Ok ladies and gents here it is; The Official Progress Report July 2014.
I'm not in to race reports, they are dull. If you want results it isn't like they are hard to find and if you were that bothered about what a race was like you would probably have watched it or done it yourself. Fortunately I'm saved from this awkward situation for now as I haven't been racing. We are all friends (or at least loyal followers) here so I'm pretty sure you know why. If not check my last 5 blogs updates along with about 90% of my twitter content. In summary; I crashed, it hurt and now I am trying to rise phoenix like from the ashes.
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Get this; the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) relies 100% on charitable donations! I had no idea and was frankly stunned when I found out. From what I understand for those of you not in the GNAAS service area the same applies to your air ambulance. I think the Scottish Air Ambulance service receives national funding so kudos to the Scottish Parliament for that*.
Growing up in the heart of the Lake District I have seen the Air Ambulance Service helicopter many times, frequently passing directly over my house on route to Helvellyn. I never envisaged I would be making use of the service at any point and never really thought about its role. Given the remote areas and narrow roads in much of the North there are few, if any, other alternatives if you have a serious accident. The helicopter reduces the response time - it took 18 minutes to get me from the A66 to Newcastle. Risk of further injury is also reduced, imagine being carried by stretcher off a fell with a spinal injury! It is a service which is genuinely saving lives. Daily. It should be valued far more than it is, particularly to anyone involved in outdoor pursuits in the region. The people working there, both raising the funds required to run the service and operating the service in the form of paramedics and pilots, are fantastic. I personally owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their help on the day of my accident and for making sure the service is available at all. While I hope to do some fundraising for them in the not too distant future (it would be rude to not at least cover the cost of my flight) I can't make firm plans until I know more about how my recovering is progressing. In the mean time they NEED your donations so they can be there when you NEED them! You can donate here. I was lucky (in more than one way) to get to meet the folks from the GNAAS who helped me when I needed it. ITV Border News decided to come along and you can see the footage here. *bit of an incentive for the North to go with Scotland if they vote for independence perhaps? As anyone who has accidentally asked me a technical question relating to cycling or triathlon will know I am a bit of a geek about tech. I could (and frequently do) bore people to tears with my thoughts on the best lubricant for Speedplay cleats or the relative merits of file tread versus slick tread. Although I don't seem to be able to curtail my verbal diarrhea when talking in person I did vow to avoid getting too in depth on my blog. However in my current condition I feel I have earned a bit of self indulgence so I am doing my first tech review.
BRACE YOURSELF - long term test of Halo Brace Having recently had the dubious pleasure of putting a Halo Brace through its paces for 10 weeks of full time use this is my take on it's long term performance. The first thing you notice about the Halo Brace after you unpack it/wake up from the anesthesia to discover you're wearing one is the total lack of concession for user comfort and aesthetics. The light weight titanium package screws to your skull and they have done little to disguise this fact. It looks grim. That said as the user you can't see it anyway so it is only really going to put those around you off their food. |
bioHi, I'm Ali. I like riding bikes and coaching people to achieve their athletic goals. I've been coaching for more than 10 years now and have never failed to make an athlete faster (I can't quite believe this myself either). I used to race bikes, triathlon and in 2014 I broke 9 vertebrae and my skull. Follow my journey here and on Twitter. Archives
December 2016
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