Show us your.......newbie progress!

[puffinbilly]

Birthday trip up Blencathra was lovely - Sharp Edge up & Halls Fell ridge down. Lovely clear blue skies.

Decent progress!

Brave man - I avoid Sharp Edge if there's any dampness around now - comes of having a bad experience where someone got cragfast on 'the step' and it lead to all sorts of problems.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

@SatNavSaysStraightOn & @Mo1959 time is relative, when your one a year is your whole life, when your two its half, so goes twice as quick, ect........ it is only a perceptual things though. I haven't worked since 2007, and survived on benefits since then (now you know why I ride a Viking). Not sure what I could do or how I would cope in a work place situation.

Sadly I have not been entitled to anything, though this may change if things don't improve from the op. I quit my job and have a husband with a very good wage. I get nothing.

 

[Justinslow]

Why don't you work now Nigel?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

My friend who is hospital, and I go and check his house most days, has some spinal injury where by he is pretty much wheelchair bound, when I visit him at home he always seems to have people around, but this must be quite brief I guess on a weekly time scale, and whilst sat in his house the other day I got a real picture of his solitude, as he is finding things more difficult, going out is difficult whole host of other things.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I can only guess at what it is like, though I do have some idea with my step father having spent 12 months in a wheelchair just recently. Currently the crutches I am using are his. I have been given nothing to help me out as of yet. If I need them long term then they will need to be of a different type because my left wrist cannot take my weight (or even pay off it) and is playing up again because of the crutches... Yet no-one seems to appreciate that without them I can get around at all yet they want me out of bed and more active

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Justinslow its really complex to explain, I have been diagnosed with "border line personality disorder" it is actually a lot worse than it sounds, but generally only to oneself. Now I am not sure if life events has caused this or its something that I always have had, I can end up in hospital having taking an O.D. a few times a year, though this is better than it was, I have been attending a therapy group for the last two and half years, which is mainly about childhood abuse, this can be in several forms not just sexual or violence, and to this mum went missing in 1985 and we didn't know what happened till 2011, when we found out she had died 16 years before, of either a deliberate O.D. or accidental the report doesn't say and the police couldn't seem to get answers to that or didn't tell us. My being raped at school when I was 12 ect.........

Sorry didn't mean to post such a depressive post on a Monday morning starting December, look on the bright side, it starts getting lighter in three weeks (mind you its got to getter darker till then)

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@SatNavSaysStraightOn I have lived on my own from 2007 to 2010, but one I was drinking and two I always had the internet and computers as a hobby, and you know what fun they can be, so I have never had a problem with being bored, yet when I go out I don't have a mobile anything and still not bored because there is always so much to see, anyway Peter is only going to get worse, I don't read peoples personal stuff when I do their computers ect, but I have borrowed a memory stick to put some programs on for him, and the list of docs (his file keeping isn't the best) was titled "The End", and yea that was what it was about.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Blimey Nigel, I didn't know half the stuff you've just shared and weve been chatting for over two years now.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Just managed 30 mins graft on the turbo
Think I'm feeling better, may actually get out this week if work doesn't drain me too much. I start the longer night shifts tonight Grrrrrrrrr.
Still the upside of extra hours/work means more likely for N+1

 

[Justinslow]

Sorry to ask that question, you've clearly had a lot on your plate, it just seems so unnatural for me not to work, as that's what I've always done, but that's just me looking at it from one point of view, now you have said all that I fully understand.
Keep positive, and remember there's plenty of good folk on here to talk to when you are low.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@BrianEvesham & @Justinslow there are many people in much worse situations, I at least have a roof over my head, someone that cares for me, even though I can be very hard work sometimes, who knows were it not for her ..............
So you see why cycling is good for me, but I get anxious after a couple of hours, so when @Big_Dave I think it was said last week about doing 4-5hrs last week on the bike to do the 100km to me it wasn't about the weather but being away from home if you look I am never more than about 30 mins away from home
http://www.strava.com/activities/223131891
The toughest day I have is when I do the W.N.B.R. in June, I am away from home from about 3pm-10pm but when I am there I am with people I know (even if its only a few).

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Sorry to ask that question, you've clearly had a lot on your plate, it just seems so unnatural for me not to work, as that's what I've always done, but that's just me looking at it from one point of view, now you have said all that I fully understand.
Keep positive, and remember there's plenty of good folk on here to talk to when you are low.

I have worked and dammed hard at times, but I do find social interaction very very difficult, which is why the W.N.B.R. is a real challenge for me, not just the time aspect but also the number of people ( a bit like going to the supermarket), but as the ride is only about an hour or so, I can cope if it highlights he vulnerability of cyclists and the environment.

 

[Mo1959]

however after intense physio and just avoiding the need for surgery I did improve slightly and it probably took a complete year to feel pain free and movement free - but it did happen. I am incredibly diligent about stretching and doing the exercises that the physio provided and have managed to get back on a bike.

Don't suppose you could share a few of the exercises the physio gave you? I have also been left with a lasting niggle and what I presume is nerve damage/trapment with the numbness in sections of the leg and foot. I had a couple of physio sessions but didn't really rate the guy and never found it much good but I should really persevere and see if I can improve mine a bit too.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Yep, can't fault the winter jersey or the leggings (the only bits I bought) comfy good fit and cheap!

Longevity isn't to bad either, I tend to wear shorts from planet-x these days, but I have a pair of winter trousers from Aldi last year which I will wear if it gets really cold. I have summer shirts from 2013, and mits from last year, and whilst their winter gloves are warm they don't tend to last.

 

[Mo1959]

The consultant said something about degeneration which I will talk to her about before I am discharged to establish want she meant and see if it needs an NHS referral for long term montering. I don't think it is connected to the steroids I am on, but will ask.

Emma, I think disc degeneration is unfortunately very common as you get older. Some probably have it without symptoms, whereas the less fortunate experience niggly backache and possible nerve damage due to the protruding discs.

The main things which seem to be of benefit is keeping your weight down and maintaining a strong core. Easier said than done when you are going through spells of backache. All a bit catch 22.