Introducing Duncan Booth

Duncan Booth is CycloTricity's very first sponsored rider and an inspiration to us all. Conquering many an adventure and promoting very worth while causes while doing so, it is our pleasure keep him on the road.

Had a great autumn of e-biking, going up loads of hills, some of which I never thought possible. Its quite like real cycling, but better. Two major differences are that I don't get hot from exertion, so need to dress warm, no Lycra. I love bombing up steep hills and going slowly down, kind of opposite to real mountain bikers.

I managed to reach the tops of Skiddaw and Blencathra at the start of October. Two places I seriously thought I'd never ever visit again.

On the way up Skiddaw

Half way up Blencathra.

I've had a few falls, one in particular a few weeks ago, in the icy weather was quite surprising, I lost my front end on a patch of ice trying to make a right turn. All of a sudden I was sliding along tarmac tangled up in my bike. I did a quick visual check to see whether there was any blood etc.I caught sight of my foot, which looked like it had twisted the wrong way and was wedged between spokes. I instantly felt worried, as I thought I'd snapped my foot. A closer look filled me with relief. My shoe had been pulled off and twisted around, not my foot. Huge relief.

I went on a brilliant bike ride the other day, loving it so much that I did the same ride 4 days running.

I parked at Swirls, taking a track through the woods on the east side of Thirlmere. A beautifully smooth wide track, with incredible views of the lake, contours along till it descends to the junction with the big road, over this, then onto the back road around thirlmere, round, then back to the car. A great circuit.

Whilst sitting,on a beautifully built and carved memorial bench, having a little break, I noticed a number of wide tracks in the woods above the back side of thirlmere.

I was soon exploring one in particular which took me all the way up to Harrop Tarn, the most beautiful tarn there is, surrounded by trees, unlike most tarns, which are normally tree-less.

I remember walking up here a couple of years ago, taking ages, finding it tough. The journey this time was without any sort of difficulty whatever, and was just great fun by bike.

As well as all my ebike riding, I'm still doing bits of work on my garden shed, A slow process, I want to be sure I don't rush it and mess it up.  I have also tidied up my garage into a bit of a workshop. I'm trying to make some windows for my shed. I've managed to pull apart Mk1,2 and 3, but I have a couple I'm reasonably happy with. My ideas for the shed are growing and developing, as time goes by.  I've not done much real woodwork, since Mr Illingworth's class some 30 odd years ago. I was never a huge talent, but am enjoying it.

Unfortunately, having a workshop doesn't mean I can suddenly repair everything, this is a huge shame. I can now fix simple things, being able to sometimes take other more complicated things apart, look at them, then decide to nip them round the corner to my dad, who will casually take things apart, repair them, and finally put them back together, so that they actually work..

I am super happy at the moment, ticking along just fine. I saw my neurologist last month. On the positive side I don't have to see her for another 2 years, as there's not a great deal she can do, I say not a great deal, I mean absolutely nothing.  I guess this is why Yvonne is so driven to raise funds for a treatment for secondary progressive MS, and a cure

This years 10in10 is now open for entries, together you are all making a huge difference.