Cycling and more.
This blog started as a way to broadcast my photography and how I created it, to document my thoughts about it. Then I talked about my other passion; cycling.
But with the events of 2020 it became much more.
I opened up about my depression. At first it was easier to type here than talk. Please click on the Macmillan cancer support link to sponsor my half marathon run in May.
I watched the last episode of Gone Fishing with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse last week, and I thought of Matt and I sat at various bus stops, churchyards and cafes. Drinking tea is our angling.
We don't really care what people think of us, or if they understand the simple pleasure of meeting every week.
Sometimes we talk serious subjects, almost nothing, stupid topics, or laugh with and at each other.
We have differing views on somethings, agree on others, change our minds or just agree to disagree.
I hope we never take the meetings for granted.
I must admit it took a little time to readjust after they started again, I was use to solo bike rides. Stopping and talking was unusual.
At first I couldn't settle down, I don't know why but I was eager to get on the bike again. I think maybe because I always had in my mind needing to get back for Marcia. The carers are visiting again, so I can slow down.
I'm not sure if we'll go back to meeting at the green and cycling together to our tea drinking location, or if it will be solo rides to the designated place. Either seems to work, and doesn't feel odd.
Doing our own thing feels okay, Saturday we ride alone most of the time, coming together on Sunday.
Lining up group rides give me extra to look forward to, life is still fairly solitary.
Two bad days this week.
Phone got wet and died during this ride.
Fell off bike after this pic was taken, causing a stiff hip
A cafe and a bike shop.
Avoided the worst of the rain on Saturday, for a coffee and slice of cake at the Velo Barn near Westerham.
The storm stepped up a level on Sunday, Matt and I decided to ride routes local to our houses rather than meet as arranged. I did just over ten miles of the circuit I do after work. My hands were freezing, hopefully the gloves I have on order will be the last piece of the puzzle needed to make winter riding comfortable
I use to watch most motorsport, gradually it left my schedule, F1 being the first. It is all about money, with less dependence on the human element. Other four wheeled racing followed, finally the two wheelers no longer interested me. When human frailty is removed from the equation it becomes a race to spend the most.
So what do I watch now?
Cycling; more specifically road racing. There is a lot of money in the top flight, if you are a mens team. It's very different for the women's side of the sport, that really needs to change. They don't have so many live televised events, or the same length of races. This is wrong; why don't the organisers do more to promote it? More screen time will mean more sponsors, it's a little chicken and egg at the moment.
The top teams spend big, up to around £40 million. This could sterelise the sport, as it does for the motorised genre. The better funded teams generally lead the races, but the winner is never certain. The recent Tour de France for example; Ineos with Egan Bernal were favourites. I think they have the biggest budget, he pulled out due to injury. Anyone from any team could crash, become ill, or just have a bad few days, especially in the mountains. That's all it takes for any hope of winning to disappear. Three weeks, 3,484.2 km (2,165.0 miles) with only two rest days. This year it went down to the wire, with a mammoth effort on the last stage from TadejPogacar to win.
I must admit to imagining myself in those races, testing my determination against whatever the course throws at me. I also think about some of the endurance events, how great would it be to complete them with friends?
And now for the regular feature; pics from the daily rides.
The weather was still great at the beginning of the week, starting to see sunset colour during my ride
The nights are getting darker.
My after work route is only twelve miles but it includes four steep hills, two of which I first ride down, turn around, and then ride to the top again. On Wednesday night I passed the same people on both hills as I rode in both directions. I wondered what they might be thinking. They gave me a half smile, half laugh the last time our paths crossed.
I also got a puncture on Waller Lane, the camera caught the moment, with sound.
I hope the evenings will be as nice as the one on Thursday. It was wet all day, I did got dirty, but the sunset was worth going out.
The wind made a big impression on Saturday. I went out with Oxted Cycle Club in a faster group than previously, it was okay at first. As we neared the end I ran out of acceleration; if I needed to catch up on a hill I had nothing left. It felt like there had been a headwind most of the time, not too bad if I was in a slipstream. A few feet further back I lost that help, and could not regain my position, the gap increased quickly. It was a weird feeling, I wasn't out of breath, my legs just didn't have any extra push.
Matt and I met at our winter residence on Sunday, the Tatsfield village bus stop. It's covered location is less exposed to the weather than our summer locations.
During the week Matt had discovered an off road route from Redhill to Caterham. I knew some of it, but there would still plenty to explore for me. A ride to a cafe and back, what's not to like.
This week we had an Indian summer, so cycling in shorts for a little longer.
What does the term mean?
The exact origins of the phrase are uncertain, several writers have
speculated it may originally have referred to a spell of warm, hazy
autumn conditions that allowed Native American Indians to continue
hunting.
Whatever the origin of the phrase, it evidently first was
used in the eastern United States. The first recorded use of the phrase
appears in a letter written by a Frenchman called John de Crevecoeur
dated 17 January 1778. In his description of the Mohawk country he
writes "Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm
which is called the Indian summer."
The term was first used in the UK in the early 19th century and went on to gain widespread usage.
After work was very pleasant weather for my rides.
A slight change to my normal route added an extra steep hill, in place of just a steep one.
As I rode into Tatsfield on Saturday there was a display commemorating 80 years since the battle of Britain.
Phil arrived on his newly restored Honda CB750, having had it in bits for a number of years. It's one of the first to arrive in the UK, 44 years ago. He is rightly very proud of his achievement. It looks excellent, I can't see how he could have done any better. It runs perfectly, just like it did when new.
You can see Phil's reflection as he stands proudly by his bike
We sat and chatted over drinks and twix. Catching up with what had happened since Phil's last visit. We were soon laughing and chilled out as if he had never been away. But he had to get home, and I had a far destination to reach. I rode off to explore Ditchling Beacon, Matt and Phil went home; promising we would all meet again next weekend.
I had wanted to climb the hill for a long time, but this years events meant I hadn't wanted to go too far. With public transport now running, if I had any problems it's possible to get home.
The weather was nearly perfect, warm but a strong wind pushed me quickly on the outward leg. It really hampered my return, some descents required me to pedal hard to keep up any speed.
A view from the top.
I won't bore you with the video of the ascent - it took about seven minutes - here is the descent. It's much quicker and you can see the valley below.
Sunday at the churchyard with Matt was a great end to the week. Please can I have a few more warm weekends?
There are so many pictures of this spot, inspiration came to me as I sat on my bench.
There have been a couple of reunions recently. Geoff - an old friend from a company where Matt and I use to work - arrived by car for a couple of Sundays. And Matt met Phil - use to ride with us years ago - in Westerham on Saturday. Phil was supposed to have meet us on Sunday, but didn't arrive.
After tea had been made Matt and I munched our cereal bars and discussed club meetings. When it's just the two of us, we say hello, sit down and it feels like we continue where we left off last time. It's the same with Matthew, Richard and Jmaes. Even when we met after many months of lockdown.
It felt like putting on a pair of comfy slippers; new or returning members mean a pause while everyone settles down and catches up. Don't get me wrong, we like to see new and old faces, the second appearance will have us all in our favourite footwear straight away.
Assorted pictures from the daily rides after work.
During a Moof IT morning team meeting, a colleague talked about happiness and ways to achieve it. He gave a link to a presentation about gaining happiness through being grateful.
It got me thinking about my journey and I realised, subconsciously this was partly how I had coped with depression.
I had stopped thinking about what had caused me to be so down, and started to focus on the opportunities I had been given and taken. How they had helped to provide happiness and a level of contentment I hadn't felt in a long time.
Stop, look. go is what I try to do now. Stop; don't react immediately. Look; what is really happening? Go; choose a way forward that is positive. At its most basic, this gave me the opportunity to avoid doing or saying something I might later regret. Meaning I didn't then have to criticise myself, even if it was just me who thought I had acted badly. This can be applied to any situation, whatever you choose to do is an opportunity to improve the outcome. Which leads to happiness, because you remain in control.
In the video David talks about returning from Africa and having water at the twist of a tap; light at the flick of a switch. They are two things I take for granted, but they give me the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. I have time to ride my bike everyday because of them. I can work because of them. Think about the other parts of your life that give you time to be happy.
