Put it this way – I own three different shades of eye shadow, and at least 7 different types of bike lubricants and grease. I think might be fighting a losing battle…

Came back to Trainerroad after 2 weeks “off” – one doing the Festive 500, and the other actually off. Managed Cardinal as part of the Sweet Spot Base 2 and didn’t feel nearly as bad as I did after I upped my FTP before Christmas.

I was looking at the various trainer settings. Noticed that the Elite PowerMag has 8 settings on TrainerRoad. Wondered if this might be a better match for your trainer?

I have the same Elite Superchrono trainer as gazhurst and I actually emailed trainerroad about which turbo to choose on the software. They suggested the beta version of the 8 level Elite Powermag would be a better fit.

@ Youngrob – Yeah, it’s a fair point. I just fancied trying something new, but not if it’s going to be a muddy trudge (the other half is already sceptical about mountain biking being a source of enjoyment…)

Househusband – YGM, thanks

I can get my hands on one (have memory map on my phone). Are things rideable done there after the last fortnight’s weather?

Leonardo di caprio?

Finished! Not sure I’ll ever go on any of my bikes ever again…

Don’t worry, if this challenge had been possible on the turbo, I’d have shut myself in the garage with a bottle of port and a few DVDs and it would have been completed days ago. I’m genuinely starting to fear for my sanity…

I’m having a nightmare trying to get this finished. I have 146km to go and my plan was to do a 40k (ish) ride after work this evening when the wind died down. However, I’ve had to fix another puncture (my 5th of the week!), my front light has died, and the spare isn’t charged. So now it’s almost 10pm, and I’m waiting to go out for a couple of hours in the pitch black and do laps of a local business park. And I’ve turned down a MTB ride with friends tomorrow to do the last 100k alone. Remind me again why I’m doing this…?

I’ve got to average almost 80k for the next 3 days but I’m cautiously optimistic at this point (depends whether or not I have to go to work on the 31st). I’m more concerned about the fact that 8/10 toes are a dusky purple colour with no sensation! It’s been a tad chilly this week…

YGM

I wondered how long it would take for that lovely white frame to get muddy…! 😆

Rivaroxaban is the only NOAC currently approved by NICE for treatment of acute PE in the UK. It is equal to warfarin in its efficacy and has similar rates of bleeding, but lower rates of major/life threatening bleeds. There is no proven antidote to rivaroxaban, however, whereas there is with warfarin. There is no need for regular blood tests with rivaroxaban.

Swings and roundabouts… Not sure one is better than the other, they’re just different.

Some good info here: http://www.patient.co.uk/health/pulmonary-embolism-leaflet

My dad had a massive PE about 8 years ago but recovered quickly and had no lasting issues. Get well soon.

Probably just from coughing, but you still need to see a doctor for a check and maybe an x-ray.

The study linked above did mention that as a possible limitation of the study – athletes are more likely to be aware of their body and therefore more likely to seek medical attention when symptoms occur, therefore there may be some under-reporting in the general population.

I’m not sure there is any benefit to being diagnosed with an arrhythmia with respect to EPO or other doping – the mainstay of treatment for the majority of arrhythmias is beta blockers, which are much more likely to slow you down and give you LESS energy.

Asterix – it’s tricky to give advice over the Internet. Take the advice of your doctor (but I suspect they would say to take it easy on all fronts until you know what you’re dealing with)

It’s actually quite an interesting edition of the European Heart Journal this month (can’t believe I actually typed that!). Other highlights:

Exercise related cardiac arrest has an incidence of 2.1 per 100,000 person-years (0.3/100,000 person-years in those <35) and has a significantly better survival rate than non-exercise related cardiac arrest (46 vs 17%)

Mean age of cardiac arrest during exercise is 46, with a ratio of 20 males:1 female

There are significant regional differences in the rate of bystander CPR after cardiac arrest during sport (ranged from 15-81%) with patients from the regions with high rates of bystander CPR having significantly better survival

Just attempted Palisade at the new FTP – couldn’t complete it even after knocking it down to 95%. I blame a 100km ride yesterday and not enough food today! I’m hoping it gets easier!

I’ve managed to complete the Sweet Spot Base I programme (6 weeks) and did an unofficial 8 minute test at the end of this evening’s session (90 minute 6×8 min sweet spot intervals). I almost killed myself, but I reckon I’ve improved my FTP by some margin. I’ll do an official 8 min test on Monday (bleurgh!). Hope this is worth it!

Oh, that includes a couple of “off piste” bits, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find your way around

http://www.strava.com/activities/99546468

This is my combination of the red and black (done yesterday). No major damage to the trails from last week’s storm (although you can see the remains of a pretty big tree on the road climb up to Section 13 that came down and destroyed a wall).

Do you think either Mabie or GT will be clear enough to ride by this Sunday?

It got really bad after last summer’s rain and was a boulder-river the last time I tried it (a couple of months ago)

Maybe a variation on one of the old Purdy routes – one starts between Prudhoe and Crawcrook, – up the lane, a bit of an explore through nutters wood and over the ford, past the gliding club with several byways there, cheeky trails though guards wood and back in via coalburns, jackys plantation and coalway lane

That Derek Purdy route is horrific – the section through the fields near Hedley on the Hill is an utter bogfest even in the middle of the driest summer anyone can remember, and I find the Coalway Lane Descent so rocky it’s unwalkable, never mind unrideable.

The loop from Newburn to Wylam and back using NCNs 72 and 14 on each side of the river is flat and easy and a lovely ride.

From my memory of the blue route at Hamsterley – it’s all fireroad and quite hilly (my other half had a spectacular tantrum one memorable Saturday afternoon as I was trying to introduce him to cycling…)

The Beyond Hamsterley guide had a good loop round by Beamish that isn’t too technical: http://www.strava.com/activities/27946806

24 FRH (in reply to Drac)

Woody – pretty certain it’s my number, I’d choose someone with more money if I was going to impersonate them! I’ve just moved from JCUH. Should we have met?

Er, sure?

Have a heart attack in Newcastle and you can find out… 😉

(Please don’t, I like a quiet life and I’m quite fond of you lot)

Or it’s cat AIDS

(please ignore previous GMC number)

Every hospital I’ve worked in runs a rapid access chest pain clinic, which GPs can refer to and will see you within a week with that story. They will have access to tests on the day (and more complex tests that they can fast-track you into) that will help with the diagnosis (whether it’s cardiac or not).

Phone your GP surgery now, and get an appointment in the next day or two. Tell them you don’t have chest pain now but have done in the last couple of days (if this is true) and they should give you an emergency appointment. Don’t just ignore it.

Hannah
A cardiologist
(6134750 for any GMC bods interested)

Bruges in Jesmond is nice and has a good selection of Belgian beers

Six at the Baltic – pricey and sometimes hit and miss with the food (although I’ve always had great food there), but the view is amazing
Broad Chare – proper Northumberland food and a great atmosphere

Avoid Food Social at the Biscuit Factory – overpriced and pretentious for average food

Further afield, Bistrot En Glaze in Wylam is lovely (the lamb and merguez starter is unbelievable)

I’ll try to think of more – what sort of place were you thinking?

My birthday is the 8th January and people still lump it in with Christmas, with the added bonus that everyone is skint and teetotal by then. So I’ve always had a half birthday in July – no presents but lots of cake!

Of course, I have no idea what the team thing means, I just like being part of one 8)

Just noticed a new “teams” feature on Trainerroad so I’ve set up a STW team…

http://www.trainerroad.com/teams/156-singletrackworld

From the DOH website:

Living in both the UK and another country?

If you spend more than 3 months living in another country on a regular basis each year, for example because you spend four months living in a second home during the winter but return to the UK for the rest of the year, then you may not be eligible for free hospital treatment while you live here.

You may be exempt from charges if you have an EHIC card or if your country of residence has a reciprocal agreement with the UK.

what I don’t get is if so many people don’t turn up for appointments how come you still have to wait 30/40 minutes even if you arrive at the time specified

Because you all talk for a lot longer than 10 minutes… 😉

In the UK, you cannot work as a private doctor until you are consultant level (minimum 9 years of training post-degree in my specialty).

You then have to offer your time to the NHS first, before you are allowed to work any time that the NHS declines to use you in private work eg if there are 10 half days in a working week, then the NHS might employ you for all 10, or pay you for 9 and you can choose what to do with the final half day. Therefore, the NHS doctors working in the private hospitals have already offered to work extra hours in the NHS and been turned down.

The reason my colleagues are “buggering off” (mainly to Oz and NZ rather than the “private world”) is that there are not enough consultant or GP jobs for the number of medical graduates, therefore there are doctors who are being made unemployed unless they “bugger off” and do something else. The politicians and public are currently unwilling to employ more doctors.

I am a hospital doctor and I work shifts. However, I am not working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My colleagues and I share the workload so I work Mon-Fri 9-5 as well as 1 in 9 weekends, evenings and nights. Therefore, there is cover every hour of every day, just not by the same people. There are fewer people working my job during the nights and weekends than there are during the working week.

GPs do the same. You can contact a GP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – it might just not be “your” GP. If “your” GP was available 24/7, he would never sleep and would soon be dead (speaking as the daughter of a GP who used to do a 1 in 2 rota ie my dad worked every working day plus every second night and weekend when I was a child, and is now retired due to ill health and didn’t see his kids growing up…)

Oh, and we don’t get overtime to work out of hours as doctors. We get paid a proportion of our salary on top to work the extra hours. In the “old days” of long hours and easy access to your GP, that was paid at 33% of the salary for out of hours. Not 133%. 33% to work out of hours. Is it any wonder it wasn’t popular?

The other half is an ENT surgeon and recommends 10-14 days of olive oil before considering syringing.

This turbo trainer is an instrument of torture!! The pain!!

Did my first proper workout, following the Sweetspot Base programme. I’m not sure you’re meant to do these after doing a 25 mile round trip commute, but it sure didn’t feel good at all. Not looking forward to tomorrow morning’s commute…

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/466464-Gayley