OMG! I think I've broke my bot...

    John had asked me earlier in the week did I fancy a look out and did I know of anywhere to ride that maybe interesting. I told him yeah I wouldn't mind having a ride out, however I was really running out of places to go locally that quirked my curiosity. Although I get out and about it's generally only a radius of around between 20 to 30 miles away from home, so in the years I've been cycling I've just about gone everywhere I can think of as interesting.

Anyhoo I had a think about it and suggested we maybe ride to Newcastle and we could always have a look around Leazes Park which is opposite where I work. John was up for this as he's a Newcastle United fan and St Jame's Park is right beside the Park.

Leazes Park, band stand, looking onto back of St Jame's Park

Wheeeere Off to see the Wiz...Ahem OX!!! lol

During the week my friend John had asked me had I seen the photo's and Youtube footage of the Old Baths at Durham, to which I replied "No". So I decided to checkout the video and images and found them really interesting. It's a real shame that such a beautiful building which opened back in 1932 has not been looked after an converted in to something useful. The place has so much character

During my search I found various articles and thought I'd post this link to show you what the building looks like and just how it has fallen in to disrepair and been vandalised

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=23941#.U0F9AVfIvRU

Both John and I would have liked a look inside, well maybe not John as he thinks the building is "spooky" as he describes it lol

Anyhoo whilst searching on the line I discovered there was a sculpture down on the riverside in Durham. It was done by Andrew Burton. So I mentioned this to John and we both decided to have a ride down to Durham to try and find it and get some pics.

Mooooooooo!

Decided to treat my Sandman

My Sandman Hoggar Fat Bike will soon be approaching 2 years old. I have enjoyed every moment of owning and riding her and since purchasing my Fat Bike she has seen more use than any of my other bikes.

Some new bits n Bobs

Ooh and here's some more Bamburgh photo's

Caught up with my friend Ade, and he passed on the photo's he had taken whilst up at Bamburgh with myself Ern and Mr Hinks.

So without further ado I'll keep it short, shut me gob and just blog em lol...

Me trying to look cool, without a bike or a pair of shorts on lol

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.

I think I'm back lol

If you are a follower of my blog, you can always tell what sort of a mood I have been in, judging by how much I post. As you can tell of late I have been in a rather lazy, can't be arsed, need to get motivated type of place. Yeah! I feel guilty, however I realise sometime I just need to give myself a break and do what feels right for me, rather than feeling I'm letting anyone down.

So anyway I have been out on a small biking adventure so thought I'd share some video and images.

I'm not going to write a really long story as to be honest all it was, was a very pleasant ride out, a bit of a weird day weather wise, gloomy then getting out.

I was knackered after today's outing, just shows I'm getting on, and all this not doing much after finishing work each day has a huge impact on my fitness. Oh and I can tell things have changed shape wise with my stump due to me sitting around too as today I was rather sore where my socket had rubbed.

When I got home I took a few pics of Mr Hinks my dog so decided to pop them on at the bottom, rather than make another post.

More pics and no me boring you to death with my ramblings lol

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!

Hedley Hall Woods, experimenting with my WizMount

Had a really fun ride out today. I didn't go too far just over to Hedley Hall Woods, thought it would be a good place to try out my new WizMount Backpack. I have to say whilst the day was fun I was very disappointed in the footage I got.Oh it wasn't the WizMount it was my new GoPro Hero 3. When I got it home and had a chance to look at the video it appeared quite blurry and washed out. I haven't experienced this with my GoPro Hero 2, well apart from when it used to get misted up, however I bought some little de-mist pads and haven't encountered the problem since.

I've read a few forums and they suggest updating the firmware on the GoPro, so I have done that tonight. Guess I will see how it preforms on it's next outing.
Back to today, the woods were great fun, mind you I should have had my Surly Nates on as I was slipping and sliding all over on my worn Larry's, guess it added to the fun in a way got some nice skids and kind of made me work harder on the hills.

Not a bad day for a bit play on the Sandman

 I managed to fall off twice today, once whilst stationary and not paying attention. I couldn't clip out and was over on my prosthetic side and once as I leant under a tree branch and my camera mount got stuck. It was canny funny really as it pulled me straight off my bike. No harm done to either rider or bike, Oh and my Bartlett Tendon stood up to the fall as well as being caked in mud.





 






















 Got home around 2:30'ish I think and gave both my bike and BTK a hose down. I then re-lubed my Bartlett Tendon. Trying to really look after this one, not that I didn't with the other. It's just I think sand got into the main shaft of my other knee and destroyed the frame. Brian was good enough to replace my knee with one of his own whilst I was away so I can continue to ride and have loads of fun like on today's adventure.

Looking through my Oakley's

Neglecting my blog

It's been a while since I blogged, this isn't because I have been busy doing nothing, No it's more a case of I've been busy doing lots of stuff, however most of it I haven't got images of and well it's rather boring just reading.

My holiday is just about all sorted, off for a rather exciting trip to the U.S.A. I have a few minor things to do, stuff like getting my phone unlocked...well actually seeing if my phone is unlocked in the first place, as I bought it from the Carphone Warehouse and the nice girl I spoke to in the shop said 99% of their handsets are unlocked when you get them. I need my phone unlocked so that I can pop a US SIM card in, and this will allow me to use my phone at a cheap rate. I'm useless with directions so will no doubt need Google Maps to navigate around, and the data usage can be ever so expensive. 

Looking forward to my trip away, all sorts of emotions going on, mainly excited, however also a tad nervous. Just hope my fitness level will be up to the demands of riding in the U.S with my friends out there. 

Completed a 47-mile ride to the coast and back today on my Sandman, boy I was wrecked when I got in. Just trying to improve on my fitness. I'm trying to ride as much as possible, and I'm also attending the gym 3 days per week. I don't appear to be putting on much muscle, however have shed a few pounds, though from where I don't know. I still have more of a mini keg, rather than a six-pack lol. Maybe it's off my stump, as my bloody prosthetic leg keeps coming off. At the moment I have had to put some laminate flooring underlay inside my socket, and it's stuck in place with Duct Tape lol.

Anyhoo onto something with pictures. Last week I met up with my friend Ade down at St Mary's, and he very kindly took some shots of me out playing on the beach and splashing around in the water on the causeway. As usual, my Bartlett Tendon was up to the job and preformed flawlessly.

Messing about on the rocky outcrop just before the tide came in

WoW! The rocks were slippy where the seaweed was

It was a beautiful day, nice cooling breeze blowing from inland. Bonus, only fell off my bike once today, slight scuff on my elbow. It's murder when I fall to my prosthetic side, as I just can't unclip to get my leg down and save myself. Worst thing is when I know it's going to happen. Usually you just hear me say "OH Crap"... then I'm off, falling on whatever lol. Actually fell off today when coming back from today's outing. My own fault, I was too busy looking around to see where the ambulance siren was coming from and hit a kerb, lol.

Splish Splash

This was so much fun Wheeeee!!!

More Fun

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

On the causeway as the tide was coming in

Playing in the water

Huge thanks to Ade.the.Tog and his lovely wife Amanda oh and my support team (Ern my dad) We all  had a really enjoyable day.

Photo's property of Ade.the Tog

Ern's cunning and devious plan failed!!!

       I was in two minds as to whether to go for a ride on Friday, you see I haven't exactly been feeling motivated at all this week, no biking adventures or any other kind of adventures really, well not unless you count taking 2 wrong turns, one on the way to the Freeman hospital on Monday when I had to attend the Limb Centre and then another on the return back to work.Omg my sense of direction is atrocious I really hope I don't get reincarnated as a homing pigeon. I have just been coming in from work and lounging about. I know I shouldn't do it as it leads to me beating myself up over not doing enough and being lazy. I quite often feel like I'm not only letting myself down, but also all these people that have this perception that I'm always up to something or another.

Anyhoo I decided I was going to go out, it was Global Fat Bike Day after all and my good friend Ade had offered to very kindly take a few shots of me out riding.

Looking through my rear

A very enjoyable outing with my Cuz

Earlier in the week my cousin David sent me a txt asking if I was free on Saturday and up for a ride out. Sure I replied always up for a look out and it would be nice to have some company and a bit of a catch up as we rode.

Beamish through to Ousbrough Woods

 Yesterday, Ern, Mr Hinks and myself headed out for a mini adventure in Beamish Woods. We also took in part of Ousbrough Woods as it interlinks, depending on which trail you take.

My plans were to checkout different areas of the woods before actually riding them on my Sandman. There are some really steep banked sides in which the trees have taken root and in certain places it's un-rideable, no clear marked trails plus it's a bit on the dangerous side as there are some rather large drops.

It wasn't a bad day yesterday, in fact I had to take of my jacket and was happy just wandering around in my t-shirt and the norm for me shorts. We found some neat new trails and I even spotted a few places that looked as if they hadn't been ridden or walked on and thought to myself " Mmmm they may make for a nice blast down".

As we were checking out the woods we came to a rather steep incline, it was way to steep for us to walk down and I wasn't sure I could even make it on my bike. Would have to give it some thought when I returned, with my bike and camera.

After having a good look around we decided to head back up the bank side, in the general direction of where we had left the car. Now this bank side was as you can imagine quite slippy, what with pine needles,moss,old tree branches and twigs, you know the kind of stuff you see in a wood. Anyhoo I was making good progress, even though I was knackered "WoW what a climb". Then all of a sudden my prosthetic knee snagged and it bent/broke at the knee. I thought I was going to fall back down this geet big bank so grabbed for the nearest available tree. Now my dad says the tree was only around 3 inches in diameter, however I'm sure it was more like a huge oak, as when the bloody thing  snapped and then proceeded to twat me on the back of the head, well lets say I was a little stunned. I thought I'd done some serious damage to my shoulder too, as it felt like I had torn something. As I eventually got to the top of the bank I felt a bit better, just a bit sore where the tree had attacked me and took the skin off my arm.

After my fight with a tree, of course I was victorious

A small walk along the trail and we were soon back at our car. Got Mr Hinks and ourselves in and then we popped up to my Aunt and Uncles were I received some medical attention in the form of some Sudacrem from my Aunty Claire lol.

A nice cup of coffee and I was sorted felt much better and I had a better idea of where I could ride potentially on my next local adventure.

And so to today...

A very enjoyable outing, found some new trails which are quite fun and as usual had a blast on my Sandman. I feel so lucky to be able to get out on days like this, what with having my Bartlett Tendon. After years of being stuck in the house with a dodgy leg it sure does make you appreciate the great outdoors. Things are starting to blossom and bloom and these ancient woods sure are beautiful, even if the odd tree doesn't decide to help out and has a go at you instead lol.

 





































Today's footage was a mixed bag. I was gutted that most of the stuff that I took whilst my camera was on my helmet was pants, it's way to shaky. I do have one canny shot that you should all like so I have done a quick vid. What the hell possessed me to yank my front brake on and go arse over tit is beyond me I sometimes have these moments...when I say sometimes I do of course mean just about everyday.

Ousbrough Woods - St Georges day

It's been sometime since I last posted on my blog. I guess it's been a quiet month. I've been continuing to get out and about on my bike, however I've found I have been getting bored of doing the same local trails so this has led to me not taking as many photo's or doing a video.

Never mind I decided the other week to head down towards Beamish, it's been a while since I had ridden in Ousborough Woods, as due to the weather we have had the trails where pretty much impossible to ride.

Ousborough Woods are actually in the borough of Gateshead rather than Co Durham where I live. I bet quite a few people who live locally don't realise they are quite so close to Gateshead's border.

Gateshead Council have quite an interesting website which you can find here if you would like to read a little more about the history of the woods.

 http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/countryside/sites/ousbroughmore.aspx

Rather than ride the plainly marked trails I decided to just take my own route through the trees and was quite pleasantly surprised that in fact I could possibly have a fun and adventurous ride out and take in some new sites and scenery.

My plans are now to wait for a nice day, set off early and check out more of the woods and plan a route where I can shoot a decent video. You have to be fairly careful when in Ousborough Woods as they are kind of situated in a huge valley and this means in certain places there are huge drops on either bank side. It's no good just going flying down some unmarked section of woodland without first scouting it out as before you know it you could potentially end up going off a 20 or 30 foot drop or out of control down a really steep bank side.

Anyhoo watch this space...

In the meantime I thought I'd post some images that my good friend Ade took of me whilst down in Ousborough Woods. I had mentioned to Ade about how I had really enjoyed exploring the woods and he suggested we pop down on Saint George's day so that I could have a play around and he could grab a few shots.

 

Just before we headed off at the picnic area at Beamish...

These are the results and I'm sure you will agree Ade has captured some terrific images that show off just how lucky we are to have such natural beauty and surroundings.

Tanfield Railway Shots

I totally forgot about these pictures that my good mate Ade took of me. It wasn't until I popped along to see Ade that he reminded me he had given me the shots on my memory stick last week.

I fell off twice just before this picture was taken, lost my balance on my amp'd side and was gutted when I scuffed my Bartlett Tendon on the track

Not exactly what I had in mind

I awoke to a beautiful sun shining through my bedroom window, it was around 7:36am. I knew it was going to be no good turning over in bed and trying to catch a few more Zzzz's, my throat was sore and I just didn't feel too good at all, aww great wor Kyle has given me his cold, the little git. Not to worry though, it hadn't escalated to man flu quite yet so I hopped out of bed and set about preparing myself and my gear for a little adventure.

Wine Delivery to Aunt n Uncle then a playful ride home

At Christmas, I received a bottle of mulled wine from work, which was very nice, however I don't really like wine so had promised to take it up for my Uncle Dave. Anyway, as usual it had totally slipped my mind, until today. I thought it would be a good excuse for a ride out this afters, not that I need an excuse mind you as I'm really enjoying slowly but surely getting my fitness back.