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