A reflection on the past year of 2013

Well its almost Christmas day & already people, TV & radio are going on about New Years resolutions. I myself don't really do them, but I do try set goals to try achieve if possible & not an issue if I don't. Well 2013 has been one hell of a year where I have achieved so much more than I could ever thought I would do in a year.

All I wanted to achieve for the year was to improve my cycling, leg & hopefully get off my sticks. Must say the year had a bumpy start, all that snow for weeks/months. I was out in that snowy weather on my bike, enjoying the fact I could easily get about now on 2 wheels no matter the weather.

Got myself in the papers for a blog I did about the farcical works on potholes on just one road.

Then do another 30 days of Biking where I finally broke the 25 mile barrier in cycling. If anything I more than broke it, I thrashed it by cycling to Kelvedon & back & cycled the 35 miles sponsored cycle ride for Pedal of the J's which meant I did near on 40 miles that day.

Then in may I finally manage to move to Colchester to be closer to my beloved, it proved to be a blessing in so many ways as it opened up opportunities I didn't have before.

For starters, I got myself into volunteer work with Re-Cycle to help improve my legs though the cycling in Colchester was doing that already coz of its hills.

That gave me the opportunity to buy another bike, a lighter more suitable one to continue my improvements as I was reaching the peak on The Beast. But not to worry, my loyal Beast is still with me as my back up & winter bike. This is proving to live up to its name as the Trekker.

And another which I am building to be even lighter & for longer rides, hence the project name: Roadrunner.

So now 2/3 through the year & achieving quite a bit, but it was only just warming me up for October/November. For starters in October, I finally got off my sticks after 20yrs of dependency of them. As announced on YouTube 'A special announcement to all those who have been following me for the past few yrs & more...'

Then I decided to put pressure on Job Center to get help to return to work, so put on a course & the company staff running it was so impressed with my achievements, determination & willing to work. They only gone & offered me a p/t job which I started in the end of November. Its hard work but so loving it & slowly getting back into a work routine again & my leg is still continuing to improve.

So with only 1 week to go until end of the new year, I can safely say I have achieved far more this year than I ever expected. Its not been plain sailing, easy or straightforward but I got there in the end.

So what's next for 2014, TBH I really don't know as I'm still catching up mentally with what I achieved this year. I'll continue to improve my cycling, aim is to beat the 50 mile mark but I can see that I could go well past that but I wont fret if I don't. I am planning to do Pedal for the J's again too, get Roadrunner built might help with that so need to focus on that. Of course increase the hours I can do in work would be good, be great if I can be full time by end of the year but again I will take it easy to not make things worse for my leg. I don't want to undo this years good work.

So with a week to go, here's a farewell to 2013 & what a year its been & hello to 2014 & let see if you can blow my mind more than 2013 did!!

And this picture best sums up how I feel about all of this! :D

On 2 legs...

For those who been following me for a while know about me being on walking sticks & working on getting off them which I finally did almost 2 weeks back. But some don't know the background to all of this & some have asked questions or not as they feel embarrassed to or not care.

Well for those who do want to know, I thought it is time I put all of the years into 1 blog so it will be easier to just send this blog & let whoever wants to know see it all. So where do I start, well I guess we start right at the beginning & I think we should start with the prequel.

Well, I when I was little I wasn't on sticks, in fact I was full of energy & fully fit.

So as you can see, I was quite fit & a good runner etc. I also started getting into cycling in my teens & bought my first bike with my own savings.

Was a good bike to start with & got me into cycling, even did my first sponsored cycling though on a borrowed bike as this one broke just before the day.

This got my parents to buy me my best bike I have had & still miss it now, the Raleigh Maverick.

And I had many many years of use of this bike with my friend who also had one too. I did get into motorbikes too but I still enjoyed cycling. By the time I was 18, I passed my motorbike tests & got a full license & started getting a strange tingling down my left leg that didn't go away & was the start of the whole event of changes for me.

So now at 19, I am starting to get tingles down my left leg & shooting pains from the hip causing leg to give way. GP didn't have a clue so sent from one specialist after another, X-rays, MRI's, Ultrasounds, etc. Eventually they decided I had a trapped nerve in Hip joint & to free it involved an operation with a 50:50 chance of success, being young I decided to go for it as after all if it failed I was young to adapt & at first after the operation it did work but slowly came back & then had another operation & again was OK & again it came back but worse than ever. 

By this time I was in a good steady job with McDonalds as Dining Host / Party Organiser & doing well with own rented bedsit, having fun as you do in your early 20s. But this leg issue was hampering me at work so I was offered a 3rd & final attempt to sort it. I did go for it as I wanted to get fixed to keep my job; unfortunately it didn't go as planned. The nerve was so damaged from constantly being trapped; it had frayed & snapped when being freed off again. And with nerves, you can't just repair them like a frayed wire so no more could be done. So as of December 1993, I had now become reliant on a walking stick, loads of painkillers 24/7 as I was now in pain like I have never known before. The best way to describe it is like phantom pain when someone loses a limb, where they can feel the pain on the raw nerves as if the limb was still there...

So the next 4yrs, I wasn't working. I was spending 3 days a week at Physio doing pain management, trying to get off the painkillers & get a job. No job offered as to be expected as most saw me unfit to work whilst going to hospital, Conservative Government did though so had to keep looking. Eventually I did get one, Dominos Pizza as the kind Canadian franchise owner was happy to let me try out the job first & kept me as I did better than the others. But it was a short term job as I was going to College for retraining in a Disability College. Which proved quite helpful & into a well paid job for the quite a few years.

So jump a few years, I'm in a well paid job. Got a flat, moved to another flat, got married & divorced, all the usual stuff everyone does but as a disabled person using a walking stick. I kept doing my motorbiking & almost everything else; cycling wasn't in my life anymore & told it wouldn't so bike were sold off. I learnt to be a stubborn person to try everything once to see if I can do it, even if it was done slightly different than a regular person would. But I never let the disability get to me; yes I had my dark moments. Who doesn't? But saw the disability as a challenge, a way to get my creative blood flowing in new ideas to do something that technically I couldn't. From DIY, riding motorbikes & even riding horses.

So all was it should be for me, up until 2005 when I started to get a new pain in left leg & unrelated to the damaged nerve. And again it was yet more tests & just as they thought it was a damaged hip joint, they discovered something on a detailed X-ray to the cause. My bone was turning to jelly, a Bone Cyst. 

So I was booked in fast to get it sorted as it was on the verge of snapping, so no kicking, jumping, falling over, etc in case it snaps. Gave me the heebies thinking about it. But this problem was going to be a blessing to me, for the specialist doing the operation offered me another chance to fix the nerve as it was by the area being operated on. His words were 'things have moved on in the technology & can't make it any worse' so I agreed. Had the op with a few hiccups with recovery so spent 9 days in hospital. But all I can say it was all worthwhile.

Now it was all about healing & rebuilding my leg, partly coz they really went to work on my leg & couldn't move my toes for a month. Physio was hard work & soon started to get leg stronger, pain from damaged nerve had gone but as I was putting more weight on my leg the knee wasn't coping with having to take the weight again. I did try to go stick free in 2009 but didn't work out, was too soon for the knee & actually made it worse.

So I did more physio again & again, at different hospitals as I had moved to Chelmsford, Essex in 2010. But this proved to be the best bit as it was suggested during physio in 2011 to take up cycling again as a low impact exercise as I had no trouble with the exercise machines. So in June I went & bought a 'to work on' bike to suit me when I built it. 

So I rebuilt it, made it to suit me & get me fitter, stronger & slowly become better with my bike which is now known as The Beast.

But still even with cycling, doing events like 30 Days of Biking & sponsored cycled ride in April 2013, I was still on my stick. Knee still gave me agro, so I just kept on pushing the limit just a lil bit at a time. Knowing I will get there...

Well after I moved to Colchester in May, that limit went up! Colchester is definitely a hilly place compared to Chelmsford. And on a heavy Beast with shopping, that sure was a workout which proved to be worthwhile. I didn't go to nearest supermarket to buy my shopping, no I went to the furthest away. This meant pulling a 20+kg weight of shopping on a 25kg bike over the hills, this was hard work but it got easier as my leg & knee improved even more. 

So I decided it was time to go & try working part time, finding a job though was proving unsuccessful. So from August I started doing a couple hours a day working at Re-Cycle, getting bikes ready to be sent to Africa. Also meant I was standing on my feet doing the work & also was cycling 7 miles each way to this place too. This proved to help a lot. I also found myself another bike to ride, a Trek 7300. A lighter bike & definitely up'ed the game for me in cycling. So this is where I decided 2 weeks ago to ditch the stick, I felt ready too & made it public. 

 

Knee felt ready too, though it does grumble a bit when I push the boundaries. But as long as it is holding out & getting stronger, I will stay stick free. I do still use the stick for when carrying heavy shopping, eventually I will do it stick free but til then I ain't gonna be silly about it.

So there you go, a brief run down on me being on sticks. Sorry if it's a bit long to read, but if I included everything it would be a lot longer & I do mean a lot longer. But I hope you now have a better understanding, why each small improvement (trivial to some) I do when cycling means so much to me. Each step forwards is like baby steps, eventually it will be bigger steps. Every time I go out now, I feel strange & recently found out going into a busy shopping centre is stressful due to blinkered shoppers not looking where they are going & me freaking I could be knocked over & set back onto sticks. But so far it has never happened (hopefully never will), I will get used to walking stick free & hopefully before Christmas as if I don't I'll be a nervous wreck. lol

Well thank you for reading, those who follow me on Social Network sites I'll keep boring you with my update. ;-) 

Kidding, I know you're with me on this, for me to succeed. I still get a lump in my throat when I think of where I was & where I am now. Its hard to believe almost 20yrs ago I was told I'd never walk stick free again & definitely never cycle. It shows now how you never know what is around the corner. It's been an interesting journey, not one I would want anyone to take but I know this journey I took has made me a better person for it.

I could keep on, but I will end the story here & thank you for taking the time to read it. TTFN.

'Autumn' 30 DAYS OF BIKING

If you are new to me or not paid attention to my Facebook & Twitter post, I have been posting daily throughout September about #30daysofbiking, but this isn't my 1st one as I did it in April too 30-days-of-biking.

Now if you haven't heard of it then here’s the site which tells more about this global event '30 days of biking story', quite simply it’s a pledge: Ride somewhere every day for 30 days then share your adventures online.

So why did I do this 30 days of biking? Well I've done it before & was a struggle, so thought I do it again to see if A. I still can, B. I can do better. Thankfully we had some really good weather for it.

So how did I do? Well, I found it easier than last time. Managed to beat my times to town & back but the 2 main things I excelled in was that I finally managed to cycle more than 10 miles & get back in 1 trip & twice I managed to cycle to town with trailer then cycle back with shopping. Both of those I've tried some months back & failed to do, so quite chuffed I was able to.

Below are some charts showing my performance of April & September to show how I did.

As you can see I only did a little bit more in mileage & duration, but that was partly due to the fact I got a lovely stinking head cold on the last week. But I did do the 30 days & it was the last day I exceeded my endurance by pulling a trailer home with over 20kg of cat litter in it for about 3 miles. But due to being faster & working harder in my riding I'd used a lot more calories, not a bad thing & is showing on my figure & improved walking.

So as like April's 30 days of cycling, where do I go? Well, starters I will now rely on cycling & not buses. After all I can now get there faster than a bus & more reliable, I'm already kitting up winter wear to help cycle through the colder weather. I've signed up to a cycling group where they go on leisurely gentle cycle rides & plan to do more of these. I had fun with the last one to Hyland House, even if it was a 15 mile round trip.

But now I can cycle regularly & carry weight on bike &/or in trailer, it definitely means I can look to work part time. Been retraining with Jobcentre & just need someone to give me a job to help me continue improving my health at my pace, which is working just fine with the cycling. :D

But until then, I'll keep on cycling & work on upgrading part on my bike as I've definitely got my moneys worth out of the beast since buying it second hand & some parts are showing wear. I will keep you all updated as time goes on, until then how about you give it a try if you haven't already? Don't have to wait until next year, just try it now for 30 days & see how you do. That is if you don't do it already.….

WANTED!

1 JOB IN FARNHAM OR SURROUNDING AREA!

I'm on Incapacity Benefits & have been for over 4 yrs due to Health problems. 18 months ago I had an operation to fix the problem & my health have been improving in leaps & bounds!


So I am now looking for a part time job of up to 16hrs a week as part of the Pathways to Work scheme. So that I can gradually go to work as my health keeps improving & then go full time! Unfortunately the scheme has been out sourced by Job Center Plus & the companies they use have failed to help me over the last few months.


So if any Company in the Farnham can help me, please get in contact with me! I will be happy to forward my CV with further information they require.


I use & am familiar with PC's including basic knowledge on networking, website building, office packages & upgrading parts. Qualified in AutoCAD & was doing CAD work up to 4 yrs ago. I have basic knowledge in Electrics, Woodwork & Plumbing & good at DIY.


Due to my health I am looking in work where I am able to stand & sit for short periods of time. Carrying & lifting is limited at the moment, but would improve over time as health improves. I don't have a driving license, so local work would be more suitable.


Thankyou for reading & I hope I hear from some companies soon!


I have now moved to Essex & no longer looking for a job in this field as its not secure enough & I'm outdated in the software, but thanks for reading.