A good end to a poor month

May has been taxing, to say the least.

I got over the cold, that accompanied me back from Germany, at the end of April. Then it was time to start riding a little again to get my legs working as they should.

That seemed ok and recovery was following the lines you would expect. But then I had to go back to Germany...

..."You can't take your bike on the flight as the connecting flight in Germany has no room for it, even though it's booked on."

Great.

So we get there, all happy and ready to enjoy the wares of the biggest Orthotic and Prosthetic trade fair and expo in the World, bar none, in Leipzig. One of the walking aids I had built as part of my training on the previous trip was on display and everything looked absolutely marvellous. I was feeling quite proud of myself since it is many years since I was "hands on" in a workshop: My work environment is purely clinical so this was a trip back to the days when I built aircraft, but less oily.

The Reciprocal Gait Orthosis
I made this!

I'm proud to be part of the Otto Bock Family and what it represents.



The photo above is of a humungous silicone foot, designed to showcase the rapid technological advancment in silicone cosmetics. It also happens to look like a good emblem for "The Hobbits' Tale" Guinness World Record(tm) ride. But I'd best ask first. That's my Polar Heart Rate Monitor there, providing some scale.

Then I popped over to the part of the stand that my career is based around.


The E-Mag Active

This is a brace designed around lighweight, high-tec components which allows people who need it to walk faster and longer than before. It's a new project and I'm excited by it, to be honest. We can do great things with this.

A couple of nights were spent in Leipzig Town, but one of those was spent in an Irish Bar as we were late getting out and the town was stacked to overflowing.

I nearly ordered the "Authentic Irish Pork Curry" and instead went for "Authentic Irish Schnitzel." What a saltfest German food seems to be?

The night after that, we moved to Teistunging on the old Iron curtain border, close to the Headquartes of Otto Bock and where I had previously ridden. There is some nice singletrack at the back of the Victor's Residences Hotel, trust me.

I had planned to book a hire bike for the week as they were cheap to book and were quality bikes as supplied by my friend Andreas in Bi-cycles but I had developed another cough and thought it would be better to hold off for a day or so.

The next morning was one of hacking, snotting, sodden hankies and aches all over the body. Everyone else (who had also been to Leipzig) seemed to have the same affliction so about 30-40 of a 150 strong troupe were doing the same animal impressions as I was.

No bike riding for me. I was ill AGAIN!

Harumppphhh! Grumpy.

Another 2 weeks off of the bike and ending up on antibiotics for a cough that seemed to last 5 weeks and and inhaler since I couldn't get my breath.

Jo ended up with the same thing too and I hope it wasn't me that gave her it.

On Sunday I finished my antibiotics, but on Saturday Jo and I did Set2Rise 12hr race as a mixed pair, since she had entered initially as a solo rider. She knew she couldn't do solo so we sweetalked the organisers into the change an they were fine about it.

We won!

I was a bad boy, but I'll tell you about that in a bit.

Race report to follow.