The Retirement Thread

[Dave7]

They will, only bears sh1t in the woods

Haha..... we had one that regularly crapped on the lawn....what a stinky mess it was

 

[Dirk]

Did you ever race solo Dirk ?
Where you on the bike or the sidecar (equally important imo)

I raced sidecars - driving & passengering for 10 seasons.
I started racing solos after I retired from sidecars ( most riders do it the other way around ).
I've won races in all disciplines.

 

[Dave7]

I raced sidecars - driving & passengering for 10 seasons.
I started racing solos after I retired from sidecars ( most riders do it the other way around ).
I've won races in all disciplines.

Well done.
What was your best/biggest win ?

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe it’s spinal? I have been left with some permanent leg/foot numbness ever since been diagnosed with lumbar disc herniations and my two bad bouts of sciatica and find sitting is the worst thing for it.

It isn't as bad as your problems. I am pretty sure that it is a vascular problem.

Post-DVT, my left calf has averaged about 2 cm bigger circumference than the right. I measured it yesterday and it was 3 cm bigger.

Another awful night but this time it was due to... backache! No, not the agonising type that is caused by trapped nerves. Muscle spasms caused by doing everything differently trying to alleviate symptoms of a numb, swollen leg!

Lights out 02:45. Toss, turn, wriggle, put duvet back on bed, lights back on, crossword, lights out, toss, turn... sunrise, spider solitaire... You know how it goes!

I have no idea when I finally managed to conk out, but I didn't wake up until 13:30!

So here I am with a swollen (but now not numb) left leg, a sore back that feels as though I have been lifting lots of excessively heavy weights, a very stiff neck from whatever crazy posture I finally slept in, and worry about what my body will throw at me next.

I did start to fear that I might have another DVT but that is unlikely with me being on Warfarin. Not impossible, but an outside chance. Even if I had one, I am already on the treatment for it.

I suppose I should get up and go out for my Metro and shopping. It would probably be sensible to walk but I quite fancy one of my mini-rides. I need to check how I am on the bike to make sure that I will be ok for my Garforth forum ride on Saturday. I want to do a few very short rides, then 40-50 km mid-week.

The one saving grace is that kind people are putting hundreds of pounds in my bank account every 4 weeks so I no longer have to worry about money**!





**Except for the fact that my TV is getting old and needs work doing on it or replacing. That could be a month worth of income gone in one big hit!

I could buy a cheap TV, but if I do buy new then I want the replacement to be better than my old Samsung. (It wasn't an awful set but it has several picture weaknesses that irk me.)

The alternative is to take the screen to pieces and fix it. The big risk there is cracking the 40" LED panel in the process.

I do quite fancy a new TV. I thought about keeping the old set to watch YouTube videos on while using the turbo trainer. It probably has a few hundred hours of tolerable picture quality left in it. That could be many years of turbo use but would only be a few months of regular evening viewing.

Another alternative use would be as a second screen for my attic music studio. Again, it could do for years of use up there unless I really got stuck into music.

I think I will start checking out new TV models when I get back from the shops. Have any of you bought TVs in the £500-1,000 price range recently? 45-55", 4k/UHD, HDR etc.

 

[Chief Broom]

I scrolled back a bit to find @Chief Broom but stumbled on news I had missed.

Do we know how the chief is?

Hi PaulSB and folks Im fine thanks and appreciate the concern
As mentioned in my last post im aghast/appalled/horrified at current events and i just kinda shut down.... it seems to suck the life out of any hope for the future. Much lesser worries that have been bothering me is tourists trashing the place and bird flue killing of hundreds of birds at Loch Fleet one of my favourite places there were around 160 dead birds counted of many species. Along the beach at Brora there have been dead cormorants,eiders, guillamots, fulmers, and various others Im not usually one for getting depressed but its all been a bit too much lately... and i havent even mentioned global warming...
Anyhow i shall go for rides and do more gardening to stay sane [ish] I had a pleasant spin this morning and had some deer running alongside at one point, they leapt over a tall fence and ran off up a hill

 

[12boy]

My sons and one of my DILs have been here since my wife passed away. Although I loved her dearly she was a hoarder and we have been going through mountains of stuff. I will leave my son and DIL here while I go to Albuquerque for a spell to see my sis and niece and her husband. I haven't been out of town for about a year due to Mrs 12's health so it will be an adventure.....38 C for the highs while there. I will take my Brompton for early am rides and hopefully will get some in.
Pretty much squared away with billing and accounts since things were in Sheri's name. I should have changed that months ago but since it was something she could control and liked doing it I left it alone.
Be well and safe...

 

[12boy]

Chief Broom...about the birds, here is a pod of pelicans seen on a little ride.
ColinJ...don't mean to sound alarmist but perhaps a doc visit is needed. Get well soon.

 

[Dirk]

Well done.
What was your best/biggest win ?

Two Club championship wins and 5th in a National championship with the sidecar and got into the replicas at the TT twice.
Won at the Isle of Man Jurby South course as a passenger on a F2 outfit and won at Cadwell as a passenger on a vintage outfit.
Best result on a solo was winning the Champion of Champions VMCC race at Cadwell Park - my first meeting on a solo and probably my most satisfying win, apart from my TT sidecar results and finishing 9th at the Ulster GP.
I also managed to get a 500 Manx Norton around the Manx Grand Prix, on the TT course, at 90mph average.

 

[ColinJ]

ColinJ...don't mean to sound alarmist but perhaps a doc visit is needed. Get well soon.

Thanks for your concern!

I am watching carefully for signs of anything sinister. Especially, the colour of the leg. If it starts to lose its redness that would be a big worry, indicating either a lack of blood flow or a lack of oxygen in the blood. Diabetes caused it to happen to my brother-in-law last year and the doctors had to lop off a big toe to save the foot and maybe even the leg!

When I had my pulmonary embolisms (emboli?) I was quite horrified by the colour I went. The normal redness in the blood just ebbed away.

The health service here (as in most places) is under a lot of pressure from Covid etc. so it is harder to get an appointment than it used to be. Emergencies would still be handled quickly but my situation isn't (yet?) like that. If it becomes chronic rather than serious then I would feel more inclined to see a doctor about it. I suspect that the advice currently would be to do what I am doing - waiting to see if the problem eases by itself or gets more serious.

I hope that you get through the next few months okay at this difficult time for you. I have been watching the latest series of Yukon Gold and one of the older miners has been talking movingly about losing his wife to cancer last year. It reminded me of you and Sheri.

 

[Mo1959]

Lovely afternoon here so another wander done. That's around 13 miles for the day.

Next door are constructing something in their garage. I'm just hoping and praying it's not some sort of outdoor kennel for their yapping dogs or I am going to lose the plot with them

 

[ColinJ]

Keep your fingers crossed that they are going to get something quiet, like... rabbits?

 

[PaulSB]

WOWSER! I bonked three miles from home. That hasn't happened in years. Felt dreadful so had a gel and limped home. Bonking apart it was an excellent ride with sausage roll stop.

 

[ColinJ]

WOWSER! I booked three miles from home. That hasn't happened in years. Felt dreadful so had a gel and limped home. Bonking apart it was an excellent ride with sausage roll stop.

View attachment 647881

So, what you are saying is that those sausage rolls have a negative nutritional value - they actually suck the energy out of you rather than replenishing it!

 

[ColinJ]

I think that I might have found the answer to my problem of getting comfortable when sitting down...



Only one small catch... they cost about $7,000!!!

I'm searching to see if I can find a much simpler/cheaper equivalent without the fancy motor adjustments. If I can't find exactly what I want for a sensible amount of money then I might have a go at making a chair myself.

I haven't been comfortable sitting down for the 10 years since my DVT, but have just put up with it. This latest problem has finally convinced me that ignoring the problem is only making things worse!

 

[oldwheels]

I am sorry to hear what happened at the TT.

For the racing... I noticed that there is a highlight show on ITV4 in the evenings, and presumably available on ITV Hub later?

As for me, my legs, sleep... That was an 'interesting' night, and I don't mean in a good way! It took me hours to get to sleep, then I had weird dreams and woke up. I went through that loop several times before finally getting a few hours.

I woke up at 12:45 feeling relatively good considering, but my legs feel like they have done some heavy duty exercise, which they haven't done. Well, unless you count bedding kicking as an exercise? My super king-sized duvet ended up beside the bed and one of my pillows on the floor at the far end!

The weather here is iffy, but I said that I might cycle over to Hebden Bridge between showers with a leek for my friend who is cooking and forgot to buy one. It isn't actually far for her to go back to the shops but I need to get out.

The symptoms you describe sound a bit like my own experience a few years ago. I described it as feeling I had cycled for 100 miles but only trained for 20. The consultant I saw said it was spinal stenosis although that is not what he had on his written report. I think he was just simplifying the thing for me. The only real treatment would be an operation on my lower spine but this would take a long time to recover from and given my relatively advanced age it would take a long time out of my existing lifespan. I opted anyway for no further action and with exercises it seems to be bearable.