Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 136 total)
  • For those interested parties (one armed rider update)
  • TN
    Free Member

    Hi all,

    I know a few of you wanted to know how J got on with his riding after the arm bit the dust. Well, he’s doing pretty well.
    8 months on and still all clear. He’s back at work part time and bitching because it is playing havoc with his social life.

    We rode Newborough Forest at Christmas – very scenic but, to use his words, ‘a bit flat’…
    Then a bit of a break while his ribs recovered (he went ‘exploring’ derelict pubss and got stuck half-in/half-out on a wide windowsill…)and now he’s back on the bike.
    If any of you know Stannington in Sheffield, you *might* know Catty lane – it’s pretty steep and gravelly at the top so quite a good candidate for airtime. I was quite apprehensive about him trying but it’s not up to me – anyway, he cruised it…

    He hasn’t fallen off recently, which is great.

    No sign of a prosthetic arm yet but the prosthetist has made him a great piece of ‘ribcage armour’ that has yet to be tested in anger. (where was it when he was dangling out of a first floor window though?)

    I am going to try to post some photos below, it may not work…

    Redmires to Stanage in the remains of the snow
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1722644&l=4b13b00875&id=527320465

    This is our local ride out from home. Not very exciting, but good practise
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2251118&l=ca6da90986&id=527320465

    (Can’t work out how to get the photos to post in-line, if anyone can help?)

    joe1983
    Free Member

    Who needs a second arm when you’ve got balls! Good luck to him, think the fact he is back on a bike is class.

    Pieface
    Full Member

    Where’s the 2nd pic took? Amd where’s Catty Lane?

    I live in Hillsborough and am always interested in new places to play

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    Pieface
    Full Member

    Oh and good work for getting back out on the bike. I never think I’d have the spirit to get on with my life if I lost an arm

    foggy
    Free Member

    As Stouffer would say, respect due…

    MrNutt
    Free Member

    nice one!

    does he use SPD’s or flats?

    TN
    Free Member

    Pieface, I think you’d be surprised what you can do when faced with it. Seriously. You have 2 choices – you sit and mope, or you get on with it. You’re allowed to do the first for a bit, but then hopefully you move on to the second option.
    I emailed the surgeon the other day to fill him in on the past 8 months and he summed it up pretty well – he said “somehow I didn’t think Julian would be the kind of person to sit back and take it”

    http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=stannington%2C+sheffield&countryCode=GB#map=53.38855,-1.58573|17|4&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:53.38855:-1.58573:17|long%20lane,%20stannington|Long%20Lane,%20Stannington,%20Sheffield,%20South%20Yorkshire,%20England,%20S6%206

    The second photo is taken on the bit of ‘unnamed road’ the carries on opposite Beeton Green – where that, Rod Side and Long lane meet is actualy a cross road junction. Go down that missing bitt, then turn left back along to Flash Lane and the on to Riggs High Road, head toward Stannington a bit and then drop down onto Catty Lane (the left turn between the first and second ‘Riggs High Road’ labels) and back out onto Stannigton Road.
    It’s not exactly exciting but it’s a quick fix.

    TN
    Free Member

    V8 flats, MrNutt.

    retro83
    Free Member

    Amazing, thanks for the update!

    Smee
    Free Member

    There was a guy at the Puffer this year had one arm and one leg – he did a good few laps too – on a cx bike.

    eckinspain
    Free Member

    f*** me!

    Well done that man 🙂

    stratobiker
    Free Member

    You have 2 choices – you sit and mope, or you get on with it.

    You’ve hit the nail on the head there.

    Chapeau Julian!

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    I feel respect is due, a LOT of it!
    Well done fella and thanks for the update!

    😀

    TN
    Free Member

    PieFace – the second one is Catty Lane, yes. My PC is going so slow so I haven’t opened the first link, but it’s the track that runs down to Ronksley Hall Farm, and in fact that is where you’d turn left, at the farm.
    Like I said earlier, the usual ‘not very exciting’ disclaimers apply…
    And watch out for pedestrians and dogs on Catty Lane.

    warton
    Free Member

    brilliant stuff!!!

    Hewey
    Free Member

    Good stuff. Maybe now I’ll stop whinging about my broken wrist and get on with life!

    iseeadarkness
    Free Member

    See, we told you he could do it.

    Nice to see him giving it though. Total 100% respect.

    Not letting the bastards grind him down!

    eckinspain
    Free Member

    Can I ask a couple of set-up questions – I was wondering all evening!

    Does he single-speed or run a 1×9 set-up maybe? and what about brakes – both brakes feed into the same lever?

    TN
    Free Member

    eckinspain – the bike is a GT Avalanche 2.0 – the only ‘extra’ is a Hopey steering damper.
    He currently has 3×7 gears with both changers on the right bar. He also has both brake levers stacked on the right bar so he can squeeze both at once, but because they are stacked the back is activated slightly before the front. This was a big help in stopping him going over the bars, as you can imagine.
    It’s a bit crowded on the right bar but I think he’s actually thinking of sticking as it is for the time being.

    iseeadarkness – I know, I know and you have no idea how much that helped us both! To be honest, I think my original thread was almost reassurance for me, as well as for him. 🙂

    mema
    Free Member

    It’s great to hear that he is back on a bike. It’s amazing to see and hear about people who have lost limbs and are getting back into sports. There is a guy in NZ that I met called Dave Maitland who has done the coast to coast at least 15 times and has had some really good times he lost a leg in a motorbike accident. It so put’s my fitness and mind to shame!

    mrsflash
    Free Member

    thanks very much for the update 🙂

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    He also has both brake levers stacked on the right bar so he can squeeze both at once,

    you know with hydro brakes you can link two or even more calipers together and run them off of 1 lever. you basicly you run a hose from the bleed nipple on a caliper to the other caliper but still have the bleed nipple on it. can mail you more details if you want!! mail in profile.

    i used to ride with a guy with 2 arms but he could only use 1 of them (the other had to be velcroed on to his bars) he showed me the set up and i also had to Bleed them.

    colande
    Free Member

    amazing!!

    i have been without the use of a hand recently due to cutting through tendons on my thumb, i wouldnt even attempt riding on the road let alone off road, so much respect.
    but its strange/great how the mind and body adapts!

    would love to see a setup of his bar controls,
    just a thought maybe to make it less crowded
    he could use a normal shifterpod and a grip shifter,
    this means he will have instant access to both shifters

    TN
    Free Member

    I thought I had a photo, colande, but I don’t. Will take one when I get home and post it at some point.
    A friend had a spare grip shifter setup they were going to fit to see how he got on, but it didn’t fit. It’s something he has in mind but isn’t in any great rush for, which is cool.

    I think if you are injured and recovering there’s pain there and I do think it’s not always wise to resume riding while there is pain, but with J there’s no limb so I think it’s a bit different.
    (Althought there is the phantom limb and associated pain, which is utterly bizarre…)

    ourmaninthenorth
    Full Member

    Thanks for the update, TN. I recall quite distinctly your original thread on the old site.

    Chapeau, indeed.

    iseeadarkness
    Free Member

    TN: The power of positive thinking…

    😉

    UncleFred
    Free Member

    There’s a guy with one arm who’s done the Ruta De La Conquistadores for last 8 years!!!

    crispybacon
    Free Member

    Thanks for the update TN & good luck to J for his riding. He really is an inspiration to others & in particular those who are able bodied but can’t be @rsed to ride their bikes.

    Please keep posting J’s latest triumphs & challenges on his bike 🙂

    TN
    Free Member

    Some extra pics, esp for Hetty:

    More Redmires – Stanage:
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1722646&l=08f3f9e13e&id=527320465

    Putting his trust in strangers (SUCKER!) and getting that sinking feeling. 😉
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1812583&l=773ebb5fe0&id=527320465

    And this is not a biking photo but I think you might like it…
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1395706&l=96510110af&id=527320465

    (PS: He got an email this morning, via someone on here, from a guy with brachial-plexus injury. Thanks for passing the pics to your friend. I do hope it inspires him to get back on his bike too! J found the story about how the email came about quite funny…)

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Met a guy @ Mabie last week with only 1arm/1 leg. Had a serious piece of engineering for an arm, all alloy and steel. He was up for a weeks Stanes riding. He lives in Brathwaite, nr Keswick and has Whinlatter as his local.

    “(Althought there is the phantom limb and associated pain, which is utterly bizarre…)”….yeah, my mum was complaing about her sore toes yesterday..lost them 4yrs ago!!!!

    TN
    Free Member

    Trekster: J has been looking at trying to get some kind of ‘biking arm’ but whilst there are things available, it’s fixing it to his body that’s causing the problem.
    Some of the prosthetics you can get are amazing though, aren’t they?

    Re: Phantom limb pain. J has actually found that it hurts less after he’s been out on the bike – not sure if it’s adrenalin or some other ‘happy hormone’ that does it, but it is another great excuse to go riding, eh?

    TN
    Free Member

    Colande, here’s a pic of the right bar set up.
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2268201&l=cff44a3e08&id=527320465

    Looks a bit crowded but I have mentioned various of your suggestions and he reckons he’s quite happy with it like this, so there you go…

    eckinspain
    Free Member

    I had wondered, like Colande, about the possibility of one grip-shift and a normal shifter, but if the current set-up is fine then stick with it (doesn’t look as cramped in the photo as I thougt it might).

    Can I ask what a steering damper is? Does it just do what it sounds like it does?!! how?

    thanks for the updates

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Serious respect and congratulations for getting back on the horse.[bows]

    colnagokid
    Full Member

    TN/J, didnt see your original post just this “update”, its quite amazing to see those pic’s & hear the tales!
    Good luck to both of you
    I know you can get a thumb opperated system for rear brakes on motorbikes- may be worth looking into?

    colande
    Free Member

    cool thanks for the pic,
    very interesting, the shifters look hectic to me,
    but if it works for him, it must just become second nature,

    i like the look of the dual brake levers

    TN
    Free Member

    eckinspain – the steering damper really is just what it says. If you google hopey steering damper you will get a far better description there than I can give you (remember I said I was completely mechanically inept!!)
    He has actually broken it and it’s held on with cable ties at the mo, so in fact he IS riding with no damping at all…

    colande – I agree, it looks completely hectic to me too. I think the gripshift sounds like a fine idea but he’s happy so I leave him to it. The brake levers stacked like that work really well – a lucky fluke, I reckon. 🙂

    He went out again yesterday morning (he still isn’t back to work full time yet) and did almost twice the mileage he had done so far, so he was slightly smug when he rang me from the top of a hill (downhill all the way home!), in the sunshine. Grrrr. 😉

    He is now looking at a semi-auto clutch for one of his motorbikes. I think his recent riding success has given him the confidence that this might work too – I think until just recently he still thought the motorbikes would definitely have to go. I am a little apprehensive about this but again, it isn’t up to me.

    ir_bandito
    Free Member

    Huge respect to the man. I banged my hand last night riding in Kielder and felt useless trying to ease back to the car on fire-roads.
    Shifter suggestion: I know its expensive but a Rohloff hub has a single gripshift to cover all 14 gears (which covers the full range of a normal 3×9 setup). I think someone has made a prototype rapidfire shifter too.

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