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.