Recycled Cycles..

Well on Monday I was back at my 2nd of 3 cycle maintenance classes and Sam, the guy who helps me work out technical things like..how to use a spanner...told me about this place in Dundee

http://www.claverhouse.co.uk/cyclestop.html they have LOADS of bicycles and there's a guy there called Dave who is going to help me find something that is lighter than mine and more able to not kill me on this trip! A hybrid is the thing I'm being told will be the best option for me - so I'll keep you posted on how that goes!
I went to the wrong place first of all (that's sat nav for you...yes, yes, I know a bad workman blames his tools) and had to reverse a LONG way down a muddy track to get myself out of a dead end road that had a pair BIG barking, scary, teeth snarling dogs asking me to kindly get out of their patch, which I did of course :)

I did my furthest distance to date on Sunday, fanfare please! I went 12.2miles from Coupar Angus, to Keillor to Newtyle, to somewhere between Newtyle and Meigle, to Ardler and back to Coupar Angus!

I was VERY chuffed with myself as I did it in one hour fifteen minutes - not bad for a beginner!

The annoying thing was though that 4 hours later my resting heart rate was still 90 bpm....hmm, my resting heart rate is usually in the 60's.

I've got a weird auto-immune thing which has affected my thyroid gland so tomorrow I'm having a wee chat with my GP on the phone about checking that out as I think I might need my thyroxine adjusted again. I don't want to have it reduced so that everything becomes a huge effort, but if they adjust it too far the other way I'll get from Dundee to Thurso in a couple of hours!! Hmmm...now there's an idea!

"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better." - Pauline R. Kezer

Maintenance

Monday night was my first of 3 bike maintenance classes. I was quite excited about it, as I've never done ANYTHING to a bike in my life, though I have pumped up my tyres, I'm really clueless about any other aspect of bike maintenance.

I went into the cycle shop where it was being held, and fortunately there was a young man there with his bike already turned upside down on a piece of cardboard ready for the first instruction.

Getting my bike through the heavy front door of the shop was tricky enough (I won't bore you with the details of the carry on I had getting my bike out of the back of my car...suffice to say there are a few "fresh" scratches on the bit above the bumper!) Once in, and once I'd clocked what the young man had done with his bike, I was able to confidently stroll up to the bit of cardboard next to him and with a hefty. "Ewwouch" turn my not so light bike over. Sadly though my bravado was quickly dampened when one of the helpers shouted, "Wait! Take your light off first, take your light off!" Aah yes, if I'd just dumped it on it's handle bars the light would've ensured that it was unstable enough to fall on to the bike standing all confident and arrogant next to me. So I had to stop and lie it down, work out how to take the light off (actually it was quite easy..it slid off) and then with a deep breath in again and my "Ewwouch!" round it went. Incidentally the young man next to me was called Andrew!! For those of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning there is a definite Andrew theme running through my life just now.

The 2 hours absolutely flew by and I did say on more that one occasion that I'd found childbirth less painful.

We took off first the front wheel, tyre and inner tube, then the back wheel, tyre and inner tube. Checked them all, and put them all back together. I needed step by step instructions but I did it in the end!

With time on our side we were then able to take a bike chain and use a very nifty bit of equipment that removed a link and enabled you to fix it back together.. by this stage I'd given up worrying about how oily I'd become. I was enjoying myself!

The folk there were great, and Ron the teacher was very patient with me.

One slightly disconcerting thing that happened was that 4 out of the 10 folk there said to me independently of each other, " that isn't the bike you're using for the cycle event you're doing though is it? That's just the bike you're practising the maintenance on?!" Each time I said, "NO! That's my bike..that's it...that's the one!" they either smiled, rolled their eyes or just laughed quite loudly.

Next Monday we're doing the brakes and gears - that should be interesting!

I'll keep you posted!

Love,

Kathleen x

"With willing hearts and skillful hands the difficult we do at once; the impossible takes a bit longer." - Author unknown

Building it up

The rain is pouring down today - it's really horrible out there BUT the good news is that 3 days ago I managed to complete 10.9miles on my bike!

I hadn't actually intended to do that much as I'd only done 4 - 6 miles before. However, the sun was shining and I set out for a wee jaunt.

It was such a lovely day I carried on heading out towards Guthrie instead of turning back into my village. I crept up on some beautiful wildlife, a hare, 2 deer a buzzard just watched me from the field and a wren which flew a little bit ahead of me for a while.

I free wheeled down to Pitmuies Gardens only to discover the road that would have taken me round in a circle was closed for maintenance. That hill I'd free-wheeled down was now going to be a part of the route I went from loving to hating!

Anyway, I got up that hill and had just free wheeled down a smaller hill and was building up some steam to get up the next long climb when a white van went past me then stopped a few yards ahead of me...I pedalled, and puffed and puffed and pedalled and got just about level to it when a guy lent out and said, "Excuse me - we're a bit lost can you give us directions?!" I said, "Are you seriously going to stop me when I'm trying to get up a hill??!" He smiled and said, "Yes..it'll do you some good!" Anyway, I gave them some directions...though I'm not sure how accurate they were.

So next week I'll get up over the 10 mile mark again, and maybe fit in a couple of 4 or 5 mile cycles too.

Tomorrow night is the first of 3 bike maintenance classes I'm going to...this could be interesting!
Hope you're all having a lovely weekend,

Kathleen x

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." - C.S Lewis

Meeting the staff

I had a lovely day today! I went to meet some of the staff in SHELTER (Dundee) and it was a really informative meeting, with very knowledgeable folk at the helm. I'd spoken to Tricia on the phone, and today I was able to put a face to the voice, which is always a good thing. I also had a good chat with Martin and Diane who told me all about the different services they offer.
I was introduced to all the staff who when they heard what I was doing were pleased...and some were pleased that they weren't doing it! The reactions went from some considering joining me for part of a day, or a day to the pulling of an empathetic grimace..which I appreciated, and so did my thighs, which are still feeling a little taut from the day I froze them to the point of nearly snapping.
So hearing about what SHELTER do really helped me get a fuller picture of all the aspects of their work.
Sometimes people are simply not aware of their rights and at this very difficult time, with the recession affecting every one, more and more people are facing problems keeping up with their mortgage and monthly rental payments. The staff can give advice on what to do and who to speak to before the problem escalates, they will also help with letter writing, as for some people this can be quite overwhelming and having a professional there to articulate their problems is a tremendous help.
SHELTER also offers legal representation for folk summoned to appear in court for defaulting on rent or mortgage payments. They really do cover every area and are there to support all of us who may have concerns about keeping a roof over our heads.
Tomorrow I intend to get on my bike and start increasing my training....I've managed to avoid hills (pretty much) so far. I do have to work a little bit tomorrow (on my paid job) and then it's out for an hour on the bike.
I'll keep you posted of course! I want to say a big thank you to the staff at SHELTER (Dundee) today for taking the time to meet with me and spend time explaining all that they do - I'm so glad I've chosen to support this charity!

Kathleen x

"If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble." - Bob Hope

Cold!

Well far be it from me to try and dupe you into thinking it's so snowy I've not managed to get out on my bike (see photo) - but I wasn't sure how else to dramatise, emphasise and get across how COLD it is! The photo was taken in my street in December...but it really is freezing out there today. So here's what's been happening - well as far as my getting out on my bike goes - there is no news!! Yesterday I was working all day in Aberdeen, and today I did think about going out on my bike, but it was so cold that instead I ate two creme eggs and had a cup of tea. Oh my..none of that is good news is it? Last week when I went out on a freezing day I got back to my house, jumped off my bike and couldn't straighten up as my thigh muscles seemed to have contracted to the size of a sparrows thigh muscles...not sure sparrows have thigh muscles, but you get the idea. I got in a hot bath and after warming myself up I was able to straighten up again - so today I opted out as it was -0.5 degrees celsius...I believe that is within the thigh contracting temperature range...so I opted out.
Tomorrow I'm going to SHELTER in Dundee to meet the manager and hear what projects they're running at the moment, and what money raised is used for.
So, more tomorrow - who knows I might even get out on my bike!

"The best way to get something done is to begin." - Author unknown