Not so full: 17%

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spinathonSo the past few weeks have not been fun. Since early February, my innards have been painful, at times screamingly so. I’ve been constipated and very tired, some days hardly able to stir from my bed. My abdomen has been distended, and its skin (and the skin on my legs) has been irritated, so that sleeping has been interrupted – I tend to sleep from mid-evening until about 3am, then toss and turn until about 5am before dropping off again for a couple more hours. I’ve also been short of breath at times, presumably from my distended innards impeding my diaphragm.  Continue reading →

Spinning the world away!

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Elly and I have been spinning at the wonderful LifesCycle for four years to help keep ourselves fit enough to enjoy exploring the world on bikes.  We are going off on our adventures later this year, but we know we are incredibly lucky to have the time and the security to do that. LifesCycle has been a strong supporter of Mercy Corps and we would like to add a little bit to their support of people suffering around the world, particularly refugees. If you have two minutes, this video will give you a little bit of insight into the people Mercy Corps supports. Continue reading →

Even more full of **** than normal!

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I’ve been constipated for at least two weeks. There has been lots of pain and bloating, noxious flatulence and interrupted sleep. Last week I didn’t work more than half a day.

My GP has prescribed lots of Movicol to soften my output, paracetamol as an analgesic, lots of fruit and lots of non-caffeine fluid. The Movicol is working, the paracetamol helps somewhat, heat-patches help to some extent and the fluid is passing through.

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Inspirations

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What is a CycleDog? Read it and … guffaw

Never feed cyclists. They’ll learn about the easy handout and return again and again. They subsist quite nicely on their regular diet of Gatorade and inhaled bugs so please don’t feed them.

Do not honk at cyclists. They’ll return the one-fingered salute, or on some occasions, all five fingers – for emphasis.

Keep your windows tightly closed when near a cyclist, especially at a red light. They smell very bad. They spit in all directions, though they can achieve good distance by spitting down wind, and cyclists ALWAYS know the wind direction. They are known to shoot ‘snot rockets’ from their nostrils. These are their GOOD points.

Or just be inspired by cycling round the world on almost no money

Happy trails, ninj-waz!

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Purchases

Ageing ninja or spawny-eyed wazzock?

Ageing ninja or spawny-eyed wazzock?

A few more ouches this weekend. The first was another Trespass top, so that I’ll have a spare for if I wash any clothes en route. Trespass also sell fleece thermals. I’m not yet convinced my sleeping bag and its fleece outer will be warm enough, so I couldn’t resist. The only question is whether I look like a ninja or a wazzock – your call!

I’m also thinking seriously about abandoning my road shoes for a pair of Shimano mountain-bike boots I bought a year or so ago. I didn’t get on with them at the time but now they feel comfortable, and they’re much easier to walk in than road shoes, so I think I won’t need to take different footwear just for walking. Continue reading →

Shaking it down – again

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Another attempt to get my legs used to pedalling a laden bike. Snow and ice prevented cycling in Holyrood Park, so I cycled to Musselburgh and back. I felt that I was still abominably slow. However, using Elly’s panniers, which do not protrude above the pannier rack, meant that my sleeping mat was better positioned and so Lev did not feel top-heavy and ready to fall over.

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Elly’s pannier’s don’t protrude

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Mine do

Here’s the inevitable cyclemeter map.