Looking at the blog history it is over two years since I last posted, and therefore time for an update on what has been going on in my life.
Firstly I have updated my front page - I am no longer a thirty something, I am now 50. In the old days they used to say life begins at forty. Well, it doesn't. It doesn't even begin at 50, so it seems to me. The older you get the more you stay the same age, and in my mind I am still about 20, maybe 25 on a bad day. Regardless of how the mind ages though, the body ages in normal time.
This explains why recently, coming down a steep descent on a mountain bike at about 25 mph a combination of age, gravity and a large boulder caught me out, sending me over the handlebars, landing on my shoulder and knocking me unconscious. In my mind I was still 20, but suddenly old age caught me by surprise and threw me off the bike. Or so it seemed. Did I also mention I was on my own and almost exactly half way into a 12 mile round trip route in the middle of nowhere? Anyhow, once I regained consciousness I realised that not only me, but my bike were badly hurt. The bike had a badly buckled wheel and I had a suspected discombobulated shoulder. This left me with a problem. I was able to fashion a makeshift sling for the affected limb using my waterproof jacket but had to somehow make my way back to my car with no real idea how far it was or in which direction. My mobile phone told me roughly where I was, but in my groggy state I couldn't relate that to where I had started from. After walking a mile or so down the well marked track I was fortunate enough that another lone cyclist chanced upon me and saw my predicament, with a wounded shoulder pushing a disabled bike with a buckled wheel. This gentleman, Mike, from nearby Boltby, kindly lead me back to a gateway where he then picked me up in his car taking me back to mine at the Sutton Bank car park enabling me to drive home. deposit my broken bike and get myself to casualty for a check over. There I was dismayed to find I had no broken bones, but torn ligaments instead. Experience has taught me that bones can heal in about 6 weeks whilst ligament damage can take 8 to 15 weeks and still not be fully recovered. The collar bone had displaced by about an inch outwards and upwards. Not good. But it could have been worse. I have written elsewhere about my solo experiences as "the Walking Fool" and the risks that involves, but it doesn't stop me from going out hiking alone. Nor will this experience put me off solo cycling. We are here but once, and have one life to live as Land Rover owners frequently proclaim. I could die on my bed aged 100 with a safe but dull life to look back on, or die in a ditch aged 51 with a bent mountain bike over me, a twisted autograss car, or a burning rucksack and a story to tell. I know which account I'd rather give to St Peter.