I had to take holiday. Not what I was hoping for but I’m in no state for arguing or asking why.

It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure.

My head is all over the place. I’m not the most constructive at the best of times, but today was a right off. Did manage a quick ride this evening, but that seemed induce a little bit of a panic attack when I got home.

Yea, I spoke to his sister over the weekend, something she said to me has stuck with me “where there’s life, there’s hope”

Have sorted to fly back for 5 days from this weekend. I hope he gets this next scan ASAP.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I’m trying to sort out working from Belfast for a few days as I’d like to get home to see him as soon as I can.

accepting,/ preventing the realisation that your life is pointless, meaningless and almost over?

Let me know if you find anything. So far, it seems that’s just how it is.

Sodium bicarbonate worked best for me, much better than any olive oil type products. I did try one of the Otex home kits with the bulb syringe, but didn’t do anything.

Could have written this myself. Have a 4 1/2 year old A51 that needs charged twice a day. Really begrudge having to buy a new one. There was a time when I couldn’t wait to get the latest phone on a contract. Been sim only for 5 years now and will never go back.

Just put my road bike up for sale. I’m thinking it might take quite a while, but thankfully an urgent sale isn’t needed. I remember selling my Giant Reign back at the start of 2022 when the market was getting very full, and was surprised it went within a week or so. Not sure it’ll be that easy this time around.

Motorbike for me on Saturday. Out to the Yorkshire Dales, Settle, Hawes, Sedbergh and home. Got home just before the thunderstorms arrived.

The MT in the Dales by Colin[/url], on Flickr

I’ve given up on seeing a counsellor. Have tried many times in the past (10+ years) and it didn’t work for me for whatever reason. Maybe I need to try again. But I hate to be a burden, it’s been such a long time since I broached the subject with my GP.

I have a friend with long covid much like yourself. He has really struggled. Hope things improve for you. He bought a nice road e-bike to help with getting back out again.

@poly

Really interesting post.

One of the things I really miss about football was the social side, the camaraderie. I trained with the same team for about 10 years, twice a week with a game on Saturdays. I’ve become much more introvert over the last 10 years and perhaps I have really suffered because of it. Cycling has become almost 100% solo for me now. Deep down I struggle with that.

I never mentioned the mental side of the injury. It seems stupid to say that I feel that all I stand for as an individual are my hobbies, and when a big chunk of that is taken away or removed altogether, it has a big toll on me mentally. I’m a very withdrawn person now because of my anxiety.

I’ve never thought about another social type sport tbh. Cycling and football have always been the ones. Running was part of football of course, but I only ended up running as a hobby really through meeting my girlfriend.

FYI, I am awful at swimming, I wouldn’t be drawn to watersport stuff.

That bloody knee of yours, eh?

I know mate, it what it is. Must get a ride together soon, been too long.

@doris5000 I have tried yoga/pilates several times. I can just about touch the top of shins right now. In fact, I’ve watched that video before. Anything which involves contracting my hamstring will put them into cramp. Instantly. I went to a physio for this very problem and nothing solves it. I tell you, some of the cramps I’ve had have been the worst pain I’ve ever had, and that includes slipping the same disc twice. This is what I really struggle with. The process of building strength is so difficult. Always one step forwards and two steps back.

Trossard you complete bellend. Why? Just why? Why do footballers do such childish things?

I’ll call it now, 4-2 Citeh.

I think my QoL has been damaged more due to my anxiety, rather than the last 6 years of ongoing injury.

It’s comforting to know that I can overcome this, I just need the right attitude.

Thanks for the replies. Purchase not completed yet (wondering if I will be able to sell the road bike to fund) but either way I need to ride much more. Once a week isn’t helping anything. Strava metrics don’t help, that fitness graph is falling faster than my fitness!

Will report back on the knee brace. I’m a bit skeptical about it, but I’ll try anything that is going to help me out. The hamstrings haven’t been as crampy as before, but that’s probably down to not exercising much. They always get worse when I exercise.

I’m 42 next month. All too aware of my mortality. I feel like I’m 61!

Thought I would update this – sitting looking out at the miserable weather.

Had another scan on my knee, 2 years after the last one. I have been having a lot of knee pain recently, so wanted to get it checked out again. Well, the consultant was quite surprised to see my knee in such a state. Pretty much no cartilage on the inside of the left knee, but the outside also showing signs of wear. So, I can’t have a partial replacement, and I’m far beyond any minor surgery. So, absolutely no running or football ever again, not up for question. That’s been tough to accept, I thought in the back of my mind I could. I’m currently waiting to have a knee brace fitted which will need to be worn pretty much all the time. It will help re-align my knee and kick the can down the road. He said I’ll probably need a new knee within 10 years.

To add to all this, fitness is definitely at it’s worst ever. Confidence is at its lowest. I only ride my local trails as I’m scared to ride anything else. I’ve put on weight, me eating is terrible, and sleep is getting worse.

The only positive I can take now is that I can spend all my time cycling. The consultant encouraged it. I went bike shopping yesterday as I wanted to replace my road bike with something more comfortable and versatile, so I’ve jumped on the gravel bank wagon. No decision yet, but I might have something quite special arriving soon.

All perfect timing coming out of summer.

We have an 18 plate 1.0 Ecoboom, I mean Ecoboost, but only 37k on it at the moment. I’d be inclined to change it before 60k if we keep it that long.

Yes, I’ve had to deal with them on DCO applications

What scheme(s)?

That Wolferine trial up in that video is pretty crazy. I tried it back in May when I was there. Most of it was way beyond me, properly steep, rough, and tight.

We completed our first trip at the weekend. Very stressful, but in the end it was fine. The Focus coped pretty well, although heading up the hill from Leek to Buxton was a struggle at times, but that feels steep even without towing anything. Plus by the time we left Glossop we had to head back home before heading to the site and by that time it was proper Friday afternoon traffic. The journey back on Sunday late afternoon was much more relaxing. I could certainly feel the weight of the van, but it towed pretty solid with only a little bit of movement at times.

We’re off to North Wales next weekend and then the Lakes for a few nights at the start of July. No bikes being packed at the moment, just chilled weekends with plenty of walking etc.

We woke up on Sunday and the rain was coming down rightly and we both agreed it was a million times better than being in a tent. We will get better and quicker at getting setup and taking down, but that comes with experience.

Interesting timing. We’ve just bought a small lightweight Bailey, MTPLM of 1140kg’s, just a smidge over a ton empty. We’re towing it with a 1.0 Ecoboom Focus, but we’re within all the numbers fairly comfortably. I have subsequently learnt that this particular van has a light nose weight and that we need to load everything forward of the axle. So, nose weight appears pretty important for stability also.

Wishing you all the best Drac. Life is tough.

I’m in my 4th year of riding after passing in 2020. Plenty of sound advice around here. I really enjoyed the trackdays I’ve done, they’re in a safe environment, no oncoming traffic, and lots of opportunity to explore your bike in a way you can’t on a road… But yea, ride like to need to be seen at all times.

I did  Bikesafe day a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty decent. The weather on the day was brutal though, but I learnt quite a lot and the copper I had was a really nice guy.

Oh, and some photos of the 675 are mandatory.

A comfortable win for Citeh tonight.

I’ve been proved wrong again with us beating Utd, although we didn’t look that great really. All the cricket score predictions were a bit ridiculous. Sutton predicted 1-5!

I have an Octavia iV. When charged, I put it in hybrid mode and let the car sort it all out. Standard regen is fine, but you can achieve more by having it in ‘Sport’ mode. I think I’ve averaged about 60mpg overall in 3000 odd miles, mostly driven on hybrid mode and all my work journeys (75% of my mileage) starting with a full charge. Mixture of mostly A roads and motorway. When it has no charge and it runs like a normal hybrid, it is okay. Needs time for the battery to warm and start assisting you. Very short journeys with no charge are brutal on economy.

No doubt Utd will turn up on Sunday.

They really have been masters of their own downfall.

Chronic worrier here. Gets worse with age. I’ll be dead before I’m 50 because of it. I genuinely don’t understand how someone can just not worry about something. I worry constantly.

Not sure I have recovered after that NLD. I thoughts Spurs were unlucky, they had chances. Granted we pretty much gave them their two goals, but on another day the result goes against us. Again, me being pessimistic, I don’t think we will win this now. Citeh aren’t dropping points. Thankfully Bournemouth and Everton have nothing to play for, so I hope we can at least win 2 out of the remaining 3. Utd though, who knows.

You’re a glass half empty kinda guy eh?

Can you tell? I think glass half empty is being kind. I didn’t see us getting this far into the season before collapsing. I just think Spurs and Utd will up their game against us, Spurs moreso. I thought Citehs only chance of dropping points may have been last night.

I’d just extend the trophy lease for another year at this point to Citeh.

I reckon Spurs will do us over at the weekend. Still think we are finishing 3rd.

Hopefully they don’t disappear. I lusted after a Fire Mountain when I was a kid and I think I still have a 90’s Kona catalogue somewhere back at my parents house. Their original Process was quite progressive when it was launched, but they seemed to just fall away from the scene, at least here in the UK at least.

That’s a good point; there used to be Loads of Elises’ running around on the roads but I’ve not seen one in years. Have they all been wrapped around trees by now?

I’d imagine quite a few ended up that way. Plenty as track cars. But they’ve kept sneaking up in value and a decent one is now £20-25k. Numbers keep dwindling too.

I always wanted it to be a Lotus Elise S2. But I don’t have that kind of money.

Well this is odd. I’m just back from the doctors, about various things, and I’ve been having this pain for a couple of months now. It’s tennis/golf eblow, or medial epicondylitis ;)

Been recommended an elbow strap. Tell you what though, on some days it really is painful. Effects me on road rides, but not so much on the MTB.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we will finish way off Citeh and Liverpool and much closer to Spurs and Villa. We have a very tough run in and I just don’t think we have the heads to do it. I think I might be the only Arsenal fan to think that, if this mornings phone in on TalkSport is anything to go by.

Yes. Much worse. Maybe the lockdown and pandemic boosted it, so not the cause, but definitely worse. Social situations are so much harder, too.

Interesting post. Sounds like I have at least 10-15 more years of good riding in me if I stay injury free and look after myself. I’ve spent the start of this year trying really hard to look at my riding differently. Not trying to always go a bit further a bit faster than before. My aim this year is simply to ride more. Most of my flat road rides are in Z2 for me and I hope this is the base of getting fitter over the year. I’m already quite a bit ahead of where I was last year, although that wasn’t much!

I don’t think I have damaged any relationships or been drawn into bad ones. I only have a couple of friends really, so that wont be a problem. I did however have a run in with them a couple of weekends ago when we ended up discussing my current situation. It had come up before, and often ends up feeling like a bit of a personal attack.