Enjoyabel early morning ride, gutted GoPro and Camera footage is naff.

Freezing cold but sunrise was well worth the wait

I purposely set my alarm for 5am, intending on trying to capture a sunrise with my GoPro. I have just updated the firmware on my Hero4 and it now allows me to capture time lapse videos. I haven't really played around with  time lapse, so was unsure of the settings. I decided to try 4K and a 2 second interval on the video setting.
  

   

Up the Farmers Trail

 
Well long story short I have learnt something through trial and error today. Firstly never presume because it has been quite warm all week that you can head off early in the morning with only a thin base layer and a short sleeve jersey. Dear me I was absolutely frozen this morning and this chill then went on to follow me around the whole of my ride. Secondly I have discovered a 2 second delay for shooting stuff like scenery, for example clouds and a sunrise is pretty good. However when you are riding 2 seconds is way too quick on the time lapse setting. When viewing your surrounding pass by in the blink of an eye and obviously your audience then doesn't get a sense of where you have actually been as landmarks pass by far to quickly. So today's footage has been binned.

Digital camera wise well I don't know what the hell happened, almost every shot was out of focus and blurred.

Never mind I'll have another go another day, that's the beauty of digital you can record and erase. I just need to get out a little more and practice with my cameras, especially the GoPro as it has so many neat little functions. One thing I did try today was the GoPro app on my phone, this really helped compose shots and it is very easy to use.  Down side is battery life in both phone and GoPro.

On the way back home I called in to see John and his wife Kristina and of course the new addition to their family a beautiful baby girl who they have named Amber. John then asked "you up for a short ride", so I headed out with John for a few more miles. Now in feeling tired and still haven't warmed through. It was good to get out, just wish I could have shared a few more pics. Today I saw quite a few different variety of birds (yes the feathered variety), my favourite being the geese that flew overhead "Honking" as they went on their way.

Final shot of the day John captured on my GoPro using the mobile app and the continuous photo function. There are a really steep set of steps in South Moor Park so I thought it would look cool riding down them. I have to say coming down on the 29'er is far scarier than coming down on my Fat Bike. I always feel I'm up in the clouds, like perched riding the 29'er lol

   

As you get older you tend to think of the consequences more

Done in B&W

South Moor Park steps

First ride out of 2015 on my new Road Bike

Yay! finally  the weather has brightened up. Yesterday I had a short ride up to Consett and back with John and Michelle on the mountain bikes, today a quick blast out on my De Rosa Idol. I got the De Rosa late on in the winter months of last year so only got to ride it once, so I was looking forward to some finer weather so I could go for a pootle out on her.

De Rosa Idol 2015

Keilder with a few of the lads

My friend Al got in touch a few weeks back to see if I was up for an overnighter up at Kielder with a few of the lads. At the time I wasn't sure,explaining I had had a bit of a long lay off, not doing much of anything at all, due to not being very well and that I wasn't sure I would be able to make it around the marathon length route of the reservoir. Never mind as it turned out I had been feeling much better up to the planned date and had even managed to get a few short but pleasant rides in towards the lead up to Kielder. So whilst not being exactly on top form and having to wear sockets that aren't quite fitting I made the decision "what the hell I may as well head out and try my best and have a bit fun with the boys".

Kielder with the Lads

Local loop wearing Swanky jersey's

As soon as my friend John discovered I had gotten him a Bike Swanky Jersey upon my trip down to Manchester after meeting up with Andy and Paul of Bike Swanky he wanted to try it on and head out for a ride.

Out on the Bike Swanky sponsored ride, my PYGA One Ten 29'er

Bike-Expo at EventCity Manchester

I was very fortunate to be invited along as a guest and ambassador on behalf of Bike Swanky to the Bike-Expo which took place at Eventcity in Manchester. Andy from Bike Swanky had contacted me a good few weeks a go to see if I would be interested in attending, however at the time I wasn't sure if I could make it as I hadn't been feeling very well, having some sort of a freaky virus. I found it hard to get out of bed never mind drive down to Manchester and then try to make myself useful. Anyhoo as luck would have it upon Andy's second phone call I was feeling a lot brighter and really wanted to join the lads to offer my support in return for all of their support and sponsorship upon my Pyga and getting me sorted with a couple of demo bikes, one of which was the De- Rosa I did my first Triathlon on last year and the other was for a Mountain Bike Rider Magazine feature that I also did last year.

Checkout all those rides on the Bike swanky stand

It's been a while!

Over the last few months I haven't been around, well in the sense of writing my Blog, as you can see it was ages since my last writing and photo session. The reason being I have been feeling really poorly with some unknown decidedly nasty virus. It had wiped me out totally, physically and didn't do much for the mental side of me either in that it caused no end of stress. You see I have been through my share of pretty severe health issues, so whenever something happens to me now I automatically go into deep analysis mode and a virus, admittedly a horrendous one, in my mind becomes so much more. No doubt people will judge and think I over react, but hey to really do that you have to understand what a person has experienced throughout their life.

I was gutted to have to take 6 weeks off work and also the effect it has had on my physical fitness with not being able to ride, run or swim has been alarming. On my return to work I even struggled to walk up two flights of stairs without being out of breath. The first week back to work I ached so much, you would think I had been working out with heavy weights in the gym. One of the biggest downers for me has been that I have discovered none of my current limbs now fit. It's hard to explain to an able bodied person the depths of you're depression when you are actively maintaining you're shape through physical activity and diet and then "Bang" something comes along and totally screws up you're routine. I can't explain what it feels like to have to wear an ill fitting limb everyday, other than to say it sucks big style. This is no real comparison but try to imagine having to wear a pair of shoes that simply don't fit. Lets say they are 2 or 3 sizes too small.You have to go to work so you can't take them off even though they are blistering your feet and you're toes are curled up and constricted. Well this is similar but by no means exactly the same as finding out you're limb no longer fits. It's no ones fault, but it sure is frustrating.

Now to the positive side of things. I can workout and get back to doing the things I enjoy and hopefully get back to my regular shape. If not it's not the end of the world, new sockets can be made and it's certainly not a reason to throw in the towel and just quit. Don't get me wrong I'm like many other people out there the thought crosses my mind, but I've come to far and put in too much hard work to just quit. I'm sure I've heard a saying "it's not how many times you get knocked down, it's the getting back up".

This afternoon was a very enjoyable "getting back up" kind of an afternoon. Yeah it was really tough, it hurt and I was proper dismayed to see my energy levels. In my minds eye I resembled a sloth. However the main goal I achieved, just to get back out with my friend John and not concentrate on the distance but on being outdoors having some fun in very pleasant company.

Tomorrow  John and I might even go for a dip up at the local swimming pool.

Here's a few pics from today...

Out on the Pyga

The two trusty steeds

Quite a few large puddles about

Used the GoPro and the phone app

First ride out of 2015, a sign of things to come?

A short blog. Short mainly because I can't be arsed to write a long one, secondly because I'm not entirely sure anyone reads my stuff, much preferring to look at bonny photo's and thirdly well because it was a bit of a nightmare camera wise, so not too many said 'bonny photo's' lol.

Today's first ride of the new year, 2015 was with my friend John. We had agreed to be ready to set off for 9am from my house. Now as I write this I am obviously trying to recall what happened as I tap away on my keyboard of today's events. What has just struck me is the fact that actually today was one of very few that I can remember where I have actually got up and everything has been where I can find it. This morning I had no drama's, no missing lights, or the odd glove or sock. I found my under shorts, the jersey and shorts I wanted to wear and of course most importantly mY bike was where I had left it last. Wow this has to be a first.

John arrived a little before 9am and we immediately set off. We had the briefest of chats about where to go and decided up Waskerley Way would be just about far enough. The trails shouldn't be too muddy and hopefully the weather wouldn't turn to cold and nasty.

Windy up at Waskerley Way

Black Ice, Deep Mud, Froze to the Bone and a Wasp Sting...

I appear to have lost my MoJo, it has been stolen away, so I had to give myself a good talking too this morning and both motivate and inspire myself to ride. Don't get me wrong I love heading out on my various bikes, it's  just of lately I've been suffering a fair bit of pain in my good knee so it's took the shine off riding. After visiting the physiotherapist at my local medical group the other day I was informed I had what was known as Pes Anserine Bursitis, also known as Goosfoot apparently. I mean aww great as if having one plastic foot isn't enough, now I appear to also have a goose's foot. Well now I feel like a proper freak...

The physio gave me some advice on how I can treat the inflammation, basically it's a cold compress after activities, or when I'm getting pain. Also a little Ultra Sound may help and if this doesn't work some steroid injections, however this means no training or exercise for a while. Sod that I stuff to do so that isn't really an option. I'm just pleased it isn't anything serious. I mean yes it hurts, but it's not like having a tumour in my leg thank god, now that really hurt.

So to this morning as I gave myself a mental kick up the arse. Clothing fitted,check,camera equipment sorted check, good leg already attached,check, hop to get my Bartlett Tendon and pop on a Ccccold Liner, Ccccheck!!! Ok leg strapped on. A quick walk to the shed to retrieve my bike...Mmmmm I'll take the bike I'm sponsored on by Bike Swanky the PYGA today. I then propped my bike up against the fence and went to extend my Go Go Gadget Pylon ready for the off and my God Dam foot fell off. Awww crap. Now I really did have to hop to our back door and rang the bell. "Errr Ern we have a problem, my foot has dropped off". Don't worry just a minor hiccup in the testing phase of the pylon, Ern sharp fixed it and I was away heading up our street.  Wow it was cold.

I kind of had an idea of where I was heading to, a place called Hamsterley Mill. I figured i would try and get some nice footage on my new GoPro Hero 4. I really wanted to see what the 4K video quality was like. Ern has just treated us to a new Telly a 55 inch Samsung 4K 3D affair and it's absolutely fantastic. So like I say I thought if I got a good 4K video I could watch it on the new TV.
 
I won't bore you with the route I took, other than to say part of it was past the 3 stones, which are now only one stone...I know this will mean nothing to a lot of you, however for me as a youngster it was a local landmark, between where my grand parents lived and where we lived at South Moor. I then went down  towards Harperley and came to the cross roads intending heading straight up the bank coming out near Flint Hill. Well as I attempted to ride up the short but steep bank I totally lost all traction and slipped off the narrow country road having to put my good foot on the grass edging. The bank was sheet ice and there was no way I could ride up it, in fact I struggled to walk up it pushing my bike.

Anyhoo at the top of the bank a nice steady ride into Flint Hill and heading towards Dipton I took a right and this took me down a lonely, bumpy side lane all the way down to a farm which is situated at the end of the lane. I had a few styles and gates to navigate before coming to Hamsterley Mill and the woods there. Wow getting over the styles was dodgy, the wooden styles being iced up and very slippery.

PYGA OneTen sponsored by Bike Swanky

The styles were real slippery

Letting the air get to my foot

I began filming just before I got in the woods. As I entered the top end of the woods I could tell I had a very muddy and difficult time ahead of me. At one point I felt something wasn't quite right with my foot, no not my Goosefoot, my plastic one. On closer inspection I discovered a bolt had come loose so I had to whip out my tool kit and set about tightening up the bolt.




















Boy today was hard work, shooting a video when you're all alone requires you riding and walking back and forth to set up you're camera and then riding and then retrieving you're gear again, then doing it all over for the next shot, so that you can piece your footage together and hopefully get something that looks fluid and fun. Well let me tell you by the time I had got halfway down through the woods and used up one GoPro battery my heart sank when I noticed my camera was set on 1440/25fps and not 4K. I was gutted. I'm sure I had set the dam thing on 4K a few days earlier. Well this put a dampener on my enthusiasm. I couldn't be bothered to head all the way back up the trail, not only that the beautiful sunshine had faded. So I decided to cut my videoing efforts short, make do with what I had and set off for home.


Whilst riding through the woods on this muddy trail I saw up ahead what looked like a particularly boggy muddy area. I also saw there was a huge tree stump to my prosthetic side. Now all this went through me head in a nano second..."Do I stop and push my bike over?" or "Do I go for it and try to avoid falling off especially on that big tree stump, as I reckon that would hurt if i fell on it". So decision made "Go for it". I pick up my pace,approach the quagmire full steam ahead, hit it and stop almost instantly..."Agghhhh, just a bit further so I miss that big tree stump", yay made it and proceeded to fall off in the thickest, dirtiest mud, coldest mud you have ever seen. My bright green Lumi Troy Lee glove went all the way into the mud right past my wrist. I was lying there fully clipped in and stuck in this geet big clarty mud hole. I managed to un-clip my good foot and had to squirm in the mud from under my bike. When I got to my feet I looked at my gloves, one bright green one and one that was anything but green. "Bloody hell that's cold" I thought.

No more calamities on the way out of the woods. Soon  I was on the Derwent Walk and heading for Consett. It was a good way along here that I started thinking should I just call Ern and arrange a lift home. I just felt knackered and was really cold by now. I hate giving in so just pulled up my Buff a little further, remembered I had my Seal Skin gloves in my bag so swapped my gloves over and put my head down and grinded out the miles.

Soon enough I saw the sign for Consett 1 mile and felt a little better. Still had a fair way to go. I had intended bringing my mp3 player, however it was flat, and as I started thinking of this I got one of the songs from Guardians of the Galaxy stuck in my head, it was  Come and get my Love by Redbone. So from around about Consett this song was on a constant internal loop. I say internal, closer to home I began humming and singing.

As I got home Ern was in our kitchen he immediately came out and gave me a hand get some of my dirty gear off. Boots, Bartlett Tendon etc. He then set about giving my bike a quick wash down. I was way too cold, my fingers feeling like little logs. Everything needed washing including my back pack. By this time I was hopping around in our kitchen, with only my cycling shorts remaining. I found it a bit difficult trying to empty my back pack standing on one leg so sat down on our kitchen floor. This is when I felt a really sharp pain and at irst thought I had pressed the back of my stump onto a sharp staple. It wasn't until I lifted my stump and saw this wasp lying there that I realised I had been accosted. As I gave off a manly man scream, with some choice vocabulary and verbally abused the wasp wor Kyle came trotting down stairs. I immediately informed Kyle of the perpetrator and at this point sentenced the wasp to death, ordering Kyle to "kill it, kill it". I don't like wasps, but in hindsight did feel a tad guilty for having it exterminated. I mean I did attempt to sit on it.

Shortly after this as I was telling my captive audience on Facebook of my encounter with the wasp...I mean come on who gets stung by a wasp at Christmas and in the winter, it could only happen to me I went to pop my good leg back under me as I usually do when sitting in my computer chair and  "Agggghhhh" No i didn't get stung again Pheww!!!, but I did have the worst cramp ever, right in the back of my hamstrings. I proper panicked as it felt like my leg was going to explode or snap or something. Ern to the rescue, helping straighten my leg out...Jeez now that really hurt.

So there's another one of my adventures over, now sitting writing this with one stiff good leg that isn't so good and a really sore, itchy stump where a wasp abused me...

A little more running practice...

As we are in winter and the weather isn't exactly kind I have found it increasingly difficult to get any real running practice in. My dad has been scouring our local vicinity to try and discover a running specific track and we have even looked at  trying to find somewhere indoors, large enough to have a jog around.
 

One of Ade's images which I played around with using Snapseed

The Saga of my Sandman cranks and bottom bracket, plus a little test ride cut short.

Yesterday I was very pleased to be reunited with my much beloved Sandman Hoggar Fat Bike. Si my new found friend and bicycle mechanic over at Cycle Solutions returned her complete with new e.Thirteen TRS the Hive cranks and bottom bracket.

New e.thirteen TRS cranks and BB

Decidely dodgy riding weather

My friend John on his trusty steed

My friend John has been going stir crazy of late. It's understandable as he has now been unemployed for over 2 years after losing his job at our local Citizen Advice Bureau. John has to attend this pointless agency through the government. Constantly writing and re-writing CV's and not actually being assisted with finding a job at all. The threat of being sanctioned for the slightest thing hanging over him each day. 

Last visit of the year to the Lombard Physiotherapy Clinic

Due to the weather being so horrid, what with this so called 'weather bomb' I simply haven't been able to get out a practice on my running limb. It has been either windy, wet, slippery or freezing. So yesterday was the first opportunity I had had to run since visiting Pace Rehab and Paul my prosthetist over at the Lombard Physiotherapy Clinic.

I know it's early days, however I'm a born worrier, yes I said worrier not warrior I'm way to soft to be a warrior. Anyhoo my main concerns at the moment are that I'm not getting enough practice in, my fitness is atrocious and I have this very worrying niggle in my good leg around my knee area. All I want to do is get my head down and get some serious training in, there always just seems to be something that gets in the way. You see there I go again looking at all the negatives. But me being me it doesn't take long to then take a step outside of my sub -concious and give myself a good talking to, some what like what a good friend would do. Trying to focus on all the positives.

Paul tinkered and tweaked a few settings on the running prosthesis and each time I would go for a short run, back and forth in the car park, finally retiring inside the Lombard Clinic as it was brass monkeys outside. Yes I can run on the new blade, it's stable and safe, however Paul is very enthusiastic, has a real passion for his job and would like to get it perfect. So what he was trying to figure out was where exactly the small whip I have going on was coming from.

I am quite different apparently to a lot of AK amputees in that my adductor muscles are very strong. I don't know if this comes from riding bikes for a long period, or if it's my Bartlett Tendon as I work against resistance using that knee. So what Paul was investigating was whether my socket was being internally/externally rotated as I took a running stride. We did quite a bit of work in between the parallel bars, along with Tracy the Lombard Physio. Tracy then gave me some more exercise to do using a Theraband. These would help promote the use of muscles in my glute's and I think in hip abduction. A little while ago Tracy put me on to a very handy little app from Otto Bock, it's like a mini work out with your own personal fitness coach and it's aimed at lower limb amputees. So hopefully if I carry out the exercises in a routine I should see increased strength in those areas where I am lacking at the moment and this should help in my control and position of my residual limb when running.

This was my final visit of the year to see everyone. I now have a month of hard work and will return in January to see the guys, including Donna Lombard's new receptionist who is a lovely lady. Donna always looks after me, giving me the occasional hug and making sure there are plenty of beverages on the go. Just one big happy team really. I love the atmosphere as it is so relaxed and friendly and quite often I get the opportunity to speak with other amputees which I always find very rewarding.

Merry Christmas to everyone at Team Pace and also to the Lombard Physiotherapy Clinic and their clients.

MBR Magazine Feature

Say Cheese

A little while ago I got an unexpected surprise in the form of an email from a lovely guy named Jamie Darlow. Jamie went on to explain that he worked at Mountain Bike Rider Magazine (MBR Magazine) and had come across my blog. He asked would I be interested in tbeing featured in an article for the mag, going on to say that he thought it would be an inspirational and interesting story for MBR's readers.

What a day for my new bikes maiden adventure

Just got my Bartlett Tendon along with new check socket back from Paul over at Pace Rehab on Friday. Due to some technical issues (mainly due to me changing shape in a short period of time) I have been without a riding limb. Obviously this has meant my fitness has dropped off and though I have been out practising both with my running blade and also swimming it's a totally different kind of fitness so today's local loop was a cold, wet, muddy and relatively short 8 miles or so.

John and Glenn

Ok the weather isn't going to get any better I have to get out and run...

Practising in the car park @ South Moor Park

I have been in a kind of limbo of late. My body is changing shape and I have discovered each of my various legs just aren't fitting. That's my NHS everyday leg that I wear for work, my running prosthesis which is in it's infancy, so I'm only at the check socket phase and my Bartlett Tendon which I have found to be way too big.  Pace Rehab are on the job, though it's been a difficult time getting fitted as like I say I change shape so quickly. Imagine if you will, when I'm really active I tend to loose weight, even though I am building strength and indeed muscle, it still means my residual limb shrinks. I then have to be re-fitted, however the time I then spend not doing any exercise I then put on weight and the original socket I was cast for then becomes obsolete as my sizing changes once again. It's very much a vicious circle which almost every amputee goes through. Don't get me wrong I'm not whining here, as I am very fortunate in the support and sponsorship I receive, it's just very frustrating when you want to get out there and get down to business only to have these small but annoying setbacks strewn across your path.

Positive Outcomes

As many of you know it's very rare I write a short blog, some of my friends say "Glenn you don't half waffle on, we much prefer to just skip the text and move along to your photo's". Well in this case I don't have many photo's. The pics  Ern (my dad) had taken came out pants. Not really Ern's fault, it was just that the camera is a small compact, under artificial lighting, late in the afternoon so it was dark and indoors.

Really I should have got more shots when my two new friends Si from Cycle Solutions and Andy from Bike Swanky arrived. But taking pictures was the last thing on our minds as we came in doors practically as soon as Andy and Si pulled up in Bike Swanky's logo'd up van. We just had so much to talk about.

Si (Cycle Solutions),Me, Andy (Bike Swanky) and my new De Rosa Idol

'A leap of faith' - Running Prosthesis Stage 2

Really enjoyed the whole day working with Paul. His positive comments go along way

My appointment to head down to Pace Rehabilitation and their Cheadle clinic to meet with one of my prosthetists down there Paul Richardson, had soon come around. I had arranged with Paul a week earlier to get down to Pace pretty early. This would give us plenty of time to experiment with the next stage of my running prosthesis.
 
I had my alarm on my mobile set for 6:30am, though in the morning discovered I didn't really need it, as I was already wide awake, probably due to the excitement at the prospect of seeing all this new prosthetic kit. I'm sure there are some people out there who just don't get why anyone would be excited at what essentially they would  just see as "a leg". Thing is in the majority of cases as an above knee amputee you need a different leg for each activity you choose to do and without a specific limb you struggle. They are also very expensive and this means quite a few amputees resign their selves to a life of giving up on what they used to do, or want to do, even though they have the potential  in some cases to go on and do even more than they could as an able bodied person.

Running prosthesis stage 1

I'm on my holiday's, not going anywhere tropical or warm or even anywhere in particular really, though I do have some pretty exciting stuff going on in my life at the moment which is a bit closer to home and will involve travelling down to Manchester next week. But hey lets not jump the gun, let me start at the best place the beginning.
 

Paul blessing my stump lol

I love this shot it's so funny and I'm sure Paul will also see the funny side. I wasn't sure if he was blessing my stump or was a practising faith healer with the promise of "I can make it grow back".

"Hey Paul I'll just settle for one of your awesome sockets m8"

 As many of you will know I have been trying to raise much needed funds along with Arctic ONE to put towards the completion of a running prosthesis.











How all this came about was after visiting the US, last year and getting some really great advice from a gentleman named Scott Clark who is a prosthetist over at Baker Orthotics and Prosthetics who are based in Dallas Fort Worth TX. Scott had asked would I like to progress into doing other activities other than riding a bike and my reply was "sure, however as you know prosthetic gear is very expensive and I just can't afford that kind of layout". I went on to explain that our health system works entirely different to the US and indeed many other countries. I had tried contacting various companies and people, but always came to a dead end, so basically I had put the thought of ever being able to run to the back of my head, much preferring to concentrate on what I could do, rather than waste negative energy being consumed by what I wasn't able too (Notice I said unable to and not can't ) That's the thing with a lot of people they quite often get worn down by the whole health system when they don't have some kind of funding in place, and aren't able to obtain the right equipment to help move them along in their chosen direction. These people quite often then get a Negative "Can't" attitude and as we all know it's pretty much down hill from there.

Welcome to the North East Pace Rehabilitation

 A few weeks ago my good friend Scott Richardson who is the P.R Guru at Pace Rehabilitation informed me that they were going to be having an open evening at the Lombard Physiotherapy Clinic, which is situated in West Moor, Newcastle and would I like to attend as a guest on behalf of Pace along with a few of my friends and my dad, Ern.

Kielder with friends old and new...

What a cracking Crew

 Right to Left -Steven Hackworth ,John Chambers,Al Roberts,Luke Troy,Mark Boon Purvis, Steve (Scotty) Scott,Kevin Turner, Carl,Mark Eagan, Glenn Johnstone,Lee Sheridan,Ian Carr, Davey (twice around) Purvis.