Hi everyone,

Been a couple of weeks since I updated – sorry for the radio silence, but I’ve had a lot on my plate recently.

So, bit of an update. My dad has slowly but surely made progress. They’ve been able to get him down to minimal breathing support and have replaced the full-on ventilator with oxygen flow provided via tracheostomy. He’s off sedition now and seems to be aware of what’s going on. Still can’t speak yet, but he’s able to mouth words to communicate and has been giving the nurses smiles and thumbs up.

I was able to speak to him very briefly via FaceTime on Sunday, though he was still super drowsy so I’m not sure how much of it he was aware of. Going to try again this week once the sedation fully wears off and we can hopefully have a bit of a conversation.

What’s really struck me is just how long of a process this has been, and will continue to be. I’d naively thought that once he was off the ventilator they’d bring him round and he’d be alright, just a bit tired maybe. I don’t think I’d appreciated the extent of the effects from being unconscious and on a ventilator for a fortnight!

It’s going to be a fair while until he’s back to himself, but it certainly looks like we’re on the right track!

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with messages of support. It has made the whole situation a lot less horrible.

Cheers
Scott

Done! That’s the best one I’ve seen so far. Fingers crossed for him!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the feedback and support. Reading it has made a very big difference to how I’m feeling about the whole situation.

Saturday, when I wrote the original post, had been a really bad day. Since then things have settled down a bit. Took my lad for a ride in the woods and, since the whole town’s super-quiet right now but Tim Horton’s is still open, we rode across town and went through the drive-thru to get a hot chocolate and a donut. We were out about 3 or 4 hrs in total, which was really nice – a welcome distraction from the current situation. I’m doing a lot better now – today’s felt relatively normal, in fact.

As for my dad, not a great deal has changed. I’ve been speaking to the hospital a couple of times a day (been trying not to call too often as I’m aware they’re really busy, but the nurses I’ve spoken to have insisted it’s not a problem) and they’ve been keeping me informed. He’s still in a serious condition, but seems to be quite stable, which is something. They’ve been rotating him between his front and his back in an effort to alleviate the strain on his chest. He seems to be responding well when on his front, with his oxygen requirement dropping fairly significantly. It goes up again when he’s put on his back, but I think that’s to be expected. It’s early days, so fingers crossed that he’s building his strength back up with time spent on his front, so that the oxygen requirement doesn’t go quite so high when they flip him back over again.
They’ve also informed me that his kidneys aren’t functioning as well as they’d like, though from my conversation with the consultant when they intubated him, this seems to be expected and they feel they can manage it with medication and equipment. It’s far from ideal, but the nurse didn’t seem to be overly concerned about it.

On a more positive note, they’ve been able to stop giving him medication to keep his blood pressure up. It had dropped quite low a few days ago but seems to have recovered fairly well. It might not be much of a win, but I’ll take any victory we can get right now.

It looks like he’s trying to fight it, which is a good sign. We’re a long way from being out of the woods, but I’m feeling hopeful again.

One thing that has been quite nice is that I’ve been in a lot more contact with my aunt than I have in a long time. She called on Saturday in a blind panic which really shook me when I was barely holding it together myself, but since then she’s calmed down a lot. I think having to help her hold it together has helped me, in a strange way.
We exchanged a few photos etc to help keep spirits up, and I thought I’d quite like to share this one of him being an awesome grandad from when he came to visit last summer. I laugh every time I see it – hope you do too.

Thanks again to everyone who’s responded – It really means a lot.

Garage-Dweller – thanks for your offer of advice via PM. I’ll be sure to drop you an email if I’m struggling again. I hope all is well at your end.

Post the harasser’s email address here and let the STW masses spam/harass the hell out of him..?

Well I’m out too – 14/24 though I’ll admit the majority of them were lucky guesses.
Just as well we buggered off last year…

I don’t know how I feel about these kind of tests. On one hand it is good to educate yourself on the history of the place you’re living; but on the other it’s pretty unfair to expect people to go and study history that many, if not most, citizens of said place wouldn’t have a clue about.

Wish I had a gun!

Username checks out.

Seriously though. A gun, for that? Seems a tad excessive, don’t you think?

+1 for Freeride Morocco. I went on a trip with them a few years back – it was ace!

We are trying to get them in ASAP

Is that the same as onshoring?

I think the really interesting story here is not that of the middle-aged edgelords at Sick Bikes; rather it is the history between Tomhoward and Philxx1975.
Can someone do a TL;DR?

It’s not even a single sprocket. It’s a group of 3.

Sorry, I misread that in the OP’s post. My point stands though.

As you can buy a new cassette for £60 that’s not looking like great value for money, it seems like such a waste to throw away the cassettes where 2/3’s are still pretty unworn

That’s not retail price though, is it? An XT 11-40 cassette retails at around 80 quid, and the XTR is about 200.

Given the volume they’re produced in, the logistical costs for making, shipping and storing a complete cassette are probably about the same as that for a single sprocket. That’ll be relatively low for a full cassette, but for a single sprocket (produced in lower volumes) it will be relatively high. It stands to reason then, that the individual sprocket is going to end up being more expensive. Economies of scale, right?

It doesn’t make the end price any more palatable, but there’s no conspiracy to rip you off with the price of spares.

There’s a bikepark in Todnau that hires enduro/dh bikes, if that’s the kind of thing you’re after?
The owner is American so you’d have no problem with communication.

If you get the chance, take the Schauinsland lift and follow the “enduro” trail down into Canadian Trail – it’s a brilliant way to spend a couple of hours.
Baden to the Bone is also excellent, but the climb back out is a killer!

Have fun. Freiburg’s a bloody awesome place.

Tails is Willcoates and I claim my £5

I think with 29” you can get away with up to a 2.4-ish…

That said, I’ve got 27.5+ on mine with a 2.8 out back. Rides really well!
You can just about squeeze a 3.0 in there but it’d probably rub a bit.

It is genuinely a really good wee bike – I doubt you’d be disappointed.

sorry, 48 staff, across sites in the UK, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovakia.

@spengle
That’s pretty interesting, and I’d have said that many staff makes you actually quite the opposite of “small in the grand scheme of things”. I work in the bike industry too and know of some very high profile companies (that sell a lot of bikes) who do not have that many people working for ’em.

Is that 48 within Spengle, or 48 within SPC Technologies? Presuming SPC Technologies (company name given on your Impressum) does some kind of plastics/carbon fibre work for industries other than bike..?

I fully understand if there’s stuff you can’t/don’t want to post publicly – Feel free to ignore me!

For me, one of the most surprising things to come out of this thread is that Spengle employs 47 people. That seems awfully high for a company that makes 3 models of rather niche wheels.
Maybe I’m wrong and half of continental Europe is riding around on 3-spoke wheels, but I can’t imagine there’s an enormous amount of volume there to support such a workforce.

No disrespect intended, @spengle btw. I’m just surprised and curious.

Think I must be the only person who likes Shaun Keaveney. Guess there might have been some truth to the dead zone listener figures…
I moved to Canada in January and with the time difference I still get it as my breakfast show, so I’m happy.

Beyond that I don’t get a chance to listen to it much – my colleague in the office has sports-talk radio on all day and I’m not sure he’d appreciate the eclectic mix you get on 6 music.

Only other standard I can think of that fits every bike from BSO to £12k wonder-machine is the humble bottle cage mount.

I’ve always used the Bontrager one. It’s perhaps not the lightest-feeling movement in the world, but functions perfectly well and costs pittence compared to the Fox one. Also a lot burlier so is less likely to break in future.

Haha, yeah. I’ve got fond memories of you getting a bit radder than intended on that bike round some of the valley trails. Rock rolls a-plenty!

The only guy I know in Whistler now is Joe Howard (manbeast) – was he there when you did yer season? I think he did 2009 or 2010. He lives there full time nowadays so might know some people to speak to about accommodation.

If you’re just looking for accommodation then check out Creekside. They extended the park and lift-access over to that side a couple of years ago, and IIRC there are plenty of self-catered apartments there which might not be quite as expensive as the main village.

We’re in Parksville on Vancouver Island. I don’t think the riding’s quite as full on as a lot of the stuff on the mainland, but there’s plenty to be getting on with. It’s only about 20 mins away from the ferry terminal at Nanaimo, and once on the other side you’re only 20 mins to Squamish and 20 mins to the Shore though, so if I start feeling brave again I can venture over… Though after my big crash in 2017 it’s fair to say I’ve backed off the gas a bit. Was lucky to walk away from that one, and even cats only have so many lives…

If you do make it across, make sure to let me know. I can always pop over for a pootle, or you can come and ride over here (I should have a pretty good grasp of the trails by then). The house we’re in for the moment is pretty small, so I could only really offer you and your buddy a futon and an air mattress, but you’d be more than welcome!

I can’t say I did know about your electrical exploits. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! The bike looks pretty beefy and seems like it’d be bit of a giggle.

Scott you old dog how’s life treating you? Settling into your new world? BTW you’re probably right about the Hummer

Aye, all good thanks. It’s been snowing like crazy since I got here but I think we’re just about to see the back of that. All being well the trails will start to clear in the next couple weeks and I can finally start riding again. Been bikeless since August so I’m really missing it…

Reckon we’ll see you out in this part of the world again?

And yeah, don’t get rid of your hummer. It’s too cool. Even cooler when a rad old ba$tard like you is seen riding it.

You can’t get rid of that bike, Oldfart. Not after everything you two have been through together!

Bet PC89’s wishing he’d paid by credit card…

Nice spider reference too

I watched it last night and noticed that too – nice touch. Though I really showed my ignorance of Bruce’s story when I asked my wife (who has a great deal more historical knowledge than me)  “was that a reference to the spider in the cave, that wrote him a message or something”

She says – “That’s Charlotte’s Web you’re thinking of, dear”

“Oh. Right”

I have no idea how historically accurate the film was (am I right in thinking they missed out Bannockburn?) and it certainly paints the english as villains, while showing the scots to be civilized dignified folk. I can’t honestly believe that was the case – everyone was a bastard back then. Some more than others, but there certainly weren’t many saints around.

“https://www.bcbikerace.com/ for 2020 ?”

Don’t think £1k will even get close to that given the entry fee’s about $2.5k CND

No competitive element, but Morocco was on my bucket list til a friend and I went a few years ago with Freeride Morocco. Absolutely amazing – not just the riding, but the scenery and atmosphere. Would go again if there weren’t so many other things on my bucket list needing checked off 😉

It’s about £800 now for the week (including pretty much everything) and flights from the UK to Marrakesh are pretty cheap if you time it right.

“Orange Stage 5 noisey!”

In other news, water is wet.

@grahamcottingham – you are “mostlybybike” and I claim my £5

We met at Grinduro on Arran this year – I was the guy on the Yeti ArcX with the tins of red stripe 😉

Out of interest, what’s the framest?

I split a brand new maxxis high roller while riding home from my LBS a few years back. Turns out I hit something rather sharp. Sheet happens.

FWIW I tried a set of e13 tyres a year or two ago and they were great – had a TRS R up front and a TRS + out back, mounted on 30mm rims.

I liked the profile and they were super grippy, although perhaps a little draggy on the climbs. I would have loved to keep em on my bike, but they did come up pretty big on the 30mm rim so would rub my chainstays under hard cornering.
Would definitely recommend them, but make sure your frame has ample clearance. Mounted to a 35mm rim I reckon they’d come up pretty huge!

Naw

Outraged at Yetis being expensive? Must be new here.

Guttering on the rear of our house used to run downhill, parallel to the ground…

… with the downpipe at the top.

Our house is riddled with comical quirks like that, which would be really funny if there weren’t so many of them.

For reference, ours is an old terraced cottage, built around 1850. When people tell you to buy an old house because they’re better quality than modern houses, it’s nonsense. Ours was clearly built before spirit levels were widely available.

Well a new mech hanger didn’t change a thing, so I chucked the 105 mech back on and with a bit of fiddling got it to shift perfectly. Sorry I doubted you, Swanny!

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Was that me quoted there?

Just looking back at it, yes it was! No offence intended – just that you seemed to be the only source confirming it, so I was naturally a bit sceptical.

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Re: Hanger – Yeah I’ve straightened it with an alignment tool, but it still doesn’t seem to want to play ball. I’ve ordered a new hanger just to give that a try (well that, and I should probably have one anyway)

I don’t think it’s due to draggy cables as it’s shifting fine through the rest of the range.

Probably is the hanger. I’ll give that a try and if it still doesn’t work, chuck the deore on and see how that goes.

I saw this too, and was quite intrigued. Looks like quite a clever solution and a neat little unit too.

RE: ISCG Tabs – If you look on their site it appears you can select between an ISCG actuation plate and a BSA mounted one.

I’d be really interested to see how it handles a long winter, and what the availability/cost of replacement parts would be, but it actually seems like quite a cheap way to get around the issue (395€ all in)

It’s a fair chunky unit (1.25kg) but I guess it’s low enough down that it doesn’t matter too much.

Watching this one with interest!

Hols2 – That sounds like the kind of confession you should send into Simon Mayo’s Drivetime.

Didn’t Adidas buy them back in 2011? I find it hard to believe that it’s taken 7 years for this to become an issue.
Sure your feet haven’t just gotten fatter, OP?

Donated.

I’ve never met you, Bullheart, but I don’t think anyone here would hesitate to give to a cause like yours. It’s a really horrible situation, and if a small donation from all of us gives you a chance of beating it, then that’s just what needs to happen.

Best of luck, fella.

“The fact that it’s a 21 inch and is fitted with a shimano TZ21 7 speed cassette…im out!”

That’s what puts you off it? just that?