Killing two birds with one stone?

I am a cyclist… pretty sure that’s clear.

I am also a dog lover. Or I put up with them… at least, or they put up with me!!

I noticed one day when me and my other half went shopping a guy on a bike with two huskies attached via a strange gadget connected to his seatpost.

I instantly wanted said gadget. However I had one husky at the time. He was a bit to old and cannot cope with long walks anymore.

Logan is 11 maybe nearly 12. As much as I would love to pull him, he would simply collapse from exhaustion. I soon forgot about this idea and stuck to walking the beautiful lad instead.

In January however, due to someone’s change in circumstances they wanted to rehome their husky as they felt they couldn’t give the dog enough time and attention. Alas we ended up with a second Husky.

Meet Brady. A young now a year old Husky.

He certainly has a hell of a lot more energy than his senior brother in the house. Also he has taken a lot of training to get him manageable!

So a light bulb appeared maybe I could in fact cycle with my dog.

He is Unbelievably fast! However this could be a bad thing.

I have read up on the best way to do this and urban mushers recommend a dog scooter or rig.

We went to a show were they demonstrated this. However having something like that among all the bikes in my house in not an option. Maybe when we get a bigger house.

So I have found different attachments on the Web. But I shall do more research. Brady requires more training yet and he is a bit young yet.

I also need to find a suitable spot to excercise him in this way and find out what I have to change in his diet.

If any cyclists with dogs have tried this I would love to hear experinces.

Huskies are not suitable for off lead. So I need to also look at new harnesses to prevent him from escaping !

And hopefully Brady and Rocket (my bike) will have the bestest fun together !

Stop press!!!! I take back my last blog post!

It’s like being in one of those relationships were you tell all your friends that you won’t go back ever.

Then a week later you find you kiss and make up because the other person says they can change.

Well after cleaning up my bike ready for its viewing on Tuesday I noticed that there was only an inch difference on my bike from my other halfs I am currently using.

So I thought I CAN MAKE HER CHANGE!!!

So why by brand new? Or even second hand. I am going to have a go at adjusting this one so it fits.

So false alarm people!

She is here to stay.

On another note. I bought another frame to build… well I am handing it to the bike shop to build. Otherwise I will never get round to doing it.

Hopefully it will be done in time for the lovely weather (which is for only like a week in the UK)

Hopefully going to take these both to Europe though. We will see 🙂

Also been painting by light again with the go pro 🙂

Such a saddo I know.

Will update on the peugoet and raliegh when they are starting to be built.

Laters x

Saying goodbye to a friend.

With a heavy heart I have to announce that me and Clara (my cube) are breaking up.

I bought my beloved Cube Acid as a desperate replacement for a bike I had stolen in October….. Another Cube Acid.

The replacement (blue and black) was a second hand bargin from my local bike shop but it was a 20″ compared to the one I had previous that was only an 18″.

I got the seat post chopped a bit so I could actully climb on the bike. I could stop, pedal and get off so it seemed ok.

I should have known this wasn’t meant to be. As a commuter it was fine. Flats and occasional hills were not a problem. Downhills all the same easy as pie, but sometimes my lower back would give me grief and my knee would sometimes become impossible to ride with, but being stubborn I ignored it. I loved my bike and didn’t want to get rid.

However the warmer weather is coming in, I am going on more rides for longer. Pushing myself speed wise (I will be honest though I am still pretty damn slow!) Trying to navigate though trails, rocks, hills and puddles. Sadly what should also be a hobby as well as a way to commute is starting to take its toll.

It was only Monday I was in work and I was struggling with putting stuff down. My back was throbbing! Very sore. I worked through it carefully and realised what must be causing it.

I didn’t go to work on my bike Tuesday. My knee was also a bit sore so I had a rest day. After chatting with my partner I had made my mind up that I would sell Clara the Cube and buy a smaller bike.

Until then however I am going to use my partners bike 🙂

Her lovely whyte 802.

I am not short of bikes…. but they all have problems.

The Trek (Tara) I borrow for summer is currently in needing of a service, the cables all need replacing and the seat clamp needs replacing.

However I am desperate to start riding her again as the road bike goes a great deal quicker and it’s light frame is amazing!

There is also the peugoet. However this belongs to the other half too and is actully very very small. As pretty as it is.

Then the ralieghs are still in bits so I cannot use them…. must finish them at some point!

So I shall stick to the Whyte! Already today my back been a lot less painful but there’s still pain there. This bikes a bit lighter than the cube to so it seemed to get me to work a lot quicker!

So I will continue to ride this wee bike until I decide what I will be buying to replace the Cube.

When I have bought a new baby I shall be posting about it.

I will miss my Clara :(.

Thanks for all the happy rides!

You will be missed 😦 x

First big ride of the year

Haven’t blogged for a while. Been busy with work and setting up my ‘Home office’ for blogging and editing my gopro footage and photos.

My new pc. Plugged into its monitor and my hdtv for video playback.

Have only been doing my daily commute which is an average of 10 miles a day, normally I would do a big ride of a weekend. But as the weather hasn’t been great.

Finally though the weather reached double digits on Saturday and I thought what a waste of a day it would be if I didn’t take advantage and go for a nice ride.

Started off on the weston side of Runcorn and headed straight to Stockton Heath.

It was 9 miles to my destination. This is the first time I used my garmin edge tourer as an actual sat nav and not just a tool for recording my strava rides.

It’s was quite handy, I knew were I was going but this suggested trails or cycle paths that may be quicker than the canal I was on. As I decided to stick to the canal it just recalculated my route as appropriate as a car sat nav would.

After leaving the canal and doing the little bit of riding on the road (wearing my new dawes raptr helmet from my local bike shop) I arrived at a bar where I was meeting a friend.

After a few shandy’s and a chat. I set back off.

I decided to put my Gopro on my handle bars right facing with the intention of showing the pretty canals on the way back.

However even though I am certain I put my gopro on securely and safely I nearly lost it to the traffic… The road ride were I nearly lost my shiny new Go Pro.
Lesson learned that cheap mounts really are not worth buying for a piece off £300 kit. A car nearly ran it over but it didn’t land in a position that you could see the car come towards it before I dived to pick it up.

Thankfully the casing protected the Gopro fine. I chucked it in my back pack and finished my ride without it.

I was now about 14 miles into my ride. After a quick stop again to see a mate I headed back to runcorn.

Sadly my garmin sent me around in circles a few times and what should have been a 7 mile trip home turned out to be 15 miles.

There were pretty views though.

Sadly I was about 2 miles away from home and my body couldn’t cope anymore. 27 miles into my ride I phoned my partner and admitted defeat. I had to get a lift the rest of the way home.

There are a number of factors for this. I didn’t eat any were near enough as I should of. I drank plenty but broke my bottle cage so I was not sipping as much water as I should have because it was in my back pack.

Lessons learned. Let’s try again next week! 🙂