So sorry been neglecting my Blog a little, but I'm back now

Hi guys, thought it was about time I came out of hibernation and started updating my blog. Yeah it will probably be same old, same old, however some people must find it relatively interesting as I see I have had over 16,000 views. Now if I could just get a quid for each view I could definitely make my life more interesting and therefore write more interesting stuff in return. Anyhoo as that's not going to happen you will just have to make do with what I'm currently up to.

So holidays over I'll admit I don't particularly enjoy the festive season. I have my own reasons, however I don't think it should be cancelled as I know there are lots of people who love this time of year. For me what with the dark mornings, cold weather and what not I find myself withdrawing and become less motivated.

Yesterday was only my second time out on my bike this year. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed my mini adventure, doing a few small loops of a local wooded area. The trails were pretty sketchy in places as there were deep gulleys caused by all this rain we have been having lately. My wheels got stuck in these channels and I thought I was going to come off on a few occasions. It's scary as you want to turn and are just stuck following the direction of the washed out route.

I think what made my day so much more fun was the fact I was wearing my new Shimano MT 91 Boots. You see normally when I'm out in the wet my feet or should I say "foot" gets wet and from there I gradually get colder and colder. Well not yesterday. These Shimano boots are superb I love them, so easy to get on and off what with the "Hiking boot" lace up design. The soles are Vibram and offer great grip and they are SPD's so brilliant for me as I have to clip in, in order to keep my prosthetic foot on my pedal.

 I took a few pics yesterday and was quite happily plogging through puddles and even climbed onto a fallen tree trunk which was quite slippery without incident, which is a bonus as usually when I attempt stuff like that I go arse over tit lol.

YooHoo!

I love my new boots

My Nates certainly helped today

Nice n scenic

My Bartlett Tendon, complete with new, slightly scuffed Cam

 I attempted to get some video footage yesterday too. I decided to try and use my Wizmount back pack and whilst it's a good piece of kit I wasn't too happy with the shaky  GoPro footage. I guess you can't really expect the backpack to stay real still, as you will see as my helmet is bobbing around due to me being out the saddle and pedalling quite hard. Never mind huh! I think you will get an idea of the places I was riding in the short movie.






On my way home I came across quite a few ponies which have been introduced onto Quakies Fells. I asked my dad what type they were and he seems to think they are Dartmoor ponies. I think Quakie ponies sounds much better

Quakie Ponies

a Quakie Pony, a bit like a Dartmoor but different

Oh and I have to say a special thank you to both Kath and Kedan Griffin at Bike Bag Dude, who very kindly sent me a bag for my Sandman. I had it stuffed with gear yesterday, so much so that my bike looked slightly pregnant. The bag is fantastic, kept all my stuff bone dry. When I eventually got home my bag had turned from a rather clean looking white with green trim, to a decidedly dirty muddy looking thing strapped to my bike. All i did was whip it off, take out my stuff and then bang the bag in the wash with my slightly dirty clothing. The bag has come out like new, which is more than can be said for my Troy Lee Lumi shorts which have had to be put in a bucket of Vanish to try and get them clean. I think the power of pink may fail on this occasion lol.

Attempted Klunking this afternoon

After finding an ex-demo Transition Klunker on PinkBike, asking a few questions from the seller, about the bike I then decided to go ahead and purchase it and give it a go.

The bike arrived late yesterday afternoon, it looked like new, though I was a little disappointed in that the frame had been scuffed. I think this was done in transit by the courier to be honest as where it's marked, well you wouldn't normally expect to find paint chipped off.  When I looked at the bike box I saw that the rear spindle of the wheel was poking through the side of the box and I think what must have happened is the other side of the spindle had scuffed the bikes frame. Ahh well what can you do huh?

The bike is a really pretty Orange type of colour, sometimes appearing reddish depending in what light you see it in. I think what I'll do is have a scout around for some nail varnish that is of a similar colour and do a quick repair, there are only a few chips after all.

I got in from work around 12:30pm'ish, got ready, put one clipless pedal on the right side of my bike and a flat on the left and set off..."Oh crap this coaster brake is going to take some getting used to" I thought to myself as I approached the first junction of our street and went for the brake levers which don't exist on this bike. First mistake...you don't stop well if you are trying to rally to a stop downhill and not pushing down backwards with at least one foot. A tad hard for me as I need my good leg down to balance me, yet can't push down and back with my prosthetic limb unless it's just in the right position.

Anyhoo I rode through our estate and headed over to South Moor Park...Next thing I notice, mainly because my leg and stump are killing me, working overtime is "My God" what size front and rear cogs does this thing have. I'm used to my Single Speed NS, yes it isn't exactly easy, but dear me I've only done about a mile or two and I'm wrecked.

At the end of South Moor park I get off my new steed and almost puke...Jeez that was hard work. If I'm going to persevere with trying to ride this bike I need to change the cogs, no kidding it feels like riding up hill all the time lol.

A quick few photo's and then I push the bike probably about another mile...It's up hill this bit honest. By now I am proper hurting. My stump feels like it's going to explode and I have the worst phantom pain in my imaginary foot. Maybe pushed it a little to hard.

Whopee on to a nice flat bit of road, this is more like it. I have made the concious decision, yeah think I'll maybe fit a front brake and definitely see about changing the gearing. My thoughts are interrupted and move onto other thoughts when I see this lass in front with the most spectacular rear end...WoW now that's nice. In the meantime I forget about the coaster rear brake, go to stand on the pedals and turn to look around to see if the front looks as good as the rear. That's when  I put the weight on the pedals backwards and this sends me to a sudden stop. The ground broke my fall... Ok just pretend like I meant that to happen.  I'm now nursing a huge lump on the back of my left ankle, the other legs fine it didn't feel a thing. Oh bikes ok too no more scuffs so that's good.

Got home, a bit sore and popped the bike into the bike stand and removed the front chain ring. It's a 44 tooth. Checked the rear it's a 18. So anyone reading this that would like to pitch in with ideas for something a little easier that would be great. I don't want to be spinning, however need to be able to pedal more than 5 miles lol

Huge thanks to Kath N Kedan over at Bike Bag Dude for my new bike bag

 Firstly I have to say a huge thank you to my friend Ade for taking the time out along with his son Jordan to pop down our local mud covered woods to try and grab a few shots of me out playing and showing off my new Bike Bag which I received from Kath N Kedan and their company Bike Bag Dude.

BIKE BAG DUDE

 Ade had a few problems what with me wearing dark clothing, well I wasn't going to put my Sunday best on I mean the whole place was clarty as owt man. And with the Bike Bag being white, then the day was dull so natural light was cut out, well you get the idea, basically it wasn't the ideal lighting conditions and I think Ade did well to get any shots at all. Me I had tried earlier in the day and well mine came out shit! No literally I took a few photo's of my Sandman next to some horse manure lol.

Who is that masked man?

 Anyhoo I have decided to pop  few images on my blog, there's a few more over at Ade's Flickr page, it can be found here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ade-the-tog/sets/72157637133203986/

Should have gone to Spec Savers

Just Playing

Those Nate's look huge

Well Chuffed with my new Bike Bag Dude bag...

Sploooooosh! Well that didn't stay clean long

 So thanks Ade and Jordan, as usual we had a laugh. Oh and as for my Bike Bag Dude Bag it's awesome. I tried to keep it as clean as possible. I'm sure you will be seeing it featured in a lot more of my adventures, it's really handy as I can now carry stuff that's easy to get to, saves having to keep taking my back pack off. The quality of the bag, the fit,design,feel and looks are all awesome.

Thank you Kath N Kedan  www.bikebagdude.com

I need to win the lottery or something to feed my passion, relieve my boredom and keep me feeling young

I guess this is a kind of a wish list of bike porn, with me it's never ending I always see something I want, it's becoming an addiction. My problem like so many others is lack of funds...Ahh well I can dream and I may just have a flutter on the Lottery lol.

Holdsworth Professional Limited to 150 World Wide

 "Oh yes you will be mine"

• Based on the classic Holdsworth Professional - retro looks with modern design
• Limited to 150 for the world
• Full, polished Campagnolo Athena groupset
• Steel is real - but this one has a carbon fork too

My next play thing I saw a little while back. I have now got my son Kyle hooked on the idea of getting one of these rides. He wants a bike to do his local commute to Uni and back and this I think is the ideal cruiser. Not only that in your spare time you can head off "Klunking"

Kyle's after a Gangster Green

I quite like the look of Klunking Ain't Easy orange

Small outing, small Blog

Just had a quick blast out today, knew the woods I intended riding would be pretty hard going after the recent rainfall. I wasn't wrong. Good job I had my Surly Nate's fitted to my Sandman as it was pretty sketchy in certain places. On a normal bike I would have been bogged down and pushing the majority of the way. The area's where there was no natural cover like beside the farmers field and the breaks between the trees the mud was about 6 inches deep.

" Holy pile of steaming horse Shit Bat...Errrr Sandman!

A huge thank you to my good friend Ade for all his support

As  promised here are some images that my good friend Ade took whilst we were up at Hamsterley Forest.

A visit to Hamsterley Forest...WoW it was Brass Monkeys

As I drove home from work yesterday I checked out the sky in the general direction of Hamsterley. Thinking to myself  "Mmmmm a session at the gym lifting weights and getting all sweaty" or a nice fun filed afternoon riding down trails surrounded by beautiful scenery. That was it mind made up.

I had spoken to my mate Ade earlier in the week and asked if he felt up to it did he fancy taking a few shots of me whilst out on my bike. It's always better to get someone who can actually use a camera and knows what they are doing, rather than me setting my camera on a 30 second delay then trying to time it just right for a ride by lol.

 I also wanted to try and get some nice shots to pass on to Brian and Pace Rehabilitation who have both been fantastic in their support of me. I know it's not much in the way of payment for all they have done, but at least they can see I'm putting their prosthetic components to good use.

So I called in to Ade's and he said he was up for a look out...Perfect. I told Ade I wouldn't be long and set off to get my gear ready. Well an hour and twenty minutes I was ready... Had a bit of a nightmare finding stuff.

My dad had decided he fancied a ride out so he came along, bringing Mr Hinks too, WoW family affair lol.

We had just pulled out the corner of our street when Ade rocked up along with his son Jordan and so  we set off for Hammers.

Inside the car the weather looked gorgeous, the sun was shining and there were blue skies. We arrived at Hammers and I opened my door and OMG it was FFFFFFF!!! Freezing. Very windy too. The car temp gauge read around about 8 degs C, however what with that wind it felt much colder. Never mind here now so may as well have a bit play. It was then I discovered I'd left my XC helmet...aww crap. Good job I'd brought my full face.

I hadn't rode up at Hamsterley for ages so just hopped on my bike and set off down the Red Trail. WoW his was totally different to what I remembered it, some canny drops and ups n downs. I got to the bottom in what seemed a matter of no time and rode along to the hut then turned left and headed up the steep hill. I was on my NS Soda, which is quite heavy and only has 10 speed gearing and was quite chuffed that I got 3/4 of the way up the hill. I even passed a couple of fellow bikers who commented saying "hey have you got a motor hidden on that thing" lol. I wish I was flippin knackered.

I then caught up with Ade and Jordan, my dad was off somewhere exploring with Mr H. We had a nice slow walk down the trail and picked some nice places to get a few shots. It was difficult for Ade as the sun was really bright and behind me in each shot as I rode down.

Finally as we were getting real cold by then I decided to have one last ride down the trail wearing my new WizMount. Again I think I've misjudged the camera angle, this is going to take practice lol Never mind will keep trying.

Hopefully Ade will have some canny photo's for me and I'll post them and add them to the end of this blog. Until then here's a short movie of me coming down the trail.