So I’ve been riding lots, taught two “Introduction to Mountain Biking” courses, taught an intermediate MTB lesson, ridden with John & Matt, ridden lots more, been to Cwm Carn.

Then today I went on an intermediate bike mechanics course. Was excellent, learnt loads.

We did various stages on various peoples bikes; rear cassette & chainset/bottom bracket was on my bike. Got a big bollocking for using grease from the grease gun I use for the Landie & for using copperslip. Was told, repeatedly for the rest of the day, that I need to use grease & anti-seize specifically designed for bikes. To be fair, you could tell the difference between my chainset with Landie grease (freshly done yesterday) and with bike grease.

Also discovered that my little torque wrench probably needs calibrating, not sure it’s right. So I just closed my eyes and bought myself a very expensive Park Tools one. A bit of shopping around on the internet though and I got it for £30 less than the usual suspects wanted – which just so happens to equate to the price of some new Park Tools cable cutters. I think that means the cable cutters were free so I can’t feel guilty?

Some BIKE SPECIFIC grease & some anti-seize were purchased at the same time.

No doubt it’ll be ages before I blog again, but just so you all know I’ve got a lot of riding planned, more mountain biking, more road riding, two more intro courses, probably one or two more intermediate courses. Am doing the Champagne SuperNova (John is too) in September which is 200-miles-in-2-days. Mentioned that I was worried about how thumb had affected training to girlie at work, who used to be a personal trainer, and she’s come up with a training plan which is great. Not massively different to what I might of done myself, but far more structured which is really useful. Oh, and I perhaps need to fettle with bikes a bit to address previous poor choice of lubrication.

Thumb has healed really well, though the skin is still a bit soft and I’ve managed to remove a bit of it whilst doing stuff at the weekend. Oops. Was great to be useful again though, got through loads of jobs that had accumulated over the previous 5 weeks. Even got to drive the Land Rover!

Even more exciting was that after a 4 month wait I finally got my Cannondale Synapse road bike on Saturday! Haven’t ridden it properly yet, though a quick ride up and down the car park felt nice Also nice was that the shop gave me £150 of clothes, a set of NorthWave bib shorts and top, by way of an apology for the long wait, even though it was Cannondale’s cock up not theirs. Still a nice gesture.

As I’m fundamentally a mountain biker, I’ve never been one for lycra or clothes that match the bike (both free clothes & bike are black & white) so was going to put the NorthWave stuff on ebay but have now decided to give them a go – even though the mother-in-law and wife just wet themselves laughing when I tried it on.

Bike came with a “10% in accessories” type deal so have spent that on some nice new stuff for both MTB & road bike. Don’t have time to go into detail about exactly what I bought but I’m like a kid at Christmas!

Although a little earlier than doctor suggested, everything he said would happen has happened, so I can’t see any real reason why I can’t ride now, though might be prudent to provide thumb with a little additional protection. Unfortunately I just don’t foresee any spare time this week, annoying how life can work out like that! But first bike ride after accident is a MTB ride I’m leading on Sunday so will squeeze in a road ride after that if not before.

Finally, the bad news. Went to put some different pedals on MTB and found out the pedal thread on the left hand crank has stripped which was not amusing. Not wanting to miss out on any more riding I’ve decided to take a deep breath and buy a new set of cranks as a quick fix but hope to get it repaired and either keep them for the future or sell them on ebay to try and recoup some of the cost. Found a place that does the repair so I’m going to email them and see if it’s a permanent or temporary fix and go from there. Their website is quite fascinating – have a look at the crank shortener for a cool bit of engineering.

My second Introduction To Mountain Biking course is on Saturday. Obviously I’m not doing the riding part, but I am doing the talking & bike check parts at the start. Can’t wait!

First ride is pencilled in for Sunday 20th June, and will, of course, be on the MTB. Probably just a gentle one on The Ridgeway but still looking forward to it like a kid waiting for Christmas!

Then for the weekends after I’ve a couple of rides in the planning stages that will hopefully feature Matt and maybe John. Who knows, maybe I’ll even have a new road bike by then

The dressings have been changed twice a week for the last two weeks so I have been seeing my thumb and it’s looked better each time, but of course my opinion counts for nothing, it’s what the experts think that matters so I was a little nervous especially after the stern warnings from the last visit. Fortunately the plastics doctor I saw was very pleased and thinks it’s healing nicely. He also thinks the plastics hand surgeon that operated did a really good job.

It would seem that they’re also quite impressed that I managed to do it on a circular saw. I was intrigued by this so questioned them, turns out people that have circular saw accidents don’t usually get away with such small (relative term) injuries. I still think that has a lot to do with the fact I was being safe and sensible.

I still have a way to go and still need to be very careful with a list of do & do nots, but I’ve been discharged which is great news. No more dressings unless I feel I need too for cleanliness, comfort or cosmetic reasons and I can get it wet so no more showering with a plastic bag rubber banded to my right hand.

Even better news is that I’m allowed to get on the turbo trainer in a few days and could be back on a bike proper within a few weeks. I seem to recall there was a June 100 challenge laid down by a chap Joby knows and that it was open to all. Might be up for that if I’m allowed special dispensation and can put in turbo trainer miles, though who knows I might just find time in the last week of June to squeeze in 100 proper ones.

Of course I took pictures… Picture 1 and Picture 2 were taken after the dressing came off. Picture 3 is after I was able to give it a good clean up and shed all the iodine stained dead skin, you can imagine how much better it feels for that!

So next week I stop eating sympathy food and get onto the turbo trainer. Have put on 4lbs since doing this and doing nothing.

Though fundamentally what the surgeon that operated said still stands, he served it up with more than a little sugar, presumably to get me through the initial trauma.

Without wishing to bore you all with the details, I’ve still got a long way to go and need to continue to take things very easy else risk having to go back in and have more thumb amputated – obviously not what I want! As Matt pointed out when I spoke to him just now, we’re not designed to amputate parts of ourselves; this is pretty major trauma and it’s only been two weeks.

Currently this means my second Introduction To Mountain Biking course (start of June) isn’t going to happen nor is my annual 2 weeks working abroad afterwards (this would be my 8th year in Cannes). If I’m realistic about it, my 300-miles-in-three-days charity cycle ride in September (my 4th ride with this great bunch) also looks iffy because of lack of training.

All more than a bit upsetting, especially the mountain bike courses as I’ve put so much effort into becoming trained, designing the courses and organising them.

That said, I’ve got a total of six Introduction To Mountain Biking courses lined up and interest in some, as yet unscheduled, intermediate ones, so maybe I’ll get to put everything into practice sometime this “season”. Maybe I’ll be able to enter the core 200-miles-in-two-days part of the big event and if I can’t quite manage a whole day, I’ll take advantage of the fact my father acts as support in his very comfy car with a bike rack And I’m still breathing, walking etc. meaning there’s always next year.

One of those step at a time things. Dressings to be changed twice weekly at doctors, then back at hospital in two weeks.

New road bike still not here, not that I’m allowed to ride it even if it was. Have had a letter forwarded on from bike shop; it’s from Cannondale’s V.P. Europe Sales & Marketing and in it he apologies for the huge delays being experienced. A mix of reasons given but in short it’d seem they well and truly screwed up production vs. demand! They predicted a downturn due to the global recession and that didn’t happen. Then several of their bikes, including the Synapse I have on order, won major awards increasing demand and compounding the problem.

After all the upset of this afternoon I was thinking of cancelling the order, wait till next year. But I think wifey’s talked me out of that; her reasoning is that I’m waiting whilst I can’t ride it, next years bike isn’t going to be a whole lot better but undoubtedly more expensive and I will get some use out of it this year. Also, can we guarantee that cycle to work will still be running in a years time?

Now on a totally different note, how about this for a ride? Love my mountain bike and like a thrill but think I’ll give that one a miss.

Busy stuff includes work, helping Matt fix his bike, fixing Simon’s bike (he managed to totally wreck his rear mech (£120, replaced with a cheaper one!), rear mech hanger (£20) and chain (£20) in one go), more work, riding, DIY, moving rocks/dirt/poo with the Land Rover, completing a two day outdoor first aid course, planning/organising the free MTB training days I’m running and lots of other things I’ve forgotten.

Busy stuff does not including updating this blog or losing weight.

Yep, the weight is very static and has been for over six weeks now Still it’s not going up which is a good thing. I suspect a lot of it has to do with not being strict with the diet (which has a lot to do with spending a lot of time away from home with work) and not riding enough.

In amongst fixing other peoples bikes, I also fixed my own bike – biggest job was to service the front forks & rear shock on my MTB. If you send them off to be serviced (which is what the bike shops do) it’s £85 each plus postage. I bought the bits and did a basic service (all they needed) on each for about £20 so saved over £170!

On re-fitting rear shock I noticed quite a bit of play – the lower shock bushing had worn (as it is meant to do). Again another DIY fix but rather than do some ghetto bodge using a couple of sockets and a vice or spending £40 on the proper Fox tool, I made my own bushing press using bits of junk I found in the workshop:

Worked a treat.

Rides of note have included a 65 miler with John on the first day of his NCR5 epic, a 60 miler in North Norfolk, a 58 miler with Joby and various MTB excursions.

This weekend it’s the Oxfordshire Classic road ride which I intend doing with Matt, then it’s my first MTB training session (quite nervous), then the weekend after it’s a day down at the new Olympic cycle track at Redbridge. No riding on the Bank Holiday as I need to fix the fence.

June’s diary includes the village fete, a 28 mile charity MTB ride, 2nd MTB training session, two weeks working abroad in Cannes and the local bike fair where I’ll be helping to promote the MTB club I helped start up.

July is 3rd training session (ladies only), 4th training session, wifey’s birthday, a weekend with nothing planned (!) and then training session 5.

Yep, I have one free weekend between now and August.

August has just one event planned, training session number 6 (last one).

September involves the now annual 200-mile-in-two-days charity event, though I might tack an extra 100 miles and an extra day on!

October involves taking the wife on holiday (if she’s still talking to me, or indeed still recognises me).

Hope you’re all having as much fun as me!

I got them because of joining John for the start of the NCR5 journey which looks like it leaves tarmac quite often. Hoping the 28c (max I can get on my bike) will give a little more comfort, the tread a little more grip and the puncture protection a little, well, assistance in keeping the fairy at bay.

I was going to go for the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, same as John, but they are expensive and I wasn’t sure how much use the tyres will get after the ride with John so I compromised. Hope I’ve not dropped a clanger as I’d hate to hold him up!

I tried fitting the rear one and it was an absolute bitch. I ended up having to use three tyre levers to get the tyre back on, which of course meant I pinched the tube so had to take it off again. Like I say, hope I don’t get a puncture as I’d hate to hold him up!

Will test them out next weekend probably.

The difference in price wasn’t saved as I’ve also bought some new pedals. I like the benefits of SPDs (clip ins) on the MTB (largely same as benefits you get being clipped in on a road bike) but if you end up in a rut it’s very scary and there’s a lot of ruts round here. I therefore switched back to flats, but have now decided to try some SPDs with a resin cage, which should mean I can ride unclipped if it’s rutty. I think I’ll also use these pedals on the NCR5 jolly as the MTB shoes are more practical if I have to stand/walk on an off-road path and the cage might give a bit more support for the longer miles than my current SPDs.

As for riding I went out both yesterday and today doing a route recce for the free “Introduction to Mountain Biking” days I’m running this summer. I knew what sort of “features” I wanted but trying to find a route that included them all, over not too great a distance and in a practical (for teaching purposes) order was a challenge. Over on John’s blog, Clive commented “Time spent on reconnasance and kit testing is never wasted” and am sure he’s right – it was an effort but I’ve now nailed an excellent 10 mile route and am very excited about how things are panning out.

If my courses don’t go well I don’t think it will be through a lack of effort and planning on my part!

No idea how many miles I covered but probably only 25 at most and it took ages as I kept having to stop, read map, think, plan. However, it was fabulous to be out in the sunshine, even if there was quite a cold wind. I think spring might be here!

I’ve given it some thought and spoken to Matt about it on email.

The problem is I’ve become very complacent with this weight loss thing. Lostie said that I must have some magic formula and though it’s not what she meant, I think I’d convinced myself I had got a magic formula and so I could be a little naughty with my food. Obviously that’s not true.

Oh well, it’s given me a kick up the butt and a refocus. Or did I say that last week