Had a ride to the coast met a grumpy old man....

There was a bit of a break in the weather today,so I decided to ask Kyle (my son) if he would like to go out for a ride. We decided to head off down to the coast. We are quite lucky in where we live as the C2C route isn't to far from us, so it's just a case of picking it up and then a pretty straight route down to Roker in Sunderland.

We were having a rather nice day out until we got to around Birtley, there is a bit there known as "the worm". It's like a man made embankment that's about 10 feet or so high and winds it way down to the side of the C2C route for a few hundred yards. Anyhoo I decided we would cut to the side of the cycle route on this beaten trail in between the worm and the C2C track. We had just got on it when this grumpy old guy walked across our path with his two dogs, which were off the lead and running all over the place. The man went to put one of his dogs on the lead and allowed me passed to which I said "thank you". Just after I got passed he said "are you allowed to ride on here" to which I said "yes we are". I mean there are no signs as it's just a beat up rough track, that has been worn away by walkers and bikers alike. This guy then said in a very grumpy fashion "you should be riding up there". I just continued on. It wasn't until I reached the end of the beat up track that I noticed Kyle wasn't following me. Kyle had had to turn around and come down the C2C part of the route as this old guy had actually blocked him and wouldn't allow him past. Kyle says the old dude was really miffed off and had gotten his camera out and took a photo off him, don't know what purpose that serves as we hadn't actually done anything wrong, maybe he just liked the look of his bike lol. It's so annoying when you get people like this I mean they have their dogs off the leash running all over and the majority of them just allow their dogs to do their business where ever without picking it up. I always try to be polite when I'm out I know the rules of the tracks I ride,things such as giving way to horses and pedestrians. It's really hard being polite to a numpty like that though. I guess there just has to be some miserable sods who don't like bikers and think they own the place.

 It didn't spoil the day, Kyle and myself actually had a bit of a laugh about it, hopefully the next time I'm down that way I'll see mister grumpy I'm going to ask if he has any doggie bags then make a point of telling him "hey do you know you can get fined for not picking up after your dog" Maybe I can get a photo or two of him lol.

 Didn't get too many photo's today......

Souter Lighthouse

Groyne Lighthouse South Shields

Riding under Groyne Lighthouse

My Sandman Hoggar Ti

Techy Trail on my Sandman

Here's a small video I shot riding my Sandman through a rather technical part of some woods at Beamish. The ground was pretty muddy,because of the weather we have had lately with some very slippy roots and rocks. The foilage is getting very dense in areas so at times it's quite difficult to see just where your going on the trails. When I fell off at the end of the clip it was because I wasn't expecting the dip in the trail, it was covered by dense undergrowth lol.

Don't let the rain get in the way

Decided I wasn't going to let the weather get in the way of me having a blast out and some fun riding my Sandman. So got kitted up, popped on my GoPro and headed off to do a spot of puddle jumping lol. It was really tough riding the trails down at Beamish so much thick deep mud and in parts the trail had been washed away completely. I think I managed to fall off around 5 times today, nothing high speed, it was more a case of getting bogged down and not being able to get my leg down on my amputated side. Also had a nightmare trying to pump my tyre up with my very small pump,after I had deflated it to get through a particularly muddy area. I was knackered lol. Then had a steep climb from the forges at Beamish back up to the Shepard and Shepherdess pub and made my way home via No Place. All in all a fun filled few hours, a couple of bruises,a sore elbow (hit it on a rock) a nettled leg and a few scuffs on my Sandman, ahh well can't keep it new for ever.

Checkout the weird angle of the GoPro. I had it attached to my prosthetics pylon. It came out totally different to what I expected lol

Edmondsley Woods

I like to go out for a nice walk,along with my dad and Mr Hinks and on occasion with friends. It's always nice to see a bit of our beautiful countryside, especially at this time of year what with all the different flowers,trees and other plants and there array of wonderful colours, sure beats sitting around in the house.

A beautiful old moss covered tree

Playing on my Sandman on some local trails

Decided to have a look out and play with my bike and GoPro see if I could get a little bit of riding footage. This making movies is a lot harder than it looks, but it is fun riding, taking in the beautiful countryside and nature we have around where I live, then getting home and looking to see what I've managed to capture before deciding what to pop in a short video.Hopefully my movie making skills will improve and I'll try and capture some different angles and places to hook my camera onto try and make more interesting video's to watch. Anyhoo hope you enjoy my early attempts.

In the Woods

Wor Kyle, he's handy for helping me up when I fall off

Shot with my GoPro

A Spot of Fish Eye with the GoPro

Wasabi GoPro Charger and battery kit

So I got my new GoPro Hero2 back after sending it away for a replacement as the charging circuit wouldn't work in the camera. It looks like the replacement camera is exactly the same. It won't charge the battery through the camera when plugged in to a PC via the USB cable. After checking out various forums it seems this is a common problem with the newer GoPro Hero 2's. Well I don't want to be keep sending my camera back and forth as it means I can't get out there and shoot some videos, so my dad bought me this neat little kit. It's a stand alone battery charger with  2 spare batteries and a car charger all to fit the GoPro Hero 2......Cool..... Now I can have spare batteries ready to go and rather than charge them up in the GoPro just pop them in the Wasabi charger.....Sorted.

Wasabi charger and battery kit (got it from Amazon.co.uk)

A few more snaps of me riding local trails

My son and I had a ride out around some local trails yesterday I loaned Kyle my Ibis and I ventured out on my Sandman. Since getting my Sandman it's the only bike I've really used, it's just so much fun. We had a ride over to Iveston as I haven't actually rode up Iveston bank since I did the Durham Big Ride back in 2009 and I have never attempted it using my Bartlett Tendon so wanted to see how I would get on. It's not the fact the bank is all that long,but boy has it  got a pretty steep gradient. Anyhoo after much huffing and puffing I'm pleased to say I got up it without having to get off and push.

Decided to venture home via Chapman's Wells Nature Reserve, found a new trail through some woodland which was quite fun, a bit boggy in places after last weeks downpour. All in all a canny ride out and I only fell off once lol.

Local Woods @ Chapman's Well

Riding trails @ Chapman's Well

Playing in the Mud