Re-recyled

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

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A slightly more ambitious jaunt yesterday – 6 miles in 46 minutes of saddle-time. We had a break for tea at Marks & Spencer in Craigleith, and I hobbled across the carpark to look for networking gear in Curry’s. (I think our main ethernet switch may be getting old, and it might be worthwhile replacing it with a managed device with more ports.)

This ‘effort’ flattened me again: I slept for 2 hours when we got home. I don’t want to cycle today, but I will go out for another jaunt tomorrow if at all possible.

Recycled?

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

I’ve just been in a saddle for the first time in over two weeks. We finished our spinathon on April 2nd – since then I’ve been more or less prostrate. That was caused in part by preparations for my colonography. I’ll not go into details here but suffice it to say I had to ensure my colon was empty by following a very restricted diet and taking some powerful medications. The abdominal pain continues, varying in location but most often in my ascending colon. Continue reading →

Made it!

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

Our spinathon has now raised £1650. That’s over £100 per class, and over £105 per hour of spin. I’m rather pleased.

Up periscope? Er, no!

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

I now have a date for a colonoscopy: 15 April. I’m slightly disappointed that I won’t ‘have a telescope shoved up’ (the words of a surgeon last time I was in hospital). Instead, CO₂ will be inserted and x-rays will be taken. I guess this technique is to avoid damage due to the ‘telescope’ scraping innards as it goes around corners. Still it means I will have no chance of seeing my insides on CCTV. Also, this is only an investigation – I don’t know when or if it will lead to a cure to my ongoing gut pains. Also, in the 3 days before the colonoscopy, I will need to go on a starvation diet.

Continue reading →

100% – spun out!

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

Well we did it! I don’t remember much about Friday’s spins. I do know I went to Napier and finished almost everything I needed to, then rushed to the evening spin.

Waking up on Saturday morning was hard – I’d already woken at 2:30 and got back to sleep an hour or so later. I recall grinding my way through James’ 90-minute madness, only just able to turn the pedals in at times. Elly seemed on form – compared to her, and the other spinners, I was nothing. I rushed out of the studio at the end of the class and burst into tears. I can’t explain why. I just know that I felt worthless. Continue reading →

73%

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

We’re getting there! I even did some productive work today, followed by Adam’s 50-minute road-race spin. After that I’m sorry but I just dragged myself through James’ 60 minute of climbs. His legs were a blur, even at incredibly hard resistance. Mine were, er, not, while my innards were quite sore. I wish I had videos to show you the differences. Ah well, that’s another 110 minutes of spin out of the way – with only another 255 to go. And we’ve raised almost £1200 for Mercy Corps so far. Yeehah!

Au revoir

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

Well it’s time to leave Napier for 6 months to pursue other personal interests. I’ll be back in October to work on the IL-DEM project with Peter Cruickshank and Hazel Hall.

For now a huge thank-you to friends and colleagues in the School of Computing/IIDI, principally in the Centre for Social Informatics.

spun out: 60%

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

We got through today, including over three hours of spinning, without dying or killing each other! Continue reading →

40%

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

So today was our ‘rest day’ – just one spin in the evening. I didn’t sleep well last night – I woke before 3am, and got maybe 3 more hours fitful sleep in the late morning. So I was nervous about this evening’s spin. I was even more nervous when I conked out of work about 4pm due to intense gut pain. Meanwhile, Elly’s knee wasn’t feeling so good.

The pain had become tolerable by the time we got to LifesCycle, and then a miracle occurred. By the end of the spin, I felt no pain – I was actually smiling!

Continue reading →

I can’t count!

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Bruce Ryan

So far we’re up to 315 minutes of the sponsored spinathon. That’s just over 33% of the 940 minutes, not the 40% I calculated some time back. Tomorrow is almost a rest-day – only an hour in the saddle, and not until the evening. Yeehah!

Huge thanks to Andy, Jeannie and Heather for getting us through this evening’s spins. Mangez bien!