New friends and old bones

    I had been looking forward to today all week I was going to heading out on my bike,   regardless of the weather, well unless it was a full on down pour with thunder and lightening (I get scared in case my metal bits get struck lol)

Earlier in the week I had planned a ride to the coast with my new riding bud John. The pair of us aren't exactly fit, so we had come to the decision we would ride down to Sunderland, go along the sea front and then follow the coastal path to South Shields, then cheat a little and ring Ern (my dad for a lift home. The way I see it is it's enjoyable having a nice ride, but when you push things too far well you just sicken yourself off.

Today was also special because I was going to be meeting up with a very nice lad called Lee, who was going to be joining John and I for a look out.

Allreet there John

A random yet enjoyable loop with my friend John

I had arranged to go out for a bit of a ride with my friend John today, around lunch time, after I got home from work.

So after work I drove home, got in and made myself a nice cup of coffee with our new fangled Tassimo machine. The coffee,tea and other assortments of drinks are quite nice and it's a nice treat on a morning to have a strong cup of Costa coffee or a hot chocolate before going to bed.

I finished my coffee and  went and got changed into my biking gear. Picked up my small Canon camera and then headed back down stairs to adjust my cleat on my good legs shoe. Past few bike rides I have had I have been getting a really painful knee. Originally I put this down to riding up our big bank last week with my seat way to low on my Ibis. I then thought maybe  my cleat was in the wrong place. Well to be fair I now don't think it's any of those reasons, maybe I'm just getting old and that's where the pain is coming from.

John arrived at my house around 1:30pm and I provided him with a couple of nice new stickers which he had asked me for, so that he could pop them on his bike. The stickers being the ones I had printed last week and advertising this very blog. Hey you have to take free advertising where you can right lol. Ern very kindly applied them to John's bike (John's hands where to cold and hey I already had my bike gloves on raring to go)

Cool Sticker

A special gift from a special friend

Late last week I received a very special gift from my friend Lee Kinder, also known as Artisan Attributes.

Mr Hink's... Thanks Lee

I had the great pleasure of meeting Lee in Logan Utah when I was out visiting another good friend of mine Mark Peterson.

Mark had very kindly allowed me to crash at his pad whilst I was on my 3 week holiday in the US last September and it was an awesome surprise when he had arranged to drive the hour or so to hook up with Lee over in Logan.

WoW I still find it amazing how just by getting a Fat Bike I then go on to meet so many wonderful people. Fat Biking and the whole Fat Biking community is unlike any other. The sense of camaraderie is unreal. As soon as I started posting my first few pictures of my Fat Bike I found I was getting friends requests and invited to such things as Fat Bike festivals.

It had been a long time dream of mine to travel, however I never seemed to find myself  in the position to do so. Tied down when I was younger, then illness as I got older.

Then I caught a bit of a break and managed to get myself a part time job and  was able to get myself back on my feet (even if one of them is made of carbon and plastic). Really I owe a huge thanks to my fantastic work colleagues who pushed,as well as supported me in following my dream and making the decision to travel.

My original plans were just to go visit Brian, my friend and sponsor on his fantastic Bartlett Tendon, however when I mentioned to Mark I was thinking of going on holiday ,he was like "dude you have to come stay with me and ride my trails". From there I had another friend Shannon, who I have known as a fellow amputee for years, again via Facebook and she wanted me to visit her. And so things started to gather momentum. I just wished I had had more time and more guts (my first real trip away I was scared I would get lost) as I dearly wanted to visit my friend William Rosche in Atlantic City. It just came down to logistics in the end and time, too many flights and trains not enough time.

Anyhoo back to Mark and Lee... Just like when I met Mark at Salt Lake Cities airport, as soon as Lee and I met I knew we would get along famously. That day riding in Logan's mountains will be permanently etched in my memory. The scenery, the smell, the atmosphere and of course riding with these two amazing new friends.

As our time was just about done as we ended back up at the car park I asked Lee would he mind doing a carving for me. To which he replied "sure, just send me what you would like done", needless to say it had to be Mr Hink's, my beloved English Bull Terrier.

And so my pendant arrived late last week and I thought I'd take a little pic, which actually doesn't  do the workmanship any justice.

Oh and on a side note . I also tried to take a few pics of another very precious gift I received from Mark, however it's late here and a bit dark to capture it properly. Mark gave me a very special necklace. It's hand carved from bone, like little skulls, with what look like blue sapphires. I'm sure if Mark reads this he won't mind me telling you he has struggled financially since taking a pay cut. I know he wanted to give me something on my leaving and when he gave me this gift, saying he didn't have much, but wanted me to have this necklace which was very personal to him, as he had had it for a long time. Well it blew me away. To be honest there is no better gift than that of friendship and I feel incredibly lucky.

Decided to treat my Sandman

My Sandman Hoggar Fat Bike will soon be approaching 2 years old. I have enjoyed every moment of owning and riding her and since purchasing my Fat Bike she has seen more use than any of my other bikes.

Some new bits n Bobs

Ooh and here's some more Bamburgh photo's

Caught up with my friend Ade, and he passed on the photo's he had taken whilst up at Bamburgh with myself Ern and Mr Hinks.

So without further ado I'll keep it short, shut me gob and just blog em lol...

Me trying to look cool, without a bike or a pair of shorts on lol

A few additions photo wise from my mini adventure down local woods.

My friend Ade called in today and brought some images we had forgotten about from last week when he was with me as I played in our local woods.

Even though I've shared them on Facebook I thought I may as well do a little follow up blog. This gives me the chance to say a huge thank you to Ade, oh and his son Simon for tagging along  and just hanging out and making the day so enjoyable.

I would really like to be able to go out for rides with Ade accompanying me on a bike of his own, however due to Ade's health situation and the fact he has had numerous surgeries on his spine, well this just isn't possible. I know my buddy gets frustrated I can totally understand this as  I myself spent around 11 years not being able to do the things I wanted to do, watching my friends have fun and getting on with their lives,yet for me it felt like Ground hog day, stuck in some kind of limbo. 

That's why I really appreciate the times Ade can and does join me and even though he can't ride I would hope he agrees we still have a great time with a few laughs n giggles along the way and making those lasting memories we can look back on.

Cheers bud...

Oooh almost forgot if you would like to see more shots which we will continue to try and keep updating checkout Ade's Flickr page at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ade-the-tog/

It's Me

Walkies with Ern and Mr Hink's

Had a little walk out with md dad and Mr Hink's this morning. Thought I may as well take along Pentax  and GoPro camera's see if I could capture anything.

Hinky Doo

A few pictures from yesterdays trip to Bamburgh

I thought I'd pop a few pictures that where taken with my Pentax on my blog today. I have had a bit play around editing them and I suppose they aren't too bad. Saying that these are just the ones I managed to save I had a lot more on my camera but they were mostly terrible.

Really I just need to get out and practice more and have a little more patience I guess.

I'm sure Ern took this one

A trip to Bamburgh Beach

As I've been off on a week's hols this week and the weather was so nice, I decided to have a look-up to Bamburgh beach and just have a bit of a mess around on my Fat bike.