Category: Life

February 23, 2015
Max Cycling, fitness, Life , , ,

First Ride !

I finally managed to get out on my bike. IMG_1817

On Saturday I dressed up extra warm and rode down to the seafront, then along towards the garrison and then back, up-hill, against the wind, all the way back.

Despite clipping a camera to my helmet, I did not get any useable footage at all – the mount slipped, so everything was at a strange angle.

It was great, but scary, to be back on the road. I was very nervous to start with, the first kilometre or so was pretty nerve jangling, but once I calmed down, things were not too bad. I am still obviously very nervous around the traffic and I tried to keep to the bike paths as much as possible.

So, my shoulder……

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February 15, 2015
Max Life, Technology , ,

Apple vs Google (redux)

2015-02-15 13.31.02

OnePlus One, Samsung Note III, iPhone 6

Over the years I have been tempted to jump to Android by their larger screens, the promise of more openness and the air of rebellion that Android has generally portrayed.

My Android phones however have almost never lived up to the hype. Sure the screens are bigger – this is important when you get older, sure there is a lot more flexibility there in terms of icon layout, launchers and widgets and there is Google Now, which is pretty cool.

But somehow I feel like I am a beta tester or worse for the majority of my Android experience.

Every single Android phone that I have owned, and the list is extensive, has been missing something compared to not just other Androids, but to iPhone. It seems that choosing Android means that you need to choose carefully because they are so varied.

The iPhone is the standard by which others are judged. 

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February 8, 2015
Max Cycling, fitness, Life ,

Crash Recovery: The Big update

Before

The plate and my collarbone

A week ago I marked off six months since the somewhat life changing crash that broke my collarbone.

A lot has happened in that week, so this post is something of an attempt to catch up and bring everyone up-to-date.

I went back to see Mr. Packer, the surgeon that previously replaced the over-long screws that had been used when fixing my collarbone. My shoulder had been getting gradually worse, with a fairly poor range of motion and spikes of pain being fairly normal.

We agreed that the best course of action would be to remove the plate. It is somewhat early to do this as as under normal circumstances the plate should remain there close to a year and it has not been there for a full six months yet. However, the position of the plate and the still somewhat long screws that remain are more than likely responsible for the pain I am in.

Having agreed that the plate needed to come out, I was booked in for Friday February 6th 2015.

Since the last update, Mr Harar, the driver that knocked me off my bicycle has appeared in court. Privately I was expecting him to be difficult and to deny that he was to blame, I expected that I would have to appear in court and testify against him. Amazingly, he pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving. He was fined and given five penalty points.

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February 1, 2015
Max Cycling, Driving, fitness, Life

Guilty (Of Careless Driving)

I’ve been waiting a long time to post this and finally I can……

Max vs Aygo

Max vs Aygo

The ‘Driver’ that hit me on August 1st, causing the crash that left me with a broken collarbone, multiple cuts and bruises, a broken bicycle and a destroyed helmet pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving and was fined and given five penalty points on his licence.

Justice, as they say, has been served.

So, here are a few more details…..

The car that hit me is shown on the left in its final position after the driver stopped, as you can see in the photo, I was obviously in the middle of the road on the roundabout, not, as was postulated riding around the far left lane. If you look carefully you can see that there is some glass on the floor behind the rear wheel – that it from the impact. The door glass shattered when I hit it.

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January 21, 2015
Max Cycling, fitness, Life

Crash Recovery, continued…..

As I have posted elsewhere on this blog, I was knocked off my bike on August 1st.

Since then, I have gone through two surgeries to repair my collarbone.

My recovery is progressing slowly, some days I think that I am not getting any better, other days I realise that it is less painful nowadays than it was, say, a month ago.

Then I move awkwardly, my muscles spasm and I have pain tearing up my upper arm and my shoulder and tears in my eyes.

The current status is that I have seriously restricted movement in my left shoulder.

Standing straight up, I can raise my arm forwards to about 80*, I can get to about 60* sideways and maybe 10* backwards. When I reach those limits, I get significant muscle spasms in my upper arm and a  sharp pain that stretches from my left ear to my elbow.

Obviously I try not to move my arm too far.

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November 25, 2014
Max Life, Technology

I have a love-hate relationship with Apple and Android….

A few weeks ago, Apple launched their new iPhone 6 and the XL iPhone 6 Plus.

The iPhone 6 is the one that interests me more than anything. I currently use a Samsung Note3, albeit one that long since jettisoned the original Samsungised version of Android that it is intended to use and one that now runs Cyanogenmod 11 (nightly).

I love and hate the size of the Note3, the screen is pretty good in all but bright sunlight and the lightly extended version of AOSP plus Google services adds up to a nice phone.

There are very few things about the Note3 that I dislike.

– The battery life is poor, I struggle to get through a busy day

– There are still vestiges of Samsung – the home button for example.

– The camera is really ‘not all that’ and when you run a third-party ROM you are giving up many things, NFC is a prime example of this.

So, why am I writing about the iPhone 6  ?

Because deep down I beleive that the Apple ecosystem is a better one than the Android / Google one.

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November 3, 2014
Max Cycling, fitness, Life ,

Crash – Recovery Month FOUR

I almost went out on my bicycle yesterday. It would have been very appropriate, three months and a day since my crash. 2014-10-26 08.33.50

I got a new helmet on Saturday (November 1st) to replace the one that took the brunt of the impact last time out. I decided to get the exact same helmet as before. I reasoned that as the previous one did such a good job, why change ?

I did not go out as it was very wet and incredibly windy. Not ideal cycling conditions really and certainly not good conditions to take the first steps after a major crash.

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October 1, 2014
Max Cycling, Driving, fitness, Life , , , , , , ,

Crash – Recovery Month Three

Today is the start of month three of my recovery.

As you will have read in previous posts, I was knocked off my bike on August the 1st 2104.

One plate and six screws

One plate and six screws

While I had several other, relatively minor injuries, the major one was to my left collarbone. which was broken fairly badly.

I underwent surgery on August the 14th to stabilise it. They inserted a titanium plate and six screws into the bone. For the last few weeks I have been recovering slowly from the procedure.

Unfortunately I am not recovering very quickly, I am struggling with quite badly reduced mobility in my shoulder and severe stabbing pains and muscular spasms when I move the wrong way – or indeed too far. I also have significant pins and needles that stretch from my shoulder to my little finger on my left hand.

I have an appointment with an orthopaedic specialist next week to discuss further options which looks to include additional surgery.

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blog-image
August 20, 2014
Max Cycling, Driving, fitness, Life , , , ,

Crash !

[Warning – this is a bit graphic]

Over the years I have been incredibly fortunate to have been able to cycle many thousands of miles and stay pretty much on my bicycle. Sure over the years I have fallen off a mountain bike, but it has always been my fault, often a combination of too much speed and not quite enough talent in the dirt.

On the road though I have been either very lucky, or very observant, managing to avoid a road-crash for at least the last thirty years. I think that the last time I fell off my road bike was back when I taking my O-Levels.

Now I have a Titanium plate holding my collarbone together.

This is the story the crash and of my recovery so far…

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December 26, 2013
Max Driving, Life , ,

386 Miles in a Nissan Joke.

Sure, we have all heard about the Nissan Juke R and the Nismo R, but are you aware that there is a Nissan Joke Dismal available in the UK ?

I was not.

Until Hertz handed me the keys to one with just 1.4 miles on the ODO.2013-12-21 11.43.48

….and I headed out onto the M25 in the pouring rain and howling gale-force winds. Oh yes, it was dark too

The Nissan Juke 1.5 dCi 110PS Stop/Start has 81hp at 4000rpm and goes from 0-60mph in something like a month of sundays. Officially it does it in 11.2 seconds, but it feels slower than than. Much, much, much slower than that. It tops out at about 100mph. Again it feels slower than that too – 75-80mph is comfortable, beyond that I have no idea.

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