First outdoor ride of the New Year 2022

 Normally I would be keen to get out and about on my various bikes, regardless of the weather, however in reality over the past couple of years, yes as long as that, I just haven't been going out quite as much. I mean, the whole covid situation had a lot to do with it when I found myself having to shield for around 9 months, and by then I had become quite used or should I say addicted to just jumping on my road bike, which is set up indoors on my cheap Tacx turbo trainer. It's warm, I can watch TV or listen to music and when I am finished no requirements to wash a dirty mud strewn bike.

Of course, this has not been the only factor in my lack of enthusiasm. I am really struggling with socket fit, so each ride is a fairly uncomfortable one, and for some reason I had been snapping a lot of tendons on my knee and also encountered another issue with my knee that I have never had before. This is that the bolts that fit through the BTK Cams shear off every now and again. I can only put this down to me having a G2 BTK frame and using G3 tendons and cams. With the G3 tendons being slightly longer, I am wondering whether my riding style is not maybe as fluid and causing a "snap" at the top end of my movement. That said, I wouldn't trade my BTK knee, after using various incarnations of the design since 2009, it is this piece of equipment that has kept me going.
    

Jimmy & John in South Moor Park

Anyhoo this blog is actually about going out into the real world for a ride, something I have really missed. My friend John, who I don't get to see all that much because of other commitments, messaged me asking me if I fancied a ride out with him and a friend of his, called Jimmy. I am still currently off work, due to socket issues, and so I was in two minds. You see, I have been brought up from a little wee lad to believe if you were sick, you had to stay at home and couldn't play out. I have my mam to thank for that. If ever I was off school, no way was I allowed out, it's kind of stuck.

The previous week I had had a chat with my boss from work, and she advised me to do what I could when I could, as well it's good for your mental health, so I agreed I would head out with John and his mate Jimmy. I prepared all my gear the night before, this meant reattaching my cams and tendons on my BTK knee. Being wary of the 4 bolts, I made sure I used my small torque wrench. It's a most excellent piece of kit, I love it's small form factor. It is made by "fwe" sure I got it at Evans Cycles some years ago. It uses small torque sockets which go from 4,5 to 6 nm.

fwe mini torque  wrench

Great bit of kit

The following morning I had a ride up our bank towards Stanley and met up with John, Jimmy soon coming along and John introducing us. A quick discussion on where to go, and we were all off, deciding to head over towards Chapman's Wells, with the possibility of doing the Lanchester Valley to Consett loop and then back home. I informed the boys I wasn't sure if we would have time, just I had to get back as I had been invited out to lunch by one of my old work friends and another work friend, somewhere over near Cramlington, a place called the Snowy Owl.

 

Doesn't matter where you go always got to get off and lift bikes over a style or gate

Splashing through the icy puddles

Jimmy enjoying himself

More puddles to play in

Weather wise, it was pretty chilly, with frost in the air and the various puddles we encountered covered in ice. I have mentioned this before I am sure I love either the sound of the braking ice as you ride over it, or in the autumn and the sound of dry leaves as you ride through them. It's the little things when you are out and about that can bring you joy. Sights, sounds and smells of the great outdoors.

Nice being out in the fresh air

 

We encountered quite a few frosty and icy puddles on our little, what turned out to a be a 20-mile ride. We also discovered lots of damaged and up rooted trees, from the storms we had not so long ago. There was a huge tree that had fallen in South Moor Park. It must have fallen across the path and the council had been down and chainsawed it into large sections to make the path accessible.

It's funny even as we get older get a few lads together, and you can see the child in them, as we each took turns to ride through the iced up puddles, crunching through the ice and splashing up the cold water beneath.

It can get really windy blowing down the valley

As the morning went on, the weather became a lot milder, the frost disappearing and the ice melting to make the Lanchester and Chapman's Wells trails that bit muddier. We turned off at Hurbuck Cottages, instead of going all the way up to Consett and I took John and Jimmy up the long up hill winding back road, I think it's called Gorecock lane towards Greencroft.

 

Riding along from Maiden Law

From there back along to the Morrison Road ends and back to Chapman's Wells. A nice climb up the farmer's Trail, and we were at the top of Wilka's Bank and followed Wagtail Lane to the Bridleway that leads down to South Moor Gold Club and from there a ride through the Font and John and Jimmy said their goodbyes when we arrived at my house.

My pops was coming out of our house and very kindly helped me with my bike putting it on charge for me. Not enough time to clean her. As I got indoors and removed my sweaty gear and put various bits and pieces away, I noticed a big box at the bottom of our stairs...Yay my Ukulele had arrived.


Proper enjoyed this morning's ride out and pleased to say apart from my Fitbit cocking up, and my mobile phone dying, it's old, nothing else went a miss. My Specilazied Turbo Levo appears to be working fine now that the TCU has been replaced. I am now going to try and make more effort to get out riding outdoors, prosthetic limb dependant, as upon getting back I had a few new very sore areas.

A Mixed bag this month

 As the title to this particular blog states, it's been a bit of a mixed bag this month. 

I will get the shitty bit of the month out of the way first so that I can leave you on a more positive ending.

Ok so I have now been off work 3 weeks, after talking to Occupational Health and describing how much I have been struggling at work. They agreed working from home until I can get sorted with a comfortable socket is the best course of action for me.

The pain and discomfort has been going on for months now and following the last Bank holiday I worked, wearing my new socket, I knew I just couldn't keep going on the way I was. So now I am in a kind of limbo, where I keep attending short appointments over at the Disability Service Centre and my prosthetist trying various small adjustments to try and get my socket comfy. The new socket I had made for me is not far off, however I am still uncomfortable, and it gets worse the longer I wear my limb and the more I do. I can no longer wear my current limb for more than a couple of hours at a time.

As for cycling, well I am still at it, riding indoors on my road bike set up on my turbo trainer. My cycling socket is absolutely huge, and it requires me to wear two seals around my liner, even then it gradually slips further and further off, so that is part of the reason I have not been heading out on any biking adventures. I cannot imagine being able to stand out of the saddle using my BTK, as the socket now rotates on my wee leg. It is all rather depressing as I have my new Orbea Cyclo cross sitting in doors just waiting for her maiden adventure. "Ahh well never mind we are still in winter and the roads are manky, the bike looks so pretty I don't really want to get her mucky" I keep telling myself

The Gain going nowhere

   

Baxter either wanting a cuddle or trying to tell me to stop playing

Well turned out Baxter had indeed broke a tooth and must have had an infection, poor little lad. The vet prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers, OMG! £90 odd quid then informed us that Baxter would need to come back to have the tooth removed. "Err how much will that be?" I asked too which the vet replied, "between £350 and £450"... Gulp. Apparently the dear part is the anaesthetic and because Baxter is a fat little git it's costing that bit more. So come Monday the 31st January, Baxter is off to get knocked out, just hope he doesn't have to have more teeth out or dentures fitted.

I'm sure the Universe is conspiring against me this month. My mate John messaged me during the week, asking did I fancy a ride out on Thursday. Ooh a chance for a catch-up. Turns out John then had to work a shift, so he couldn't head out, however that is not all. I had gone to get my bike out of the shed, my Specialized Turbo Levo, intending on washing her, thinking we were going to go out for a ride. Anyhoo I went to turn the bike on to see if I needed to charge the battery. WTF! The bike wouldn't turn on from the frame button. Now, this exact thing happened back in March 2021. I then had to take the bike to Infinity Cycles and get a new wiring harness fitted. After some choice words and much fannying on, I rang Infinity and the lad on the phone advised me to bring the bike down so that they could inspect her and try and discover the problem.

A day later Infinity rang saying it was the same problem as last time, the poxy wiring harness bit, and that the bike was now out of warranty... Great, so I was quoted about £56 for the part with £15 labour, telling them just to carry out the work. Another day went by, and the following day Infinity rang saying they had fitted the new harness, however the bike was still acting up. They had discovered that  the TCU was at fault and this was going to cost £105 to replace, the guy on the phone saying Specialized had given me a 35% discount on the part. Obviously I needed the bike sorting, so the final bill was £190. 

Infinity Cycles and the team have always been spot on, when I have had work done there, like getting my bikes wrapped etc, so I am not miffed with them, however I am pissed off with Specialized as upon reading up on various eBike sites, there have been a lot of issues with the motors and electrics. It has definitely put me off buying another Specialized bike in the future,  if I was going to purchase another bike. Even been thinking about selling the Levo, she is 3 years old now and in really good nick, I already know what I would go for if I did sell her, but I will keep that under my hat for now LoL.

Ooh! my Mikro guitar arrived, eventually, on Wednesday. I had ordered it from Anderton's Music way back in December. I eagerly unboxed it, tuned it, trying both my mini tuner and the one incorporated on my Orange Crush 20 RT and I have to say I was proper disappointed with the sound. It just sounded terrible to me when playing a chord, it sounded like the G string was always out of key and wavering and lingering longer than any of the other strings.

ibanez grgm21m-mgn gio mic

Ibanez Wee guitar

 

I have been taking guitar lessons with a gentleman called Tom Welch, just had my 4th lesson Yesterday in fact. So as I am a total noob with anything to do with guitars, I asked Tom to have a bit of a play around and give me his opinion. Of course Tom could play the wee guitar, as he is a pro, however he agreed the guitar did sound out of tune and recommended taking it to a "Luthier", you see I am learning new stuff all the time. A Luthier is someone who makes and repairs guitars and can carry out tuning and required adjustments or replacements of parts. I will come back to the wee Ibanez in a tick.

I found Tom by doing a quick Google and searching for guitar tutors in County Durham. He has his own website which provides details of his years of experience and what he can offer in the way of tuition. I got Tom's phone number and gave him a call, like I say, a month a go now. 

When Tom arrived for my first lesson with him, he simply asked where I was starting from, and I told him "absolute beginner". It has only been a month like I say, No I can't play any tunes very well, however I have learnt so much and Tom sets me homework to work on each week to help improve not only my use of playing the guitar, but in the understanding of music. By that I mean working on Chords, scales, timing and  how to read tableture, of course there is much more. 

At times, it can feel a bit overwhelming and as I am sure those people who can recall just starting out learning the guitar, you feel you are never going to get it. I think one of the main things is that I am not being too hard on myself, practising each day, and enjoying the challenge, mostly just making a noise Lol. Tom is a great Teacher, who is very patient, and I now look forward to seeing him each week, as he is a genuinely nice fella.

Sore Fingers

Right back to this Wee guitar. After Tom had had a go, and recommended taking the guitar to what we now know as a guitar maker, repair person, I tied to think of somewhere pretty local and thought of J G Windows at the Metro centre. I could see they were open late, as it was 6pm by now. When I rang Windows I got to speak to a very friendly lad called Lewis who said "Just bring it in, and I will have a look at it", "Ok when" I replied, and he said "can you get in tonight?" So Ern and I boxed up the guitar and headed to the Metro and Windows.

Long'ish story short, Lewis had a look at the guitar and said he couldn't find anything wrong with it, saying for a small guitar it was one of the best he had heard. You see the guitar is classed as a 3/4 or travel guitar, the fretboard is only 22.2inches. The guitar actually fits on the parcel shelf of Tango, my Smart car, 

I asked Lewis how much I owed him for his time and he replied "Aww nowt it's ok". I handed him a tenner anyway, as I think it's polite when someone does you a good turn.

Back home I gave the guitar another go and to me, it still sounded dreadful, like an out of tune bagpipe. The following day I rang Steel Town Music and spoke to Matt and asked would he have a look at the guitar. Matt asked me to pop it in, and he would take a quick look at the guitar and amp setup, as by now I was thinking could it be the amp.

As soon as Matt looked at the guitar and had a little play, he commented on the very thin strings and demonstrated how easy it was for the guitar to go out of tune by pressing down too hard on the strings. Well with me being a beginner I am finding I am probably giving the neck of the guitar a death grip as I am trying not to get any buzz or dead sounding strings.

Matt suggested fitting lager diameter strings, I think it had 9's on, and he suggested 11's. "Great" I replied when should I drop it back in, as I knew Saturday was a busy day for the guys at Steel Town Music. Matt was spot on and said "Oh I will do it now it won't take long". Within about 10 to 15 minutes Matt had the strings replaced and tuned up my guitar, he had also adjusted the Truss rod slightly and also the action. Before leaving, Matt plugged my guitar into his amp and allowed me to have a little strum to see if I thought the guitar sounded better, which I am very happy to say it did. So that is another shop I would highly recommend for friendliness and first class service, plus it's local and has a great choice of guitars and other music paraphilia. Cheers Matt for sorting me out.

Oh Ern bought a couple of guitar hangers, after we read some reviews on Amazon. They look canny and when the guitar is place on the hnager it automatically closes to prevent the guitar from falling off/out of the hanger. When reading the reviews the amount of pretty stupid people who were blaming the hnagers for falling off their walls. I mean come on it only common sense to make sure the hnagers are affixed securely. My dad used a hammer drill and some wall plugs pluss longer screws. He has put one hanger in his den for his guitar and another in my bedroom. Thanks Dad.

Hanger keeps guitar out the way and looks neat

Looks neat on the wall

Gives me a bit more space I can pop my wee guitar on the stand on the floor.

 

Obviously, I now have a bit of a music addiction going on, it's not just playing the instruments I have found I take pleasure in how beautiful they look, Errr no not in a weird way. Some of the workmanship and material used are fantastic. The price of some of these guitars and ukuleles is bonkers.

Speaking of Ukuleles I have been doing a sopot of research and fancy investing in one. I have narrowed it down to one of two that are within my budget. They both come from the maker Flight. They are part of Flight's princess series, the Diana and the Sophia. The concerts look way too small for me so I would opt for a tenor.

  

Flight Diana Soundwave Tenor

I will maybe invest when I get a bit better with my playing and of course when the Universe decides to give me a break with sudden financial bills and I can put a few quid away.

 

Flight Sophia Soundwave Tenor

Both Ukes look amazing, love the design of the necks and the soundwave system gives the Ukuleles even more appeal. Slightly drawen to the darker wood of the Diana and the red accents.

Myrtle over the Winter

 So as we are in the colder wintery months, Myrtle has been put away under her car cover. My dad and I don't have any plans to mess with her, as it is just too cold to be tinkering on working outside with no garage for cover.

An old picture of Myrtle, I think I will get her new Smoothies done black again

 

Saying that, next pay day I do intend on removing Myrtle's front 17-inch SMA alloys and getting her new tyres fitted. The 165/35/17 Nankangs which are on at the moment I am replacing for the same tyres, however a 40 profile, the same as the rears. I know it is not much, but those 35's just look way too thin, and I am constantly in fear of buckling a wheel when hitting a bump or a pothole, of which there are loads around here. I am also looking to get Myrtle's Steel Smoothies powder coated.
 

Smoothies to get powder coated gloss black

 

Sometime ago, I bought a pair of 8 x 15 steel smoothies. Pleased I got them when I did, I mean I waited ages for them to come in stock, but I see they have now shot right up in price. I wish I could have bought 7 x 15's as I think they may have fitted better, but hey ho. What my dad and I have done is seen what the fit was like with the 8-inch wide rims alongside the 1-inch rear spacers on Myrtle's narrow axles. We then had the 1-inch spacers machined down, so they allow the wheels to fit a little better with the spacers in place.

Milled down Spacers, I think they are now 19 mm

My only concern now is that I hope the new Kumho tyres I bought look OK on the wider rears. I have opted for 205/60/15 Kumho Ecowings on the back end and 145/65/15's for the front.


Back in October, I had ordered some parts for Myrtle, this way to try and solve the cutting out issues we were having. My dad worked on Myrtle mostly when I was at work, he fitted a completely new steel fuel line from the front to the back of the car, and we decided to fit a new electric Fawcett fuel pump, and filter alongside a regulator. My dad went one step further, fitting a custom-made cut-off valve, which makes it easier for removing the fuel tank. At the moment I haven't got any real sound deadening in Myrtle, and man that little petrol pump is quite noisy. I also have not had the opportunity to drive far in the wee car, so not sure if it has resolved her cutting out problem.

Ern has been hard at work installing the new fuel system under Myrtles tank

I have just got Myrtle back from Bewick Mobility, actually, on Tuesday 4th January. You see, has been away getting her semi-automatic clutch adaption tweaked. What had happened is one day I went to drive her and the semi-auto clutch would not operate correctly? I couldn't get her in gear. Upon inspection, the cable that works through a pulley system driven by a motor under Myrtle's rear seat to the clutch arm appeared frayed and stretched.

I contacted Bewick, and they suggested I pop the car down and then got to work on her, putting a different cable in place that is more durable and also sorting an issue with the magnetic sensor pickup. Long story short, Myrtle now drives a lot better and the semi-auto clutch, although it takes a bit of getting used to, works well.
 

Whilst I am on about picking Myrtle up, it was a bit of a nightmare when we did go to collect her. She had been standing for some time, so her battery was dead, so she needed a jump, then she tried to cough into life and I could hear the electric fuel pump going like the clappers "Tick, Tick, Tick". The fuel gauge isn't the most reliable, so I suggested we dip the tank and low and behold poor Myrtle had no go go juice. Once we put so fuel in she started after a few clicks and I drove her around to the nearby petrol station to pop £20 quid in her.


The drive home from Blaydon was fun, however as Myrtle has no heating it was bloody freezing, another reason Myrtle is a purely nice weather car LoL It is the first time I had driven her since my dad had done all the work on her track rod ends and steering. You see, part of the problem with the 4-inch narrowed beam and the air ride dampers was that Myrtle's steering had to be limited by a stop to prevent her track rod end on the driver's side rubbing against the airbag. After some time experimenting with various track rod ends from Hyundai's and other makes of cars, my dad was able to fashion a shorter track rod end with a curve that cleared the Bag, and I think he said it was from a Peugeot. Anyhoo Myrtle's turning circle now feels a lot better, no longer do I have to think where I am going and panicking in case I cannot get around a corner without having to do a 9 point turn. Really, she was that bad. I think I could just do a full circle on a football pitch.

The Track rod end now misses the Airbag

 

This year I am hoping to enjoy driving my wee car a little, of course she is an ongoing project. Things that are really annoying me are her rear wings. The passenger side appearing narrower than the driver's and the rear light looking wonky. I am hoping I can get either a new passenger wing or tow matching wings to even her up. Then I will need to get her painted. I would also love a bigger engine and free way flyer gearbox, and lastly to get the custom interior I have had in mind done. So as you can read, all these other jobs come at a huge cost, so for the time being I will just enjoy her the way she is. Even had her up to 57 mph the other day. The speedo was reading about 70, but my Dash Cam said 57 mph LoL

Almost the end of another year of personal challenges and onto new ones.

 And so as 2021 draws to an end I can reflect back and say that I rode every day this year, as a matter of fact I also rode everyday last year, so I am now up to a total of 761 consecutive days. Yeah! Some days I don't feel like jumping on my bike, but it's now difficult to stop.

Well that is another year

Most of my riding has been in doors, in my bedroom on my road bike and turbo trainer. This year has been a horrendous one for socket fit, so I have not got out much at all on my mountain bikes, it's just too painful trying to stand out of the saddle. Plus, I am finding I am needing more and more time not wearing my prosthetic leg on my days off as I need the time to recover from being at work the 4 days that I am there.

Never mind, it's just the life of an amputee and no excuse not to exercise. It's probably all this exercise I have been doing that has caused me to lose volume.

I also devised another challenge to go along with my bike, and this as I recall I started in February of this year. I started doing crunch and oblique sit-ups. As the months went by I was steadily increasing how many I was doing each month, and with today being the last day of this current year I have just completed 18,000 this month, that is 600 per day.

Next year I am going to think of something else to challenge me. Oh! That is not all though, I have also been doing some core work using a gym ball and some free weights in the form of dumbbells. It took me a while to get used to using the gym ball, not so much because I had a weak core, No it's more to do with losing my balance due to my prosthetic leg. Again, it doesn't help when it is not fitting and dropping off or rotating as I exercise.

So while I am on about challenges, I decided to do something I have always put on the back burner and this is to get myself a guitar. I am a complete beginner. I bought a 3/4 Ibanez Guitar, still waiting for it to arrive, and I started reading a book I purchased by a guy called Justin Sandercoe. Within the first few pages, Justin advises not to start with a 3/4 or travel guitar...Ahh! Bloody typical... So I checked online for a full size guitar I liked. It was either a choice between a Fender Malibu or an Ibanez TCM50, both of which are electro-acoustic guitars. I opted for the Ibanez TCM50, and it arrived just the other day.

Ooh! Just like Christmas

What ever could it Be?

Ibanez TCM50 Vintage Sunburst

Looks and plays lovely

Now I don't know much at all about guitars, however I have to say I love the rich sound from the Ibanez, even when not plugged in, it is plenty loud enough in my bedroom and I have been practising learning some chords and strumming, so much so that I have very sore fingers with callouses forming on the fingertips of my Left hand.

Come the New Year, I am most definitely going to try and get booked in for some lessons and try and persevere. I am looking forward to being able to play a song, rather than just making a noise.

Other things this year that aren't very interesting, well after 2 years of being a vegetarian I decided to become more of a flexitarian and started eating chicken and eggs. I was just getting bored trying to find stuff to eat.

Not only that, I bought my dad a Ninja Foodie air fryer, and it seemed a shame just air frying vegetables in it. Now I can bang some chicken in, and it only takes like 22 minutes or so.

This year I also discovered I am seriously going blind, honest my eyesight is shocking, so I had to go and buy some new specs. Wow! At £400, they were a lot more expensive than I expected. Hopefully I don't look too much of a geek in them.

Having a little practice

A lot more difficult than I thought

Well, that is about all, other than to wish you all a Very Happy and Healthy New Year... Take care...

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

For Yonks now, I have had this underlying... I don't know what you would call it, need, want or desire to get myself a guitar and try to learn to play. In hindsight, I should have bought a guitar years ago, like when I was first poorly with my leg and stuck in the house doing bugger all. I mean I might have been kind of descent by now, or not, who knows.

Over the years I have perused the various online shops and watched YouTube videos thinking "man I wish I could play a guitar". Then a few weeks ago I thought to myself instead of wishing, why not be proactive and just give it a go.

So, not knowing the first thing about anything to do with guitars, I started looking at reviews of equipment and got my eye on a dinky little guitar which I really liked the form factor of. It is an Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

 My thinking was if I learnt to play to an okay standard the guitar would be an ideal travel size, something I could pop in my old Bug Myrtle and head off somewhere quiet and just strum away. 

I guess it all goes with my overactive imagination of either sitting by a peaceful Loch in Scotland or my dream house, again in Scotland playing by a log burner on an evening with a roaring fire and a lovely view....Ahhh! To dream.

After watching some guitar tutorials and downloading the Fender app, I kind of convinced myself "hey you could possibly do some of that".

Anyhoo this morning our electric was off, bare with me here. I got up in the dark, managed to get ready and headed off for work. After finishing early as I am on a phased return, due to my stupid prosthetic leg killing me, I came home to discover our electric was still off and Ern was wrapped up in a throw lying in the dog-end with wor Baxter on the old beat up sofa.

I was due to pick up my new spectacles at 15:30pm, so asked Ern did he fancy a look-out to grab a nice cup of coffee, just to get out the house and fill in a little time before I went to collect my gigs. So we got wrapped up and jumped in Tango, my wee Smart car, and we headed up to Stanley. Rather than drive home, I suggested we just sit in the car and drink our coffee, as there was only about 30 minutes to wait before my appointment at Young's Opticians.

Whilst we were waiting I happened to get my phone out and decided to show my dad the Fender App that I had downloaded, and together we watched the short tutorials and had a canny chat which I really enjoyed. 

You see, my dad has been really hard of hearing of late, and yesterday he went to get his ears syringed, and I think his hearing is much improved. It has been dreadful trying to talk to him of late as he gets frustrated and a bit ratty, so I have basically avoided chatting to him, something I really miss.

As I saw my dad was taking a real interest in the guitar lessons, I quizzed him about when he was young, as I could recall him telling me he used to play the violin. It was lovely to hear him talk of being a young boy and learning the violin. I then asked him would he actually like a guitar for Christmas and was astounded when he said "Yes" as normally my dad always says  "well I don't really want or need anything". It's a warm and fuzzy feeling to be able to treat him to something that I think he will get some enjoyment from.

When we got home from the opticians, the electric was still off, so Ern suggested we head back up to Stanley and visit Home Bargains to get some candles and a lighter. This time we jumped in his car and took Baxter for a ride out, as he loves just lying in the back of my dad's car all snuggled up in his blanket.

A leisurely walk around Home Bargains grabbing a few odds and ends including two candles and a lighter, and we returned home. The leccy was still off. We had to wait about an hour or so before it came back on. My dad then put his computer on, and we had a good look at various guitars, checking out their reviews.  We came across an East coast Guitar a T1 Thin line, it is a budget guitar, however in the YouTube review at Andertons, sounded really good. The guitar came as a complete starter pack and had been reduced from £324, down to £249. I stepped out of the room to go and put my own computer on and when I came back downstairs my dad said "Okay I have ordered that guitar". That kind of told me he was quite excited.

 

East coast T1 Thin line

 

Anyhoo it's a Christmas present, so I will square up with him pay day. I guess he is now getting a guitar rather than the Ninja Foodie air fryer I had originally bought for him earlier this month for Christmas, LoL.

As my dad had just ordered his gear from Andertons, I thought I may as well go and have a look at the stuff I would like. As I mentioned earlier, I fancied an Ibanez and to go with this also would need an amp. Again, I had done a bit of research and opted for an Orange Crush 20rt. I wanted a black cabinet, rather than the orange coloured one, and managed to find one at GAK (Guitars Amp & Keyboards) for a reasonable price of £125.

 

Orange Crush20rt

Orange Crush 20rt

I then went over to Andertons and ordered the Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black, along with a Tourtech 3 metre braided cable and a variety pack of Dunlop picks.

Ibanez Gio Mikro

    

Tourtech Braided cable

      

Dunlop Variety of picks

 This evening, chatting to my dad, it was lovely to hear him talking about years gone by. I asked him, "So, how old were you when you were learning to play the violin?". My dad then went on to tell me the story of not only how old he recalls he was, but also how he got into the violin. My dad would have been around 10 or 11 years old when he was playing his small violin. His grandfather, so that is my Great Grandfather, was a Big man and also played the violin, however had to have a custom one made as he was such a large chap. Ern says it probably would have been more like a viola. I asked my da  "So were you forced into learning to play" to which he replied "No I quite enjoyed it, following in his grandfathers footsteps". He then went on to tell me he even got to play in an Orchestra at the old Johnson School", there is a new school there now in Durham, I think it is the one on the way to Neville's Cross.

I recalled a time from my school days and said to my dad "I was in a school orchestra, well kinda you know". "Yeah, it was when I was about Ooh 6 or something". My dad jested, "what did you play? The tambourine". "No" I replied, we played at the old church in Stanley, it's knocked down now. I think the Joke Centre used to be there. We played and sang to Little Donkey and I played the Coconut shells to which my dad chuckled saying "Aye I bet you went Clippety Clop, Clip" as if your donkey had lost a shoe.


And so both of us are looking forward to this new challenge/interest, and we will see if you can teach old dogs new tricks...

Looks so good I don't want to take her out and get her dirty!

 Sometime in August of this year I made a post about waiting long enough to first decide if I really needed another bike and then if I could warrant spending more money on one. 

Orbea Gain, now a M20 1x

I had thinned my fleet of bicycles down from 10 to 6, so figured one more couldn't hurt. I had had my eye on this particular bike for some time, an Orbea Gain  M20 1X gravel bike, which is an eBike, however the bikes always appeared impossible to get a hold of.

Bike comes with its own lights

Easy to use iwoc button to operate bike

I would have preferred a bar mounted power button, but sure I will get used to this frame mounted version.

Originally, I had set my heart on a stealthy looking grey coloured version, but like I say no matter where I looked online there were non to be had in my size, which for me is a size Large. I then saw Leisure Lakes Bikes had an Ice Green size Large M20 for sale, so smashed open my piggy bank and pretty much without a second thought put a deposit down on the bike and sorted out the finance for the remainder.

Leisure Lakes Bikes then organised to get the bike to me via a courier, and the bike arrived on the 19th August.

I have to say the box which the bike came in was absolutely "Humongous", however it was also the best packaged bicycle I have ever received. All I had to do once removed from the box and all the protective packaging was fasten the handlebars in place.

I then stood back to admire my new ride, she sure did look better than the pictures online and the design is beautiful. The bike having internal cable routing and this being the carbon frame model. Other than the weight due to the batteries you can hardly tell it is an eBike. The bike having a MAHLE ebikemotion X35+ hub motor. I wanted something simple, so opted for the 1 x 11 drive train.

eBikemotion X35+ Rear Hub

 

After checking the bike over, my dad asked should he get rid of the huge box, saying he would have to cut it in half to get it in his car to take to the tip. I figured we wouldn't be needing it, so made one final check to make sure nothing was left in the box, then gave him the go ahead.

My next though was to use the QR code on my bike and go online and register the bike. I got all the way to the end completing the relevant information for the warranty, when I happened to notice, just by chance, a message congratulating me as I recall on registering my new Orbea Gain M30. Hold on a minute, did you almost miss it too? M30 I thought I am sure I ordered an M20. I then had that sinking feeling.

I immediately went downstairs to my new bike and started checking her out for signs of different components to verify what model I had. I also asked my dad to bring up on his computer what the difference was in the two models, so that I could do a quick comparison check.

I discovered some tiny writing on the back of the brake calipers so used my camera on my phone to take a picture and sure enough it said Shimano RX 400. Oh dear, not good. Upon further inspection, it became clear that I had the wrong model bike.

 

New Shifters RX-810's with a dropper lever on Left Lever

New RX-810 Calipers

By this time it was about 16:45 pm. I rang Leisure Lakes Bikes and fortunately got to speak to one of their supervisors. He explained that he was off the following day, but that he would pass the information over to someone to follow up with the next day.

I wasn't really hopeful that anyone would contact me the next day, as many of you will no doubt have had the same experience when buying stuff, it generally takes a few calls to get anything done. So imagine my surprise when a very friendly chap called Jack got in touch and explained the situation.

Apparently the bike I received had been at a different Leisure Lakes Bikes store and had been mistakenly put in stock as an M20 size Large. Jack had contacted Orbea, and they had informed him that there had never been an M20 delivered to Leisure Lakes Bikes. Well, that solved that mystery.

Jack then offered me a few options, with no pressure.

1. return the bike and get a full refund of my deposit, saying he would ship a new box up and all costs would be paid for by Leisure Lakes Bikes.

2. Keep the cheaper model bike and have the difference refunded.

3. Keep the bike and Leisure Lakes Bikes would get in all the components required to upgrade my bike to the M20 model I wanted at no further cost to myself.

I explained to Jack option 3 sounded good, as the reason I wanted the
Shimano ST-RX810 shifters was that they are dropper seat post compatible.

Jack then said to leave it with him, and he would see if a dropper post could be retro fitted. Something Orbea informed me couldn't be done due to the battery pack. Oh! And I also asked Jack could he have my bike wrapped.

A few days later Jack got back in touch saying yes he thought a dropper post could be fitted, however the other components would take a little while to come into stock, asking did I mind waiting. I thought I had waited this long, what was a few more weeks/months.

Mahle mini computer that came with the Orbea

X-Fusion Manic Dropper post successfully installed and working a treat

And so last Saturday the 13th November, my dad and I went down to Leisure Lakes Bikes at their Leeds shop and picked up my new ride. She is completely upgraded to an M20, with an X-Fusion manic 27.2 dropper post, activated from the Left shifter, and she has been wrapped to protect here and looks superb. I have some TIME ATAC XC pedals to fit. I know they are more Mtb orientated, it's just I hate wearing road shoes and using road pedals as when I need to walk anywhere in the shoes I am all over the place. Plus, I always get a nice secure clipped in feeling using my Time pedals, essential when using my Bartlett Tendon Knee.

Time ATAC pedals

I haven't as yet had a spin on her as I am having serious socket issues and have a poorly painful stump, plus in all honesty she looks so good I don't want to get her all dirty.

The bike looks stunning

The protective wrap is flawless

I know things didn't go as planned with the bike at the start, however I can't fault Leisure Lakes Bikes for their customer service, how friendly and professional they were, especially Jack who rang and emailed me throughout the process Oh! And for their attention to detail, plus the handover of my bike down at Leeds.

Thanks Guys.

I will give a more in-depth review of the Orbea Gain once I get my butt in gear and I head out on her.

When being an amputee really sucks!

 Just a heads-up no pictures with this particular blog, as I mean stump pictures aren't exactly pretty.

I have never asked the question "why me?" with regard to my amputation or even when I got diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma a year after having my leg off. 

 I mean what is the point in questioning things that you can't turn the clock back on. It gets you nowhere, other than possibly feeling bitter, angry or depressed.

That said, I am not saying I don't get frustrated with my situation. Never more so than when my leg is not fitting properly, and it is causing me no end of grief.

At the moment, I feel as if every step I take is going to fracture the end of my wee leg (stump) I hate that word. You see although when I get on the weighing scales I don't appear to have fluctuated much in weight, my residual limb, wee leg, stump call it what you will has shrunk. It's probably about the size of my arm now. My socket, which I have had for going on over 4 years now, just doesn't fit anymore. I'm gutted, as this is the best relationship I have ever had with a socket in my fourteen years as an amputee.

Like I say, I have been an amputee for, Oh! About 14 years, and I have tried every trick I know to keep my prosthetic limb in place. This includes extra stump socks, there's that word again LoL, extra seals. I have tried sticking bits in my socket with Gaffa tape. Tried raising the seating area, with bits of foam and Gaffa tape. I have even cut a piece off a Yoga matt, made it into a circle, Gaffa taped it and then tried slipping it around the seal. Oh! And let's not forget using  Mepilex Borders on the end of my stump Grrrrrrr! And I even experimented with putting a pair of socks inside my socket before lowering myself into it, just to try and cushion the area where my bone rests on my socket as I walk.

If you are not an amputee and a "Norm" Lol let me try and give you an idea of my daily grind. So imagine you have had your leg lopped off, above knee of course and the doc has cut through your femur, that is the large thigh-bone. Now imagine putting all your weight on the end of that bone. It's like having permanent toothache but in your bone.

Awwww! Great I am now getting serious phantom pain.

Oh! That is just the physical side of things, I haven't even mentioned the mental side. I am not sleeping, I think this is due to stress and anxiety. You see, I am a pretty active lad. I am continuing to do my daily challenge of riding every day. This is not so bad as the pressure from my socket is not directly on the end of my stump, as long as I don't stand out of the saddle, something I can no longer do to be honest. What is worrying me is getting sorted and possibly having to give up my passion of riding my bikes. Then of course a big issue is work, I am stressed to hell as I can't do my job to the best of my ability, and feel like I am letting everyone down.

I am terrible at accepting kind words, and quite recently have been told some lovely stuff relating to how I work with patients in my job. Of course, this all goes out the window as "Critical Glenn" jumps in and presumes people are carrying me and feel sorry for me.

This year has been an incredibly hard one for a lot of people, what with Covid, and I don't want anyone thinking I am writing a blog bleating on and whining full of self-pity. Unlike Facebook, which I came off a few months ago, I like to keep things real and allow people to see what really goes on, the good the bad and the ugly, not all this false crap that folk post about and how their lives are amazing.

I am sure someone somewhere will read my blog and be able to think "man I am not the only one" and take some sense that you are not alone.

Of course, I am not going to end there, I absolutely refuse to give in and will work through these problems like I always have. I guess writing this is a good way for me to also release some tension.