Avoiding the Mole Hills

Early on in the week Sunday to be exact, as Sunday is kind of my Monday due to my work pattern. I decided I fancied using up a day of my annual leave, so took today, Wednesday off. I had been thinking as my new tendons had arrived for my BTK Crossover I may as well get out and go for a blast.

 

It's canny cad like

Yesterday both Ern and I were down at Pace Rehabilitation's Manchester clinic at Bredbury where I was going to test out a new check socket, specifically for use on my BTK Crossover. Toby one of my prosthetists had taken a cast from my everyday socket late last year. The socket this cast was taken from was actually a design, which Paul, again one of my prosthetists from Pace had designed and my local Disability Service Centre then copied, giving me the socket I use everday for work and what not.
 

 

Baxters Turn...

After leaving wor Baxter in yesterday whilst Ern and I had a little bimble out in Grandma, well we kind of felt a bit guilty. You see I don't let Baxter get in my cars as his hairs are a complete nightmare. Ern on the other hand couldn't give a rats and is quite happy riding around in a mobile skip. Hence Erns car, his Citroen Berlingo Multispace is the designated "dog" and mountain bike car, as well as make shift removal van and general work horse.

I know both Ern and Baxter don't look exactly raring to go

I think Baxter was quite excited to be going out for a slightly longer walk, especially as the area we decided to go was all grassy and soft trails. Baxter hates pavements and rough, stoney pathways. He does a funny walk when ever on these types of surface, over exaggerting lifting his paws, as if the ground were red hot. Baxter has been having problems with his claws, two in particular, one on each foot which for some unkown reason have decided to grow wonky. He hates his claws been cut so I have had to resort to filling his nails using a diamond file that Ern got from thge man on Mordor market, a good few weeks back. This appears to be doing the trick as Baxter will tolerate me filing his claws and it has prevented them from turning into his pad which is what originally happened and made him limp. Most dogs wear their claws down naturally and this is the case will all his other claws, apart from these two bothersome wonky ones.

Baxter trotting along

Baxter is also suffering from an allergy and to have blood tests done to discover the culprit of his problem will cost a small fortune, so we have been trying out different things, or should I say stopping different things. Baxter no longer gets biscuit type treats and is only on his dry feed, which contains no wheat and additives. We also give him antihistamine tablets and he appears to be much better I did notice he looked a little sore on his tummy today, however that could be due to the fact he had been sliding on his tummy along the grass, something I try to prevent him doing. I mean he could be allergic to the grass I suppose.

Had a right sweat on by the time we went around

Baxter's a strong lad and when he pulls he is a complete nightmare

My Log

Of we went to Hedley Hall Woods, it has been ages since I had a walk around here. There appears to be a few more footpath trails in place and I did not see any no cyling signs, so it may be a place I will venture to on my bike as I think it will make for an interesting video. There would be some nice shots in and out of the trees and some lovely scenery. Hey may be do it in the warmer weather and even bring a picnic.

 

Baxter with his Arctic ONE Buff

Suppose you think your funny

  

Forgot to pop Strava on again, so not sure how far we walked, we didn't exactly follow a set route and were in and out of the various trails kind of exploring. It has been great to get out over the course of the last few days and actually do something with my time off, even if it is just local.

Afternoon Tea with Grandma

Due to my regular work pattern I generally have Thursday, Friday and Saturday off. Last year I really did not do much at all with my days off, other than lounge around in my shorts and t-shirt. Of course a great deal of that was to do with how I was feeling following ongoing treatment for my NHL, no not the Hockey league...Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I pretty much always felt drained after 4 days at work, or I had some cough, cold or bug.

Well this year I have made the concious decision, no time for all that crap. I need to get out more doing different stuff and filling my time in more productively.

VW Beetle (Grandma) GSR

Memory card mishaps and a new Duck

After snapping one of my Bartlett Tendons last week I did not want to miss out on heading out for my first ride of the New Year I mean my Duck has arrived from somewhere in China and I wanted to test her out. So I retrieved my BTK Crossover from the cupbaord in the kitchen and unbolted the Cam along with the broken tendon. I tend not to ride out of the saddle when I am using my Coast Cycles Buzzraw, as the bike is small and the handlebars always feel like I might tear them off, or bend, so this was the ideal choice for going for a "Buzz" whilst I only have one tendon in place.

Coast Cycles Buzzraw with Duck

Super fun this little bike

Minor setbacks and a change in Mindset...

Hey I may get a little deep here so bare with me...

"Dude Where is my Bike"

Now normally I would be writing this and well pissed off, with a kind of "why does this shit always keep happening to me". If it's not my health stopping me from doing something, both work and play, it is something breaking, or getting lost and I am on ages trying to find it. Anyhoo let me explain what has occured on todays little adventure and also go on to how I dealt with it.

Christmas Day Bimble...depleting my battery

Normally today is a work day and as such my alarm went off at 06:45am. I awoke and had the inital thought to just roll over and hide under my warm quilt. My little internal voice then kicked in, prodding me into action.

Over at the coast, pleased I had my Arctic One Buff

I had to put my prosthetic leg on wonky, as I knew if I popped it on aligned for walking, once I got out on the bike I would be in agony, as the socket tends to rub on my hip. I pre-empted the rub and placed a couple of Mepilex Borders on my hip. I knew exactly where to place them as my last ride out, last Saturday my socket had rubbed a few wear marks in my skin.
 
I sorted my riding gear and my old Faithful Canon Power Shot SX200, my thinking, well lately all my photo's have been shocking. At least with the small Canon I have a lot more control. To be fair todays ride was more about seeing what the battery was like on my new Specialized Turbo Levo, rather than heading out and taking shots.

Early in the morning near the River Wear and the New Bridge at Sunderland

I had to take it easy going down our stairs as due to rotating my socket, my foot was now very Charlie Chaplain'esque. Once in the kitchen I removed my Rheo XC and popped my BTK Crosover in it's place. A few more bits and bobs out of the cupboard, my helmet, new Seal Skin Gloves and of course helmet. I decided to take my small Camelbak "Fanny Pack". I had bought it earlier in the year and as yet had never used it. Have to say very impressed with it's stowage capabilities and it is very comfortable to wear. Not only that it is great for getting to things quickly as you do not have to take it off. Money well spent.

Cracking bit of kit

I gathered my bike, popped a single ear bud in my ear and selected play on my Mp3 player. There's quite a few varied tunes on there and quite often I sing along to them as I ride. Thank god I had had the hindsight to bring my Arctic ONE Buff as Jeez it was freezing out, quite literally. There was a covering of white frost on both of my cars as I went out into our yard. Yeah I definitely should have put my leg warmer on as I have to say I was cold all day.
 
My little Leyzne Zecto Drive Lights are another purchase I have not regretted and I switched these on to both guide the way and help me to be seen. I headed up the farmers trail, as this is probably the easiest way for me to get on to the C2C. I had it in my head to go down to Sunderland and the coast and then loop back around via South Shields, up to Whitemare Pool roundabout, then cut up by Springwell and Wreckington, before branching off for Birtley and back on to the C2C and home and this is what I did.

The ride down was a nice and steady one, my bike being in "eco mode". In fact I kept my bike on this setting for almost the whole loop.

Proper muddy over by the cliff edge, lovely the sun shining off the water

I was really enjoying the ride. I was still getting a work out, however the motor was assisting me where I needed it. Well that was until about 5 to 7 or so miles from home. My fuel/battery light had dropped to 2 bars. So at this point I stopped and went into my Mission Control app and found the Smart Control. I then judged how far I had to go and set it in the app. Man the last  5 to 6 miles on the way up from Birtley on the C2C were proper hard. I think I only had something like 10% assistance and this gradually dropped and dropped. My fitness is not on top form at the moment either. Months off the bikes and a nasty chest infection a month or so ago so I was proper struggling with my own natural engine. I had to dig deep, drop to a low gear and slowly move all 21.5 kgs of bike up the gradual incline. As I got to Beamish and Beamish Hills there was no battery left at all, so I had no other option but to get off and push for a little while. Once in No Place I was able to hit the off road trail which leads back on to the farmers trail and gradually came to the top of the hill and a nice rally down the trail.

All in all done 45.7 miles according to Strava with 1,935ft of climbing. I am seriously considering looking at getting a bigger 700 watt battery as apparently it will give me an extra 40% range.