couple of occasions to get back to the Quarry car park in Craster. At the car park was a mobile kitchen so we had a nice hot drink before saying our goodbyes.

When I got home it was a case of a hot shower and I was so worn out I went straight to bed. Don't know but over the past few months I just haven't had much energy and I can't shake this bothersome cough.

Today I decided to checkout the GoPro footage I had taken and was most disappointed in that it came out absolutely terrible. I think I need to change the settings on my GoPro as everything came out with way too much "Fish Eye", so much so the whole coastline appeared distorted and I hardly got any footage of either Bruce or Si. I think my camera needs lifting slightly on my helmet. Of course it could also have been that the majority of the time I had my head down checking to see where I was going or puffing and blowing to get along a trail/beach lol.

Looking out towards the sea

I've been trying to find software that's free/easy to use to remove the "Fish Eye" effect and also at replacement lenses for my GoPro HD2.

Settings wise I think I'll try 1080 - 25fps and either medium 127deg or narrow 90 deg for my next shoot see how that comes out.

Christmas day out in the mud

Hey Merry Christmas and a very Happy New year to you all...

Since we lost my mom in 2002 we haven't really celebrated Christmas as it's kind of lost it's magic. So today I thought rather than stay in and watch more Christmas re-runs or the Queens speech I would instead head out on my bike for a while.

Yeah the weather wasn't great, but hey riding muddy trails is half the fun.

I got soaked today, yet again and found it increasingly difficult to get my winter gloves back on each time I took them off to mess with my camera, they were so wet and what with them having a double liner they got all bunched up in the fingers. Inevitably I ended up ripping the inner liners so binned them when I got home, oh dear.

I think my Canon camera is suffering because of the wet weather, can't blame the camera as it's not a water proof model, so again struggled for any shots at all.

Apart from this one...

 

  

Put together a video of today's riding...

WoW it was soaking wet today

Set off for a early morning ride this morning with my son Kyle. Although it was raining it didn't feel particularly cold. I decided to treat Kyle to a KFC so we headed up to Consett.

As you would expect the trails were pretty wet and muddy,we had a really enjoyable ride up to KFC. Once inside the restaurant we grabbed a couple of seats and a table near the entrance/exit so that we could keep an eye on our bikes and went over to order our meals. Mmmm delicious.

After we had finished we decided to set off back home, the weather had turned decidedly worse, the wind was getting up and it was lashing down. After we had both been in doors it was freezing to come back out into the cold rain and wind...Brrrrr!!!

On the way home we tried to get a few snaps, this proved to be rather difficult as my camera was keep getting soaked and here when I've actually looked at the images the majority are blurry (water on the lense I think).

Did manage to get a few as you can see, not the best quality.

As we neared home I decide to take a slight detour and we headed off down through South Moor park. It was really funny trying to take pics here as we were both so cold we couldn't operate the camera, hence no pictures.

Got in and soaked to the skin, so everything in the washer and try to get warm. It was kind of weird as just as we were coming over the playing field near the "pines" a we call it I said to Kyle I'm freezing everywhere except in my foot (The one I haven't got). Now I know this sounds like "well yeah obviously your foot or leg you don't have isn't going to be cold,as it's missing", but No I can actually still feel my amputated foot and it felt lovely and toasty warm,so bonus at least I wasn't all chilled through lol.

Like I say got in and I decided to checkout my images. I noticed my camera was feeling a little "gritty" on the scroll wheel, where the menu button is. So thought I'd take the camera apart and have a go at giving it a clean out. I got the camera apart no probs and was checking out the scroll wheel. I thought "Oh I'll just give it a little blow to dry it out, maybe remove some grit or debri" and the bloody wheel flew off and landed on the floor under my computer desk. I picked it up and went to pop it back in place and this is when I noticed the darn menu button wasn't there. So my dad, Kyle and myself have been on the better part of like 2 hours trying to find the missing button in my room, without success I may add. My dad reckons the Borrowers have nicked it the thieving little bastards. So now my camera is knackered.... awww great. Hopefully I can get it fixed, otherwise it's an expensive new year if I have to buy a camera of similar quality.

Not a bad day, so thought I'd head out

Got up this morning, had a quick look out my bedroom window and thought "hey it doesn't look like a bad day I think I'll head out for a ride".

Rummaged through my wardrobe and decided to go for my thick Endura legging (yes I only need one) and my thick Troy Lee shorts, thought if I did encounter any muddy/wet spots they would give me a bit more protection. Then it was just a case of popping on a few base layer tops and my Altura Jersey, finishing of with my RaceFace water proof jacket, oh and my Endura winter gloves and my trusty Buff. Love my Buff as it keeps me from getting ear and toothache when it's cold out.

Popped a couple of bananas and an apple in my Camelbak, filled up my water reservoir oh and slipped my camera in my bag. I was then good to go.

I wasn't entirely sure where I was heading so just decided to ride and see where I ended up. So it was left at the bottom of my street and I headed along towards the Farmer's Fields/trail. I had to stop at the bottom of the trail as the gate was closed and manoeuvre around a rather large frozen puddle. I thought when I first started my outing ever where was going to be pretty hard under foot...well tyre, but soon discovered I was in for a shall we say interesting ride up the farmers trail. You see as an amputee I can ride up most banks/hills or inclines pretty well, that is as long as I start off at the bottom and keep my momentum going until I reach the top. Stopping half way up an incline can be a bit of a nightmare. This is because it's real difficult to get the momentum to push off and get your prosthetic side round to keep the cycling action going. Anyhoo I was roughly half way up this trail when my back tyre just became so caked up with mud that I lost traction, inevitably I had to stop and put my good foot down. I then tried to find a spot on the trail where  I could push off and try and get going again. This is when I lost balance and err well fell over on my prosthetic side. Luckily there was a little bit of an embankment so I quickly put my hand out and managed to stop myself falling. The problem I now had was I couldn't get my good foot down as I was still sitting on my saddle and also there was a gulley on my good side so it made it even higher. So I found myself slightly stuck half on and half off my bike. I couldn't get my prosthetic foot out of the clip, obviously a false leg doesn't work in the same way as a normal one I couldn't just twist my foot to disengage lol. I'm just pleased no one was around to see me as it would have looked strange to see someone stationary on their bike yet hanging off to one side supporting themselves with one arm. Eventually I figured out how to get off the bike. I had 2 or 3 goes at pushing myself of the embankment and managed to get my good foot on the ground...Mission success lol and all this was only like quarter of a mile from home. Next plan of attack was push my bike up the trail, until I found a reasonably flat, un-muddy area and I was off.

I decided to head down onto the C2C and just kept going. I actually ended up at Roker, this is where I took a few pics of my bike up against the large "Nut". There are various sculptures and interesting bits and pieces on the way down to Sunderland.

 I was quite lucky I managed to get under the Wearmouth Rail bridge to continue on my way down to the Marina and the coast as it appeared there had been a large landslide and at some point the path had be cordoned off. Looking at the bank side which is vertical it looks very unsafe.

I saw this rather interesting ship at the dock, so thought I'd take a few snaps...

I rode from Roker to South Shields, up past the Port of Tyne and along to White Mare Pool. I then went under the bridge for the motor way and turned right and got myself on the road heading up through Springwell. By this time I had probably covered 30 odd miles and was gutted I was starting to run out of steam. Not making excuses, just I haven't been out riding for over 3 weeks as to be honest I haven't been feeling to well. But hey that's another story. I decided to move my Bartlett Tendon "Cam" to position one (1). This means there isn't quite as much resistance on the tendons and make it a bit easier. I managed to get up Springwell bank, have to admit got off and pushed for a bit at one point I just had no energy. Once into Wrekenton it was all downhill, until I came to Lamsley and then another bloody hill up towards Birtley.

I had rang my dad whilst I was on my way up Springwell bank, as I was worried I might not be able to make it home and thought I'd better give him a shout then, as my mobile phone battery was only on 9% charge. Stupid bloody phone always goes flat quick (new phone needed me thinks)

Just as I got to the top of the bank towards Birtley the cavalry arrived in the shape of my dad Ern. He's a legend. So we popped my bike on the car rack and then it was a quick ride home, where I could have a nice hot shower, something to eat and try and recharge my batteries, as well as my phones lol.

Although I didn't quite make it home under my own steam I'm still pretty chuffed, covered around 44 miles today, dam it only had to complete 6 or so more to get home. Never mind  not bad considering I'm going through a few health issues with this dam Lymphoma.

A short ride out...wow it's chilly

As I didn't manage to get out for a ride yesterday I thought I'd go for a short blast today. I didn't intend on going far so left my Camelbak and just took along my digi-camera and mobile (always carry my phone just in case).

WoW was it a bit brisk outside, soon got warmed up though and then as I heated up tried a few sprints out the saddle on my Bartlett Tendon. I had to be canny careful today as there was so much ice around I managed to slip n slide a few times but lucky never came a cropper today. I just love the sound of the crisp leaves beneath my tyres and the crunching of the ice as you go over frozen puddles lol.

Crunch!!!!

As I wasn't going far I thought I may as well take in at least one or 2  assents, it's to good to push yourself and get out of breath,means your working hard and helps keep your fitness up.Plus as I am running my BT on the number 2 position on both of the "cams" well it's a little more difficult as there is  slightly  more tension on my tendons. It will be interesting to see how much my muscles grow on my stump side whilst using this new BT and "cam".

Position 2 on the "Cam" see the like "grenade pin" lol

 I didn't get too many pics today, it's real difficult when your out on your todd. You set your camera To "auto" then try to do a drive by and capture it just right in time with the "Beep Beep Beep" of your camera. Never mind I did get a few which aren't total failures I guess.

Camera set to auto "just click dam you"

On my way home I decided to venture up South Moor bank (instead of taking a slightly easier flatter way home). I thought I'd change it up a bit and pop my bike into 1 gear higher and then ride one lamp-post to another seated, then one lamp-post to another out the saddle and pumping. I know to those who ride a bike normally, (by that I mean with 2 legs) it doesn't sound much, but as an above knee amputee riding up a hill out the saddle is quite a feat. I mean if it wasn't for this amazing knee I couldn't even ride out the saddle on the flat, never mind up an incline. So as I reached the top of the bank I was pretty chuffed and it was another gold star for the Bartlett Tendon. I mean yeah I could do it with the old BT, it was just a lot harder work. Brian has managed to move the technology along with the design of the "cam" and now the knee feels a lot more supportive the more the knee is flexed, this means you use less energy and instead of having to swap tendons out ie a choice between 2x softs or 2x hards or a soft/hard combo, you can now leave the 2x softs in and allow the "cams" to do the work. All you have to do is remove a simple pin on each side, pop the "cam" in one of the three pre-set positions depending on how much tension you would like going through each of the tenons and that's it your done. Oh and depending on what sporting activity your doing and if you require it you can also pump up the new RockShox Monarch RT3 and adjust the compression/rebound settings.

My Sandman

My first go on my new Bartlett Tendon, fitted with the "Cam" system...

Hi there...

Well this morning I got up, yeah rather late I mean come on I'm not used to these early starts and since getting my voluntary job at the hospital well I've been up around 7'ish every morning. So I thought I was entitled to a lie in.

I had planned to remove my old Bartlett Tendon knee and replace it with my new one, however my dad beat me to it as I got caught chatting to a friendly neighbour who was passing. My dad decided to sort the knee/socket indoors as it was a bit cold outside. So I was able to give him a bit of a hand and I did the final adjustments and tightening of the required bolts, aligned the knee and just made sure everything was as it should be. Oh I also swapped out the larger plastic bump stops (think that's what they are called. I'm not good with all the technical terms lol) and replaced these with the smaller ones Brian had supplied as I'm more accustomed to not having a slight flex in my knee. Basically if you have the larger stops in, it helps you bend the knee easier as it is already partly flexed.

It was then a case of changing my shorts and popping my SPD shoes on and going for a quick blast up and down our back street.

If you checkout my earlier photo's you can clearly see the different adjustment holes marked by dots on the side of each "cams"

I left the locking pins that go through the "cams" in position one (1 dot) to start with and had a ride up and down a few times. In terms of resistance I would probably say it's like running the 2 soft tendons with no pressure in the shock on the Original designed wheels. I did feel slightly more resistance the further I flexed the knee and that is the intended purpose of the "cams"

From there I decided to relocate both pins into the position two ( 2 dots) WoW now I could tell immediately the difference. At the top end of the stroke when cycling and the knee is not in full flexion there is minimal resistance, however when you go to flex the knee you can really feel the tendons becoming stiffer and a lot more resistance. From a mountain biker point of view this is brilliant as it means you can hang off the back of your seat and really use the tension in the tendons to help you take jumps, bumps and drops. I'm sure from other sporting perspectives the knee will be just as good.

So after my initial bit play up and down our back street I thought it would be a good idea to have a look out and decided to go over to some woods about 4 or 5 miles away. I cheated slightly as time was getting on so got my dad to drop me off in the car along with my Sandman Fat Bike and all my gear. I intended to get a little bit footag but was worried as the weather looked a bit bleak, it was dark and dull and ever so cold.

We arrived at the woods and like I say it was real cold, the trails where actually frozen in places and you could see the mist hanging and frost on the grass....brrrrrr!!!. Never mind I was on a mission to try out my new knee and have a bit of fun. Plus I had to do something otherwise I wouldn't have anything to write for you nice people, see your my motivation lol.

Anyhoo I got a little bit of ride footage, hope you like it. I will definitely be getting more, could do with better close ups of the knee. I actually found it hard to ride over in the woods as there was just so much thick deep mud. I could do with a new back tyre to be honest as my Surly Larry isn't gripping. Looks like I'll have to save for a Nate.

On the ride back home I was thinking about what I was going to write in my blog about the new Bartlett Tendon and for some reason Goldilocks sprang to mind. Let me explain... well as we all know Goldilocks apart from being a thief actually tried out all of the 3 bears bowls of porridge, until she found a one that was "Just Right" and in that respect the Bartlett Tendon with the new "cams" is exactly the same. You see each individual can adjust and tweak the knee unit to suit themselves and for whatever sport they intend on doing.

I'm very impressed with my first outing, even if I was freezing cold by the time I got in.

Me and the New BT with "Cams"

 

My Sandman

Not feeling Too Hot

Planned to go out for a ride with wor Kyle early this morning. I wasn't really sure whether I would be up to venturing far as I didn't feel too good last night, think I'm stressing slightly over my visit to hospital tomorrow. You see I have non Hodgkin's lymphoma, it was diagnosed around the end of October 2008 and up till now I've been lucky in that it hasn't really effected me.

 I go for the usual routine check-ups with the haematology team,who I have to say have been very supportive. I get my blood taken  and generally either my doctor or one of the nurses gives me the quick once over.

Over the last few months I've been suffering from some enlarged nodes down in my groin. The first one was on my right side, generally these nodes don't hurt they just kind of bug me and I like them to settle down and behave themselves. This node on my right got rather sore as unfortunately the top edge of my socket used to rub right in the same area, it wasn't a big deal like I say just sore and uncomfortable. Anyhoo the node on my right settled down and disappeared, however about a month or so ago a new node came up on my left side. This node is huge and it's actually hurting, hence why "I'm not feeling too Hot"... Well at least I think it's a node. I had to go for a scan last Thursday and the results have come back inconclusive, suppose this is what is worrying me. I would much prefer to know exactly what it is.

This past week has been full of ups and downs. Like I mentioned in my earlier blog I started doing voluntary work within the NHS at the Royal Victoria Hospital. I'm helping out on the Acute stroke unit. I've only done 3 mornings so far, the work is so interesting. I was actually very pleasantly surprised at just how hands on I am involved, basically I'm getting invaluable experience which will come in handy when I'm applying for the positions I'm after, which is a physio assistant.  Speaking of which I had good news on Friday evening when I opened my emails, as I have been contacted to let me know I have been successful in gaining 2 interviews for a physio assistant position. This is great news, as though I've been applying for jobs I haven't even gotten to the interview stage in sometime.

It's Sods law,well in my case whenever I plan to do something some dam health issue crops up. And I'm not talking just Man Flu...No it's always something that involves either getting bits of  metal shoved in my body, or bits cut off, or things taken out...

So anyhoo this morning I thought sod it I'm going out for a ride. I woke Kyle up at 5.00am, we had a cuppa and some toast and made some jam as well as chocolate spread sandwiches, using fruit loaf Mmmmm gorgeous. We then headed off for a ride to the coast. Bloody hell it was cold this morning, with a lot of ground frost (Ern -my dad said it was 2 degrees) so again "Not feeling too Hot" lol

Didn't manage to get a great deal of footage on my GoPro, so much so I haven't even bothered editing it and only a few pics today.

We rode down to Roker (Sunderland) following the C2C route7 I think.  Then followed the coastline down to South Shields. Once at Shields it was a case of cutting through the main street and we eventually came out at the Port of Tyne. From there straight up to White Mare Pool roundabout and up towards Springwell. We actually got on to the Bowes Railway route and came past the Bowes Railway Museum, first time I've been past it so may venture back to check it out. I'm no trainspotter, but I do like local history, stuff about our lost mining community etc. Once at the top of Springwell it was a short ride to Lamsley and along to Birtley. It was at this point I just didn't feel to well, we had done around 43 miles I was gutted we couldn't manage the other 6.33 miles home. So I rang Johnstones Taxi's, yeah that's right my dad and he came down to pick us up along with our bike rack.

 From there it was home, shower and to updating my blog. Now going for a well earned lie down.

A short autum ride

So as you will see I haven't been up to much Blog wise. To be honest I haven't been feeling too good the last few weeks, but hey I don't want to bring you guys down with my worries and concerns.

 I thought I'd better have a blast out on my bike I mean it was last week since I'd been out for a ride. I didn't plan to go far, just thought I would checkout a little bit of woodland which is quite nearby, it's down towards a place called Hamsterley Mill. Even though I didn't really ride to far today I still had a laugh and some fun. It's good to get out, kind of takes my mind off other stuff that's going on.

 Today was pretty productive actually as I found some nice new trails and definitely think I will be paying this area another visit to do some in depth exploring. Even found a small waterfall which I have never noticed before when I've been down this way both on my bike and with wor Hinks (my pet pest lol)

 Oh and I forgot to mention next week as well as having to go to the dental hospital at Newcastle to get knocked out and have a wisdom tooth removed (BAD) I'm also starting a voluntary job. I'm very excited about this as it's a very worthwhile cause. I enjoy nothing more than being able to help out where I can and I have been invited to assist on the stroke unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle(GOOD). I'm hoping it will help me gain a bit more confidence as I've been out of work for a long time now due to one thing and another and as an added bonus I may learn some new skills and gain a bit of experience.

 I took a little bit of footage on my GoPro today and also some shots on my small canon, really I didn't get too many shots, so I just fudged a small vid together...

GoPro Heed

Foggy Fun

Probably not the best day to go out for a bike ride, the weather was proper drab and miserable, been foggy all day, but hey I was bored so decided to venture out,asked wor Kyle if he fancied tagging along (he must have been bored too as he said aye can do)

Didn't really expect to get too many good shots today, as the fog was pretty thick. My GoPro doesn't work to well in bad light and I suppose the same can be said of my digi camera. Never mind I thought may as well just see how stuff turns out.

We didn't really venture too far afield, the trails were pretty muddy (I don't think even the best washing powder in the world will get my mtb gear clean, that bloke who advertises Persil  on Tv or whatever must have a special coating on his stuff , no way can he go for a ride in a white T-Shirt then pop it in the wash after a ride  and then get it out the washer looking like it's just come off the hanger new from the shop, either that or he's a pussy and doesn't ride proper trails lol)

Anyhoo getting soaking wet, filthy dirty and freezing cold aside we both really enjoyed ourselves.

I got a little bit of video, though due to the bad light and all the rain, fog and mud at times the lens got a bit wet n dirty.

Bad Boy Muddy errrr!!!  Hoody

Sploosh!!!!!!

Ooh Errr it's my Race Face

I like to make waves

Alllreeet Like

Edmondsley Woods

WoW so it's been quite a while since I last posted here on my blog. I guess I've just had one or two things on my mind, but hey won't go into that I mean I don't want to scare you all off lol.

Kyle and myself had a ride to Edmondsley Wood today. A few months back I had visited the wood with my dad and Mr Hinks for a walk and thought it may be a pretty cool place to try out for a quick blast on the bikes.

The woods trails were pretty soaking wet and muddy, never the less makes for an interesting ride.

I managed to get a little bit of footage on the GoPro so have quickly put a video together.


.As we were riding towards Edmondsley just as we came over the hill at Craghead there was a large vale of fog in the valley and it was a bit on the nippy side. As you can see by the few pics the sun got out and it turned into a really quite pleasant return journey with the sun on our backs. Surprisingly warm for an October morning.

Some lovely shafts of light from the sun as it broke through the woods.

I downloaded Perfect Effects and used the software on the very top image to get these results

Across the farmers field and down into my local wood at South Stanley

Just a short loop today, up towards and across the farmer's field (don't worry no crops were damaged in the making of the video). Then followed the fields down until I came to a break in the fence and could get into the local woods (South Stanley Woods) which are actually at the bottom of where I live.





Not too many shots today as it was just a quick excursion.

This section of the trail was a lot steeper than it looks

Took a bit of concentration to get over the roots and not end up over the bars

Taking a break in the Woods

I saw this Bee on a pretty flower, went to take a shot and the bloody thing turned round so I got  a photo of it's arse!!!

A Bee's Bottom