tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31994526874524656692024-03-05T21:21:01.764+00:00ajmk - est. 1974Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-46347890964271588282016-11-23T21:45:00.000+00:002016-11-23T21:55:06.447+00:00Leg lengthening, 0-5mmI've been to physiotherapy today in Liverpool. I got picked up in a car by East Midlands Ambulance Service by a nice driver who took me to Liverpool. It was very good, I was comfortable in the back. We arrived about 0940. I had my appointment at 10. I showed the physiotherapist the strut that's not behaving properly, seems like the nut is threaded maybe and I've been using pliers to make sure it works. He took one look at it and decided to replace it - I'm still not sure if adjusting this with it threaded matters or not. He put on a temporary strut to keep the tension while the other one was taken off and a new one put on. Then he went and got me clip removers so Rebecca can take the clips out later (the clips from where they cut in to chisel my tibia) and I also asked for and got a big bag of dressings so Rebecca and I can be change them again in about a week from now. It's really great how they trust me so I can just ask for stuff and get on with it myself and with Rebecca's help. That has been a constant throughout my treatment at Preston and here - I really can't speak highly enough of all those NHS professionals that have looked after me.<br />
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For actual physiotherapy we did stretches of my knee, my forefoot and my toes. It really makes a difference to the range of movement in my forefoot which has to be maintained so that I can walk properly without an ankle that moves. I must also do the knee stretches to try to stay in the 'honeymoon period' for longest. What is the 'honeymoon period' I hear you ask? Well I asked him about not being sure anything was really happening and them having built this lengthening procedure up as a really tough thing etc. So he explained.<br />
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There's always a 'honeymoon period' while the natural stretch in your tissues is used up - it varies for different people, you can check it just by stretching your skin with a finger, but it could easily be 5mm so I'm obviously still in that period now. What happens when the limit is reached is that the soft tissues can no longer keep up with the extension you're making, so then it's like over-stretching a muscle. If you overstretch it for a few seconds and then relax, no problem. If you were to hold the stretch for more than a few minutes, you'll probably feel pain and want to relax. If you hold it for more than an hour, the pain gets worse because you're having to constantly deal with it. Until you relax the stretch. So what's going to happen is that once I get as far as the natural limit of my tissue, it will be like stretching a muscle and never relaxing it. That will be painful. Oh and there's the other stuff I talked about previously about wounds around pin sites. So that's where we're headed - the knee stretches may help increase the length of this period so I'll be keeping on doing them ha ha ;)<br />
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Anyway after this enlightening conversation about pain I went for an X-ray and since I can't wait until next Tuesday to see, I asked the radiographer if I could see them. You really can see the gap, it's not my imagination, it might even be 5.25mm ;) Fab! See below, where I have also made some blow ups of the interesting bits!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOV6bvla-T9DeCdZoV9z8oozzgRBeEU26QckZ6oYUWvsYTdAudwNXynxQ8D2qRksCrsmO0Unx9o4m4ICWmsIGgo6X_1yIGfWGYKsZhtM7Jj9Qc3YbB5tHt5foL0OUGO1udb-wXzhhy5OXg/s1600/xray1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOV6bvla-T9DeCdZoV9z8oozzgRBeEU26QckZ6oYUWvsYTdAudwNXynxQ8D2qRksCrsmO0Unx9o4m4ICWmsIGgo6X_1yIGfWGYKsZhtM7Jj9Qc3YbB5tHt5foL0OUGO1udb-wXzhhy5OXg/s640/xray1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's my photo of the screen in radiography, this is the top view x-ray. Once you orient yourself to<br />
what you're seeing, you can see my fibula, still (and forever) in several pieces, and you can see the gap opening up,<br />
see the blow-up below.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Pbi9cJ7OMdE_VC74rG801BbTLjzFnHnK29qnLmPOIUa2VjXx3XB9VO91aTh33qKMebI4990UbyCy2fPLixiMS5vZ8A2VcPiCu1a0EjYvpWs17Mc1wA2NmwkBYmiqMUdH3X_vdLwU4k1/s1600/xray2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9Pbi9cJ7OMdE_VC74rG801BbTLjzFnHnK29qnLmPOIUa2VjXx3XB9VO91aTh33qKMebI4990UbyCy2fPLixiMS5vZ8A2VcPiCu1a0EjYvpWs17Mc1wA2NmwkBYmiqMUdH3X_vdLwU4k1/s640/xray2.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here on the right is the side view, close up of my knee, you can see the gap opening up.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-Q6d7yIXQLmmqpIhZXGNmr1rr_ofVrk0GL3jFWVZt1kqgAvmSCXOpO6kSgUCs3l9ECqtksqkcjqtN_vbXyZASFEiNAn9wJ5jw3X5LvK_6-lEJM474oDl82SXd55r9rOAEH-m1aFCFviz/s1600/FullSizeRender+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-Q6d7yIXQLmmqpIhZXGNmr1rr_ofVrk0GL3jFWVZt1kqgAvmSCXOpO6kSgUCs3l9ECqtksqkcjqtN_vbXyZASFEiNAn9wJ5jw3X5LvK_6-lEJM474oDl82SXd55r9rOAEH-m1aFCFviz/s640/FullSizeRender+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a close up of the side view knee x-ray, you can see the gap and the staples over the wound to the right.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5e7JaesxALzGet0xa1UP1h3mPuCdhi6_i9NZDuiyXphwomAChDQQTy_q6dyOU7Larx02jU4S-ZU52FFYYo2ybtHJ6f34Rq4rgnOeNzFsQpDSlmwKwb0tzEb_kO-pgTtz6gKH0pVPWq8A/s1600/FullSizeRender+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5e7JaesxALzGet0xa1UP1h3mPuCdhi6_i9NZDuiyXphwomAChDQQTy_q6dyOU7Larx02jU4S-ZU52FFYYo2ybtHJ6f34Rq4rgnOeNzFsQpDSlmwKwb0tzEb_kO-pgTtz6gKH0pVPWq8A/s640/FullSizeRender+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here you can see the three nails or screws that they put in to hold my ankle together. One of them is at an angle that I can't really understand, like it went in from the top going downwards, I'll ask about that next week because it doesn't seem to fit with the description before the operation. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OZBkqprsvb9EwgOkA5rEC4OXBVnEye3s6Mj7Wvap4Se8PUNIV6odL0-THLDEQ8KInx3lvWEJjFCFLft5cbCoBguPCkyRNl17oNm7IJq_sY2ok32kt8eqF3Pr07FHT6nBe-eW20Ch1LwM/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="630" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OZBkqprsvb9EwgOkA5rEC4OXBVnEye3s6Mj7Wvap4Se8PUNIV6odL0-THLDEQ8KInx3lvWEJjFCFLft5cbCoBguPCkyRNl17oNm7IJq_sY2ok32kt8eqF3Pr07FHT6nBe-eW20Ch1LwM/s640/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a blow up of the top view x-ray, you can see the staples and underneath the gap opening up in my tibia. It's definitely there, it could even be 5.25mm!</td></tr>
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<br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-48523441045268932432016-11-17T14:49:00.003+00:002016-11-17T14:54:20.250+00:00Operation 16 and What Happens NowThe cut through my tibia was made on November 8th in an operation which lasted around 90 minutes. Everyone was happy and I was feeling pretty strong the day after so I was discharged with, as usual, a big bag of meds and dressings. There was the usual wait for pharmacy to deliver the drugs, but they did in the end and we got home about 7pm. The only visible change is a new dressing where they cut in to get at my bone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQ285TfDy-I1RFVgHbbgp1oruZNPdp77pa5bt56C7ZSDUXLi-F9Uu2QePuS9WPhCLn9jCgDBshNK-jBNSGEPqwh76PfctasmS4IF18DEWgeQb0rB6i3VaqjQoDfvGioZyWFadK0ZJs9_C/s1600/IMG_5039x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQ285TfDy-I1RFVgHbbgp1oruZNPdp77pa5bt56C7ZSDUXLi-F9Uu2QePuS9WPhCLn9jCgDBshNK-jBNSGEPqwh76PfctasmS4IF18DEWgeQb0rB6i3VaqjQoDfvGioZyWFadK0ZJs9_C/s640/IMG_5039x.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After Op 16. Dressing covering incision to break tibia.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHeXpic2DiRIfgPWl5pWoXLaZbuVnvt2hSCu-lX9xuWTvEyrGTY68pXnYDwon0I48whEFVjHMlYb_wsBRmTk4Humce2AO0uRTDK6WnTE4OHbZfemGSCVZUYRdIaUWlkfKgzJf6on0NG7u-/s1600/IMG_5041x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHeXpic2DiRIfgPWl5pWoXLaZbuVnvt2hSCu-lX9xuWTvEyrGTY68pXnYDwon0I48whEFVjHMlYb_wsBRmTk4Humce2AO0uRTDK6WnTE4OHbZfemGSCVZUYRdIaUWlkfKgzJf6on0NG7u-/s640/IMG_5041x.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incision with clips. Pretty? :)</td></tr>
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What happens now is 10 days waiting for the bone to begin to knit together, then lengthening starts. So this is tomorrow now, Friday November 18th. I have my instructions and spanner. The break is where the incision is, meaning that the ring near my knee will not move, but everything else on the frame will. One quarter turn on the square nuts four times per day, that's one turn per day, which is 1mm extension. We're going for about 20mm give or take, so 20 days of adjustments to come.<br />
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Now, here is the thing: I have been told often that this is tough, the lengthening process. In fact, I was told at physio this week that they once had a patient who was in the SAS and had been on tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and this process broke him. Here is why: it's not the bone. You can 'grow' your bone 1mm per day no problem, in fact I've done this before in 2012 with the straightening process. It's not the bone, the pins move with the bone, the issue is with the soft tissue, the skin and flesh. Moving the frame down means I will cut open wounds wherever a pin enters my skin below the cut. There are 12 of these sites. Opening up a 20mm wound in each of these locations. And soft tissue doesn't want to stretch at 1mm per day either, wounds notwithstanding. So I think I understand now why this might get tough. Hopefully though I've so little feeling in my lower leg that I won't feel so much as the pins cutting through. It does sound a bit like self-inflicted torture I guess..<br />
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On the plus side, the physiotherapist did say I had already been through a lot (true) and that I looked like an excellent coper (also true, I think). Well we will see won't we, whether I'm tougher than the SAS. I'm ready. Lengthening and cutting starts tomorrow then.<br />
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Expect regular updates and measurement photos like last time :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJD8JTv1T74mptuFUpjdLpFZik61RA1UXDSk6GU8NCMnG5xamnWo12PeTyk2U7OMz4hqALYIjfKfgMXdvaczZI_zu26LSXvX2f-_5PVTdcnW1-_BspMJUvGr79QR_8ULUYrUOkH19-37uZ/s1600/IMG_5051x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJD8JTv1T74mptuFUpjdLpFZik61RA1UXDSk6GU8NCMnG5xamnWo12PeTyk2U7OMz4hqALYIjfKfgMXdvaczZI_zu26LSXvX2f-_5PVTdcnW1-_BspMJUvGr79QR_8ULUYrUOkH19-37uZ/s640/IMG_5051x.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bonus free spanner to adjust the frame with!</td></tr>
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<br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-72921323474558732172016-11-07T11:43:00.004+00:002016-11-07T12:50:11.405+00:00Operation 15/15b/16Operation 15, to sort out my heel and ankle, and put the frame on and break my tibia, was a complete success. My ankle and heel are now held together by pins and a big nail going up from the sole of my foot (lovely), or something. And the frame is on ahead of the leg-lengthening. BUT, they didn't actually do the break of my tibia, so that is going to happen this week, on Tuesday 8 November. Apparently when I came around after op 15 I was a bit disappointed about this, this being 'plan B' not 'plan A', but they explained to me that it was best for me and for them, they were tired after 6 hours of operating on me, and they want to get this last bit exactly right. So fair enough. Look, I'm never going to complain am I?! They've all been brilliant.<br />
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In fact the level of care at Broadgreen Hospital is pretty amazing. Everybody seems to know exactly what they're doing and just gets on with it. It seems like a good place to work. My 5 day visit was really good in that respect. Even the food is nice! It's a new unit, maybe 18 months old, and it shows at least in the sense of organisation - everything is quite close, like the physiotherapy gym is just at the end of the ward, opposite where you go before your operation. </div>
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There's no A&E at the hospital, and I think that helps to give it a calm feel. Anyway, I'll be spending another night there this week which I don't mind at all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHJVeh-i6Yq63z0b4Csi5JQm54TjL6TBMghORDHCaCIpA88ItOz4vNoGHl-FkbvJnA2yEvqAAJMj1i-QKRA4m5C5RvJR4zcHKjpWKpK2WR8Q0HfJlbckWAedGi5D_zpQYycg4fNLYwTHl/s1600/Photo+07-11-2016%252C+11+26+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHJVeh-i6Yq63z0b4Csi5JQm54TjL6TBMghORDHCaCIpA88ItOz4vNoGHl-FkbvJnA2yEvqAAJMj1i-QKRA4m5C5RvJR4zcHKjpWKpK2WR8Q0HfJlbckWAedGi5D_zpQYycg4fNLYwTHl/s640/Photo+07-11-2016%252C+11+26+10.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After (left) and before (right) operation 15.</td></tr>
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The way of dressing the pin sites is something I've never seen before - you can barely see the pins afterwards. They use syringe drivers to hold the dressing against the pin site (clever!) and then wrap each group of 2 or 3 pins in a bandage which has them ending up looking like garlics you get in the supermarket, or meringues possibly. It's really clever because none of the pin is exposed. It makes me realise how exposed I've had them in the past - I mean, I was showering and then putting a gauze over and cutting a dressing to slot around the pin, meaning only the bit near my skin was covered. This is much better. They also last 10 days dressed like this so when I come to do it myself, much less work and hassle to maintain them! Excellent.</div>
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I can't weight-bear on my left leg for 3 months. I should have realised this, but it did come as a slight eyebrow-raise, not a complete surprise. The other times I've been able to touch weight-bear, so this is different, and will be more of a challenge. I'll end up with an even stronger right leg and upper body! But it adds an extra element of nerves, because I really can't afford a mishap now. It's because the ankle and heel fusion has to heal before I can put weight through it. Fair enough. I like a challenge.</div>
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I've spent most of this last week since I was discharged readjusting to life on crutches; how to transport a cup of coffee from the kitchen to the living room; how to have a shower (bin bag over leg, bath board); how to find a comfortable position to sit for extended periods with my leg elevated, etc. A lot of moving involves balancing on my right leg, but I'm pretty good at that. Outside I've only been as far as the supermarket, coming back up the hill was OK but a bit tiring. If I go to work on the train it'll be tough at the moment, so I'll probably have to rely on a lift for a while.<br />
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Anyway, back to this week, operation 15b or 16 (let's just call it 16) will be a short one to cut my tibia near my knee (on a healthy bit) and then after a week or so for it to settle down, the lengthening process will begin. I should be in for 24 hours this week. The consultant who spoke to me said they weren't going to "just burn through it with a saw" but rather they'll "use chisels to get a nice controlled cut". Lovely. Glad I'll be asleep.</div>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-59831073481637386972016-10-22T17:48:00.000+01:002016-10-22T18:24:36.361+01:00Operation 15It's been a long time since I blogged about my leg. Unfortunately that doesn't mean it's been all back to normal, it just means there's been nothing significant to write about, but now, well, there is. On Wednesday October 26th I'll have an operation to break it again, this time in Liverpool (at Broadgreen Hospital). About 18 months ago my consultant in Preston referred me to the Specialist Limb Reconstruction Unit there, and I saw them for the first time in July 2015. They were so positive about what a difference another surgery would make that it felt inevitable that I would go through with it, and so, after a bit of a delay, I am doing.<br />
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This is elective surgery which means that I've chosen to have it. That makes it quite a lot different in principle from my previous operations, which have really been compulsory to regain any sort of function in my leg. You may, or may not, remember that my last operation in 2012 was necessary because my leg healed up with a 17 degree bend in my tibia (shin). That absolutely had to be corrected for me to be able to weight bear again. You'll remember I was in external fixation for 6 months to straighten it out and wait for it to heal up. While that operation allowed me to walk unaided again (as well as bike, etc.) it didn't correct either the length of my left leg, which is 2.5cm shorter than it used to be and than my right leg, and it also didn't correct the angle of my ankle or the relative positions of my knee, ankle and heel. You can kind of see the problem from the photo Rebecca took of me recently from behind after I'd been biking. I'm lop-sided and my foot doesn't hit the ground properly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQ0_cW7OhqahedepEiD-M29sC2UH5TDxY13TeRzcJSFbhgUVAzRw-R4YIDVIKWwBpGt6Z7gdY6LOfnnlguQKbUV23pg8tIu81c6AcYGgoZvapDPwdVdymsqJvUtI9vYuZvPmdAdBqbATm/s1600/legankle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQ0_cW7OhqahedepEiD-M29sC2UH5TDxY13TeRzcJSFbhgUVAzRw-R4YIDVIKWwBpGt6Z7gdY6LOfnnlguQKbUV23pg8tIu81c6AcYGgoZvapDPwdVdymsqJvUtI9vYuZvPmdAdBqbATm/s640/legankle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of my legs from behind. You can clearly see I hope what the problem is!</td></tr>
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Anyway, the length of my leg and the positions of my ankle and heel will be corrected all-at-once by this next operation. Ultimately this will mean walking will be easier, less painful, and I won't be damaging my ankle and back further by trying to behave normally. So it's worth doing, even if it does feel like a massive step backwards. I've been talking myself into it for ages now basically along the lines of the following conversation:<br />
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"I don't really need this operation, I can manage just fine now, I've adapted."<br />
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"Yes but what about in 10 years' time, will you be able to manage then?"<br />
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"I don't know, possibly not if it gets worse."<br />
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"Well if you can't, or if it gets much worse, will you regret not having this operation then?"<br />
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"Yes I will."<br />
<br />
And that is not good, and that is why I'm going through with it, even though I know what it means in terms of mobility, pain, and hassle. I will have a frame bolted to my tibia not unlike the previous one, except this time I will adjust the struts to lengthen my leg out, not straighten it. You can grow your bone 1mm per day, so that will be about 25 days of adjustment, after an initial settling-in period of about 2 weeks if it is like last time. Then you are just waiting for the bone to fill in the gap you've made. That will probably take 4-5 months. At the same time, they're going to break my pretty much completely fused already ankle, and re-fuse it in a better position, more perpendicular to my leg, so I can put it flat on the ground. And, they will break my heel bone and pin it so that it is in better alignment with my ankle and knee. So all these adjustments are to improve my biomechanics, make them more like a normal person would have.<br />
<br />
In hassle terms, it means wearing the frame for about 6 months, which is awkward and irritating because it's bulky, you can't wear normal clothes, it looks awful, and mainly because you have to keep the pin sites, the bits where metal enters your body, very clean. In practice it means cleaning and dressing them all probably every other day. This means lots of dressings and stuff, but I remember all that stuff from the two previous times so as long as I can get everything from the pharmacy it should be OK, it just takes time and you have to do it properly because infection would not be good. Really not.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCQl2Qry1taAKxbVhOXlGObUgDWxa5w9AqbAB-y_imRMCXHqlLNY9Kb90qM9MBIny9KkVoFxreW__KzhGaWZxppsqdDhD3mY_9aTENCxPVEoAJl-9CiJtTgKG9xOQsr9WPJCQkI4_wjkN/s1600/P1040361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCQl2Qry1taAKxbVhOXlGObUgDWxa5w9AqbAB-y_imRMCXHqlLNY9Kb90qM9MBIny9KkVoFxreW__KzhGaWZxppsqdDhD3mY_9aTENCxPVEoAJl-9CiJtTgKG9xOQsr9WPJCQkI4_wjkN/s640/P1040361.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what it looked like last time. This time will be similar, except my leg is now straighter, <br />
and it may be longer this time, going down closer to my ankle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Obviously it means no driving, no biking, difficult to get around. I now have quite a lot more going on than I did last time, so I'm probably going to get more frustrated than I did last time, and then on top of that there's the knowledge that I chose to have this done and I'm doing it from a position of relative activity, not like last time.<br />
<br />
I haven't written this to make you feel sorry for me, not at all, just to explain what's going to happen so that if you see me afterwards you know some of the story. This is operation number 15 in total. It will hopefully be the last. If you want to know the full story, look at my previous post called 'Recover' (<a href="https://ajmk-est1974.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/recover-slide-show.html">https://ajmk-est1974.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/recover-slide-show.html</a>). Or click on 'The Accident and My Leg' above.<br />
<br />
Another thing that's very different from last time is that I have a lovely wife at home who is prepared to suffer me, and a great extended family through our church. This will make a massive difference I'm sure. We started going to Revive Church just before my last frame was removed, in November 2012. I'm really thankful for how my life is now. I thank God every day for it, but the truth is that the good is inseparable from the 'bad'. What happened to me and the resulting changes in my life and faith are completely inseparable, so I thank God for my accident and my dodgy leg. And for the NHS and blood donors. For my wife, my family, our church, my job and my altered perspective.<br />
<br />
No doubt I'll feel the need to blog again about this, and post photos, after the op :)<br />
<br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-39988701127415239442015-06-23T14:16:00.001+01:002015-06-23T15:12:05.803+01:00The Fred Whitton ChallengeIt's been a shameful while since I wrote about one of my cycling adventures, but the one I did yesterday deserves a write up. The <a href="http://fredwhittonchallenge.co.uk/">Fred Whitton Challenge</a>, for those who don't know, is a famously hard ride in the English Lake District. It is named after a chap who was secretary of the Lakes Road Club and who sadly passed away at the early age of 50 in 1998. In it's current form, the ride is 112 miles long and involves about 3700m of vertical ascent, going over many of the major Lakeland passes, which are bad enough to get over in cars, never mind ride over on bikes. It is run as a sportive event each May, but there is always the option to do it outside of this event, which is what Sam and I did yesterday.<br />
<br />
Needless to say it was very hard going in places. It was a long day in the saddle, perhaps the longest I've ever done. For me it did involve some walking, up the steepest gradients, but there are several reasons for that, which I may come to later.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUNSSq1v-3fqxj9zSLSZGwA8Hhr0_SALjH_lg_e3m1FUk-2ELp6UXNrCXBykfrOoUIf2WzTHKiwSKHs-wcBxPoTwpgfRD0vMiHd7kY6jR6uQXoHRQexUTWYj9hTbKJMJGwoBQntJ_snpf/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+14+11+00+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUNSSq1v-3fqxj9zSLSZGwA8Hhr0_SALjH_lg_e3m1FUk-2ELp6UXNrCXBykfrOoUIf2WzTHKiwSKHs-wcBxPoTwpgfRD0vMiHd7kY6jR6uQXoHRQexUTWYj9hTbKJMJGwoBQntJ_snpf/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+14+11+00+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Newlands Hause. The white speck is Sam.<br />
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Every year around the anniversary of my appointment with destiny (June 21) I try to do something to mark it. Plus it is Sam's 40th birthday next week, so here we are.<br />
<br />
The route starts and finishes in Grasmere, but it is a loop so I suppose you could start anywhere. However I know a nice hotel in Grasmere, The Swan, so Sam and I stayed there on Sunday night. We wanted to leave early but breakfast was at 8 so we couldn't. One of the reasons for going 'on our own' was that we could choose whether to actually set off based on the weather. The past few years of the sportive have seen some horrific weather, which, I think, makes this ride quite dangerous as well as a miserable experience. Rain is one thing, but imagine riding around these beautiful roads and not being able to see anything? No thanks.<br />
<br />
We decided to do this ride on a Monday on purpose, for two reasons. Firstly, we figured there'd be a lot less traffic on these little tourist roads than on a weekend, and second, things would be open, think bike shops etc., should we need them.<br />
<br />
The weather that greeted us on Monday morning when we woke up was about the worst possible from a decision-making point of view - light rain. Heavy rain = no. Sun, light cloud etc = yes. Light rain = ? The weather forecast was saying thunderstorms in the afternoon, light rain all day in Grasmere, Keswick and Eskdale. In other words, the whole ride in light rain. Not fun.<br />
<br />
At about 9am it didn't look too bad so we went out and got everything ready. Not raining, good. Plan A was to set off and see how it went weather-wise. Because of the route, after about 20 miles in it is possible to return to Grasmere from Keswick quite easily until about half of the ride is over. After Whinlatter, more later, you're on the 'wrong' side of the Lakes and quitting from there is more difficult. So at the very least crossing Whinlatter is the 'point of no return', kind of. Anyway, flexibility is good.<br />
<br />
I should say as usual I have spent a lot of time thinking about this ride, looking at the map etc., reading about it and other peoples' experiences of it, and I really wanted to do it. But, contrary to popular belief I am not an idiot and I was prepared to bail if I thought it wasn't sensible, even after 55 miles.<br />
<br />
We had it in our minds that there were quite a few things that could go wrong apart from the weather; mechanical issues mostly. One thing neither of us thought about was road closures. So I laughed when we got to the bottom of the first climb of the route, up Holbeck Lane near Ambleside, to find a 'Road Closed' sign. At this point I was thinking we were doomed not to succeed today, and any idea we had of following the 'official' route exactly was now gone. We went south a bit to Troutbeck Bridge and turned left to Troutbeck to meet the closed road up the hill.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlul9egkA_DskantGJFzWEB3Tpkoqxs04D6Pc1g35PoLX7GYvQu_IhfeZ1ODFOj95rmKa0iXWbfk3120fcUNI7vOO00YLfJhYU5XBWT9QtSXDs6vwkWksORLShNeYtvxC-h4V9GKitbP4D/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+10+10+00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlul9egkA_DskantGJFzWEB3Tpkoqxs04D6Pc1g35PoLX7GYvQu_IhfeZ1ODFOj95rmKa0iXWbfk3120fcUNI7vOO00YLfJhYU5XBWT9QtSXDs6vwkWksORLShNeYtvxC-h4V9GKitbP4D/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+10+10+00.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Road closed, honest. Not something we anticipated!<br />
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What this meant was that I biked along the fateful stretch of road past White Cross Bay for the first time. I wish I could say I remembered exactly where it happened, but I don't, I just know where it was because of the map the police gave me. Maybe it's better that I don't remember, what I do remember of it is bad enough I suppose!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP3lY1qM9cBg8fTgMm6vXr1bwhNcjtKArxZuzd30GRTOKTOkkAWsMXqmNHcbBrBPEn58k7d7TfrzwOvJuKUdsF-2emrqTXof8dSWmI6h2uKKyFOZBTiXqLRYseBDTJu6HYesXBsfNSya2o/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+10+29+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP3lY1qM9cBg8fTgMm6vXr1bwhNcjtKArxZuzd30GRTOKTOkkAWsMXqmNHcbBrBPEn58k7d7TfrzwOvJuKUdsF-2emrqTXof8dSWmI6h2uKKyFOZBTiXqLRYseBDTJu6HYesXBsfNSya2o/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+10+29+02.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Kirkstone Pass.</td></tr>
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<br />
OK, official route rejoined at Troutbeck, now going on to join the Kirkstone pass road. This is a pretty easy climb akin to what we do in the Peak District, or what we did on the Dragon Ride two weeks ago, a steady gradient gaining height. At Kirkstone Summit there is the inn, and the junction with the road called 'The Struggle', which I thought the Fred Whitton went up but doesn't. So that one will have to wait for another day. Kirkstone Summit is the high point (elevation) of the whole ride, and right near the beginning, but even though the other summits are lower, getting to them is harder...<br />
Dropping off Kirkstone into Patterdale was a good few easy miles, the descent fast because the road is obvious and visible. Some flat miles along Ullswater and then turning left a climb over Matterdale End, affording great views back to the lake.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDRQPcOtYSlD_AasXDSHrgF1XLzdUxOvl_ecGZaShy_5b7frtcDmSjEJmGyDxn9Zvj_8P56qI4uyJIZPyBByxQIKJM3LkaGXc-zJ2ucTiFqtSrte6tfy2WmwP01wrZJr0HHyLNdw1AwaY/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+11+24+51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDRQPcOtYSlD_AasXDSHrgF1XLzdUxOvl_ecGZaShy_5b7frtcDmSjEJmGyDxn9Zvj_8P56qI4uyJIZPyBByxQIKJM3LkaGXc-zJ2ucTiFqtSrte6tfy2WmwP01wrZJr0HHyLNdw1AwaY/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+11+24+51.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Looking back to Ullswater on the way up to Matterdale End.<br />
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Another drop down and we joined the A66. This is not a good road to ride a bike along. We could have taken the back road (and should have) but this would take longer of course. Needless to say I had quickly had enough of being passed by big lorries and fast cars, so at Threlkeld we came off it and went over the hill via Castlerigg Stone Circle, much better. Also we get to go through Keswick centre. I suppose the official route bypasses Keswick a bit and uses the A66 for time reasons, to make the whole route faster, but I think it should go on the back road, it's much nicer and safer. Deviation number two then from 'official'.<br />
<br />
Anyone who knows the Fred Whitton knows that the first major obstacle is Honister Pass, which is about 7 miles south from Keswick. All the way along this road I am getting anxious about what we will face. Honister is famously hard. I should say I've never ridden any of these passes before, but 25% gradients are not good wherever they are. We could see some traffic coming down the road about a mile before we got to the base, and it is obviously very steep at first. At Seatoller an ominous road sign announces the impending ramp. Still, take it easy, and don't panic, it might be OK. Of course I knew Sam would disappear up the road, he's much stronger than me and has a multitude of other advantages over me which I might go into later on... anyway, that's not a problem. I just focus on myself and my own struggle. The first few minutes of the really steep bit were hard but out of the saddle I seemed to be doing OK. Then the killer that kills me every time, you round a little curve and see the gradient continue without relenting for another 150m or so. Beaten, psychologically I think. I still don't like unclipping, especially on a steep slope, but I did. I had to. I will say this again in this post, but next time I ride this road I will do better, because I will know what's coming. I have heard it said that it's better not to know, which may be true for you, but for me it's always better to know.<br />
So, now I've a new problem: I have to walk for a bit, until the gradient relents enough for me to get back on the bike again. Walking for me is hard, in cleats is harder still, up hills is harder still. So I swap one form of physical suffering for another. Remember: I'm here voluntarily, nobody has coerced me into this, I could be at home (at work actually it's Monday) but I'm not, I'm here on a 25% slope struggling to push my bike and trying to keep my left foot in the shoe because it doesn't stay in... I was never going to lose it mentally, it's just really hard, especially knowing Sam has danced up here minutes ago.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfMCAsYt0EwVL5ykIXChmYOKWP8smORJrggBsww40lvBczb30guX5W0WQVXRweZUs_1Q8KU7CjGhfzB8DaQY3ofL_hBnRQlQ1sjzg4WcJFMEJHSq92ST4xvjGCT-vvXH9WLaZ_ik-yG6o/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+13+23+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfMCAsYt0EwVL5ykIXChmYOKWP8smORJrggBsww40lvBczb30guX5W0WQVXRweZUs_1Q8KU7CjGhfzB8DaQY3ofL_hBnRQlQ1sjzg4WcJFMEJHSq92ST4xvjGCT-vvXH9WLaZ_ik-yG6o/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+13+23+16.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Having a rest on Honister Pass.</td></tr>
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<br />
OK, the gradient has slackened off a bit, so I can get back on, and now I see what I wanted to know and what will make me do it next time: there's a flat(ish) bit here where you can recover before the next slope. The next slope which is hard but not 25%, so rideable, and ride it I did. The top of Honister has a Youth Hostel, what an awesome location, and a ski-resort style cafe. Stopped for a picture, then off over the other side. This descent was steep but not too bad, of course we had good visibility and dry roads, but it was fun dropping down into Buttermere. I like Honister Pass actually and I know I can get up this properly now that I know what it is like.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fO6oCNDjGO-IbNVWv7tUyqClw-qWen1FOcGIiirtOb3m7Tn4S-d0xK8WmL1mkNXIFHijw0kbDqgnZd5yW1jrduCyMoQ_-aRTYIXNImKcqU6aQWYRJNc4PO-JoqdRUDd2inQRZmjyaXk8/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+13+37+54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fO6oCNDjGO-IbNVWv7tUyqClw-qWen1FOcGIiirtOb3m7Tn4S-d0xK8WmL1mkNXIFHijw0kbDqgnZd5yW1jrduCyMoQ_-aRTYIXNImKcqU6aQWYRJNc4PO-JoqdRUDd2inQRZmjyaXk8/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+13+37+54.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Sam at the top of Honister Pass, with the superbly located Youth Hostel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqQEB5PoWwiaP2c1MMozrhwvXwfxjgIngJruWgebodZeaXhEE_13ZLytoMcmkF_K6-xgLQEi9PZmlzyPvRYeHm0KiSTCoelOpiM00vg-WkDJ8VK96kiLXzWnq7Iox6lXFGhgz6eKUUPdp/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+14+21+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqQEB5PoWwiaP2c1MMozrhwvXwfxjgIngJruWgebodZeaXhEE_13ZLytoMcmkF_K6-xgLQEi9PZmlzyPvRYeHm0KiSTCoelOpiM00vg-WkDJ8VK96kiLXzWnq7Iox6lXFGhgz6eKUUPdp/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+14+21+01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Looking to the left on the Newlands Hause road.</td></tr>
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<br />
At Buttermere a right turn signals the start of the second major pass of the day, Newlands Hause. This is famous for being a road that's carved right across the slope of a big hill, steep slope up on your right, steep down on your left. I knew that round the bend I could see, it continues, so the bend is not the top, so I couldn't be knackered there. But, very different from Honister, I can see the road from afar so I can see where the efforts are and where the recover points are. So even though I again watched Sam disappear in the distance, I was confident I could ride this. I did stop to take pictures, but by choice (honest) (no, honestly). There are a couple of nasty little bends after the bend you can see from a distance, but you know the top is there so you can max out on those knowing you'll get a rest. Looking down the other side, great feeling knowing there's a good few miles of downhill ahead, almost all the way to Braithwaite.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-K0pgjovWUIaLxxn5Dr8s2Gtvy_0mRFhjK5lXAkJLWcIbeludnm_L35Y4Kzv0fmk-P07xIaGG6ve-bgCfKaZnfXM4z44Yj65PmiRyaEiQk5552oAwCLurPy4Fqnmt5WXpYuplJMo5ACch/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+14+24+35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-K0pgjovWUIaLxxn5Dr8s2Gtvy_0mRFhjK5lXAkJLWcIbeludnm_L35Y4Kzv0fmk-P07xIaGG6ve-bgCfKaZnfXM4z44Yj65PmiRyaEiQk5552oAwCLurPy4Fqnmt5WXpYuplJMo5ACch/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+14+24+35.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The way ahead from the summit of Newlands Hause.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHFPJDOCRlyIezPOcL94MUFxl1X8pVGonlBWoYf-l4I2NXCOOw5vks8V1OcG5MOczsvjuISDlVZJDWdn40-Fjxbhk0XkSNwQ_q8Kt_G3e7kUkxJ0OQOrpn_dI_c96W-lxvQH7aEWk8HGS/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+14+59+31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHFPJDOCRlyIezPOcL94MUFxl1X8pVGonlBWoYf-l4I2NXCOOw5vks8V1OcG5MOczsvjuISDlVZJDWdn40-Fjxbhk0XkSNwQ_q8Kt_G3e7kUkxJ0OQOrpn_dI_c96W-lxvQH7aEWk8HGS/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+14+59+31.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Things were not looking promising on the way up Whinlatter Pass.</td></tr>
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<br />
Braithwate, turn left, up Whinlatter Pass, a doddle in comparison. Well, it is, but now we're both getting a bit hungry and the plan A of having lunch at Whinlatter Forest Park has gone wrong slightly insofar as it has taken us a lot longer to get here than we would have liked. We were both I think getting a little crabby, and the light rain had started to boot. On the way up this hill I was thinking hard about whether it was sensible to continue, this being my 'point of no return' really. The rain didn't really look like abating, but we were stopping anyway so no decision had to be taken yet.<br />
Whinlatter Forest Park is a bike centre. The trails in the forest there are really good fun, high in altitude and in number. It is my favourite of the trail centres I've been to, and one day I will come back with the MTB and ride them again. Maybe soon! It is a mountain bike trail centre, but in the cafe they won't fill your bottles up, you have to go round the back to where the toilets are and use the water fountain. This, even if you are buying your lunch and sitting down inside. I think that's a bit mean.<br />
<br />
It was 3 o'clock, and we both knew that it was going to be a late finish now, maybe 8 or 9 o'clock. 58 miles down, 55 miles to go (although we thought 50). On the plus side, the section between here, Whinlatter Summit, and Eskdale has two climbs on it but otherwise should be quite fast. After we had eaten and had coffee, refilled our bottles and so on, the rain had gone away and now it didn't really look like returning. This, now I think about it, was kind of a miracle. When we walked in I wasn't sure we'd be carrying on. When we walked out all doubt had disappeared. And it didn't rain again.<br />
The next miles went quickly. I have not spent much time on that side of the Lakes, so I didn't really recognise any of the fells as we made our way past Loweswater and turned south. There's a hill called Fangs Brow to get over, and quickly enough a sharp descent to Croasdale with some hairpins on it that I feel sure must have caught out some riders in the past.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00wibM0FT0vPQSkhGttmDdCihKoExWFNjYlMpIq84sfEzVEtuDTPhsGBjjDgHnYHAkN1ZlGogLRP1fn54bsXlFeOM_tcNZrvFNm3dnzR9_vVoERAOt0AHmVx2Dx_3qE56YQw5c4xiYzVH/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+16+52+41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00wibM0FT0vPQSkhGttmDdCihKoExWFNjYlMpIq84sfEzVEtuDTPhsGBjjDgHnYHAkN1ZlGogLRP1fn54bsXlFeOM_tcNZrvFNm3dnzR9_vVoERAOt0AHmVx2Dx_3qE56YQw5c4xiYzVH/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+16+52+41.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Lovely weather now on Fangs Brow.</td></tr>
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After Ennerdale Bridge there's a climb onto and over Cold Fell, which is quite serious but actually was OK. When the gradient flattens out onto the moor this is a quite beautiful road. The sun was out now too, and there were Herdwick sheep a plenty. This was one of my favourite sections of the whole ride. Sure, the sun helps, but it was an exposed road with no traffic, easy ups and downs, moorland and sheep. Also horses.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZU0pqXXk9DuzlXCzpI2-St3_pumKlaxQe_jBT2qSUnSCwBfeJ4qsSYECRX-bdKFoQrwZvvLX-IUTrnYVtr69dVIAhXo-sREK-QvInQkZY2Wt2p-kNXrKob4uoluY7bEsWDJuOE1Ki0LRi/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+17+37+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZU0pqXXk9DuzlXCzpI2-St3_pumKlaxQe_jBT2qSUnSCwBfeJ4qsSYECRX-bdKFoQrwZvvLX-IUTrnYVtr69dVIAhXo-sREK-QvInQkZY2Wt2p-kNXrKob4uoluY7bEsWDJuOE1Ki0LRi/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+17+37+02.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The road to Cold Fell, one of my favourite stretches.</td></tr>
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It's now that you know that the next proper uphill is the big one. Sure, there a little lump to get over at Santon Bridge, through the woods, but your mind is already set on the inevitable. Arriving into Eskdale Green and just before the turn off towards Hard Knott, there was a pub where we stopped for a refuel. I did have a half, after 90 miles I felt it was OK ;) Also some jelly babies and water and a gel. We probably stopped here too long in hindsight. As soon as we started riding again I knew we couldn't stop again, my bottom was getting sore! 4 miles down this road is Hard Knott Pass. It's only 20 miles now to Grasmere, which normally would take about 90 minutes tops, but the difference here is you've got one of the hardest roads in the country to get up, and, by then, you've already ridden 95 miles.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ePY7_C3wd13zCEQTWvYVWbY3z0t4_VnB1nDLZ9_ku7pQJzmO_q4tOgPG_H_9PE_ae4tv29qKRTapTkB4_9rhTk3w61A2iQP7L3ybUR7vgPP_qoLbg0dG3Czo3J2DXOt6Asj2KTPlskW5/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+19+39+22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ePY7_C3wd13zCEQTWvYVWbY3z0t4_VnB1nDLZ9_ku7pQJzmO_q4tOgPG_H_9PE_ae4tv29qKRTapTkB4_9rhTk3w61A2iQP7L3ybUR7vgPP_qoLbg0dG3Czo3J2DXOt6Asj2KTPlskW5/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+19+39+22.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The base of (very) Hard Knott Pass.</td></tr>
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There is the obligatory road sign announcing that you're about to suffer, and the road kicks up. Really. You have to go over a cattle grid which is not big deal really, then there's a little layby which I rode into to try to reduce the gradient a bit, didn't really work. I look up and I can see the first right hand bend, but it may as well be a hundred miles away. I'm not strong enough for this, certainly not at this point. My mind gives up, I unclip. Walk up to the bend, OK I can get back on here. Taking it really slowly and measuring every pedal stroke. Problem - there's another really massive ramp ahead. Just keep calm. Halfway up this really steep bit I simply could not push/pull the pedal down, it was like the chain had stuck. I'm not good at unclipping at the best of times, but this was a new experience for me. I fell off. To the right and into a few nettles, but thankfully not over a 100ft drop. I lay there for a bit trying to get my left foot out of the pedal. OK. Walking now up this really steep bit. Next time I could get back on, decided not to clip my right foot in so that what just happened doesn't happen again. OK. Up the next steep bit, new problem. My left leg is not as strong as my right, it hasn't been since it was reconstructed and I think my mind protects it. So it doesn't work as much, and now, because my right foot is unclipped, it has to work more that it's used to. A really sharp pain in my inner thigh, cramp. Oh dear. Meanwhile Sam is probably at the summit cairn having a lie down. I got off, drank pretty much all the fluid I had left, stretched a bit. What if I get back on and it hurts the same? Don't know. Walk for a bit, OK. Hard Knott is like two passes really, there's the first miserable pitch, then it's reasonably flat for a bit and you can see the second steep bit ahead. I rode most of the flat bit, of course, and walked most of the second steep bit. I guess Sam had waited about half an hour for me. He managed to ride all the way up. How that is possible I do not know. I am not sure that even at my 'prime' whenever that was (2009/2010 probably) I could have got up this. It's simply unbelievably steep in places.<br />
<br />
One of the benefits of having got off and walked (trying to find some positive here!) is that I could look back and take some pictures in the failing light, very nice. I'd rather have been able to bike up though. One of the benefits of it being quite late in the day is there was virtually no traffic.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFeQiNz9bmg0DxU0j2vlwo4Rv2UCSWFDP4jjbhIRGXqgZjLHr8eWmrtzyH59Nl1JusLWM26sfBZSyX1NG3h-brp1pYMKyZv1VHwhNc-nm2vpc3WX-fODam1CrCtIUpUDBuH2KhhK1j_b8/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+20+24+11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFeQiNz9bmg0DxU0j2vlwo4Rv2UCSWFDP4jjbhIRGXqgZjLHr8eWmrtzyH59Nl1JusLWM26sfBZSyX1NG3h-brp1pYMKyZv1VHwhNc-nm2vpc3WX-fODam1CrCtIUpUDBuH2KhhK1j_b8/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+20+24+11.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Hard Knott summit cairn, looking ahead to Wrynose.</td></tr>
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Next: descent off Hard Knott, steep but again nothing to worry about in the dry. In the wet this would have been a different story, but we were lucky with that. You're down at about 240m now, from ~390m at Hard Knott summit. Wrynose Pass is next and the last obstacle of the day woo hoo! You know the elevation change is not great, it can't be. I did have to walk up a bit of it, but not much, only the steep left hander, and I could easily do this were it not coming after 100 miles. Next time this one won't be a problem. You can see where the top is, that helps immensely.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-qIZxGZkiz90lxv5W4UB5LFGA_xd-jYiEZeCjEARuZ9AzsH55UtLlFMhWwM6088Nfaz9ZCtTeXR29mGJ-cglqO1w4ggQ1EJukxq8G1HBozstvTHKfUdpx8POFci5uBrjJLSnmLqYdt-t/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+20+55+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-qIZxGZkiz90lxv5W4UB5LFGA_xd-jYiEZeCjEARuZ9AzsH55UtLlFMhWwM6088Nfaz9ZCtTeXR29mGJ-cglqO1w4ggQ1EJukxq8G1HBozstvTHKfUdpx8POFci5uBrjJLSnmLqYdt-t/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+20+55+17.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Looking back to Hard Knott from Wrynose.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvNxLsUfoUjNcfo9zhkW3hwtJ8X4gd2MmajvRnv80mDzUwfc0wamHrkr2jwC9PphE2Whdft6R-9JrsvY1wexBNjTGuhu3-Mv395uuiatpV1O0ICQAI8nP8dew_T0gOgbf_-iKgTf9FRkf/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+21+00+22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvNxLsUfoUjNcfo9zhkW3hwtJ8X4gd2MmajvRnv80mDzUwfc0wamHrkr2jwC9PphE2Whdft6R-9JrsvY1wexBNjTGuhu3-Mv395uuiatpV1O0ICQAI8nP8dew_T0gOgbf_-iKgTf9FRkf/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+21+00+22.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Sam feeling pleased with himself on Wrynose summit.</td></tr>
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The rest is downhill, mostly, then a frivolous loop to Elterwater and bizarrely not going over Red Bank straight back to Grasmere but returning to Ambleside and taking the Rydal road north back to the main road. I think if it's going to Elterwater it should be to go over Red Bank, but hey. On the plus side that last few miles is very fast, as typically you unload any reserves of energy you have held back because you know the end is a mere 15 minutes away.<br />
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It was almost 10 o'clock when we got back to the hotel and the car. Elapsed time 12.5 hours, that's surely the longest I've ever been out on my bike for. Later I discovered that the moving time was 10h10m, which means were were stopped for 2h20m, much more than I would have guessed. 10 hours for this route is probably not too bad.<br />
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What have I learned?<br />
<br />
This is an amazing ride, but in bad weather you need to forget it. Didn't I already know that? Yes I think I did, but doing it has reinforced that. If I entered the sportive and woke up and it was raining hard... Having said that, the forecast was bad, it looked bad both before we set off and halfway round, and it didn't turn out to be. Even more so that the Peak District I think, the Lake District has massively changeable and unpredictable weather. You could set off in bright sun and finish in heavy rain or vice versa. I think you have to be able to bail if it doesn't look good. Hard Knott would not be a good place to be in a storm. But, if you get to the base of Hard Knott and the weather turns, then what? I don't know. I think with this, you have to say a prayer beforehand that it will work out. We were very lucky with the weather, I know that. We didn't get wet even though the forecast was light rain all day, thunderstorms in the afternoon. To read how bad it can be, look no further than my super-fit triathlete friend John's <a href="http://irontwit.creativeblogs.net/2013/05/13/bad-day-at-the-office/">account of his experience</a> on the 2013 sportive.<br />
<br />
I am unfit. I did not prepare for this in nearly as proper a way as I would have liked. Yet, I only really struggled when the gradient was above 20%. Conclusion, I am not strong enough to get up the steepest slopes. Didn't I already know that? Well, yes. I am not sure how much of it is lack of training and how much of it is the limit of what my legs can do now. Because I spent a silly amount of money on the Garmin Vector pedal-based power meters, I know that my left/right power balance over that ride was 44%-56%. After the next op, this is something I need to consciously work on, the strength in my left leg. Nevermind how fit I am overall, I have to pull my left leg up to somewhere more equal.<br />
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Cardiovascularly I must be OK. I've only ridden 500 miles this year, very unusual for me, and 200 of those were in the rides I did yesterday and the Dragon Ride two weeks ago. Preparation was not ideal, yet it wasn't endurance that made it hard.<br />
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Do I need a new bike? Probably. This one has served me well but I feel like it's had its day. I wonder if it didn't get a bit damaged in my accident on the Tour of the Peak and the rear mech is definitely bent a bit. It's not the bike's fault, but having a nice carbon machine like Sam's would certainly improve the chances of successfully getting up those slopes. I could lose kg off my body too of course.<br />
<br />
I have finally sorted my in-ride eating, I think. I now find it a lot easier to know when to have a gel or munch on something, and now I don't seem to think I don't need to eat because I feel OK now, only to suffer later. I wasn't hungry once yesterday, or two weeks ago.<br />
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It feels like I'm being characteristically hard on myself. Doing the Fred Whitton challenge was this year's event to mark the anniversary of my accident, and as such it was a good choice. Having learned last week that I will be having another major operation in the autumn has affected me I'm sure, and I guess I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself. How about this: when I recover next time, I'll recover stronger in my left leg, I'll buy a new carbon road bike, I'll go back and do this ride again and smash my times on these passes. That's better, positive :)<br />
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<b>*UPDATE*</b> After looking at some of the footage I got from my handlebar camera, it appears I didn't walk as much as I thought I had. Funny how these 'failures' sit large in the memory. Particularly on Hard Knott, I made it up a lot further than I remember, even though it was yesterday, before I had to have a rest.<br />
<br />
Kirkstone Pass: no real problem, easy gradient steady climbing<br />
Honister Pass: super steep at the beginning, rest, less steep bit to finish<br />
Newlands Hause: steep but recovery possible, very steep but short after the bend<br />
Whinlatter Pass: harder than I remember<br />
Hard Knott Pass: impossibly steep, two major pitches with recovery possible in between<br />
Wrynose Pass: from this side, steep but short<br />
<br />
Fred Whitton Challenge: long ride made hard because of super steep climbs, not to be underestimated, not to be undertaken in bad weather.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PrQHujiIFidJKDvCrLZwcpRnYNsCSZ_sYo9PynTIXMrzKx-lSWaXqeZllyLOe4Dd888WdpKyK16FkFczVt__OgkZgAFmDKGyYcN1vRt5S34YxGBektJfOVRBTZScV8dAHcZZ4i6eiHUM/s1600/Photo+22-06-2015+20+08+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PrQHujiIFidJKDvCrLZwcpRnYNsCSZ_sYo9PynTIXMrzKx-lSWaXqeZllyLOe4Dd888WdpKyK16FkFczVt__OgkZgAFmDKGyYcN1vRt5S34YxGBektJfOVRBTZScV8dAHcZZ4i6eiHUM/s640/Photo+22-06-2015+20+08+01.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Looking back to Eskdale from Hard Knott Pass.<br />
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<br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-20929662084998623392014-08-04T08:21:00.001+01:002014-08-04T09:12:08.931+01:00Lego Technic 42030 Volvo L350F Wheel Loader, flagship set reviewI only use this blog mainly for posting about my cycling exploits and stuff to do with my leg, but I'm going to start writing about other things I'm interested in too. Here, Lego. I'm an unashamed AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego), and have been since I was 25, since 8448 :) I will probably write another post about that, but here, I'll reproduce and expand a bit upon a review I wrote of the new Lego Technic flagship set for Brickset.com - it's a licensed model of a Volvo L350F Wheel Loader, so follows in line from the famous Mercedes-Benz Unimog model of 2 years ago. Last year's flagship was the Mobile Crane MkII, an incredible model, so this one has something to live up to...<br />
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The beginning of August is special for Lego fans - it's when the 2H (2nd half) of the year sets are released. In particular, it's when the year's Technic flagship set comes out. When I saw online what this year's set was, probably sometime back in March, I have to admit I wasn't filled full of excitement. After the lovely surprise of the Cargo Plane, another construction vehicle. And one that we have a previous (reasonably recent) version of too, 8265. And I will now have a hundred million yellow beams. Pfff.<br />
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Still, sometimes looks can be deceiving, and as I have said in a previous review about Technic flagships, I was pretty much always going to get this set. It's expensive - I winced slightly as I parted with 170 pounds (OK, 161.50 with VIP discount) at the Discovery Store in Manchester on Saturday. The pleasant shop assistant made me feel better though by asking "is this for you?" - "yes :)" I replied, smile included. There are few better arguments, it seems to me, for getting an education and a good job than being able to buy the biggest Lego sets....<br />
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In-keeping with the price, the box is big, much deeper than the usual boxes. When you open it of course it is not full, but there are lots of bags in there, some big tyres and that enormous bucket, which I think I read is the biggest element Technic has ever had. Wow, it is big - put it next to a minifigure! You also have a whole bunch of power functions stuff: battery box; one each of the four different motors; two remote controls and two IR receivers. There are three linear actuators. I dare say that those parts I just listed account for most of the cost of the set. You get tons of yellow beams, surprisingly few gears, lots of axles, and the portal axle assemblies too. At 1600-something pieces, this set is a lot smaller in piece count than last year's flagship, but when you have all the pieces out on your desk, you do still feel like you have bought a lot of pieces, and piece count isn't everything anyway, as we all know.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_0vbTWSUEnxd3IcZFbZizPxpESXRe9MFmxVHNO66tFBmP8FrOdNLMC9wgpLKiCsVJ0kN-jJ1i2qFVQXIsh9XnSbP88qDq_pFyC24P81jGVm1FOnRH1ZxgORotc2RpeiTsco3KEAaOVeR/s640/blogger-image-349574094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_0vbTWSUEnxd3IcZFbZizPxpESXRe9MFmxVHNO66tFBmP8FrOdNLMC9wgpLKiCsVJ0kN-jJ1i2qFVQXIsh9XnSbP88qDq_pFyC24P81jGVm1FOnRH1ZxgORotc2RpeiTsco3KEAaOVeR/s1600/blogger-image-349574094.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The box emptied.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIv-q4qAOpfxuvMmhHXiZojIacxqnXxCm1ZtGnr5ewKR_ZnO8MnGhqWltcGIfxcuCOeNuIBKU0bEfGDCW9AuF8pVbagmih12i1tdit5XyRvGibZ5TWeodIRk7_qULvq8WFoOFS9DCD8SU/s640/blogger-image-1958711906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIv-q4qAOpfxuvMmhHXiZojIacxqnXxCm1ZtGnr5ewKR_ZnO8MnGhqWltcGIfxcuCOeNuIBKU0bEfGDCW9AuF8pVbagmih12i1tdit5XyRvGibZ5TWeodIRk7_qULvq8WFoOFS9DCD8SU/s640/blogger-image-1958711906.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's one big bucket.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitiiuA5BLYR-7xIr4ZnN3fNx_N28S5UkYE8-cg5LQy0q0rOsrlXPHL7cOkNTIXQeC3KYsOOU7XqVpSvgmDRrdgAowLZ3lHaQORqEMo3xwWYbdGwhxdZxCSxLw8ow60_zxFIOTlAeB7gmHP/s640/blogger-image-846218882.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitiiuA5BLYR-7xIr4ZnN3fNx_N28S5UkYE8-cg5LQy0q0rOsrlXPHL7cOkNTIXQeC3KYsOOU7XqVpSvgmDRrdgAowLZ3lHaQORqEMo3xwWYbdGwhxdZxCSxLw8ow60_zxFIOTlAeB7gmHP/s640/blogger-image-846218882.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And big tyres too!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTGcdo6wJg1n87F2pp_sWghta3coIfftQtbbq1JpctGDaE26bxfqL_DUcjC4_CDloT6XT29l1PnjVZ9mS5HMS6Rc7cb-ALUG3SEagoc1KuiIlmATNQh0Q7m1e8FI7LpPoHcEU_C9jwdqP/s640/blogger-image--1026492190.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTGcdo6wJg1n87F2pp_sWghta3coIfftQtbbq1JpctGDaE26bxfqL_DUcjC4_CDloT6XT29l1PnjVZ9mS5HMS6Rc7cb-ALUG3SEagoc1KuiIlmATNQh0Q7m1e8FI7LpPoHcEU_C9jwdqP/s640/blogger-image--1026492190.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the PF stuff.</td></tr>
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There is also of course the sticker sheet, which I won't use, as usual. The instruction book (yes, singular, book) is one of the ones with lots of pages and a spine - can't remember the last time we got one of those, a welcome sight rather than the 3 or so thinner books we've had recently. And I really love that Lego now put the books in bags with a cardboard sheet. I used to despair at the book and sticker sheet being all mangled in the box! Thank heaven those days are over.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXdUMsZxVRTfxIOtMRlEILt6eVPvBYBZZqqhMkq9X1AvN9xhbJHCO2uTLNwk8AA6Pu4ukrG8xT4NZ5d-XKunraQgoJJu8LbK7OOsiDXipKbQiYTkUm1OBV7-wBYok7HJTVh9LROlChBQp/s640/blogger-image-1729071190.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXdUMsZxVRTfxIOtMRlEILt6eVPvBYBZZqqhMkq9X1AvN9xhbJHCO2uTLNwk8AA6Pu4ukrG8xT4NZ5d-XKunraQgoJJu8LbK7OOsiDXipKbQiYTkUm1OBV7-wBYok7HJTVh9LROlChBQp/s640/blogger-image-1729071190.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice manual with a spine, not 3 flimsy separate books.</td></tr>
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<div>
On to the build then: it's great. Not as long as some of the other flagship sets, but strangely I liked this. It's still a good 4 or 5 hours including unboxing and everything. There are no really tricky bits, and no particularly complicated steps which I suppose is a shame. The build is also slightly weighted towards form rather than function, meaning that there are a lot of steps that make the model look nice as opposed to simply working. You can take that both ways though - sometimes it's nice to put some effort into having it look right. It's very satisfying seeing how the motors fit into the model - they're not all mounted in the way you might expect, and there's stuff too to get your head around that makes the model work. All the way through you are struck by how solid this model is - I guess it has to be to cope with the forces needed to move a good fraction of the weight of the model with the servo motor for steering. Probably it will be hard on the fingers to take to pieces but that's worth it, always.<br />
I like the green engine blocks - usually I find building the engine the worst bit of these models, but because of the new colour it seemed altogether new, like I hadn't actually put one of these engines together a thousand times and could almost do it in my sleep ;) I am also now pretty much convinced that Lego have tried hard to avoid being too tedious with symmetrical builds. This model has a few bits where you are building the 'other side' but it doesn't feel like you're repeating something. I like that a lot.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBMg1Z2J0uHl_ixYGm325cESSLsQzKPjH7cMJElLeHd7to6cDiqmStDsk8mdurrISu57hjxsNLGeYT-33hq6LHF7jSanEVBDIwFqsqFYJOSBKuKBM3c9EvcL1SlXf10DVbqVftgoRl773/s640/blogger-image--1625723055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBMg1Z2J0uHl_ixYGm325cESSLsQzKPjH7cMJElLeHd7to6cDiqmStDsk8mdurrISu57hjxsNLGeYT-33hq6LHF7jSanEVBDIwFqsqFYJOSBKuKBM3c9EvcL1SlXf10DVbqVftgoRl773/s640/blogger-image--1625723055.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's all the bits, before starting to build - note green engine blocks on right.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEwoX-VHawvXEMbqggBPQDIPQmqvUCu_JbEEaLFKaCKcESID4L9pWhfbK202DjkfjwR4DAEY2PFP6ml6n7uaZHchresMqdxioEo0JjrEcNJx8VEiZKZaEZv9IgS3RCQXlrHkYUsDAJxph2/s640/blogger-image-656385669.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEwoX-VHawvXEMbqggBPQDIPQmqvUCu_JbEEaLFKaCKcESID4L9pWhfbK202DjkfjwR4DAEY2PFP6ml6n7uaZHchresMqdxioEo0JjrEcNJx8VEiZKZaEZv9IgS3RCQXlrHkYUsDAJxph2/s640/blogger-image-656385669.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well into the build here, motors and receivers mounted, engine done.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUf3c9iDU0c5uAa0qJ85eK9uoOalC0asKA0_SEGVjFqHovfcDX29mNQXiP6a_KtR04CRcbO9AkZhOXoyLMjNy3KdkV3WXo4hMe9PLI4gJE5yuInYwxqjLs_huc52Jd6xv4XWhuig2zyJ2/s640/blogger-image-838550504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzUf3c9iDU0c5uAa0qJ85eK9uoOalC0asKA0_SEGVjFqHovfcDX29mNQXiP6a_KtR04CRcbO9AkZhOXoyLMjNy3KdkV3WXo4hMe9PLI4gJE5yuInYwxqjLs_huc52Jd6xv4XWhuig2zyJ2/s640/blogger-image-838550504.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very near the end, bucket just mounted.</td></tr>
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When you get it finished, you are struck by what a beast of a model this is. It's heavy, and big. That's really satisfying. Looking at it on my desk now, I'm happy I bought it. Last year's Crane MkII is awesome, but this year's is awesome in a different way. It's impressively solid. I love it. The wheels and bucket are massive. Did I say that already? Well, they are :)</div>
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The remote control functions are great fun too - having two controls and the fact that the functions are arranged sensibly between them means that you can drive it properly, and when you want, operate the bucket properly, both functions at once. I spent a good while just doing n-point turns on my desk top and trying to scoop things up in the bucket.</div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGhUgcHQc8vPMkG_eL_OZuBH_nr1_tNvmoaTS4IAG-KrbIwYz4hH1SspKA-dsU91XwkNfSupgEKobbaPOwDbTUTwTcS-9eh2dbUq3mhRp028H3SoTnWgKfzqO01kjEmYdDjPNXsUnXGIq/s640/blogger-image-1514664329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGhUgcHQc8vPMkG_eL_OZuBH_nr1_tNvmoaTS4IAG-KrbIwYz4hH1SspKA-dsU91XwkNfSupgEKobbaPOwDbTUTwTcS-9eh2dbUq3mhRp028H3SoTnWgKfzqO01kjEmYdDjPNXsUnXGIq/s640/blogger-image-1514664329.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">This is a big, heavy, impressive model!</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlrP8JuaQB2HoThV1BqUztkKbYWPqL9-z_pLR_Sz1zVJwslLWwbLue06C2CPFn5Kbff5q_wS7aqptfJ9i8DT-2yldecINUV9ETYfg8QOucUEvYKyxkBI9sRsZSd3N1iE8hx6GRk1iUGzG/s640/blogger-image--2082366823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlrP8JuaQB2HoThV1BqUztkKbYWPqL9-z_pLR_Sz1zVJwslLWwbLue06C2CPFn5Kbff5q_wS7aqptfJ9i8DT-2yldecINUV9ETYfg8QOucUEvYKyxkBI9sRsZSd3N1iE8hx6GRk1iUGzG/s640/blogger-image--2082366823.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Impressive front view.</td></tr>
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Next to 8265 there is no contest - this thing is amazing. At some point I will probably build them both and put them side by side like I did with the Mobile Cranes, but I already know what the outcome will be. 42030 is awesome.</div>
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I rated this set 4/5 overall even though while writing this review I felt like I wanted to give it 5/5. I think it's expensive, but then you do get all the power functions stuff. There are no really new pieces, but then the exception is the new massive bucket. It's not the most complicated Technic model ever, nor is it particularly difficult or challenging to build, but then it is so heavy and big, and the remote functions and play value are excellent. I'll give it 4.5/5.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Y1uvOlVyG7HTEqv7MCE9bcVcUM-WFByUd-z7ZFMrWRkLUYxhrdL10xCE6W7RATYg_lH9agodvSVwNRp2g7jwHlXee0ukgLp0kmYR330HafS2wsBQUsn6eN6rS5qrYdIxX4ot1XdPs7aM/s640/blogger-image-870225739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Y1uvOlVyG7HTEqv7MCE9bcVcUM-WFByUd-z7ZFMrWRkLUYxhrdL10xCE6W7RATYg_lH9agodvSVwNRp2g7jwHlXee0ukgLp0kmYR330HafS2wsBQUsn6eN6rS5qrYdIxX4ot1XdPs7aM/s640/blogger-image-870225739.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished model, after a bit of playing with the remote control functions.</td></tr>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-62993374756269528722014-06-24T12:38:00.001+01:002014-06-24T12:45:14.904+01:00Wiggle KiloToGo Flat Out in the Fens 2014Well, that was the longest ride I've ever done by some way. But it wasn't boring, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.<br />
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I mean, 152 miles was never going to be easy, but I was prepared for a real sufferfest which never happened. Good preparation? Good weather? New aerobars? Eating properly? Probably all of these. The weather I think was kind - I had expected it to be a lot windier, which would have made some of the long straight roads quite an ordeal I'm sure. Apparently last year it was like that, so again I have been lucky with the weather! It was hot and I had plenty of suncream on, especially on my left leg which is essentially now just one big scar below the knee. I need to find out whether it's OK to have it in the sun a lot, or whether there's still some risk I'm running by doing that. Anyway, I put loads of factor 50 on it so should've been OK.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixo8ap8389ru8YWoNFAxINp5GjR4b5nXFaMf-ZW8Q5lhoZ02i1dcLkoRFSQkDFyS4RG74dSuYN8nZrftFNCcxLIQ6fEwpc-fRkCXzxkBTy10WfM2S6cTi8-1IxrgOLzVowt2PuU2P_rSr/s640/blogger-image-1053196146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixo8ap8389ru8YWoNFAxINp5GjR4b5nXFaMf-ZW8Q5lhoZ02i1dcLkoRFSQkDFyS4RG74dSuYN8nZrftFNCcxLIQ6fEwpc-fRkCXzxkBTy10WfM2S6cTi8-1IxrgOLzVowt2PuU2P_rSr/s640/blogger-image-1053196146.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the start line, at Peterborough Regional Centre.</td></tr>
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As I said in my pre-ride musings post from last week, I really had no idea what to expect from this ride time or pain wise. I guess I was preparing myself for the worst. Pretty early on though it became clear that I was going to finish this ride somewhat quicker than I imagined, if I could keep the pedals turning! I was using my average speed to gauge my effort, in the first 30 or so miles up to the first feed station, the average was around 18 mph. Big groups of riders were passing me, something which continued through the day, but I wasn't tempted to join any of them. I know all the stuff about effort in a group etc., but I'm sorry to say I just don't like it very much - I don't like being so close to people and not being able to see the road properly in front of me. One or two people is OK, but more than 5 and I'm getting nervous. Plus, these groups were going at about 21 mph, which even factoring in the saved effort is too fast for me I think. I kept reminding myself that my race was with myself, not with anyone else.<br />
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In terms of eating, I decided to stop at all 4 feed stations and make sure I was eating along the way. I think I ate more on this ride than I've ever done before, because I was concerned about the bit between 110 and 152, i.e. the end, and how tired I would be. I didn't want to struggle because I had been stupid and not eaten enough. I also thought that signal permitting I could send tweets and texts to Mum and Rebecca from these points.<br />
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The stops were at 29, 67, 95 and 130 miles. At all these points I refilled my two bottles, most times with OTE energy drink from sachets I was carrying. I made sure to eat two of the things on offer at each stop; small size cheese and onion pasties, sausage rolls, sandwiches, cakes, half bananas. This was on top of the 3 Mule Bars, one OTE Duo Bar, one packet of Powerbar Shots, 2 OTE energy gels and 2 OTE caffeine gels I ate on the move. The caffeine gels are awesome - I saved these for near the end and had one at 110 miles and the other at 140. They give you a nice boost.<br />
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It was the first time I've ridden with aerobars. I got them specially for this ride because of all the long, flat, straight roads. They're brilliant. Apart from anything they give you another position to be in, to be able to keep shifting around every now and again and stay loose. On top of that I think they give about an extra 1-2 mph. This ride was great because I was able to think about and test that during the day. I won't use them all the time, but on rides like this, and the one I'll do with Tijl in Belgium next month, I think they'll be really useful. They're Profile T3 Plus bars from Wiggle, in case you're interested.<br />
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The route was not boring. There really are some super straight roads in the Fens though - one of the stretches was, I think, nearly 7 miles straight as an arrow. Wow. The sky is big round there and there were also lots of villages on the way. Lots of interesting water management works too, engineering stuff that reminded me a lot of the Netherlands. Probably the best stretch I can recall without thought was the bit along the River Great Ouse up to Downham Market.<br />
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Time-wise I could see after about 50 miles that I was going to do quite well compared to my expectation. I had it worked out by that point that I would have to have a major problem not to end up with a Silver time for this ride, a bit surprising since on the other KiloToGo rides this year I've not even managed Bronze. I think the weather must have been a factor, but having said that I did feel good most of the way, so maybe the training has helped :)<br />
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I got a few comments about my Holme Moss jersey, which I wore on purpose as a sign that I'm from a place with big hills. Some guys from Wakefield passed me and let on.<br />
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At the end I was able to have a sit down and reflect on the previous 9 hours and 15 minutes. Lots of easy miles was my conclusion, just that there was 152 of them! I wasn't expecting to feel like this, but I think I might do this one again! There was something very different about it, but also very good. You are able to get completely in the zone, it is very relaxing. This is going to sound very silly, but at a couple of points I was actually fleetingly worried about falling asleep.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Resting at the end. Aerobars are brilliant.</td></tr>
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Afterwards I had a rest, ate a flapjack, and drove back to the hotel, The Bell Inn in Stilton for a shower. The day ended with a few beers, some phone calls, internet and strava updating and a big juicy burger with stilton on it and chips. Mmmm. I checked my justgiving donation page - link to the right of this page - and it was up to about 450 pounds raised for the North West Air Ambulance. That's great!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR-lx7eUX6amz4Z9Mo_Pyc1OasrbdI-Ll0QIUEu1sxkhNtBHrKd9brqzg8Qjc2PfPUTCAhX1Tx1OzgfleVWVXa_7NTv79S2VEpY2Zy2ZY0qx3-wLeaPPg1qTQUmOpPjtJ5dyB2cae87kF/s640/blogger-image-1413266067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR-lx7eUX6amz4Z9Mo_Pyc1OasrbdI-Ll0QIUEu1sxkhNtBHrKd9brqzg8Qjc2PfPUTCAhX1Tx1OzgfleVWVXa_7NTv79S2VEpY2Zy2ZY0qx3-wLeaPPg1qTQUmOpPjtJ5dyB2cae87kF/s640/blogger-image-1413266067.jpg" /></a></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Later, back at the hotel, a well-earned beer. Oakham Ales' Bishop's Farewell.</td></tr>
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Here's my strava entry for the ride. I was very interested to hear what my friend Tijl would say after he saw this - "absolutely brilliant performance!" was his verdict, and who am I to argue? I won't be being hard on myself this time. My moving time was 8h 33m.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/156795129/embed/2844a69d2a4ef523d371a5f07f7f4ea8c6442afc" width="590"></iframe><br />
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-31710804856540079122014-06-18T13:28:00.000+01:002014-06-18T14:57:58.325+01:004 years on, KiloToGo Flat Out in the Fens pre-race thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
It's a special weekend this coming one. I'm off to the Fens, east from Peterborough, to ride the Wiggle KiloToGo Flat Out in the Fens sportive. I'm doing the 152 mile option, which will make this by some stretch the furthest I've ever ridden in a day, assuming I complete it of course :)</div>
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But it's special because it marks the 4th anniversary of my appointment with destiny, June 21, 2010. The World Cup has been reminding me of it too - I know I watched some of the last one from a hospital bed in Preston but I can't say I remember a right lot of it. Although as an England fan that may be a good thing ;) </div>
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<h3>
4 years on</h3>
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Over the 4 years since several factors have returned me to the point where I can consider doing the kinds of rides I used to do, and even go beyond. In the first place there's the NHS, who saved me and put me back together, rebuilt my leg and followed up with me until just recently, to make sure I was as good as they could get me, for free. I suspect that most people in this country have no idea how lucky they are that we have the healthcare system we do. Long may it continue to be so. </div>
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The encouragement of friends and family has been important. None of them have ever 'managed my expectations' which would have been a valid thing for them to try to do, but I guess they know me well enough to know it's not what I wanted. If I haven't already, I'd like to thank them all again for their support - knowing when not to speak as well as when to - and also to apologise again for putting them all through this in the first place.</div>
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Finally, and in a rare departure from my usual modest self, I know my attitude has been one of the most important factors. I have tried to stay as positive as I could throughout the whole episode, and for the most part I've succeeded. Last week some people who really didn't have to paid me a massive compliment by describing me as 'amazingly positive' and 'a shining light'. These were the guys from the insurance company, a matter which I'm pleased to say, 4 years on, is now behind me.</div>
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It's unlikely I'll ever run again, which crosses off all sorts of things as possible, but I can live with that, and you never know, right? I'll never go a day again without pain in my leg and ankle, but it's the price of being alive. I will probably have another operation in the next couple of years, to break my ankle a few times and hopefully make this pain more manageable, and walking a bit easier. I might have a few more operations to make my leg look nicer, but there's probably not a lot of point is there? The days of me being a leg model are over ;)</div>
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There have been moments where I've been really sad and have struggled - I still have flashes of it and there are some persistent and annoying symptoms of post-traumatic stress, but it was worst was when I couldn't ride. In the 895 days I couldn't ride my bike, sometimes it looked a long way off, but the truth is I never genuinely doubted - I knew I'd turn the pedals again eventually and I knew I wouldn't just turn them, I'd push.</div>
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And here we are.</div>
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Flat Out in the Fens</h3>
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The furthest I've ever ridden in a day before was 108 miles in 2009 in Wales. Since then I've ridden 100 miles a bunch of times. What are the issues with this ride then? OK well it's flat. I did more climbing within 4 miles of my house the other day than I will do in the whole ride on Sunday. So that makes this one different. Flat brings two potential problems to my mind: first, you have to pedal pretty much the whole time. On a more normal ride you at least get to freewheel down hills if you want a rest, etc. Second, wind. There will be no protection from potentially strong winds. There may be many, many miles riding into a headwind. I don't like that at the best of times, but after 100+ miles that could be a killer.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35fJbwqMlZvUkMu2j6pxSF9l8n5rsTjx7uGQ5qDDdLNLt1mHFE5zFLoaPJ56C-pcqOhy7pz9_1B2VdKSuBF6fWR5UwoBy8qnd8nrxPtxMeP228zDT3LJVLPPe47iCHFx6gQutxxs98NDU/s640/blogger-image--850326809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35fJbwqMlZvUkMu2j6pxSF9l8n5rsTjx7uGQ5qDDdLNLt1mHFE5zFLoaPJ56C-pcqOhy7pz9_1B2VdKSuBF6fWR5UwoBy8qnd8nrxPtxMeP228zDT3LJVLPPe47iCHFx6gQutxxs98NDU/s400/blogger-image--850326809.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got my number and timing chip, and some new OTE bottles and smart bottle cages for the occasion.</td></tr>
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Anything else? Well, yes. Eating and drinking. Of course there's the well-stocked feed stations as usual with KiloToGo rides, but availability of food is never my problem - it's eating it. This time I will have to be really disciplined and eat regularly. This is too far to push through I think. Sometimes by 90 miles I'm thinking - I'm hungry and aching a bit but only 10 miles to go... this time it will be 60. Yikes. It's a long way. I will aim to carry enough food with me for the whole ride as usual, and only use the feed stations as top up and to get water. I'll probably adopt my usual strategy of missing the first one altogether. If it's super hot I will need water, but that should be quick.<br />
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What else? Fundraising. This time I'm going to ride for the North West Air Ambulance. I didn't need them, but people involved in similar accidents to mine regularly do and regularly get saved by them. I think they're an extremely worthy cause and will for sure help people like me, so they count. I hope to raise a significant amount this time, even though I know people may be getting tired of sponsoring me now - I have to think about that for the future. As usual, you can donate by clicking the JustGiving link on the right hand side of this page.<br />
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My other thoughts at the moment to do with the ride are slight worries about pain in my ankle, my contact points (hands and bottom) and lower back. I'm not sure what state I will finish this one in! I'll probably take some Ibuprofen and Paracetamol with me and hope not to need it. Also we can hope that the weather will play ball again - no rain and no wind would be best! Finally, I have no idea what time to expect or to aim for on this one. As I said, it'll be pedalling pretty much all the time which is not what I'm used to. I was thinking if I finish in 9 hours I'll be happy, but really I don't know if that's realistic or not. I guess we'll find out won't we!</div>
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My itinerary for the weekend is to leave on Friday lunchtime - on Friday night I'm staying with friends in Cambridge, who I haven't seen for a long time so that should be fun! Saturday and Sunday night I'm booked into The Bell Inn in Stilton - as in the cheese - that will be lovely I'm sure. On Saturday during the day I will go and find some pretty village to look around or something equally relaxing. When I get to the hotel I might ride for half an hour if the weather is appropriate. It's an early start on Sunday morning - I'm aiming for 7am on the start line - so I decided to stay Sunday night too, didn't fancy driving for 3 hours after this one! So I'll come back on Monday.<br />
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I'm sure it'll be a great weekend whatever happens on the ride. I will see another part of the country I've never really seen before and I hope that I can raise some money for a good cause at the same time. I will try my best to write a proper ride report as soon as possible afterwards. I know I'm not always very good at that!</div>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-22702781087877622702014-05-01T14:44:00.001+01:002014-05-01T14:47:06.337+01:00KiloToGo Cornwall Tor 2014 results as spreadsheetHere's my spreadsheet of the results from the 2014 edition of KiloToGo's Cornwall Tor ride. With this you can order stuff to your heart's content. I added columns for route option (42,64,95) and gender (M,F).<br />
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Hope it's useful to someone!<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d0scwm12hikw62t/CornwallTor2014.xlsx">https://www.dropbox.com/s/d0scwm12hikw62t/CornwallTor2014.xlsx</a>Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-17351947420009557082014-04-25T13:42:00.001+01:002014-04-25T14:08:10.815+01:00KiloToGo Cornwall Tor preparations<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Tomorrow morning we're going down to Bodmin so I can take part in the KiloToGo Cornwall Tor ride on Sunday. The route looks fantastic - 95 miles out east from Bodmin to the south coast at Looe, then weaving back west and north to the north Cornish coast then back to Bodmin. Should be a fab day in the saddle.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiisevqZ2jNXdJtqA9NXK6KVCRN8o-aMH9upRu5UhbKyHodtal4ZaborzVSFknfssfLgLmB3FbM9dzubEedkhDJhBD-ovdSRVzD35cpV6EQgXHXG6ttER4O3WPerCX4nT-tj1BRd8X-NPKg/s1600/cornwall_route.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiisevqZ2jNXdJtqA9NXK6KVCRN8o-aMH9upRu5UhbKyHodtal4ZaborzVSFknfssfLgLmB3FbM9dzubEedkhDJhBD-ovdSRVzD35cpV6EQgXHXG6ttER4O3WPerCX4nT-tj1BRd8X-NPKg/s1600/cornwall_route.jpg" height="296" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the route. kilotogo.com.</td></tr>
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There's also loads to do round there so we're staying Sunday night too. I'd like to go and see Tintagel, and Rebecca might go to the Eden Project while I'm out on the ride.</div>
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On this ride I'm raising money again for the NHS, and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in particular. I owe them more than I can ever possibly repay. Donate by clicking the link on the right of the page, if you want.</div>
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This morning I made sure that the bike is ready, I put new rear brake blocks on so I have a chance of controlling my speed on fast descents. I gave it a wash too. I hadn't washed it since the Lionheart ride so it was a bit dirty... but now it's all clean and sparkly.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love my race bike.</td></tr>
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As usual the weather is unpredictable so I'll need to take gear for all possibilities. Hopefully it'll be short sleeve weather but the weather forecast doesn't think so.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stuff that will keep me going... hopefully!</td></tr>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-91773332685126718322014-03-26T12:41:00.001+00:002014-03-28T09:37:46.689+00:00Endura Trek Lionheart 2014 results as spreadsheetHere is a link to an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) of the results from the 2014 edition of the Endura Trek Lionheart ride, which took place on March 23. I made this mainly because I wanted to see the times in order of the hill climb up King Alfred's Tower, so I could figure out that I was 479th fastest (!) and I make the sheet available for others who may want to play with the data in a way that the racetimingsystems site doesn't cater for.<br />
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All I did was cut and paste the data from the pages on their web site and reformat it. Not difficult, but saves you some time. The column 'E/B' is the ratio of the time the rider started the King Alfred's Tower climb to their total time for the ride. In principle this number lets you filter out those riders on 100 mile or km route independently of what route they entered (column 'Entered'), e.g. < 0.4 = 100 miles, > 0.4 = 100 km. Dirty, but should work in most cases.<br />
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The link: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/jy95yptcoynxwyr/Lionheart2014.xlsx">https://www.dropbox.com/s/jy95yptcoynxwyr/Lionheart2014.xlsx</a><br />
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While you're here, you may want to consider donating money to the NHS, who saved my life and rebuilt my left leg after I was left for dead on a road in 2010. Read the condensed version on the page <a href="http://ajmk-est1974.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-accident-and-my-leg.html">The Accident & My Leg</a>. Donate by clicking on the justgiving link to the right.Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-11618349495163891032014-03-25T10:37:00.000+00:002014-03-28T09:33:23.510+00:00Endura Lionheart 2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZlqjpG2NEgoCUVffe-4BfRpqrA48VJ_oIx1Tx-d32kgAAvrSYbg2l57x6WTB5y2Yb0cWJiczOOCD_r17_f486uggW_A4wEtMyYVTcI3t1w4Rakk38_5IrryaYg2DuZVlsJFIUiKnkxw9/s1600/IMG_5896.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZlqjpG2NEgoCUVffe-4BfRpqrA48VJ_oIx1Tx-d32kgAAvrSYbg2l57x6WTB5y2Yb0cWJiczOOCD_r17_f486uggW_A4wEtMyYVTcI3t1w4Rakk38_5IrryaYg2DuZVlsJFIUiKnkxw9/s1600/IMG_5896.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the start line, Longleat House.</td></tr>
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I picked the Endura Lionheart as my first race of the year for several reasons: one, I've never been to this part of the country before (rural Wiltshire, nr. Frome); two, I read about it in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Cycling-Routes-Chris-Sidwells/dp/0749574100/">Classic Cycling Race Routes</a> by Chris Sidwell; three, the event centre is Longleat Safari Park (well, OK, Longleat House) and the start goes past the lion enclosure! Lots of good reasons :)<br />
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This is my third event raising money for the NHS who saved my life and rebuilt my leg. You can still donate if you follow the justgiving link to the right of this page. <br />
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Rebecca and I drove down on the Saturday and stayed in Frome at the Old Bath Arms Hotel which is very quirky - I seem to know how to pick these places - without realising I'd chosen a pub/hotel which has themed rooms! We were in the Hollywood Room which was lovely. I was quite impressed with this place actually. Frome is a town which seems to be on the border somewhere between a tourist place and real life, if you know what I mean. We found a good Italian restaurant, Castello's, across the street from the hotel and then after a pint it was sleep time for me!<br />
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Sunday morning and I was up at the crack of dawn raring to go see the lions. Frome is about 5 miles from Longleat so I had decided to bike to the event centre to avoid the stress of parking and getting everything sorted there. I took my time and got my stuff together in the hotel car park, then set off at about 0725 for the event. Found it no problem, only had to look at the map once to make sure I was going the right way.<br />
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First thing on getting there - this is a really really good venue for an event centre. There's lots of space, beautiful grounds, the house itself. Top. The weather was OK but it felt like it might become a bit changeable, and so it proved! Because I'd ridden in I just went straight to the start line and queued up. Got underway about 0815. First stretch is through the estate and past the safari park. No animals to see :( Maybe it was too early for them or maybe they don't come near the fences, I don't know. But getting chased off by lions was only a dream after all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqSAJRMGdk3hCtUzdf6gjhlccbAyS02qMIo8Z8DvZtA8kZaGqSYImxPx3tysR46yiaxjrTna7uW6aFv0Zt9AjB8W4BlOhX81LgzR6cJCA_cYK40o7Fz4PIhWyJik-CcUApQASYfeubz05/s1600/0753B-ELH07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqSAJRMGdk3hCtUzdf6gjhlccbAyS02qMIo8Z8DvZtA8kZaGqSYImxPx3tysR46yiaxjrTna7uW6aFv0Zt9AjB8W4BlOhX81LgzR6cJCA_cYK40o7Fz4PIhWyJik-CcUApQASYfeubz05/s1600/0753B-ELH07.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few miles in, still looking fresh. sportivephoto.com</td></tr>
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The first part of this route, the first 40 miles or so, is hilly. Not major climbs, but up-down rolling hills and countryside. Well OK, there's one major climb, King Alfred's Tower, which on this ride was a timed section too. The weather over this first half of the ride was very odd. At one point there were ice crystals coming out of the sky so hard that I had to shield my face with my hand so I could carry on seeing where I was going! It only lasted a few minutes, and thank goodness it didn't happen on a fast descent, but it was pretty mental. <br />
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Anyway, I digress, King Alfred's Tower. I don't mind admitting that I look these routes up before I do them, and I tend to make a mental note of any bits of road that have an upward chevron on them on the Ordnance Survey map. This ride had two the second of which was the aforementioned road up to the tower. The tower itself is visible from a lot of the first part of the ride, and it sort of looms in your head, you know that after 32 miles you've got this big hill to get up. I'd never ridden it before, so didn't know really what to expect, but the ride brochure described it as a 'killer climb'. Anyway it was pretty tough, as expected. There was also a car just in front of me to take into account with pacing, as well as people getting off and walking. The climb has three main pitches I would say, and after the second one, when the third and final one came into view, two people in front of me decided they'd had enough. Luckily they were far enough ahead not to bother me as they got off, otherwise I would not have been happy. On this last bit I was just thinking "14 operations, 14 operations" and that got me to the top. My heart rate was at absolute maximum on that last bit. In truth though, my climbing legs may have come back. I wasn't scared of being clipped in like I was on the Ride with Brad last year. I guess I somehow knew that I could get to the top, no matter how bad it got. So it was. I also don't mind admitting that my leg situation spurred me on. I <i>wanted</i> to see people get off and go past them. In the opposite sense, one rider blasted past me right at the top making a lot of noise which made me chuckle. Maybe he was one of the fastest up it, I don't know, I didn't get to see his number :)<br />
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After King Alfred's Tower, the emotional side of the ride changed as I began to contemplate the second half. At the second feed station (again I hadn't stopped at the first as per my usual strategy) there was a lot of food and drink, including wine tasting which I don't think I've ever seen before at a sportive feed stop! The feed stops on this ride are billed as being amazing and it's true there was a lot of cake and sandwiches etc. and Haribo! which I love and took a big handful of. I didn't stop long though - I still had my eye on the time and wanted to try to get round in 7 hours. It was already looking doubtful but I decided to push on and see what the state of it looked like at the third and final feed stop at 70 miles.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQAm5VlLSIiYNJTtUMBCs8RvEW8Pl_8eXV1nswvVkP_gEKgX6FcwiNWrTTLUwA-f5_ubyyXhuZHiRY3SNqbW5ULBWwlCaRfUU_lUvjgUc-lNu-gso8OmFpZZWIKj_x2uYIWxzX1Dqf1cW/s1600/IMG_5897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQAm5VlLSIiYNJTtUMBCs8RvEW8Pl_8eXV1nswvVkP_gEKgX6FcwiNWrTTLUwA-f5_ubyyXhuZHiRY3SNqbW5ULBWwlCaRfUU_lUvjgUc-lNu-gso8OmFpZZWIKj_x2uYIWxzX1Dqf1cW/s1600/IMG_5897.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wine tasting at a feed station after 48 miles? Surely not!</td></tr>
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By this point I was cold and wet, the weather didn't know what to do and I didn't have my jacket with me. So I didn't stop long here, just a toilet break and a refuel. Fortunately the weather settled and I didn't see rain again until the finish. The second half of the route, after the split point, is a long gradual descent along the Nadar Valley and then a long gradual ascent back up the Wylye Valley. Both of these were scenic and enjoyable, even after 50 miles already!<br />
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After feed stop 3, I knew my 7 hour target was pretty much impossible, and then getting a puncture after about 72 miles put the tin lid on it. I nearly threw my bike in the hedge at that point, I hate getting punctures, and that's two on the last 4 rides. Bah! I have even now got one of those CO2 inflation things but I didn't use it. I just decided to take my time, eat and drink a bit and press on.<br />
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This is the part of these 100 mile rides that I find the hardest psychologically, I know that once I get within 10 miles or so of the finish some adrenalin will kick in, but the hour between 70 and 85 miles is usually pretty tough. As it turned out this one wasn't too bad, the weather held out and the route was interesting enough that my mind didn't go anywhere near a dark place :)<br />
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My <a href="http://www.otesports.co.uk/">OTE</a> caffeine gel after 85 miles really picked me up - they are amazing those things - until the finish. The last few miles before the run in to Longleat House were a bit of a tease. You go right past the safari park entrance and then do another couple of miles to arrive round at the driveway into Longleat Estate. I have to say this is probably the best run in to a finish of a sportive I've ever done, right down the perfectly straight driveway to the house. Awesome. That made a brilliant end to an excellent route. Happy :)<br />
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Here's a video of the run in from my Virb camera:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXWVgUwZfUpsoB4h-XVW39plSCP2Ae8x9dGUKCEeIuSO_xcFoDLamuks_01tLaHYHvYFKiAOV7hKmdpe9eG6Td83wbhPGxs-f36K03cQY7ryu3Q6wIQhCsXd0sNChSa2NidAG2RwMWMIx/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMXWVgUwZfUpsoB4h-XVW39plSCP2Ae8x9dGUKCEeIuSO_xcFoDLamuks_01tLaHYHvYFKiAOV7hKmdpe9eG6Td83wbhPGxs-f36K03cQY7ryu3Q6wIQhCsXd0sNChSa2NidAG2RwMWMIx/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collecting my medal off the nice lady at the finish line.</td></tr>
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I find myself wondering about these sportives now that have two route options. I'm sure it used to be that more people did the longer option, but now it seems that after you pass the split point on the long route you barely see anyone. It could be that I'm slower now so everyone's in front of me, I guess I can check the results to see if that's true or not. But it could also be that more people are now doing the short option, which is a shame because I think it has led to the following situation: the first part of the ride is more interesting terrain-wise because everyone does it, then the short route zips back to the event centre, while the long route gets a much less varied extra 40 miles bolted on. I'm not really complaining about the run out along the valley and back, but it was definitely less interesting than the first 40 miles. And I think it was the same on the Wiggle Rut in October.<br />
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Having said that I would definitely do this ride again, and recommend it. No wonder it's so popular. Next time though I want to take another day and see the animals myself. I'm a bit jealous of Rebecca's day, and I think she's not a bit jealous of mine ;)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxg10zL4gYiG9zNoWF7kDciz5Jr-LXjGOvMFiZVXEDYIuG8cDZvDqFQiCZCGcDaWA9mEp1V2BwXf-MQSrWSIk19xBeN29KpDheA7jdfl3H2Yyz2ZPwdhtSr3_D87IwFpt5HwzN-mJHdQz/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxg10zL4gYiG9zNoWF7kDciz5Jr-LXjGOvMFiZVXEDYIuG8cDZvDqFQiCZCGcDaWA9mEp1V2BwXf-MQSrWSIk19xBeN29KpDheA7jdfl3H2Yyz2ZPwdhtSr3_D87IwFpt5HwzN-mJHdQz/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the finish, Longleat House.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyuqVCkS4fF2K49JQtdX8iCqBQ_R3Jb2gndYWkyKciHVRrFi_hijlFtHK-TOAQ9GY6_PBoya1-YRMmvPiNiebCyn8RSQYChQZbhNji7oUsbEODLU68HoIvZukwOIxjrGGq4npvflqtc_S/s1600/IMG_5906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOyuqVCkS4fF2K49JQtdX8iCqBQ_R3Jb2gndYWkyKciHVRrFi_hijlFtHK-TOAQ9GY6_PBoya1-YRMmvPiNiebCyn8RSQYChQZbhNji7oUsbEODLU68HoIvZukwOIxjrGGq4npvflqtc_S/s1600/IMG_5906.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Done the ride, got the T-shirt!</td></tr>
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Finally, here's my strava track for this ride. The observant will notice that the moving time was exactly 7 hours! That's quite amazing considering it was my target. If only I could do these rides without stopping :)<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/123414835/embed/4d809a57911db46a3ae23a2e8bb318db9dc9fe88" width="590"></iframe><br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-18739474184704289052013-10-27T09:57:00.000+00:002014-03-26T09:58:01.785+00:00Wiggle KiloToGo The Rut 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfOa7Av4agB-GgxLwuD8b-O21of0AF1whtK_O9t9xy3trhWURhAGCU9sc8Sn9p6e_nMwHcz4de7gr1gwmtkjF-1esv9jvBoiMPa6YWyH7kvCkXrfoyy0j_qSzkjAmF1pG0yRYTPxTKzdu/s1600/photo-4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfOa7Av4agB-GgxLwuD8b-O21of0AF1whtK_O9t9xy3trhWURhAGCU9sc8Sn9p6e_nMwHcz4de7gr1gwmtkjF-1esv9jvBoiMPa6YWyH7kvCkXrfoyy0j_qSzkjAmF1pG0yRYTPxTKzdu/s1600/photo-4.JPG" height="416" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've never been to Rutland which is one of the reasons I picked this ride. Rebecca and I stayed in Oakham on the Friday night in the Old Wisteria Hotel. This was a good choice and Oakham it turns out is a good venue for an event centre. We had a good look around on the Friday night, found a quirky Italian restaurant for some pasta dinner, and then Rebecca had plenty of things to do (= shops to look in) on the Saturday while I was out riding.<br />
One of my work colleagues is from Rutland and told me it was pretty flat. Well it isn't. There are no big hills, true, but it is very undulating rolling countryside. This ride had barely a flat section on it, the 102 miles had over 7500 ft of climbing in it! It was a very good route though, quite varied and beautiful scenery throughout.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFqLCNXlOkQsYAWqLXNRnjIOJOxz3K-h3hB3xDhUVaLSdhKH_0Sn_hWVY_4do2BjrJBPU-P2fM6XvL2bTVh4tzEh-XZfB4uu31VH_sg-H7GAd3oE6EZyMS7gsZiBycLpY470o1ENG32U-d/s1600/IMG_4743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFqLCNXlOkQsYAWqLXNRnjIOJOxz3K-h3hB3xDhUVaLSdhKH_0Sn_hWVY_4do2BjrJBPU-P2fM6XvL2bTVh4tzEh-XZfB4uu31VH_sg-H7GAd3oE6EZyMS7gsZiBycLpY470o1ENG32U-d/s1600/IMG_4743.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plenty of picturesque villages in Rutland.</td></tr>
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The weather was windy but dry and quite mild for the time of year. I wore my waterproof jacket but it was too much, and I decided half-way round that I won't be wearing it ever again for biking, it gets pretty sticky and starts to feel like a bin-liner. I'll get one specific for cycling for the future.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGOeokvrrfPXMTjc73ZjLj_O4LeHZLwMc_6e_eGXDWHhx_TwAoa4o7wPzKTRkbPwR722Q8LKl6E45VgOhtaSfC4KD9QSoH_EHyis9_y96kx8-FVqS_E22hKtHhXte01Ipm0VU-ekIbB_Y/s1600/IMG_4749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGOeokvrrfPXMTjc73ZjLj_O4LeHZLwMc_6e_eGXDWHhx_TwAoa4o7wPzKTRkbPwR722Q8LKl6E45VgOhtaSfC4KD9QSoH_EHyis9_y96kx8-FVqS_E22hKtHhXte01Ipm0VU-ekIbB_Y/s1600/IMG_4749.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The split point. Long route :)</td></tr>
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After the split point the number of riders you see drops heavily. I think many more people than before are now doing the shorter options on these sportives. I have mixed feelings about this. Anyway, as usual on these 100 mile routes I started struggling a bit around 70 miles. I hadn't stopped at the first feed station but I stopped at the second for a refuel. They were good and well-stocked with gels and drinks and so on. If I hadn't have stopped it would have been tougher, but of course it ruined my overall time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_PIhZqbXjejoA6bIxO78b71hrB43zYgC4HUUlHQypd-4BVDFSAGD18z6HE6qxoXraOxL2-2U4t00DjL0Ig1pRoW8pVWaZK4HhI6HaANJZ3DkogEx8_DnazuHO0RKamQ6Ifl0yY9emr1K/s1600/IMG_4752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_PIhZqbXjejoA6bIxO78b71hrB43zYgC4HUUlHQypd-4BVDFSAGD18z6HE6qxoXraOxL2-2U4t00DjL0Ig1pRoW8pVWaZK4HhI6HaANJZ3DkogEx8_DnazuHO0RKamQ6Ifl0yY9emr1K/s1600/IMG_4752.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are a lot of rural lanes on this route, but not too rutted or muddy. Perfect!</td></tr>
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In the end my moving time was about 6h45m which would have been good enough for a Silver medal on the day, but with feed stops and photo stops and twitter stops I came in in 7h23m which was only good enough for Finisher status. But still, it was a good day in the saddle, and Rutland is worth another trip.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuZw72a1Mw4dx0Bbt3kaLkSc95dlckKYip3uDJfs_t0qKjABgi7WyLUk_ciF1tVflZKb-_HS8F9B0p9pSJWylW4a4FQRU29ICw-vscRgr-DjndtOv8yFZ1xkVDJhh49ezb2btU7wTjrCj/s1600/IMG_4754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuZw72a1Mw4dx0Bbt3kaLkSc95dlckKYip3uDJfs_t0qKjABgi7WyLUk_ciF1tVflZKb-_HS8F9B0p9pSJWylW4a4FQRU29ICw-vscRgr-DjndtOv8yFZ1xkVDJhh49ezb2btU7wTjrCj/s1600/IMG_4754.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tired Andrew at the finish.</td></tr>
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Here's my strava track for this ride:<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/91559098/embed/9928bc2edfda60c8e06d04ad17b771cb5fcc6431" width="590"></iframe>Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-74663134504286636022013-09-18T16:47:00.000+01:002013-09-18T17:11:25.392+01:00The Leeds Big Bike Ride 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8_Q5OjCbDtYGQxQ31HdAkPaST2b-lefnYi_7g_vVNR2OVIjx6c_cX_3EhBpCFwffGhXW72rF6mOhZkiuIY0KHEGj70bHpTPhDvwOlO9q0ritCNpTBxEPr1FYlISFH-rioCrazla9yb5e/s1600/Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8_Q5OjCbDtYGQxQ31HdAkPaST2b-lefnYi_7g_vVNR2OVIjx6c_cX_3EhBpCFwffGhXW72rF6mOhZkiuIY0KHEGj70bHpTPhDvwOlO9q0ritCNpTBxEPr1FYlISFH-rioCrazla9yb5e/s320/Image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On Sunday I did the Leeds Big Bike Ride, '100' miles for charity - the Leeds Children's Hospital. Thank you to those who sponsored me!</div>
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The ride started and finished in Roundhay Park, and there were two route options - 100 km or 100 miles. In actual fact by my GPS the 100 mile option was 98.5 miles. This was a bit of a disappointment in a way since I had hoped this would be my first 100 mile ride since the accident. That will now have to wait until October 26 in Rutland, unless I go and do one round here first of course! I did think about doing a lap of the park at the end to make it 100 miles, but that's not right somehow is it?</div>
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For the weekend I had hired a car, to make getting there and back less stressful, and I stayed Saturday night at Clair and Matt's house (Clair is my cousin). That was good too as I got to see them and their new place and Seb of course, their 1-year old son. I got there around 1930 and Matt made us a risotto which was tasty and good carbo-loading for the ride too!</div>
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Sunday morning was an early start, 0600 Weetabix and a coffee, then hop in the car to the start. Matt was going to do the 100 mile route with me, but he changed his mind due to the weather forecast (more in a moment) and decided to do the 100 km route instead. It is true that the weather forecast had not been good for Sunday - heavy rain and local gale force winds was the prediction. I was a bit worried to be honest but it would only make it harder, not impossible! And I'm always a bit skeptical about the power of the weather forecast, especially when it's made 4 days out. Even one day out, weather forecasting in England is pretty rubbish. Small land mass, lots of hills, etc etc. </div>
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A look out of the window on the morning suggested it might rain, but it didn't look too bad. It hadn't rained overnight and it wasn't raining currently. About as good as you can hope for! At Roundhay Park it was a simple matter to get my rider number and fix it to my bike. We had to fill in a card and exchange it at the start for the route map. One of my criticisms is that the route was not published, except in cartoon form, ahead of the ride. More on that later!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZF8dWzq_SGfsNBrA-uK1zMI-MAko6X6Mkb_q5uBEPHjtxXz1XEMUNohbuUx3-IESjblGwVyFH_SOzFHEyK2Nmv8EOIAxHOMbn6A7tOD94la50oZd3Dal3LGmIvWYbK8fcuCgjTdYZZb7U/s1600/IMG_4614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZF8dWzq_SGfsNBrA-uK1zMI-MAko6X6Mkb_q5uBEPHjtxXz1XEMUNohbuUx3-IESjblGwVyFH_SOzFHEyK2Nmv8EOIAxHOMbn6A7tOD94la50oZd3Dal3LGmIvWYbK8fcuCgjTdYZZb7U/s400/IMG_4614.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My lovely Focus bike, ready to go number 260. New bar tape, done by my own fair hand. OTE sports bottles. Lights in anticipation of bad weather!</td></tr>
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I had made some allowances for the impending apocalyptic weather though. I put my lights on, just a frog on the front but a proper Cateye one on the back, in case it got really rainy and poor visibility. I used my saddle wedge to put my tools and spare tube in - don't normally do that. It allowed me to wear my Paclite jacket without it getting stretched and uncomfortable around my jersey - the same one I wore for the Ride with Brad, but with hardly anything in the pockets. I put gels and drink sachets in one of the drinks bottles, so I was only carrying one bottle of fluid - the rest stops looked quite frequent (every 17 miles or so) so I wasn't too concerned about that. I put some snacks and my car keys and stuff in my jacket pocket which was a bit bulky but not too bad. Ready to go!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKypiT7TFh8T_JUiPyclx7IEvEudn4IDLH2Me0CLh2IA-jMpdzVbmL3J6VtLIrjZ8-wqFMQalzlNBCJ7Kjdsmde-mjjJpK59scTRrhyphenhyphenzpa7gHg3yBZSWjlnP0erxLUrhyphenhyphenzXZxvRV3L0pEj/s1600/IMG_4615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKypiT7TFh8T_JUiPyclx7IEvEudn4IDLH2Me0CLh2IA-jMpdzVbmL3J6VtLIrjZ8-wqFMQalzlNBCJ7Kjdsmde-mjjJpK59scTRrhyphenhyphenzpa7gHg3yBZSWjlnP0erxLUrhyphenhyphenzXZxvRV3L0pEj/s400/IMG_4615.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start line, Roundhay Park.</td></tr>
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The ride started off quite simply, a drop out of the park and onto the A58 up the hill out of Leeds. This road I have driven many times in my life on the way back from Manchester to Mum and Dad's before the M62-A1 link (M1) was built. But I've never ridden it obviously because it's quite a busy road! After the roundabout turn right onto a smaller lane, that's better. Matt and his friend Nick had gone off like the clappers and this was the last time I saw them! I had to let them go, they were doing 62 miles and at that pace I would have buried myself in the first 50 of my route. So off they went! On my own, pacing is a lot easier anyway.</div>
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The weather wasn't bad at all. It was windy, but so far, dry. The first rest stop that I stopped at was in Naburn, at the pub there (name forgotten!). I ate a chocolate bar and refilled my bottle. If this was repeated at all the rest stops everything would be fine, I felt sure, fluid and food-wise. </div>
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The split point of the route was in York, which we approached from the south through Church Fenton. This was all pretty flat, as expected. In York we did a strange little loop around a roundabout where the shorter route split off, and us 100 milers went for a little cycle through the streets of the city. That was good - I love York, and have been there many times on those streets, but never on a bike. And I knew we'd be coming back to York later on too, so much the better! On the way under the city wall on the way out, it started raining!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen24vXoaZdamen_tOBieCcIRgSIYqKqJ4Rprxlx_Tn7wF10-e15fb-y2hksXyWY8Bqb-Cq6_fGISwWGT_cHXWEh_yqoRTkeApDf7wGOSvwiRIjxvStOVPT5VqAUJ3OPCfk5nbWm0ermis/s1600/IMG_4619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen24vXoaZdamen_tOBieCcIRgSIYqKqJ4Rprxlx_Tn7wF10-e15fb-y2hksXyWY8Bqb-Cq6_fGISwWGT_cHXWEh_yqoRTkeApDf7wGOSvwiRIjxvStOVPT5VqAUJ3OPCfk5nbWm0ermis/s400/IMG_4619.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's me on the start line.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigAvDOqy7xGyFyuGfoEwLCrMEgmh1M3rS2SrwGTaPBwQAPPfceQO0s5aRs1bhiFJcbk0ig-x6N82iQ3yR1HH4wO01mLN5hLLsFxnRsqsGnQv8KXsmTWoDwnlJ9R-fvSxxTAUOe9MNAAsK/s1600/IMG_4618.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiigAvDOqy7xGyFyuGfoEwLCrMEgmh1M3rS2SrwGTaPBwQAPPfceQO0s5aRs1bhiFJcbk0ig-x6N82iQ3yR1HH4wO01mLN5hLLsFxnRsqsGnQv8KXsmTWoDwnlJ9R-fvSxxTAUOe9MNAAsK/s400/IMG_4618.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and here's Matt. Sunglasses not really necessary!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I stopped and put the hood of my jacket up under my helmet to keep the water off my head. I started the ride with my new Northwave overshoes on, so my feet should stay reasonably dry and warm. Was this the apocalyptic weather we'd been promised?<br />
<br />
Actually it didn't last long. I did get wet, but it wasn't so windy (or was the wind on my back?) and my coat kept me mostly dry. My overshoes were rubbing on my right leg a bit, but not too much. And because I was wearing shorts my feet were getting a bit wet, but it's OK. I'm tough.<br />
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North of York I knew that the route entered some less-than-flat country, the Howardian Hills. On the map I had guessed what the route would be from the cartoon map posted on the event web site, and there was only one bit with a chevron, somewhere around Sheriff Hutton (that's a place). There was indeed a bit steep bit, called Bulmer Bank, but it wasn't very long so I could muscle up it without too much difficulty. Some people were walking though, so this represents progress for me! After a further rest stop there was another steep bit called Dalby Bank, but again, I got up it without much of a struggle. Apart from rolling hills, these were the only steep bits of the ride, but I knew that it would be mostly flat, that was part of the reason for doing this one before Wales.<br />
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There were some really nice country lanes up there, and so it was a bit of a shock when the route dumped out on to a busier road, turned left at a sign saying York 13 miles, and I realised that I'd be on this road all the way back to York. Plus, there was a headwind. I had had a feeling that the wind had been on my back because the speed was quite high for not really pushing hard. And so it was that the next 13 miles were quite tough, this road has some long straight sections where basically I put my head down and got on the drops to try to minimise my cross section and reduce drag. But it was doable, and I managed to maintain 13-15 mph throughout. I did bemoan the choice of route several times though - long straights are bad enough at the best of times but worse when you're riding into the wind! At least it wasn't raining!!<br />
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Back into York, along the road that Mum and Dad always use that goes past the hospital, the same fun was experienced riding round those streets. The route went towards the station but made the sharp left after the bridge down by the river side and passed by The Maltings, one of my favourite pubs. I did stop to take a picture, and the thought of a pint flashed across my mind for a super split-second. Not today :)<br />
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After returning to York the route had us go to Tadcaster and then back to Roundhay Park. In Tadcaster I stopped at the rest stop and took the last of my energy stuff, save for one emergency gel just in case. I didn't realise how hilly it was between Tadcaster and Leeds. I remember thinking that Leeds wasn't at the top of a hill surely, so the downhill had to come sooner or later. Eventually it did come and I was back on the A58, the same road I'd left Leeds on, 7 hours earlier.<br />
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As I said, in Roundhay Park I did consider putting a loop in to make it 100 miles, but I didn't. There was a medal and certificate and a bottle of water. My bike looked like it had been off-road it was so covered in dirt from the wet roads. But I had finished the ride, in a reasonable time considering most of the second half was into a headwind, and it was another target reached, well, almost.<br />
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It did rain, I did get wet and it was very windy at times, but the weather warning stuff never came. Probably just as well but it goes to show you can't tell, the day before, let alone 4 days out.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/82663345/embed/25338e710dc256b12e39c00ab3c06ded2128c71e" width="590"></iframe><br />
<br />
Afterwards, after I had got dried and changed in the car, I went back to see Clair and Matt for a coffee. I was tired and needed a caffeine boost to get home safely! It turned out that Matt had been the first finisher for the 100 km! The winner. Just tells me really he should have been on the long route :)<br />
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When I got home I had a nice hot shower and some food. My scale told me I was 5 pounds lighter than I was on Saturday when I left. Cool!<br />
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Overall, I was pleased with this ride from my own body / recovery point of view, but in all honesty I was a bit disappointed with the route. It was for charity, of course, so I will keep my moaning to the minimum, but it was organised by an experienced bike event company, so I would have expected a slightly better (cycling-wise) route than the one we got. It was billed as being mostly on country lanes, and there were some lovely bits, but for me there was too much on busier roads - even if they're B-roads. The Howardian Hills are lovely and I have never biked there before. And riding through York was fun - I would do both those bits again happily. But over the rest of the course there was too much turning the pedals and not really enough to see! I'm sure one could come up with a 100 mile route starting and finishing in Roundhay Park which was much more interesting than that one. And if I'd designed it, it would have definitely been 100 miles long!<br />
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But as I said, it was for a very good cause, and I hope they raised a lot of money. I heard that there was about 1000 riders on Sunday. That seems high to me, I didn't see a whole bunch of people at the start, finish or going round, but maybe the majority were on the 100 km and they left after me and finished before me, it could be.<br />
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Would I do this one again? No, not unless they change the route. Maybe next time it could go the other way up to Harrogate and Ripon? Or towards Skipton and the edge of the Dales?<br />
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And a 100 mile ride has to be 100 miles. Sorry, it just has to be.<br />
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Next? The Autumn Epic on October 6, 95 miles but in the hilly Welsh Marches and Elan Valley.Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-34717885827015473112013-08-19T11:47:00.000+01:002013-08-19T11:47:51.444+01:00Evidence of Improvement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Those who know me will not be at all surprised to learn that I keep meticulous records of my bike rides! At the outset of my cycling recovery, which started in January, I decided to ride a few routes which I could use at subsequent points in time to measure how I was improving. These rides would not be long - they couldn't be because I had to be able to do them at the beginning! But they would be reasonably all-out efforts, on as similar equipment as possible.</div>
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I now have data for three rides on two of the routes, and here is one of them, I call it Torkington Road Loop CW (clockwise). Briefly it is the descent and pull up from my house to the A6; the A6 to Hazel Grove; Torkington Road to Hawk Green and then Marple back to New Mills via Strines. It's 14 miles. There is a long descent between Disley and Hazel Grove, and a long ascent between Hazel Grove and Hawk Green. Here is a map:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLaxwy3rSBe8PLtfn6OqiSvWR3RE7gYZRrp-3jkp_Sy-LjQleI1X9ivi6cmNZATZTv23rPkNhAbsLvYYoRY81FUdeZqfD8Xz83ipFY1K1a-wDWPf7XR6W8fpCD-NAnAV8hz0MeoaJ30P0/s1600/torkington_map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLaxwy3rSBe8PLtfn6OqiSvWR3RE7gYZRrp-3jkp_Sy-LjQleI1X9ivi6cmNZATZTv23rPkNhAbsLvYYoRY81FUdeZqfD8Xz83ipFY1K1a-wDWPf7XR6W8fpCD-NAnAV8hz0MeoaJ30P0/s640/torkington_map.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of test route Torkington Road Loop CW. <br />
I use the program myTourBook for recording my rides offline and Strava for online.</td></tr>
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I did this route on January 15 2013, it was the fourth ride I did after returning to action, on my old mountain bike. I did it again on April 14 and again yesterday, August 18 2013.</div>
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The numbers in the following table come from my GPS and from Strava. The speed, power and heart rate are the averages for the ride. Weight is the weight of everything out of the door, i.e. me plus bike and stuff in pockets.</div>
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<tr align="left"><th>Date</th><th>Moving time</th><th>Weight (kg)</th><th>Speed (mph)</th><th>Power (W)</th><th>Heart rate (bpm)</th></tr>
<tr><td>January 15</td><td>1:12:17</td><td>97.7</td><td>11.7</td><td>167</td><td>175</td></tr>
<tr><td>April 14</td><td>1:02:05</td><td>93.5</td><td>13.6</td><td>212</td><td>179</td></tr>
<tr><td>August 18</td><td>0:54:12</td><td>93.0</td><td>15.6</td><td>253</td><td>171</td></tr>
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To be honest I wasn't really expecting such a big change yesterday. I felt pretty tired straight out of the door from the ride I did on Saturday. I knew on the gradual ascent between Hazel Grove and Hawk Green that I was a lot stronger though - the first time I did this ride that road seemed very hard. Yesterday it was not as bad and I managed to push all the way. I didn't use the small chainring at all yesterday. I knew I would knock off a few minutes but I'm surprised and very happy it was 8. That's over 30 seconds per mile :)<br />
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I think it's also interesting that my average heart rate is down as well. You can also see my body changing from the following histograms. Not sure what a sport scientist would make of these, but to me it looks like a pretty significant improvement when taken together with the times and power outputs.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdFhyphenhyphen0S6iI3fdVl6rClmEJoLTRv03pmgIvY_20_CvHL2iR_5zf2tyedqmy3m2n02LilBGejSWCAFVPK-aH17NOzZ2SZ4X9kxCGguW6cDQy5stiTBHJk0TLXFWbe6hVTsfB4c8Sb6mPPnX/s1600/torkington_heart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZdFhyphenhyphen0S6iI3fdVl6rClmEJoLTRv03pmgIvY_20_CvHL2iR_5zf2tyedqmy3m2n02LilBGejSWCAFVPK-aH17NOzZ2SZ4X9kxCGguW6cDQy5stiTBHJk0TLXFWbe6hVTsfB4c8Sb6mPPnX/s640/torkington_heart.png" width="506" /></a></div>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-71722082904766213632013-08-13T15:18:00.000+01:002013-08-19T10:52:44.758+01:00Recover - From Left for Dead to Ride with Brad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulqWAcMU0jhA-2xp8xfORnS5psQYAAfgpLRaefiMX6oTH5hDuyXP-MJS81bD1eyy5ZQRBAAgLyZTa2pKafImqfMP31gI5TJPvUKjturLTtjPioeuwzWWrHzbGqhn71MMop_LZkS3aaTZa/s1600/montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulqWAcMU0jhA-2xp8xfORnS5psQYAAfgpLRaefiMX6oTH5hDuyXP-MJS81bD1eyy5ZQRBAAgLyZTa2pKafImqfMP31gI5TJPvUKjturLTtjPioeuwzWWrHzbGqhn71MMop_LZkS3aaTZa/s640/montage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I know I'm not fully recovered yet, still on crutches, stress fractures, possibly more treatment on the horizon etc., but this week it feels like a significant enough milestone was passed to warrant the publication of my photo diary to date.<br />
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So here it is, from dying on a dark road in 2010 to finishing the Ride with Brad in 2013. Some of the photos are not for the faint-hearted, but I didn't really want to leave anything out. And I still haven't managed to secure the 'best' photo, but I will try and get it. There are a few other photos that I can't really show until after everything is over insurance-wise. So you'll have to be patient for them. For now, this should be enough!<br />
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It works best if you put it in full screen mode and if you press Show Info then you can see the captions for each picture giving the date and some commentary. You can slow it down under Options.<br />
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<param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=124984"></param>
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=124984" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fajmarkwick%2Fsets%2F72157635049524843%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F9499775477%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fajmarkwick%2Fsets%2F72157635049524843%2Fwith%2F9499775477%2F&set_id=72157635049524843&jump_to=9499775477" width="650" height="600"></embed></object>Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-46212996956134694472013-08-13T00:11:00.001+01:002013-08-13T00:12:09.893+01:00Ride with Brad 2013 results as spreadsheetI don't know why events publish their results as pdf files, especially where the times are sorted by rider surname. Most people want to be able to sort the times out into order, by route, by name, by time whatever. I know many people can do this themselves, but perhaps some can't so here I give the results from this year's Ride with Brad as an Excel spreadsheet. Basically I took the pdf from the chiptiming website (<a href="http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/2013ridewithbrad.pdf">http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/2013ridewithbrad.pdf</a>) and imported it into Excel, sorted by route, time, surname, then saved out the xlsx. Enjoy!<br />
Here it is: <a href="http://www.newmillscomputer.co.uk/2013ridewithbrad.xlsx">http://www.newmillscomputer.co.uk/2013ridewithbrad.xlsx</a>Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-28813884318508678782013-08-12T10:44:00.002+01:002013-08-12T15:40:37.777+01:00Ride with Brad 2013OK, the short version is, mission accomplished :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnSL20WZyovi9MGp_vl7cCOvSRlIRT-DoU1hcuMRRHxweh6TQtFIJnITAPpCyQhsKv2d-ijtdfd5CwosSykdfvu5ulkZ05WPvRs9k7MpEpWIjgeLQ5cswYnlvGu-IhensYlqcWM281JzM/s1600/photo-6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnSL20WZyovi9MGp_vl7cCOvSRlIRT-DoU1hcuMRRHxweh6TQtFIJnITAPpCyQhsKv2d-ijtdfd5CwosSykdfvu5ulkZ05WPvRs9k7MpEpWIjgeLQ5cswYnlvGu-IhensYlqcWM281JzM/s640/photo-6.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Yesterday was the second (annual?) Ride with Brad sportive out of Barnoldswick in Lancashire. Some of you will know that I volunteered at the first one last year while my leg was in external fixation after the rebreak, and it did occur to me at the time that if they ran it this year I might be able to take part. It was a good target.</div>
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I plumped for the 100km route option, mainly as a nod to common sense and realism that I probably wasn't ready yet for 100 miles with nearly 3000m of climbing. There were a lot of people on the ride again, and I would guess more on the 100km than on the 100 miles, so maybe word had got around from last year how hard this route is!</div>
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Rebecca and I camped at Lower Greenhill Camp site where I stayed last year, a lovely camp site with friendly people, recommended. On Saturday I picked Rebecca up from work in the hire car, and we arrived at Barnoldswick, OK Salterforth actually, just before 4pm. We pitched and then went to registration at Victory Park, the event centre. The queue for the 100km was only a few people, which is why I wanted to register on the Saturday, no queuing for ages on the Sunday morning! I was on my crutches of course, which brought a few comments, and required my usual explanation of "I know it seems very strange, but walking is much harder than riding at the moment!". Anyway I got my rider number and timing chip label - the numbers and labels have your name printed on them this year! I've never been to an event where that was so - a nice touch!</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLmvQxjGVAwjSHI4TNRZyzDMbM_tHJBBZGKgvwkxDY4nFh-IsTomRkahtNA1rG4WfhbFzQr08-eelCM_XKWdDqTivjyjJWt_AO41dIxxQcbOZBizO_Fg73e3N3M1oIhgKp1nBjJynPljP/s1600/IMG_4062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGLmvQxjGVAwjSHI4TNRZyzDMbM_tHJBBZGKgvwkxDY4nFh-IsTomRkahtNA1rG4WfhbFzQr08-eelCM_XKWdDqTivjyjJWt_AO41dIxxQcbOZBizO_Fg73e3N3M1oIhgKp1nBjJynPljP/s640/IMG_4062.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Numbers with names on. Cool!</td></tr>
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Next we went to The Craven Heifer in Kelbrook for a beer and some dinner. I had a massive gammon steak which pretty much covered the whole plate - not exactly carbo-loading but it filled me up anyway. </div>
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Back at the campsite I got everything ready for the ride, put the number on my bike and checked the pressure in the tyres etc. I had decided to take a non-standard pedal configuration, on account of my nerves at making it up some of the steepest gradients. I took off my SPD-SL pedals, and put a flat one on the right and an XTR SPD on the left. That way, I could wear my Shimano shoes which have the cleats flush with the soles. This served two purposes: first I could bail easily without having to unclip on a steep bit of road, and second, if I did bail I would be able to 'walk' - walking is nearly impossible for me in the riding shoes with the SL cleats on, well, without really hurting my foot anyway. I don't like this set up because it looks crazy on the bike, but in this case I think practicality has to take precedence.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriPRb8hVkZgbax0rLwuX0lW91_O7mlVBuKfCxwDjMJiVWVrqWvpi52FVtVBteyJoCW1ryy20TCQwnQcaKtFPpcL2X1sSEvvxHSl7_e7QBeHO-y4dTi5pv8Aut7yE2EHaIAsxtXh4ZvYLC/s1600/IMG_4044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiriPRb8hVkZgbax0rLwuX0lW91_O7mlVBuKfCxwDjMJiVWVrqWvpi52FVtVBteyJoCW1ryy20TCQwnQcaKtFPpcL2X1sSEvvxHSl7_e7QBeHO-y4dTi5pv8Aut7yE2EHaIAsxtXh4ZvYLC/s640/IMG_4044.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camp.</td></tr>
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It was an early start yesterday morning - I was up at about 0545 getting excited. Got everything together, had some breakfast - tuna pasta I brought with me, made Rebecca and I a coffee and Rebecca a bacon sandwich, then packed some stuff up and headed out. Got parked and bike out of the car about 0720. Now I was happy, I'm always a bit nervous about getting to the start line on time. The start for the 100km route was 0800-0830 so everything was good. When we got to Victory Park there was a massive queue for registration, like I remember from last year, but I already had my number so I could just line up. Had a quick toilet visit, then into the line. And a long wait! I don't know why they seemed to only be letting a few people go every couple of minutes. But more likely there was a lot of people in front of me. The 160km guys had all already gone, so all these people were doing the 100km.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXuYBuqZrE3ci_cSELCDHtgajZ4iqJuO1JGuwLFpOqb_K64VKz9NpvB33emzof64CMSB_0djAPwaCGJpOpVxVDQj4F4L5qHYu8TnEDBvFK0idq7OsGubi0UorFxEC3wxCy8nGezs4pnGk/s1600/IMG_4057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXuYBuqZrE3ci_cSELCDHtgajZ4iqJuO1JGuwLFpOqb_K64VKz9NpvB33emzof64CMSB_0djAPwaCGJpOpVxVDQj4F4L5qHYu8TnEDBvFK0idq7OsGubi0UorFxEC3wxCy8nGezs4pnGk/s640/IMG_4057.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Event Centre, Victory Park, Barnoldswick.</td></tr>
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While I was waiting Rebecca was alongside over the barrier taking pictures and chatting. Then there was some commotion up front and apparently Sir Bradley Wiggins was in attendance! He gave a typically verbose interview: "Are you looking forwards to it?" "Yeah, should be a good ride." Then he and the Wiggle-Honda girls were on the start line and after a half-hearted countdown, they were off. After that, they let the rest of us all go off quite quickly. That was the closest I came to Sir Brad all day!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-iXpOqfGIwXuy1KmwJ8FrYN3sIYxp16Nj4pS4qym9BagpqDH-xcBIWxhO4fEIlrbbBObrV4bq1V4f0DExFNzV-uSF8YvgBp0d4uYKPWTH0xQIacUXBkCTVDHNtjroKvbGX6DOEFP0Zxr/s1600/IMG_4058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-iXpOqfGIwXuy1KmwJ8FrYN3sIYxp16Nj4pS4qym9BagpqDH-xcBIWxhO4fEIlrbbBObrV4bq1V4f0DExFNzV-uSF8YvgBp0d4uYKPWTH0xQIacUXBkCTVDHNtjroKvbGX6DOEFP0Zxr/s640/IMG_4058.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting to get going.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGKen-DSJj8o98hSnHSxjgKdcKxAYh6y-r0G7kX62qgvfwU5sydciM1822OY5RM7Ju6UnhHmZrNXOYgbq9PE3tfaQHbBN1UQHKVvreDqTHZ7DqQH0DhvtGPgx2XDsSwoYBwnxN34vwfXF/s1600/photo-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGKen-DSJj8o98hSnHSxjgKdcKxAYh6y-r0G7kX62qgvfwU5sydciM1822OY5RM7Ju6UnhHmZrNXOYgbq9PE3tfaQHbBN1UQHKVvreDqTHZ7DqQH0DhvtGPgx2XDsSwoYBwnxN34vwfXF/s640/photo-3.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And ready for the rain!</td></tr>
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The route, which I had studied on the map of course several times, starts off easy. About 15 miles of easy actually, until Waddington where the fun begins. Waddington Fell was the first proper climb of the day and it's quite long, and has a sharp pull near the top, but it was the first of the day so no real problem, legs quite fresh and all. I sent a tweet from the top, had a minute's rest and then started down the other side. Rain! No, wait, hail? Stinging the face anyway. I had set off with my Berghaus Paclite jacket on in anticipation of some rain and that helped I'm sure. It was quite an exciting descent on a wide fairly smooth road so no danger to worry about even in the wet. At the bottom of Waddington Fell at Newton there's the split point, 100km to the left. The 160km riders had gone off here for a 40 mile loop through the Trough of Bowland, which I've ridden some years ago and it's pretty spectacular. Then they rejoin us at Dunsop Bridge, so for them it's 40 miles but for us it's about 3 or so.</div>
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After that we're heading south, nice easy miles for a bit until a sharp pull up to the first Feed Station at Wildboar Forest. I stopped here at the junction for a rest and to take stock, but decided not to go into the feed stop and instead to push on. Mainly I was aware that the next climb was the one I was not looking forwards to the most, and I wanted it over. Longridge Fell, Jeffrey Hill. Now that's a ramp. It was here that I realised my pedal and shoe choice had been very wise indeed. I think I got about 5/6 of the way up the first really steep bit before I cracked. It's a shame because I knew that at the bend it eases off a bit, but there really wasn't enough strength in my thighs. It's not all about endurance - I've got loads of that (modesty) - I just need more strength for those really steep prolonged bits where I'm out of the saddle. Anyway, I wasn't the only one beaten by this short stretch of tarmac! So I walked around the bend and stopped for a little rest to compose myself. Then back on and OK until the top. But something was wrong! A strange feeling like the road got very bumpy all of a sudden. A rear-wheel puncture!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wasn't the only one walking this little stretch! Jeffrey Hill, Longridge Fell. Hard.</td></tr>
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I have never had a puncture on this bike before. Most likely it was all the pot-holes - some of the roads had had quite bad surfaces already. Anyway I knew I could fix it it was just a surprise and very inconvenient on top of Longridge Fell in the rain! Took me a while to get the tyre off the rim, took me a while to get the new tube to inflate, especially after I bent the valve, oops. There was a point where I was worried it wouldn't go up, but a bit of care and fiddling around and I got enough pressure in it, I hoped. Because now I couldn't afford another one! Oh, how bad would it be to fail this ride because of a mechanical? Something I had never considered - always thinking about me and my body, never worried about the bike which had never given me any problem in the past? I guess I spend about 20 minutes fixing the puncture. I knew the second Feed Station wasn't that far away so I could get there and get some mechanical assistance if I needed it, I hoped.</div>
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After Longridge Fell I protected the rear wheel a lot on the descents, afraid of going over a pot-hole and puncturing again, but I tried to convince myself that I must have done about 2000 miles on this bike without a puncture so it wasn't likely to happen. There's a lot of downhill on the next section, down into the Ribble Valley. Time for a bit of recovery. The second feed stop, near Billington, was a must for me. I could already feel the tiredness in my legs and with still 20 miles and some climbs to go, I admit I was a bit worried. But the best I could do was stop, rest, and take on board some food and drink. I refilled my bottles, took a few gels in my pocket, ate my banana and had a chocolate cookie. There was really a lot of stuff, I could have had muffins or sandwiches or fruit. Well catered. I had a bit of a chat with some lads who had seen my leg and were curious. They were impressed, I think. That gave me a boost.</div>
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I knew the next climb was the Nick O' Pendle which is pretty nasty about 2/3 of the way up. At the base of it I finally took off my waterproof jacket and stuffed it in my jersey - instantly I felt better - it was like being released from a sweaty bin liner! That helped too. I got most of the way up in lowest gear until, again, about 3/4 of the way up the steepest bit I had to stop. This time I only walked probably 50m over a little lip before I could get back on and then was fine all the way to the top. This is telling me something about my level of fitness / strength. What? I'll have to think about that!</div>
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I paused at the summit to take a picture. The rest of the ride from here is undulating almost until the finish. I knew there was a couple more pulls that would probably cause me problems and the rest probably wouldn't. Descending into Sabden I thought I'd punctured again :( But at the bottom I stopped and no, it was just a strange sound coming from somewhere. The climb out of Sabden is nasty. Three single chevrons on the OS map over about 3/4 mile. I didn't walk at all on this one, but I did have to stop halfway for a rest, "to admire the view". I was now passing and being passed by a nice guy on a mountain bike so we were having a bit of a chat.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit of Nick O' Pendle.</td></tr>
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After Sabden there's a nice easy miles stretch then it goes down and up near Newchurch. Here, again, on the steepest bit, I had to walk. Coming up to a house where people were watching riders go past, a nice lady came down the hill a bit clearly concerned about me (probably saw my leg!). She asked if I was OK, "yes". She asked if I had any support riders, "no". She asked if I was going to continue, "yes". Did I need her to phone anyone? "no". It is nice when people care! But really, I explained to her and her family what I already knew - I just can't get up the steepest bits, probably because of the strength, or lack thereof, in my legs still. I knew there was 10 miles to go, there was no way now I wasn't finishing, major mechanical or body-bag notwithstanding. But her Dad told me I deserved a medal. That was enough to get me to the end.</div>
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In Barley I stopped to take a gel and eat my Go bar. Because I knew Barley Fell was a climb, but no chevrons so slow and steady should win the race! It did. After that, there's a descent and a right turn, then undulating until 3 miles from Barnoldswick. This section has some nasty pulls on it, but they're all quite short, so I didn't have a problem. As usual on these rides, the legs start to come back a bit as they sense the proximity of the finish! By the time I got to the main road, and knew it was all downhill for 3 miles to the finish, I felt like I could've done the 160km route. No wait, actually I know I probably couldn't have done that yesterday. But I will next year ;)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqdTeI4zTrvFmfIkJNIqSOvnmgtwhThTx5BkkIzv4rnOk083cg6K7oHf-LcErSJfY7AvK1EQeh8yxrRO70kIjN8SM7wAsJYwZBqOurqjHIJI9lxAMq5XSDeW-sPJWwVdYmyuDmGIi7Ct9/s1600/photo-4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLqdTeI4zTrvFmfIkJNIqSOvnmgtwhThTx5BkkIzv4rnOk083cg6K7oHf-LcErSJfY7AvK1EQeh8yxrRO70kIjN8SM7wAsJYwZBqOurqjHIJI9lxAMq5XSDeW-sPJWwVdYmyuDmGIi7Ct9/s640/photo-4.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossing the finish line.</td></tr>
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At the finish, in my dreams, Sir Brad was there to congratulate me, and there was an announcement by the commentator saying how great it was that I'd made it to here after 3 years of recovery. Of course, those things didn't happen. But it wasn't really about that was it? It was about my leg, my journey, my ride, my race, my life. I'm very happy I was able to set myself this goal a year ago and realise it. I would have liked to have done the 160km route, but that wasn't realistic. I would have preferred not to have had to walk 3 times on the steepest bits, but that gives me some information about where I am and some more space to improve into. I would like to have at least laid eyes on Sir Brad, but for the second year running, I didn't. Rebecca on the other hand met him at the finish line, exchanged a few words and got a picture! I think Rebecca was a bit bored while I was out riding, but I hope that experience made up for it a bit, and it was really good to have her there as support. I liked texting her a few times on the route. And I had a text from my friend Julia too saying that everyone at church was thinking about me. That meant a lot.</div>
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After the finish, there was the goody bag - nice T-shirt this year! - and some rider food, pasta. Then I went and found Sophie (and Leah) from Pennine Events, the organisers, who I'd been exchanging emails with in the run up to this event - to thank them and to say hi.</div>
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Then we were away, to pack up the camp and go and get a drink before heading home. I was already thinking about the next ride.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUWLDPIf8h2tkd7ZAzCqOpgWvg7YgZgRIHpHr6Sn-HcuGUE3sYyQbL2_EiMMMoHw9zCbgQlZ5OmWkfQAWe6SE8sDL0zAlyhkzsPySHLL7E1Ak83ZkfrTzGRK70bHg6FQHtrK4JPUVv3rkm/s1600/photo-6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUWLDPIf8h2tkd7ZAzCqOpgWvg7YgZgRIHpHr6Sn-HcuGUE3sYyQbL2_EiMMMoHw9zCbgQlZ5OmWkfQAWe6SE8sDL0zAlyhkzsPySHLL7E1Ak83ZkfrTzGRK70bHg6FQHtrK4JPUVv3rkm/s640/photo-6.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the finish. I like my new jersey :)</td></tr>
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If you want to you can look at my data on strava. Under the circumstances, I'm quite happy with my 5h9m moving time for this ride! Again, I find it very amusing that "there are no achievements on this ride!"<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://www.strava.com/activities/73938162/embed/a4bf8a540cc6d9c77984596cfc9bee47ab579ba1" width="590"></iframe><br />
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-77311189602370409752013-08-06T12:32:00.000+01:002013-08-06T12:54:39.054+01:00Ride with Brad nervesWell, I just looked over the 100km route again on the map, I think I know where the worst bits will be. Then I made the mistake of reading a few blog posts from last year's event and now I have to say I'm nervous. "Brutally hard" stands out. Even my friend John 'irontwit' Sutton found it tough and he knows those roads! The blog posts reminded me that it did rain a lot last year so that probably didn't help. Pray for clear dry weather this year.<br />
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I used to know for sure that I could muscle my way up anything. I don't know that for sure right now. On the ride I did on Saturday, there was one hill which in April I had to get off on, but on Saturday couldn't understand why as even though it was steep, it was so short. I know I'm stronger. However I also know there are still some roads round here which I haven't dared attempt on my road bike yet. It's Tuesday today, and the ride's not until Sunday, so I could still go and test myself on those roads. But do I want to know? Obviously if I get up them it'll be a big boost, but what if I don't? This attitude is annoying. I keep telling myself it'll be OK if I just relax. I often find on a climb that I get a bit too excited sometimes and then it becomes very hard. If I can force myself to relax and concentrate on one pedal after the other, one at a time, it's usually fine. I know from my elevation vs time plot on Saturday that I'm still limited on the hills. Oh if I could swap my compact chainset for a triple just for one day!<br />
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Of course there is also the comforting knowledge that in spite of my leg, I am sure I will not be the least fit person on this ride.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50070022@N08/5496638289/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Heather way by Lancashire Lass Photo's, on Flickr"><img alt="Heather way" height="364" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5212/5496638289_9fc1b430e7.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeffrey Hill, Longridge Fell. I expect to suffer. </td></tr>
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I also realised that I have ridden some of these roads before. I knew I'd been to Waddington and Chipping on my Slaidburn weekend adventure in 2010. I've actually been across Longridge Fell on the road out of Waddington through Higher Hodder. It was up there somewhere where a deer was in the road! And I remember turning left at the Newdrop Inn before descending into Ribchester. Also that weekend I rode between Dunsop Bridge and Newton which I will do on Sunday in the opposite direction. Small stretches in common, but in common none-the-less. And it is a beautiful part of the country, that's for sure.</div>
Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-65386080968494559192013-08-05T16:11:00.003+01:002013-08-06T12:07:35.252+01:00The Comeback - August 11 2013 - Ride with BradOK so I've kept this a bit under wraps because things are so uncertain with my foot at the moment: I'm doing my comeback sportive on Sunday. It'll be the Ride with Brad starting and finishing in Barnoldswick, see <a href="http://www.ridewithbrad.com/">www.ridewithbrad.com</a><br />
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You may remember that last year I was so sick of not going to races that I volunteered at this one, external fixation, camping, crutching, registering riders and all. Last year when I was there it did cross my mind that this year's one might be around the right time for me to enter it as my first sportive in my second cycling 'career'. Anyway, a few weeks ago I got an email from the organisers, Pennine Events, asking me if I wanted to volunteer again, so I reminded them of my situation and they said it would be fantastic if I entered even though they would have also liked me as a volunteer.<br />
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After some amount of thought and a discussion with my physiotherapist, I decided to enter. But, alas, not the 100 mile route which would have been the ideal :( Common sense and reason have prevailed so I'm going to do the 100 km route, which still goes over most of the climbs - it just misses out a 40 mile loop through the Trough of Bowland. It will be 62 miles with about 1750m of ascent. The main climbs I think are Waddington Fell, Longridge Fell and the Nick O' Pendle, but there are a couple of others too. In any case it promises to be hard, especially if the weather is poor like it is today, but it will be fun and will of course be a massive landmark in my recovery. The last sportive I rode was the 3 Shires Sportive on 18 April 2010, on Sunday that'll be 1,211 days ago. I think the organisers may be going to do a bit of publicity about me because of my story but we'll see. It doesn't really matter but it would be nice to get a thank you in for the NHS and all the people that have helped me get to here. Hopefully this year I will at least lay eyes on Bradley Wiggins, unlike last year where I was so busy registering people in the tent that I never saw him!</div>
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What about my foot? Stress fracture and so on. Well, yes, it's a bit of a concern but I went out and did 28.5 miles round here on Saturday, with about 1000m of ascent, and I could feel it but it wasn't too bad. I will chew down some Cocodamol before the ride on Sunday ;)<br />
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I am quite nervous but once I set off on it and get up the first hill it will be fine I'm sure. I've ordered some new kit for the occasion - a garish yellow and red Northwave jersey and some new (black) bib shorts. It will be an early start as I'm not camping this year, probably we will need to set off about 5.30am. Rebecca is going with me - I hope she won't be too bored while I'm riding - and the set off time for the 100 km route is 8-8.30. I will tweet (@andrewmarkwick) from the start, finish and some intermediate points (probably the top of the climbs!). Exciting!<br />
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After this, the next one is the Autumn Epic, 95 miles in the Elan Valley, October 6. Instead of Bradley Wiggins, on that one I'll have my friend John Sutton (<a href="http://irontwit.creativeblogs.net/">irontwit.creativeblogs.net</a>) for company :)</div>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-6802099046532000012013-07-22T15:27:00.000+01:002013-08-05T15:51:49.583+01:00Stress fracturesThe source of my recent and previous foot pains? Stress fractures. Not nerve damage. An X-ray this morning at the hospital, an addition to my routine check-up X-ray set, shows that I currently have a stress fracture on the outside of my foot, but also that I've had previous ones (at least one) that have now healed up. In a way I'm relieved. I was worried it was a nerve problem and that may never have healed, or took a very long time. At least I know a fracture will heal. There's nothing to be done about the current one, must just take the weight off it more and wait for it to heal. But my consultant is concerned (as am I of course!) that I will keep on getting them. They are happening because I can't walk properly, the weight distribution through my foot is off, so eventually a bone is fracturing, and then ouch! <div>
So what I can do is go and see the orthotics department, appointment requested, who might be able to fashion some kind of support or insole for my shoe to even up the way weight goes through my foot. If that doesn't work, then it's going to be more surgery.</div>
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But crucially I'm still OK to ride my bike as much as I like. I just can't walk far without crutches. Strange situation to be in!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left foot: left most bone, little crack on left side = stress fracture. Next bone to right, lumpy bit near top of image = healed up stress fracture.</td></tr>
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Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-41987545846388274852013-06-21T21:10:00.000+01:002013-06-21T21:27:07.169+01:00Today I am 3. And in Rio de Janeiro.It's June 21 which means it's my other birthday. Three years ago I was newly bashed-up in Lancaster hospital.<br />
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But today, three years on, I am in Rio de Janeiro! We are visiting Rebecca's parents who now live here on account of her Dad's job. Today is our first day here, and we went to Copacabana to see the beach. It's midwinter here of course with it being the southern hemisphere, but midwinter here is about 28 degrees so it's better than our summer! The beach is so long and the sand so lovely. People come along all the time trying to sell you their wares which is, for the moment, quite entertaining. I know about 50 words of Portuguese which I learned on the plane here thanks to a cool little word learning game on KLM's in-flight entertainment system.</div>
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There have been some riots here in Rio over the last few days, but happily they are not right outside where we are staying. These people probably do have something to demonstrate about, but I still don't want to get caught up in it, and I'm sure Mum doesn't want me to either!</div>
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I miss the sea, I think where we live at the moment, while lovely, is too far from the coast. Rebecca asked if Copacabana was like Blackpool for the Brazilians :) I read in my Lonely Planet book the five page condensed history of Rio which is quite colourful making me want to learn more about the colonial past of the city and country. It is certainly reflected in the architecture, there are some beautiful buildings here, sandwiched in between the much more modern concrete.</div>
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We have a whole bunch of other sights to see while we're here, I will blog about some of them as we go along.</div>
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</span>Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-22.9035393 -43.209586899999977-23.3715503 -43.855033899999974 -22.435528299999998 -42.564139899999979tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-40181524456989666802013-06-10T11:45:00.003+01:002013-06-10T11:51:40.962+01:00The Non-linear Path of Physical RecoveryWow it's been a long time since I wrote here! Nearly 6 months! Time flies.<br />
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Since then I've done some biking, though not as much as I would have liked, or as I had planned to in fact. I've been back for a couple of X-rays, which showed little change really - you can see a bit of the gap filling in, but only if you squint at it. The bone hasn't moved though, so it's probably fair to say that the tibia is stable now.</div>
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There's still some frustrating setbacks happening though, mostly with my ankle and foot. It seems like you slowly go some way forward and then quickly come a way back again. The other week I manipulated my ankle joint again - manipulated is what they call it where you move a joint that hasn't moved for a long time basically further than you've moved it before. It takes a lot of force, like a stumble or something. Well, it takes more force the more often it happens, if you see what I mean. In the long term these manipulations are good because you are increasing the range of movement of your joints, but in the short term they are incredibly painful :(</div>
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Thus is was that in May I was very happy that I had managed to be off crutches for 6 weeks - I had even uttered the fate-tempting phrase "I'm off crutches now" - I did wait 6 whole weeks before saying that, and then a week later I was back on two crutches again! Last week I couldn't really walk, and depressing though it was I stayed at home all week - I can work at home but it's not really the same. Cabin fever sets in. Now I can just about manage hobbling around the house and down to the shop, but it's really frustrating because 2 weeks ago I was even starting to walk without really thinking about it. That's something that I now know you really take for granted, not having to think about every step and how much it's going to hurt or what angle the pavement is at or being careful to put your heel down first etc etc. </div>
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Anyway I know it'll come back, and I know it'll come back better than it was before, but you have to go through these miserable steps backward to go forward again. I've done this to my ankle once before, it swelled up in exactly the same way, hurt exactly as much, and came back better. I did it to my foot too, a massive 'crack!' when I was hobbling up a steep street - hurt like anything for a month, then got better and my foot was springier, all good.</div>
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Biking: managed to do 50 miles on the road bike in early May, mostly flat but with a really hilly bit about three quarters of the way through to test the thighs. Hard work but managed it. The other day I went and did 3 miles on my mountain bike and found it very difficult. Non-linear. My physio says biking will be good for my ankle at the moment, might help it loosen up and the swelling go down. I have realised that I have to be more serious about my exercises, because they will make it harder for me to hurt myself! Didn't think of that before, but I have now, so at least I'm learning.</div>
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I'm supposed to figure out and write down my goals (short, mid and long-term) for my physical recovery this week, before my next appointment on Thursday. When I've done that I'll post them on here! I'd like to start swimming again too - now I think I could make it to the pool without needing help or crutches, I should go and try it - I'm sure that would help.</div>
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When I can step back from the fact that it's my leg and ankle and foot and I'm connected to them 24/7, I can see that things are getting better, and that the non-linear nature of the recovery is actually quite interesting in it's own way. However sometimes it is not easy to be so detached and then you're thinking the usual "why me?" or "what did I do to deserve this?". I need to stay in control of that because it makes it worse. Before this latest setback I was starting to believe that hiking might be possible again, in fact I was almost ready to try it, and the biking, while not as frequent as I had imagined it would be, was going in the right direction. I'll get back there, I know. But it is hard to construct a plan or put times to goals when you don't know and can't predict these manipulations, setbacks. It feels a bit like a process where on a given day there's an x% chance that there will be a setback. That starts me thinking whether that's not actually always the case - you could hurt yourself any day, which would set you back. I guess when you're in the middle of a recovery like I am that chance must be greater, or you have to do less to encounter one. So making a plan like "I'm going to do a 100 mile ride by July" is, I think, a good thing, but it almost certainly has to be tempered by the knowledge that July might have to change to be August or September.</div>
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People were saying to me the other week that I'd "overdone it" - that's my Mum's favourite way of putting it. Well, if going on my mountain bike and having to put my foot down, or walking up a street or going to the shop is overdoing it - guilty! But there isn't another way, I don't hurt myself on purpose. </div>
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It'll be 3 years soon.</div>
Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-3793344484524249032013-01-21T09:49:00.001+00:002013-01-21T09:50:11.364+00:00Mac super slow and annoying?Just a quick post.. recently my desktop and laptop Macs have become so irritating to use - every time I tried to do anything it seemed like it would freeze and give me the spinning beach ball of doom for ages. Really computer-smashingly annoying.<br />
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BUT! The fixes I found on this web page... <a href="http://www.whyismymacsoslow.net/">www.whyismymacsoslow.net</a> have really worked and fixed them both back to useable computer status. I ignored the preferences fix but did the repair permissions and delete cache fixes. Worked like a charm!Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3199452687452465669.post-68875397309001727702013-01-19T19:22:00.000+00:002013-01-19T19:22:18.337+00:00TargetsToday I went out and made my cycling target for the week, which was 30 miles. This month I'm aiming for 100, which looks possible. What I'm trying to do at the moment is build up a selection of routes which I can come back to in the coming months to monitor progress. I've been looking back over my riding history from 2007 - 2010, and I am quite surprised how infrequently I repeated a route! There are a couple which I can use to see some progress with my fitness, but it would of course be easier if there was at least one route I did regularly with the same equipment.<br />
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Likewise there aren't many routes from previously that I can use now to gauge where I am compared to then. On the road bike, many of the routes I did before are too long or go up roads I don't think I could muscle my way up at the moment. On the mountain bike, many of the routes go on trails that I don't feel my ankle would like very much at the moment. Although I could try some of them, I suppose.<br />
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Hence why I'm trying to be more systematic now. I guess before I was just riding purely for fun, with no specific target in mind, whereas now I want to get back to being able to do the longer rides, races and cyclosportives I feel I need some kind of programme.<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="405" scrolling="no" src="http://app.strava.com/activities/37986611/embed/fd03a1e972fa9ea177af4918cd7103220edb41c5" width="590"></iframe><br />
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Last week I did however repeat a route that I did once before, on February 15 2009. This was the Chinley Loop, out from the house via Thornsett, left at Birch Vale, right at Hayfield, over Peep O' Day, right into Chinley, through Buxworth, onto the A6 and home. It's 11.7 miles. In 2009, moving time was 50 minutes, last week it was 1h 3m. Most of the difference was in the climb up to Peep O' Day, which isn't that bad really, but I'm quite unfit at the moment! It is quite a long steady climb, good for training. In 2009 my average heart rate for this ride was 168, last week it was 177. I've been doing a bit of investigating into this with my historical data, and it definitely seems that my average heart rate goes down when I've been training. I guess this is all well-known stuff to coaches and so on, but I found it quite fascinating to be looking at that in my own data. The program I use to record my rides, myTourbook, lets you see a histogram of your heart rate with time for each ride, colour-coded by heart rate zone. So I can compare my heart rate in zones between these two rides:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkx9ONa-HTdsUGIT16S06CBAvWxD3leQjQsNrT32riH10gp-p7fyVhsoHfn2Wv3Rn-XLo_sfRs7vQVtnoh4l3vlCqADF2N-NsO92M_YZjCPSZ8OmHw38MIf1Dk3QHdZSGMJgBjj1hLkqJ9/s1600/heart2013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkx9ONa-HTdsUGIT16S06CBAvWxD3leQjQsNrT32riH10gp-p7fyVhsoHfn2Wv3Rn-XLo_sfRs7vQVtnoh4l3vlCqADF2N-NsO92M_YZjCPSZ8OmHw38MIf1Dk3QHdZSGMJgBjj1hLkqJ9/s640/heart2013.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last week.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QGRuvYaYXtWuBkXgCwJhjxnv9ZCEVMc8wxNxRmGp4OYwB91DQ_uZph8jWya0ZDMPeJhRBzCo1cVPBo0wcLevhWigpiEmB7uVV-9bVE2JL0IKG4s7Do4u6j6e10jY13GZgKmTUEGvucqe/s1600/heart2009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QGRuvYaYXtWuBkXgCwJhjxnv9ZCEVMc8wxNxRmGp4OYwB91DQ_uZph8jWya0ZDMPeJhRBzCo1cVPBo0wcLevhWigpiEmB7uVV-9bVE2JL0IKG4s7Do4u6j6e10jY13GZgKmTUEGvucqe/s640/heart2009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Compare with 2009.</td></tr>
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On the face of it they look quite similar, but if you look at the distribution through the zones, you see that in 2009 the percentage of the ride I spent in zones 3:4:5 was about 21:43:29. Last week it was 4:49:45. That looks quite significant to me. Hopefully I'll be able to revisit this route over the next few months and compare some more!<br />
<br />Andrew Markwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01761626662033507550noreply@blogger.com0