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.