Bad Karma

There's not too much to report this week, although there have been a few changes to the expedition. We have thought about it, and decided to make some pretty big changes when it comes to the route and the time frame. (This new information can be found on our web page www.quadepic2010.org.uk). We also have a couple of new sponsors, which we are very happy to have supporting our expedition. Also, with these changes it opens up some new dates for possible 4th riders. 
 
Now for a funny/serious story that's slightly off topic but still connected to the trip. It happened on Tuesday 15th December at 5:36 pm. I was sitting down working out the new route and adding a few new dates along the way. I'd been at this now with my head deep in the maps for a few hours. During these hours I’d been receiving a number of phone calls on our land line. These calls were made by a lady with dementia who had the wrong number and thought I was her grandson (totally wasn't my gran). I was really polite to the lady and had a good chat with her, she was super cool to chat with the first few times, but then she kept calling and calling. I won’t lie, I found it slightly funny at first, but then it kind of annoyed me.

However, after the 5th time she called I let it ring and ring, but then thought that was mean so I got up and ran to the phone before she hung up. On running to the phone I ran in to the wooden arm on my chair… it dug deep into my right knee. The pain was out of this world (like stubbing your toe but x10).  I dropped to the ground next to the phone pretty much close to tears as the pain being so intense.  I did answer the phone, but she replied with "sorry i got the wrong number" and hung up. I was still rolling on the ground like a baby half an hour later.  But being a stubborn guy, and not a fan of hospitals, I put the visit to the hospital off until the next day, grabbed a bag of frozen peas and strapped them to my knee.
 
With a bad nights sleep out the way I decided I had to go to the hospital first thing. I grabbed my book "By Any Means" by Charley Boorman and hobbled into the taxi at 7:30 am (haven't seen this time in years). On arrival at the hospital and hobbling into A&E, I was dreading what serious damage I may have done to my knee. I was worried that depending on how serious the injury, it could mean me missing the start of the trip, joining later down the line or even worse the end of QuadEPIC for me. 
 
As usual with England's hospitals, I sat around for hours waiting in discomfort with no pain relief, but must say I like what they have done with the place.  It looks like the tax payers money has gone to good use on the decor (ha). Finally the doctor took me into the cubical, sat me down and examined my knee. She poked, pulled, twisted, made me shed a tear and asked the usual questions. The doctor was convinced that all I have done is heavily bruise the muscle above the knee cap. She said it’s hard to say what's up with it, and I will have to come back in a week’s time. I left with my knee all strapped up, without an x-ray, and still confused on how bad the damage is. Fingers crossed all will be well soon.  The major downside to this is that I was just getting into my training at the gym and know that's going to be set back for a week or two all depending.
 
I wonder if I got bad karma from the old lady......
 
 
To be continued.... 
 

York test ride footage is finally online!

There hasn't been much happening with the bike this week, but we did make The Grimsby Telegraph on Wednesday 25th November. With that article in the paper it gave us a huge number of hits on our web page and new group members. We have also released a number of videos on the web page this week from our second test ride that took place this time in Grimsby on 22nd November. 

http://www.quadepic2010.org.uk/news.html

I recently went over to Hull and picked the video footage from our very first test ride that took place on the 6th November near York. There are now two new videos on our website.  The first video is an interview that took place last month with a good friend called George from "The Three Blind Mice".  The second video is of the test ride, a few days later.  Check them out here.

I never got chance to take the bike out over the weekend sadly, but I have been making a few slight changes, mainly to do with the way the cranks and chains are set up. I've swapped around the cranks and pedals to a normal style bike set up. This way I'm saving on weight, as we have lost a few cranks and a large number of chain links.  Hopefully she will operate more smoothly.  I'm toying with a number of ideas on how I can also make the steering and front axles more efficient and stronger when the bike is in motion.

 We also have some new riders for the 4th seat. Amanda, Melanie and Katelyn I personally know from my travels over the last 3 years. Joel is a friend of Neil's back in Canada and Brittany is a friend of Amanda's, the pair met each other on their travels in Mexico. I've been blown away with the amount of interest QuadEPIC is getting from potential riders for the 4th seat, for some reason I was not expecting this amount of interest. We still have many places left that need filling, so if you're reading this and feel the need for a challenge, adventure and possible life changing experience with crazy cats like myself, Dan, and Neil, please contact us at enquiries@quadepic2010.org.uk