Mini Adventure in Wee Myrtle my 65 Bug

 Decided to have a bit of a spontaneous adventure in Myrtle this morning, well I think it was morning as to be fair it could have been partly afternoon, my body clock is all over the shop.

I gathered some gear, my new GoPro Hero 9, my DSLR camera and I asked Ern, did he fancy a little jaunt out to which he replied " No you are alright, take your phone, just in case", no faith in the wee car Huh Ern?

Anyhoo Ern changed his mind, and we grabbed wor coats and the gear taking them to put in Myrtle. I then discovered I had completely forgot how to use my GoPro, so had to quickly pop back in the house, checkout a short YouTube vid for instructions, and then we were ready.

I started Myrtle up and let her warm up a little, she started first click. I checked her air ride pressures, just in case she had lost any air. I also checked to make sure the semi auto clutch was in auto mode, you can tell if it is as a little light lights up just under the throttle pedal.

 

I gently popped her into first gear, with a little revs and proceeded to stall her immediately. It kind of takes a bit getting used to this new fangled mod. I didn't want to rev the pods off Myrtle, as I was worried I would shoot out of our backyard and across the road, so I was trying to be gentle on the accelerator. After another couple of attempts, stalling her each time, it could be to do with her not being warmed up I managed to pull her out of our yard and headed for the first challenge, the bloody great big speed humps in our back lane. I hate these things, they are massive. Even with 90 psi in the front and 80 psi in the rear I can hear Myrtle scrape over the humps.

Clutch system is pretty unobtrusive

We managed to negotiate the humps and I turned onto Durham Road and headed up the bank. I managed to change gear quite smoothly, again it's just about figuring out how to drive the system. There are a few small things to iron out, and I have been in touch with Bewick Mobility, where I had the adaption fitted about improving the setup.

Oh whilst I remember for anyone wanting this kind of adaption it is quite expensive. I didn't know about a thing called Access to Work, it's a government scheme for people with disabilities. It's setup to help people with their jobs, so that can be as in my case getting too and from work, or it can be for other work related things, like training or equipment. It is just a handy thing to know, and it is easy to apply. You get an adviser who deals with your application, and it's pretty straight forward. In my case as I work part-time, 4 days per week I had to pay a certain amount towards the cost of my adaption, but it still saved me a lot, and to be fair I didn't mind, after all it has enabled me to drive my little car.

Myrtle looks tiny

Ern with Myrtle

Back to Bewick Mobility and the small problems I am encountering. It's things like loosing all drive at certain moments, this requires me to pop my hand over the gearstick sensor to re-engage the clutch, or like if I let off the accelerator as I am coming down a hill, again the car loses drive, so I have no engine braking. I have noticed when I approach lets say a roundabout, and I am braking either to negotiate it or slow down for other users that the system disengages/engages depends on how you look at it, and the car will just rev, instead of driving, so if you imagine as a normal driver, it's as if you are dipping your clutch and just coasting whilst in gear. The car uses a computer which is tuned to the car's rpm. The motor which operates the clutch is neatly hidden under Myrtles back seat. I think once she is setup, this will be a great bit of kit.

Ern looking over the moor, they were burning back the heather

We had a drive up to Wakerley and up on the moors, Myrtle whilst she certainly isn't fast, she is only a 1200 cc, she did pull up all the rather steep banks well and got us to our destination.

I shot a little video of me driving her, showing the gear change and when we got up on the moors took a few photos.

Myrtle VW Beetle 65

I am so paranoid about Myrtle not sitting level after all my problems last year, so ended up driving to a flat area in a housing estate on the way home and airing her up and down to see if she sat level on a fairly level'ish bit of ground. She appears to be sitting higher than both my dad and I recalled, however when you look under her, she is sitting on her pan so can't exactly go any lower...

Paranoid about her leaning

Love this wee car, so much still left to do

She is soooo cute

I drove Myrtle home on what I considered "My air ride settings" and sure enough when we got home she couldn't get over the bloody speed bumps, so I had to reverse and air her right up again.

Upon getting her home and back in our yard my dad said he was just going to dip her petrol tank to see how much petrol was in her, as the gauge hasn't moved in a while. Well it appears Myrtle runs on fresh air as the tank was bone dry, so much, so I don't know how we managed to get all the way back LoL

Well this has kept me busy this week.

     It's a bit of a mixed bag this blog entry...

I am pretty sure many people must be feeling like myself, well the ones who are shielding that is. You know when you have been off work for going on roughly 8 or 9 months I think that's how long it has been, on and off, more off than on. Well you kind of get to a point where you have binge-watched everything on Netflix, Amazon Prime and even Disney. You are fed up reading and there is only so much Facebook you can handle, as it's mostly doom & gloom. So what then?

I mean I have Myrtle my we 65 Bug back, however I have discovered whilst she was away and out of sight, as it were, she was also out of mind, and since her return I have felt really anxious... I know sounds stupid, but I think it's because she still requires loads of work, and it's like I am ploughing money into something that feels like will never be complete.

Myrtle I know the rear wheels don't look right just, yet they aren't finished

 

Myrtle is 56 years old this year

I have been out for a few practice drives in myrtle, all very enjoyable, however the clutch is not quite right, so I am waiting to take her back to Bewick Mobility to get her sorted. I can't go for a drive with the fitter until I think it's the 12th of April due to Covid restrictions.

Oh! And whilst I am on about Myrtle I may as well tell you about the new 15 x 8 steel smoothie wheels I bought for her a while ago. I wasn't sure what tyres to go with so rather than go out and guess and buy a new pair, my dad visited one of our local scrapyards and managed to pick up a pair of 195/65/15's for a fiver. The lads up at the General Garage fitted the tyres for my dad for nowt, so a huge thank-you goes to them.

 

Anyhoo we got the new wheels on, and instantly I could see the passenger side wheel was sticking out further than the drivers side. After much measuring, it seems a theme on this car, and writing a post on the Classic VW Forums we had a kind of plan of attack.

More measuring, told you it was a theme, and we discovered that the rear wings are slightly mismatched. Apparently this is common with 'repo' wings. The passenger side is about 10 mm narrower than the drivers side and making the car look slightly wonky.

Myrtle cannot be bent as since having her tracking set up, again at the General Garage, using a laser alignment gizmo, she drives very straight and does not pull or drift. I am now trying to convince myself that it is just a quirk of Myrtle and I can live with it, however my OCD is really niggling me and fighting me every step of the way.

Ern also cut off Myrtles rear bumps stops, which allows her to sit a lot lower at the rear.

Rear Bumps stops gone

Other things to sort in the short term I think I need a new brake master cylinder as Myrtle's brake pedal keeps dropping to the floor. My dad thought he had fixed the old one as it was sticking, however it now appears as if this maybe the culprit in my brake problem again.

And I am sure sometime ago I must have mentioned Myrtle's wipers, they simply will not 'Park'. You have to manually turn them off at just the right moment. Myrtle has a full brand-new custom wiring loom, so it can't be that, so when my dad and I do the brakes job I am going to remove the wiper motor and get it sent away to get looked at. I have checked on eBay for a recon motor, Wow! They are canny dear like.

Following these bits n bobs this is where I am getting a bit anxious as the next jobs are all big money ones. Things like do I go for a new engine and box, a total respray and then of course she needs a new interior.

Ok enough of Myrtle...

On to my bike, my Specialized Turbo Levo ebike to be exact. A good few weeks ago my bike stopped working correctly, it wouldn't switch on by the top tube button. If I fannied on with the handle bar buttons it would start working, think I have mentioned this in a blog too, dear me I sometime think I am going nuts, it's like ground hog day, anyhoo I digress.

After making a telephone call to Rutland Cycles Nottingham, the place where I had purchased my bike from and trying to get it booked in for what I thought was a warranty claim problem I soon became rather pissed off. Initially I managed to get booked in for an appointment no problem, however my dad informed me he had a hospital appointment on that day, so I had to call Rutland the following day to try and make another appointment. The bloke I spoke to was most unhelpful and was making up all sorts of what appeared excuses. I can understand we are in a lockdown, however my bike is really important to me as it has helped keep me sane.

So firstly he got on about lockdown, then he said a local dealer would fix it. I informed him I had been Intouch with a local dealer who advised me they may charge for any repairs. He then advised I call another local dealer which I did, to be told exactly the same information, that they would charge for repairs. Upon calling Rutland up, this guy still didn't believe me, so he advised me to call the Specialized Concept Store in Harrogate. So that was another call, just to be told the same thing, that they would possibly charge and that there was a 4-week wait before my bike may even be looked at. I then rang Rutland yet again and again was not believed, however did manage to get an appointment for the 17th of March.

Anyhoo long story short I decided the amount of fuel to get down to Nottingham and the chance of being fined for being caught out of area I would just take the bike to Infinity cycles over at Durham. They had my bike 2 days, and it was sorted, free of charge under warranty...result.

As I mentioned earlier and gets me on to my next bit of what has kept me busy this week. I have been watching various things on YouTube. Quite a bit to do with cryptocurrency, however I came across a few videos about Redbubble and t-shirt designs. "Ooh" I thought "I might give this a bit play with".

Redbubble

 A few of my designs LoL

And so this week I have been messing about with various web based design programs and also learning how to do certain things with an old version of Photoshop I have installed. I used to use Photoshop a lot back in the day when I was doing custom CD & DVD covers, but haven't use it in yonks, so I have had to learn by experimenting and watching a few online tutorial videos.

I have to say, although my designs are not exactly professional they have kept me entertained and busy I will be chuffed to bits if I make even one sale. I have 43 designs so far. I would have had more, however a few have been taken down as I inadvertently breached some copyright or other, by using images containing Lego and Star Wars. Oh! And not sure if my classic VW designs are available.

  

Well that's about it, it's 3:36 am, so another late night. I am on day 498x of cycling today and I have done 2750 sit-ups this month so keeping up with my challenge to cycle another year in support of Arctic ONE. As usual any donations greatly accepted. 

All for Arctic ONE

Not exactly an exciting blog I know, but hey keeping it real, it's just what I am doing at the moment.

This Time Next Year We'll be Millionaires

"This Time Next Year We'll be Millionaires"

For anyone having seen Only Fools and Horses you will recognise this quote from Del Boy

Hey you never know, not exactly sure how I am going to achieve it, however like the old saying goes "you have to be in it to win it".

Last year following on from a discussion with friends at work someone mentioned this home savings scheme upon a website called Skint Dad basically it's a 52-week savings plan, and you start off by putting a few pence per week away and this gradually builds up, putting more and more away each week until you end up with around £650 at the end of the year.

I got Ern to print me out a weekly calendar, popped it on the wall next to my computer where I could easily keep an eye on it and remind me to save each week and made sure I followed the weekly tallies. I actually sold quite a bit of stuff on Facebook Market Place that I wasn't using, and I would also pop this into my savings, and it helped push me way over my savings target. I think I saved well over £800.

It was a tidy sum of cash and my way of thinking was normally I would not of  had it as a big chunk, so instead of blowing it I decided to invest the money in National Savings Premium Bonds. You see, although I know I will not get any interest on the money, if you take a look at what the banks are currently offering it's not much better than 1% or in some cases 3% to 3.5% however you have to become a customer and have a current account.

So plan A of becoming a millionaire National Savings.

Just like most other people I live in the hope of winning the lottery, so tend to pop a couple of quid on weekly. I have had the same numbers for years, recently I have been tempted to quit the lotto all together, as when I calculate the offset to return it's pretty poor and was thinking I could probably invest that money and at least see a return, thing is I am now asking myself "am I addicted to gambling?", this is my only flutter and that little internal voice, which I bet many of you have is saying "Glenn it will just be your luck to quit and your numbers come up next week" Lol.

Speaking of the lottery whilst I have not won anything huge, this year I have been remarkably lucky, and I would say I have won at least one prize every week so far, whether that be a lucky dip or a Fiver.

So whilst winning the lottery is not exactly a plan B, it's on the table for now.

Now this is the bit where most of you if you haven't already avoided this blog will switch off.

My plan C is something I have been doing since Ooh! Around 2017 and that is cryptocurrency. A word of warning before we go any further be careful which sites you visit and watch out for scammers. Do your research if you are planning on investing and don't invest any more than you can afford to lose. I am not a financial adviser, and I am writing this from a personal point of view, as a very much "green horn" when it comes to cryptocurrencies and investing.

So initially I was fortunate enough to be able to invest a couple of hundred quid in various crypto. I think I bought some Bitcoin, Stellar,  Litecoin and Etherum. When I say bought I don't mean full coins, but small percentages of coins.

Now lets be clear I really had no idea what I was doing I had just heard about this new thing called Bitcoin which was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, this digital currency had hit the level of $1 for the first time on 9 February 2011. 

I was late to the game however became interested. If only I had taken more notice in 2009. You see in July 2010, bitcoin began trading at a value of US$0.0008, climbing to US$0.08 by month’s end. 

So that is £0.00058 moving up to £0.058. So that is for one full coin. Now imagine buying 100 at 0.058 that would be £5.80, yes that is right £5.80, so go one step further and imagine buying 1000 at 0.058, that would set you back £58.00.

Ok now I have just this minute had a look at what a single bitcoin is trading for, and it is £39,255.13 so if we do our maths that would mean your £58.00 would be now worth 1000 x £39,221.43 or £39,221,430 or

 
Thirty-Nine Million Two Hundred Twenty-One Thousand Four Hundred Thirty Pounds.

So what is cryptocurrency?

Well Bitcoin, was the first cryptocurrency, it is a decentralized form of digital cash that eliminates the need for traditional intermediaries like banks and governments to make financial transactions.

Cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. Many companies have issued their own currencies, often called tokens, and these can be traded specifically for the good or service that the company provides. Think of them as you would arcade tokens or casino chips. You exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency and can then gain access to the goods or services.

Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and records transactions. Part of the appeal of this technology is its security.

How many cryptocurrencies are there?

Doing a spot of research as far as I can see, according to data from CoinMarketCap, there are currently more than 7,800 in existence. New tokens are popping up all the time – each with a different use case and backstory. Some of the backstories are very interesting as the tokens developers try to solve various problems and entice potential customers to their crypto.

At the moment the top 10 crypto's are

Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Binance Coin (BNB)
Cardano (ADA)
Tether (USDT)
Polkadot (DOT)
XRP (XRP)
UniSwap (UNI)
Litecoin (LTC)
Chainlink (LINK)

There has been  quite a bit of news around the crypto scene as Elon Musk and Tesla have just bought $1.5 Billion dollars of Bitcoin and Mr Musk has been tweeting about what is apparently the tongue-in-cheek "joke" cryptocurrency, Dogecoin which has surged over the last month. It is a testament to how powerful corporate leaders such as Elon Musk and the Likes of Bill Gates are.

I am now using 3 exchanges and have even got my dad interested in cryptocurrency. I use Blockchain, Coinbase, Coinbase Pro which is part of Coinbase however a little more technical to get to grips with. The plus point it is cheaper when buying or selling as you always get charged a small transaction fee, and I have just set up an account with Binance as they offered a few more cryptocurrencies that I could buy using GBP pounds. You see some cryptocurrencies you have to exchange other crypto for, so for instance I would have liked to have bought some Enjin, which is a Japanese gaming token and I think it may take off, however I would need to get either Bitcoin or Etherum to exchange for the Enjin.

 

All the Exchanges have nifty little apps, so you can pop them on your phone and monitor your funds, do trades, buy and sell. In order to join the sites do ask for personal details, and to verify yourself you have to provide ID like a passport or driver's licence. In order to buy crypto obviously you have to deposit funds, this can either be by a bank transfer or on your credit/debit card. I have bought from each of these sites so know they are legit.

I even got wor Kyle some free crypto over at Coinbase, all he had to do was register with Coinbase, verify himself and pop £2 into his account. This goes into the Coinbase account where you can see it in your wallet. You then have the opportunity of answering some very simple crypto video quizzes which take minutes to do and you get rewarded with Crypto. I think wor Kyle has about £25.60 in, not bad for his £2, of course this can go up as well as down.

If you are interested in joining Coinbase if you use the below link we would both get free Bitcoin when you buy or sell about £70 of crypto.

Coinbase Link

In crypto terminology I would consider my self a "Hodl" This comes from the early bitcoin forums, someone posted a message that spelled the word “hold” wrong, and readers interpreted it as an acronym “hold on for dear life,  it’s become a meme of sorts, so that when the prices are highly volatile, bitcoin buyers say "HODL!’”  The reason I hold when the prices are low or high is because at the moment I really don't have enough invested to make much of a difference in my life, well unless my current 759 Dogecoins become worth lets say £1000 each then I may sell, however this still wouldn't make me a Millionaire.
 

This blog post can serve as a reminder of what the future holds and will be quite interesting if both myself and my blog are still around when I revisit it in lets say another 10 years LoL

Things that make you go Grrrrrrr!!!

For some reason, man was I tired last night. I had done my daily riding session in keeping with cycling every day for a year, doing 10.60 miles on my road bike set upon my turbo trainer, whilst watching Gotham on Netflix.

Which reminds me it's not too late to sponsor me and support Arctic ONE with supporting others via their Forward Motion Grant.

Arctic ONE

I also completed 200 crunch sit-ups, mainly just because I have got into a routine. However, I don't think this is what had made me feel so tired I just think I am in a dreadful routine, what with being off work and still shielding.

So this morning I was awake at around 7:00 am. I knew I would be meting up with John for about 9:15am after he had dropped the bairn off at school, and we were going to go for a ride somewhere. "I may as well get up I thought", and proceeded to manoeuvre myself to the edge of my bed, before hopping around the side of my bed and retrieving my Bartlett Tendon.

My Bartlett Tendon has been living in my bedroom as I use it every day for cycling. When I use it indoors on my road bike I always remove the cams and tendons, as I don't need these whilst riding on the turbo trainer. So the first job of the morning was re-attaching the two cams and two tendons. It's an easy enough task, just requiring 4 special shouldered Allen bolts to be fastened in place and making sure the cam locking pins are fitted.

Funny how you can be thankful & greatful for mud

 A great deal of us just take for granted being able to go out and carry out our day-to-day lives. Whether that be going out to work or to do a spot of shopping, meeting friends for a chat over a cuppa, or carrying out some form of outdoor exercise. With what has been happening with this pandemic, all of our lives have been turned upside down and many of the things we used to do or take part in have either changed drastically or we are not at the moment able to do them. It is generally only when you cannot do something that you realise "I really would like to do that".

The 3 Stones at the top of the Black Path

Sandman Hoggar Ti

 

It's quite strange as way before this pandemic going back to 1995 when I first took ill with my leg I experienced what felt to me looking back a certain social isolation. This went on for many years as I fought to keep my leg, however we all know how that turned out, and when I eventually elected to have my amputation, well instead of disabling me it actually enabled me to do more. So I guess now that I am shielding, for me, it has not been so bad, as I have experience of being "stuck in" somewhat and can always find something to do. On the odd occasions I cannot find something to do I am pretty good at hiding under my quilt and switching off from the world entering into my imaginary world, with thoughts of my dream home and the things I will be doing in Scotland.

Isn't it good when you feel you have hit on a bargain?

 Having sold my old small tripod along with my GoPro Hero 5 the other week I had been looking to invest in a new tripod to go with my newly ordered GoPro Hero 9 (well you have to move with the times)

I needed a tripod that was small, light, durable and also adjustable so that I could either pop it on the ground, or hook it around say a tree branch to capture those scenic and exciting shots.

Small Tripod & Accessories

The internet is always the best place to check out first, so I started looking for reviews and trying to find a tripod that matched my criteria. Oh another big factor in purchasing a tripod is that it had to be fairly cheap. I have this habit of leaving stuff on trails, so purchasing some £50 bit of kit was out of the question.

Anyhoo I came across this review on Youtube of a small tripod with a link to Amazon. Everything appeared to fit the bill. I gave Ern the £11.99 to purchase the tripod because he has Amazon Prime so gets free delivery.

A small box arrived today it was, my order how exciting I do enjoy the buzz of receiving presents to myself.

The tripod only measures 7.5 inches, this will increase to just over 8.5/9 inches as you add either the GoPro mount or the mobile phone mount and the adjustable swivel mount which are all provided.

The tripod looks to be pretty sturdy I particularly like that the legs  are covered in a sort of rubber, as in the past I have had small tripods which have had those knuckle joints and over time the knuckles wear due to dirt which accumulates and wears them out, making the tripods slack and wobble all over.

 

Adjustable with bendy legs

I didn't but the tripod for the Bluetooth remote, which came in the kit, however I was actually very surprised at the ease of connecting the remote to my mobile phone and that it worked first time flawlessly. All I did was turn on the remote by the small switch on the side, it flashed blue, then I searched for the device on my phone, using the Bluetooth scan, hey presto it connected, and I was able to take a photo using my camera and the remote.

 

Bluetooth Remote

Having just received this new tripod I have not had a chance to try it out in the real world, however for £11.99 I am very happy with my purchase.

It does everything I want, it's light, adjustable and small enough to fit in my backpack, plus if I lose it on the trail it won't cost me an arm and a leg to replace.

Here is a link if you are interested Amazon.co.uk

Such a lovely day even got Grandma out

 Yesterday I bought some Lego off Facebook marketplace. I have been looking for sometime for a reasonably priced Yellow Lego Storage brick and when 2 came up, a 4 peg and a single peg box I got in touch with the lady selling them and arranged for Ern to go and pick them up, at £10 they were a bargain.

Following this morning's ride with my mate John I quickly got changed into some old gear and went and got Grandma my new shape VW Bug GSR.

Upon getting in Grandma I knew her tyre inflation light would be on as I have a slow puncture in the rear passenger side tyre. So I drove her up home real careful and slow and Ern inflated the tyre when I pulled her into our yard.

I popped her bonnet and Ern and I got busy modifying the Lego storage box, to make a cool looking battery cover.

Lego Novelty battery box cover

 

We tried various methods for cutting the plastic, ranging from a Stanley knife, to a junior hacksaw. We discovered the best bit of gear was a Dremel with a cutting blade on it.

We kept measuring the box and removing small amounts until it looked like it would fit and once all the cutting was done I tidied up the finished article with a rough file, some sand paper and then polished the box.

I don't think it looks half bad, and I am happy with the novelty result.

Lego battery box cover

Won’t be long now before I get some new tyres popped on to Grandma's brand spanking new 20-inch rims, and she will be sitting pretty once again. I have also got some cool stealth black tail Miltek tail pipes to pop on her.

A memorable day...What a laugh

Wow! My second outing of the week with my good friend John. Following on from Tuesdays adventure we had decided to meet up for a ride somewhere on Saturday morning. John almost always leaves the route planning to me and with us both living in Stanley all our lives we kind of know pretty much every trail, so it can get a bit tedious riding the same old places. Saying that due to this whole covid situation anywhere other than in the house is an exciting prospect for me.

I amazed myself by having everything pretty much ready before John arrived or so I thought. As when I went to grab my Specialized ebike and connect the bike to my phone, the bloody bike just wouldn't turn on. Well by that I mean when I pressed the button on the top of the top tube, the battery power meter came on flicked up, then flicked down and then the bike switched off. I could feel a bit of "Tourette's coming on" and the words beginning with "F" "Hell it's every time I plan to go out". I called for back up "Ern, Ern what's up with this bike?". "Well I don't know" he replied. I had already bollocked poor Ern in the morning, actually waking him up and dragging him out of bed, not literally mind you, more figuratively. No you see Ern had been up to his usual tricks and was playing "hide the bike lock keys". Turns out he had hid one set and locked the other set in his car. Naughty Ern!.

Anyhoo Ern saved the day,  he simply came along and said "what does this button do?" to which I replied "Huh what button?"... Hey presto my dad had discovered a special button and my bike started working.

Just then John rocked up, he had ridden down the bank carrying my dads electric plain which he had borrowed to carry out some DIY.

After a very quick discussion we came to the agreement

Farmers trail it is then!

Farmers Trail

John at the start to the Farmers Trail

 

Socially distanced Fresh Air

 When you have been cooped up for weeks, more like months on end, man it is great to get out. To taste the fresh air and even feel a few drops of rain as you lift your face skyward. The weather was apparently a bit brighter yesterday, but I didn't care. So what if it was slightly overcast and a little blustery.

I had set my alarm for 8:20 am, somewhat of a novelty for me as I have been in my shielding/lockdown routine, which generally involves staying in bed as long as possible and practising dreaming of a life in Scotland.

Anyhoo my alarm was set for a good reason my mate John was coming down, as we had arranged a socially distanced bit of exercise on our bikes. I checked the governments shielding advice. It said I could meet one other person outside and as long as we didn't kiss n cuddle things would be fine.

Amazingly I had everything sorted by the time John arrived and was pretty much waiting for him to rally down the hill and meet me. I say amazingly as almost every time I plan to head out, either something is missing, is broken or I can't find it. My OCD then kicks in, and it drives me insane, so much, so I think about it the whole ride LoL.

Off we went heading over towards Craghead. I had given John a quick idea of a loop and decided to take my Silverback Fat Bike, so no E-Assist this morning. The ride over to Craghead was pretty laid back, however as soon as we got down to Fox & Parrot wood, which is on the way down to Chester Le Street, it soon became pretty clear that the trails were like quagmires.

Out on my Silverback Synergy Fat Bike sporting a new haircut

Good to be out

Trying to beat the Shielding Blues

As we are almost 2 months into 2021, following on from last year and this whole Covid situation, well I personally have not had a great deal to write about, hence my somewhat infrequent blog posts, not that I wrote a whole lot in previous years mind you I mean this is not how I make my living and I generally just write when I have either been on an adventure, discovered something interesting I would like to share or when I am sometimes bored, the last bit is probably a big fat porky pie as Omg! Have I been bored over the last few months, so in theory I should have written loads?

As a point of interest as I think of it, I have now been a vegetarian/semi vegan since December 26th 2019. Wor Kyle decided he would like to try the Veggie option, it lasted Oh maybe 3 days before he visited MacDonald's. Now it has come to my attention that whilst he is not a vegetarian what he does is pilfer all the vegetarian stuff I eat. So for instance the Quorn replacement meats, the Vegan pizza I like and the special Peanut crunchy Butter I get in. Due to lockdown this has become increasingly frustrating for me as I can't just go into the cupboard and eat anything. So I have been doing some research into where I can obtain some California Reaper Chilli. Apparently this is the hottest chilli in the world. I may be forced to "spike" one of my favourite pizzas and see if it has the desired effect. A bit like putting down rat poison, for a sneaky thieving little git. Watch this space LoL

I am now out of the routine of getting up at 6:30 am and preparing myself to go to work, well the four days I am supposed to be there. Instead, I have fallen into a routine of staying up rather late, by no means partying and then lying in my pit as long as possible the following day. I have rarely been dressed, by that I mean I lounge about in shorts and a tee shirt with a hoodie and one sock. When I say one sock yes you read it right as I haven't been wearing my fake leg, it's a bit pointless when I am not going anywhere or doing anything that requires me to use it. That reminds me I probably need to change this tee shirt as I have had it on all week, and it's got remnants of something on the front, is it jam or yogurt?

So what have I been doing to try and stop myself becoming a complete vegetable and taking root upon my sofa. Well this week I had a shave, my first in quite sometime. I don't usually go for the bearded look as to be perfectly honest I cannot for the life of me grow a proper one, plus what does sprout is almost all grey, so I tend to look about 90, instead of in my 50s, almost 53 to be exact.

Tonight upon a whim I also decided to give myself a hair cut. Now this I am finding increasingly difficult, again due to my age. You see my eyes are terrible without my gigs. As I cannot wear my glasses all the time when cutting my hair. The front and sides are not so bad, but man when it comes to doing the back it's comical. I try to hold a mirror in one hand, looking back into another large mirror, then just have to try and judge what the clippers are taking off. My dad generally helps with the very last bit and trimming the wisps off and straightening the edges, but to be perfectly honest I can't really trust him, as his favourite words are "It'll be alreet man", by that I think he means it will grow back. At this point I am past caring as I don't see anyone anyhoo for them to either laugh or pass comment. I figure if I make a mistake I will just cut the lot off, so it's all good LoL

Other things I have been doing, well I have read a great deal. When I say a great deal I am not one of those people that can read a whole book in one sitting, no matter how good the material. I tend to read no more than a few chapters then end up feeling really tired. Saying which I have got through quite a few books since lockdown. I am not sure how much information or knowledge has been retained, but hey it has kept me somewhat busy. So far I have read the following:

The Neville Goddard Collection 

Becoming Steve Jobs

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Bourne Identity

Oh, and my dad bought me a series of small graphic books about 43 in total, they are called "Introducing" and so far I have read Semiotics, Artificial Intelligence, Chomsky, Ethics, Evolutionary Psychology, and I am on with Foucault, however I have put that one down as I bought and started reading 20,000 Leagues under the sea. Oh! And I am also in the process of trying to get through the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe, however I am struggling with that one.

I must have been bored as I haven't touched my PS4 in like years, I am no longer a gamer, well that was until I decided to buy Grand Theft Auto 5 and take out some of my frustrations upon the residents within the streets of San Andreas.

Last week I had to call the University Hospital Durham. I had a bit of a mishap, however I count myself very fortunate. I had hopped through the living room using my elbow crutches and as I went into the dining room to have a word with Ern, one of my bloody crutches collapsed, and I almost took a tumble. The small pin thingy that you usually use to adjust them had snapped. Not surprising really as I have had them ages, so much so the handles were held together with Gaffa Tape. I spoke to a really helpful lady over at the hospital who informed me she would do her best to try and get me sorted with some replacements. After an hour she rang me back and was so apologetic and also quite angry as she couldn't get anyone to issue me with some sticks. Long story short a lovely nurse called at about 5 pm with one elbow crutch. I informed her I needed two, so she said she would try and get another and drop it off at the end of her shift or the next day. The next day good to her word she dropped another stick off. I think she got a fright as she just opened the door and placed it against the wall, wor Baxter must have heard her so belted through the house barking his head off, pretending to be all hard as nails, when really he is a big softie.

Around 2017 for some reason which I can't recall I became interested in cryptocurrency. At the time I didn't do my homework and ended up getting ripped off/scammed out of £250. After learning a valuable lesson and doing some research into reputable companies/exchanges I decided to invest a small amount in various crypto. Last year around about March my £200 quids worth of Crypto had dropped to a value of about £40. By that time I had just about given up on gaining anything I mean I am not going to be able to retire on any profits. Amazingly this year various cryptos have taken off and at one point I had just under £700 in my account. Bitcoin had jumped right up to roughly £41,000 per coin. Wow! If I had only invested in 2009 and bought lets say 100 coins when they were around 58 pence each. Tesla has just bought 1.5 Billion dollars worth of Bitcoin and already made 1Billion dollars profit.

The other day I got three of my mountain bikes out. My Specialised Turbo Levo, the Sandman Hoggar Ti Fat Bike and my Silverback Fat bike. I decided to give them a wash down as last time I must have been out I had put them all away dirty,  it must have been cold, and I had been knackered when I came in. Anyhoo upon inspecting the bikes I noticed my Silverback Synergy Tyres were pretty down, so I went online and treated her to a new set of 4.4 inch wide Schwalbe Jumbo Jims. Whilst I was on I also bought some new tyres for the eBike as the current Butchers I always feel like they are going to wash out in the bends. Quite enjoyed fitting the new tyres and carrying out a bit of maintenance on the bikes.

I had to sort out some instructions online to help me with the German Answer Flame forks on my Sandman and now set up correctly they feel so much better. Yet to try out the new tyres on each of the other bikes. I will get a chance tomorrow, or I mean today as it's like 00:38 am as I write this, as I am going for a socially distanced ride with my mate John this morning. Think I will take the Silverback Fatty and see what she rides like with the fatter tyres fitted.


Speaking of cycling, although I haven't been out much as such I have continued to cycle everyday on my turbo trainer. I am on day 54 of this year and I have ridden a total of 472 consecutive days. I decided to ride for Arctic One this year to keep me motivated. I also have been doing crunch sit-ups just before getting on my bike as I saw some sort of challenge online for the month of February, so I am up to 2750 so far for the month.

I will share a link to my Virgin giving if after reading all this you fancy donating to Arctic ONE. I'm not doing great fund-raising wise having only got £10.

Even if you sponsor me a penny a day that is only £3.65, think about my poor sore bottom, Errrr! Well maybe don't.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

Sorry there are not many pics, just couldn't sleep so thought I'd write a bit.

Ooh and my wee bug Myrtle is ready to be picked up, after having the clutch adaption fitted. I am so excited about this and being able to have my first drive in her. I am planning to shoot some kind of video to demonstrate the clutch system and just show off where she is up to at the moment. Well that is when I get another GoPro as I have just sold my Hero 5 Black today...

Day 32 of riding, 1st day out in the real world this year

 So I am on day 451 of total days cycled and on day 32 of days I have ridden this year.  I am aiming to ride every day this year whether that be indoors on my Turbo and road bike or when I get the chance outdoors. To inspire and motivate me I decided to try and help the Arctic ONE foundation and hopefully raise a few quid to help them with their Forward Motion Grant system.

You can get more info on the awesome work Arctic ONE do  at www.arctic1.co.uk or Google Arctic One on Facebook

And if you would like to donate visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

I am still off work shielding from this poxy COVID-19 virus and like everyone else totally fed up. Last year I rode every single day, not so much out on trails as not only was I shielding, but I also had a few issues with my Bartlett Tendon and went through a period of breaking things.  I had to resort to my old slightly worn original Bartlett Tendon which had been stored in the loft and used it to ride indoors on my turbo trainer without tendons attached.

Getting the whole prosthetic knee out of the loft was a job in itself, man I hate climbing up the ladders and getting into our loft and getting back down is just as bad. It's little things I guess that people just take for granted, that as an amputee you just get so frustrated with. Never mind I eventually managed to get it down from the loft and then had to swap out my current socket that fits for the one that was on my old knee.

I could then use my old BTK until the new parts arrived for my BTK Crossover. Riding for over a year, it appears I have worn out my Rock Shox Monarch RT3 shocker. I got Intouch with Brian the designer of the knee asking for the correct model so that I could order one up and get it replaced asap. Brian very kindly had already sent me some spare tendons over and also offered to send me a replacement shocker that he had spare.

So to this morning as I woke somewhere around 11am, (yeah I have been lying in as there is nowt to do) the sun was shining through my bedroom window and I thought you know what I am going to sort out my knee and head out for a ride.

I gathered the tools required and the various parts to sort out my Bartlett tendon, affixing the new tendons into place and swapping out the socket from my old knee to my new knee. When my dad and I had  removed the sockets we made sure we placed alignment marks on both the knee and socket, so putting it back together and having the perfect alignment saved me a lot of trial and error.

During lockdown and knowing the weather has been shocking for months now I had decided to buy a pair of waterproof pants. I figured these would save me from getting up the eyes of clarts and if I decided to ride indoors it meant I wouldn't have to completely strip my knee to clean it as it would be protected.

I bought a pair of Endura Humvee waterproof pants from Cyclestore. I have to say when the pants arrived I wasn't overly impressed they seem rather thin. I had looked at various pairs, however they are all really expensive and as I don't normally wear pants I didn't want to pay the earth. These were £72.00. I bought a size Large, and actually they are quite a good fit. Plenty of room for my prosthetic knee and a good length. I did notice when I first started riding that I felt I was slipping a little on my saddle, but soon got used to the feel and after a single ride out the pants have done there job really well so all in all a good purchase. The pants are basic, with an elastic waist, with a draw cord, no pockets and Velcro fasteners to the bottom of the legs.
 

I also treat myself to a new Endura MT %00 Jacket in XL, though wish I had ordered an XXL for a bit more room. Basically ordered the jacket as it had received such good reviews and I liked the colour, plus being bored in lockdown, needed something to look forward too LoL. I didn't try the jacket out today.

 I took my old faithful Sandman Hoggar Ti on today's adventure. A good few weeks back I had got her out and given her a bit of love and attention so apart from a little air needed in her tyres she was good to go. As I gave my Sandman the quick once over I did notice her forks appeared to require a little air also. As I recall the upside down forks only have 80 mm of travel, and they felt a little saggy. I popped some air in, but not sure if it made much difference. I may need to investigate the forks and do a little reading up on them to see if they are ok.

Wow! I soon discovered it's a canny bit different riding the Fat bike with the Surly Nates on, compared to spinning on my road bike and Turbo. As I headed over to Craghead and up the bank at the Punch Bowl heading to Wagtail Lane I was proper puffing and blowing. I put some of this down to the Respro Face Mask I was trying out for the first time. I am not entirely sure if this mask is for me, felt like I couldn't breathe. As I got to the far end of Wagtail Lane I had to take the bloody thing off, so that I could get a breath. Man that breath of cold fresh air certainly felt good after being cooped up in the house for a month.

Sandman Hoggar Ti

I headed over to the farmers trail leading onto Chapman's Well and down the stone strewn dirt track. As I reached where it levels off this is where all the  water pools and as it has been so cold the puddles were all turned to ice. I love the sound of the crunching ice beneath my bike and was in my element riding through each frozen puddle. It's the little things LoL.

Just under 10 miles done, I was starting to feel the cold, in my thumbs funnily enough so decided to head home. I now have a hanging front brake to inspect and those forks, just in case they aren't working as they should.

 

Cycle everyday for a year in 2021

 

Hi everyone

So following on from last year's epic fail, what with this virus and all I have been thinking of something worthwhile to do for this year. Last year 2020 I cycled every day for the whole of the year. It was a routine I got into to try and help keep me sane and also to relieve the boredom whilst shielding for the best part of 7 months.




I now find myself shielding once more, so I am going to continue to ride. This is where you could help me out a little. There is a Foundation named Arctic ONE who I am guessing many of you will not have heard of. Arctic ONE is very close to my heart as they have supported me in the past and have continued to support many other people both able-bodied and disabled over the years in achieving their goals with a fantastic Forward motion grant system. So if you would like to help me to help them that would be awesome and greatly appreciated.

If you would like to know more about the Arctic ONE Foundation why not pop over to www.arctic1.co.uk or do a search on Facebook...

 

Link: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

Wee Myrtle's test drive

 Just catching up a little.


On the Friday afternoon, just gone the 18th, Ern had popped out, so I decided to have a go at installing the new MOA 430 Ultimate Air Ride Gold top front shocks that I had purchased from Limebug. I will get back to these in a moment.

  

Wee Mrtle my 65 Bug

 

You see I have been having real problems airing my car up with the current air shocks and Air Lift 3p setup. After talking things through with Limebug, we came to the conclusion that as I have a set of Cage66 Fabrication extended trailing arms, that the ordinary air shocks that I bought in my deluxe kit from Limebug just were not powerful enough to get my car where I needed it.

 

MOA 430 Ultimate Air Ride Gold top front shocks

My dad and I have been working on and off with Myrtle for over a year, doing various jobs, however we have always come back to the suspension. We have measured, re-measured, tweaked and adjusted, paid a small fortune for all the best quality parts and yet Myrtle has always just driven terrible.

Recently my dad and I fitted a complete front brake disc kit using CB Performance equipment, this included new 2 1/2 inch dropped spindles and required us to remove the king pins and re-shim Myrtle up. Following all this work her tracking was way off, so much so that as we attempted to get Myrtle driveable to be able to take her up to the General Garage at Anfield Plain, in the short space of about a mile, a mile and a half Myrtle's front passenger tyre was pretty much destroyed on the short trip up, cracking and splitting the tyre near the sidewall. Just pleased I didn't have my new alloys and tyres on for the trip up.

Once up at the General Garage, Ash directed my dad onto the garage lift and Ash and one of his colleagues fitted the laser alignment gizmo's to all four wheels. We could see immediately that the front passenger side wheel was way out of wack, it was so bad the lasers couldn't even line up. Ash lifted the car up and got under to adjust the track rod ends and once he used his machine to set up Myrtle she was looking much more aligned.  Ash lowered the lift after tightening everything up and m dad reversed Myrtle off and then took her for a quick blast.

When Ern returned he said Myrtle now drove 100% better and that he had even had her up to 60mph along the bypass, without her wanting to wander all over the road. This was such a relief and for the £20 quid Ash charged well worth the money.

 

Ern in Myrtle at the General Garage

After having Tracking done

Myrtle's camber is still slightly out, but it's miniscule, being - 1.49 degrees, so rather than mess about with the shims again I think I am just going to leave her alone.

Now then getting back to the new MOA shocks. Like I mentioned earlier Ern had popped out. I was bored so thought I may as well have a go at fitting the shocks myself, it's a simple enough job really.

Our yard is block paved, however it has a slight ramped angle to it. This just happened to be where Myrtle's front beam was sitting over. I got the trolley jack out and placed a piece of wood on the pad of the jack, thinking this would aid in giving the jack some purchase on the protective skid plate that is attached to the narrowed beam. I had just jacked the car up and was measuring up to see if the axle stands would go under and realised the axle stands were going to be sitting right on the lip of the ramped block paving, so I went to jack the car up just a tad more so that I could put the stands under the underside of the floor pan.

That's when Myrtle slipped off and wood block and then the pad of the jack shot up under the underside of Myrtle, just where the spare wheel sits. "Awww! Fuck". It took me ages to try and prise the wood and the jack out as they had jammed right up between the skid plate and beam. I eventually got them out and noticed there was now a huge upward dent in the spare wheel area.

What a struggle I had removing the spare wheel as it was now jammed. Eventually I managed to get it out and sure enough when looking under the bonnet towards the front of the well, the underside had a huge bowed dent. I decided to leave this for now and get my dads advice on how to go about fixing the area. Thoughts running through my head of "Awwww! Man it's like one step forward ten back with this car".

Cracking on with removing the old front air shocks and then replacing them with the new MOA's, it didn't take too long at all. Everything when checked looked good and the new shocks although slightly larger appear to clear everything.

When my dad returned he had a look at the dent I had caused and with a little gentle persuasion he was able to knock the ding out using a piece of wood, a mash hammer and a dolly. The paint had cracked, so I rubbed the area down, masked it off and then primed and repainted the area using a rattle can. It's not perfect, but hey Myrtle is no show winner. I just want her to a standard that looks presentable and something that is reliable. She will be used for pure pleasure and to hopefully once complete bring both my dad and I miles of smiles.

A quick test of the new MOA front shocks and it immediately became clear that they are more up to the job. You can now see Myrtle start to raise her front end at around 30 to 50 psi, and she comes up a lot quicker too. I am still playing around with what pressures to use, you see where we live we have speed humps that are like small mountains. I always feel I have got Myrtle up to a good ride height and then as she is driven over the humps she makes the most awful scraping sound as she catches somewhere or another. The humps are really bad I have already had 3 exhausts on my little Smart car due to them.

Kyle with my cars

I love this wee car

 

On Saturday, the 19th Ern & Kyle took Myrtle for a little test drive, whilst I followed in Grandma my new Shape Beetle GSR. We only went over to Burnhope and the little picnic area overlooking the valley. Just wanted to see if Myrtle was driving ok and how the suspension felt. As, yet I still cannot drive Myrtle myself due to her not having the semi-auto clutch adaption fitted. With being an above knee amputee it certainly does make things more difficult and also comes at a premium.
 

Wee Myrtle with Grandma

Ern informed me that Myrtle is now driving great. I could pretty much see to be honest as she was straight on the road and not pulling or leaning to one side, plus my dad was going that much quicker.

I am now looking forward to getting the clutch mod done in October and once that is done we can start working on other areas of Myrtle, once I have saved up some more money of course, as boy this wee car has been somewhat of a money pit.