a lost cause.

[jags]

It's been a while since i posted, since my last visit i've sold the lot gave up on touring and heavy steel bikes.mainly because i suffer with lower back pain but cyclye touring solo aint for this kid although it is probably the best way to go do things you wanna do at whatever pace suits .yeah so i went a bought a Terry Dolan carbon frameset hopefully when i eventually get it built up it will make cycling a lot easier,
dont think it will take a rear rack tho ,so i might fix up my son in laws mountain bike fit a new rack just in case i ever want to try a few overnighters.
i have a nice lightweigh camping set up well except for the heavy tent but i'll sort that out in time .
anyway best of luck to all you folk for 2015 hope its a great cycle touring year stay safe warm and healty and have fun.

jags.

 

[raleighnut]

It's been a while since i posted, since my last visit i've sold the lot gave up on touring and heavy steel bikes.mainly because i suffer with lower back pain but cyclye touring solo aint for this kid although it is probably the best way to go do things you wanna do at whatever pace suits .yeah so i went a bought a Terry Dolan carbon frameset hopefully when i eventually get it built up it will make cycling a lot easier,
dont think it will take a rear rack tho ,so i might fix up my son in laws mountain bike fit a new rack just in case i ever want to try a few overnighters.
i have a nice lightweigh camping set up well except for the heavy tent but i'll sort that out in time .
anyway best of luck to all you folk for 2015 hope its a great cycle touring year stay safe warm and healty and have fun.

jags.

The Topeak Bikamper is great for 'overnighters' and the bag attaches onto the handlebars with its own fittings

 

[jags]

yip same guy always a super bargain at my house.selling my guitar if your interested.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Thanks for the good wishes @jags, enjoy your new bike.

 

[jags]

new bike is a dream machine some people though i was off my rocker selling my thorn audax but i think i know better,and i made the right choice.
i will be sorting out my soninlaw mountain bike shortly that will do me fine for any touring i take on.
i was going to sell off my new lightweigh camping gear but thought better of it,i do crazy things like this all the time,

 

[doog]

It's been a while since i posted, since my last visit i've sold the lot gave up on touring and heavy steel bikes.mainly because i suffer with lower back pain but cyclye touring solo aint for this kid although it is probably the best way to go do things you wanna do at whatever pace suits .

Ive had two lower back surgeries and loads of other interventions in relation to my soddin back , things go on the back burner,I recover ...tour, get ill, surgery and repeat....kit goes up the loft, in the shed and generally forgotten about..and then suddenly im building a new bike and planning new routes....still have the bug....keep the faith.

Just need to find all that kit for my Eurovelo 6 tour...sponsored by Naproxen

 

[jags]

ahh im not that bad doog constant pain but bareable as the man said.i have the heat patches on my back every time i cycle they help great.i held on to the kit i built up last year thank god i was going to sell the lot for little or nothing but thought better of it.
hope your back eases up .

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

ahh im not that bad doog constant pain but bareable as the man said.i have the heat patches on my back every time i cycle they help great.i held on to the kit i built up last year thank god i was going to sell the lot for little or nothing but thought better of it.
hope your back eases up .

slight thread hijack...

My husband is trying to convince me to hang onto my road and mountain bikes and not sell them. I have been considering selling them... Bad back here as well, but it has left me with paralysis down the right leg which is worse than the existing paralysis down the left side of my body which I could balance with relying previously on my right leg to land on (if I feel to the left, I fell over literally!)... N+1 is a recumbent trike using parts (rear wheel) off my thorn nomad! but it gives me the benefits of the Rohloff hub and keeps the price down(ish).

I haven't quite got to the point of considering selling the hiking and camping kit, just my mountaineering kit... Can't see that happening again sadly.

 

[jags]

DONT sell your bikes for god sake been there done that a dozen times even sold my lovely guitar to get my new bike on the road (out of work) the BENT might be the way to go but get a test ride before you committe to that.i ware the hot patches on my lower back when i go cycling there great only 1.99 a pop.what about getting a bike fit a lot of cyclists sware by it, im old school ust things as i ride lol.
do you take a good energy dring while out riding keep up your energy levels you know yourself once you start getting tired or feel the going is tough the pain kicks in big time.
anyway i sure hope your pain eases up i know the feeling .keep your bike's .

jags.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I'm not able to test ride anything... It's a gamble but it's the only way currently I am going to get cycling again. I can't sit up literally to be able to get in a car and travel, but I can lie for hours at an angle of 45° ... The not being able to sit up vertically is a car off weight on the spine issue,) I've also lost some of the use of my right leg through paralysis which is starting to look permanent to add to the permanent slight paralysis on the left side (the right side was almost completely paralysed so even with what I have now, I'm better off than I had ever expected to be) and have no balance. A recumbent trike is currently the only way forward and even if I can only manage 15 minutes then that will allow me to get further afield than I have been since October in anything other than the back of an ambulance!

I tend not to use energy gels, they don't agree with me but I always carry one because of a medical condition that can leave me hypoglycemic (not diabetes but exactly same symptoms). I usually go with days, nuts and fruit plus plenty of liquid which my body needs.

Also with no disc (effectively) I think my days of red and black routes trail riding may well be all and truely over!

 

[raleighnut]

I'm not able to test ride anything... It's a gamble but it's the only way currently I am going to get cycling again. I can't sit up literally to be able to get in a car and travel, but I can lie for hours at an angle of 45° ... The not being able to sit up vertically is a car off weight on the spine issue,) I've also lost some of the use of my right leg through paralysis which is starting to look permanent to add to the permanent slight paralysis on the left side (the right side was almost completely paralysed so even with what I have now, I'm better off than I had ever expected to be) and have no balance. A recumbent trike is currently the only way forward and even if I can only manage 15 minutes then that will allow me to get further afield than I have been since October in anything other than the back of an ambulance!

I tend not to use energy gels, they don't agree with me but I always carry one because of a medical condition that can leave me hypoglycemic (not diabetes but exactly same symptoms). I usually go with days, nuts and fruit plus plenty of liquid which my body needs.

Also with no disc (effectively) I think my days of red and black routes trail riding may well be all and truely over!

Are you not able to travel by car with the seat (very) reclined, I know it is not exactly the safest way to be a passenger but have you tried it?

 

[Crankarm]

I'm not able to test ride anything... It's a gamble but it's the only way currently I am going to get cycling again. I can't sit up literally to be able to get in a car and travel, but I can lie for hours at an angle of 45° ... The not being able to sit up vertically is a car off weight on the spine issue,) I've also lost some of the use of my right leg through paralysis which is starting to look permanent to add to the permanent slight paralysis on the left side (the right side was almost completely paralysed so even with what I have now, I'm better off than I had ever expected to be) and have no balance. A recumbent trike is currently the only way forward and even if I can only manage 15 minutes then that will allow me to get further afield than I have been since October in anything other than the back of an ambulance!

I tend not to use energy gels, they don't agree with me but I always carry one because of a medical condition that can leave me hypoglycemic (not diabetes but exactly same symptoms). I usually go with days, nuts and fruit plus plenty of liquid which my body needs.

Also with no disc (effectively) I think my days of red and black routes trail riding may well be all and truely over!

Sorry to read this. If you aren't using them and not likely to it might be better to let them go and concentrate on building a recumbent around you so you can at least keep cycling albeit sitting down. You could still feel the wind in your hair and the click of the freewheel as you coast swiftly down hills.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Are you not able to travel by car with the seat (very) reclined, I know it is not exactly the safest way to be a passenger but have you tried it?

Sadly we have tried and it left me in crying in pain before we were able to get home. Lying on the back seat has also been vetoed because of my inability to get back up without hurting myself. I would also need to be able to travel to Wrexham which appears to be the closest place to try one out, be in a good enough state to try one, and get home again. I can't even manage to get to the DR's local surgery which is within (a normal) easy walking distance of my house, wait for my Dr (pre arranged that no matter how late they are running I'm the next patient) and get home again, less than 10 minutes each way by car.

Sorry to read this. If you aren't using them and not likely to it might be better to let them go and concentrate on building a recumbent around you so you can at least keep cycling albeit sitting down. You could still feel the wind in your hair and the click of the freewheel as you coast swiftly down hills.

I suspect you are right. I think my husband may just be taking longer to accept this than me. I guess we are both still hoping that my consultant will agree to replaced the disc or first the vertebrae and things may improve. I can't really be left this way for life when there are options available that could help, can i? Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question!

 

[andym]

SatNav

Have you thought about an electric bike (or at least retro-fitting a wheel with a motor)? My sister-in-law has some severe problems with hip replacements that have gone wrong, but a retro-fitted electric wheel means that she can now go out on day rides with my brother. He retro-fitted it to a conventional bike, but I'm assuming you could do the same for a recumbent.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

SatNav

Have you thought about an electric bike (or at least retro-fitting a wheel with a motor)? My sister-in-law has some severe problems with hip replacements that have gone wrong, but a retro-fitted electric wheel means that she can now go out on day rides with my brother. He retro-fitted it to a conventional bike, but I'm assuming you could do the same for a recumbent.

I have thought about it and currently opting for the not a hope in hell's chance option... I've made sure that I have some exceptionally low gearing on the recumbent trike... 14 speed Rohloff hub with a 17 tooth rear sprocket and a triple front derailleur of 22/34/44 ... It goes waaayyyyyyyyyy below Rohloff's permitted range but they test it on a 100kg fit cyclist standing on the pedals of a laden touring bike... I don't weigh 100kg, I'm no longer fit or healthy and I'm very definitely not going to be standing on the pedals!

I'm also being too vain, stubborn or just pig ignorant and don't (yet) wish to face that reality.

I can also swap out the 17 tooth rear sprocket for a 19 tooth one if I should find I don't have enough low gears ...