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140103 Chainbridge walk

Why?

As I write this I also give some pointers*1 to what you may find enlarged later.

Any of the lines below is likely to be enlarged on 
I hope to include more and more invitations to this blog as I see useful reasons It begins with sport. Other things interest me too.

I hope there will be some dialogue.

Aaron  (no1 son) is in the communications business.
I am therefore reluctant to give him a busman's holiday. His social networking is private. I take pains not to be a pushy granddad, too. Proud, but not interfering. Like my own dad, I guess.
Alex, youngest,  is lost among others in on-line searches. Perhaps now he wishes he had kept his family nickname of Zander. I must admit I had a shock seeing zanders for sale by an Austrian river in 1979. If he had pike characteristics he might be more appreciated for his current work in movies. 

I have to start somewhere, so I’m re-writing a piece I wrote to my middle son Adrian, just over two years ago.

He tries to get me back into competitive cycling.

I try to get him in direct contact with soft (safer?) ground.

With his business reasonably settled he returned to competition a few years ago in a novices duathlon. Apart from school days he had never run-raced. 
Then he found what was missing -velodrome thrills. He had put these aside for dedication to a Design career. I vouch that compared to some areas, Design is very time consuming. That does not stop some appalling everyday designing around which frequently brings out the grumpy old man in me.
Comparisons may be made in other areas of life. In some you need to put in much more time. There are no short cuts. Even those whose success may depend on milli-seconds may need hours of dedicated slog. Overnight success often proves to be a myth. 

Life's choices. I switched to running with the marathon boom in 1980, while unhappy at riding and racing on UK roads in its non cycling culture. Voting for the Common Market in 1973 was a vain hope. It may be pessimistic to say that the successes of 2008 and 2012 Olympics have done little in the long term to improve the lot of cyclists.

In case you are not a (competitive) runner or cyclist there are different sorts of reward and disadvantages in both.
And much in common with respect to structure and feelings.

I won't bang on about the great feelings to be found. Banging? -head-banging, as effort often may be: is desirable breaking-down of tissue to build again, but stronger.

New Year Resolutions? To get this blog on track.

Do penance. As you do?

I have just slithered and squelched  a very rural multi-terrain 10K. 
PW is irrelevant ! (Personal Worsts to non competitors)
There were few climbs to break the monotony.

If the term Blog is derived from Web-log, how about a watlog race?

My interests mean I seldom put sports as my main interest in life.

Every day I am bewildered by the continued display of energy and ability of my Facebook Friends - even those older than me - particularly in cycling, as reflected in their postings. It seems to be  a mix of boasting, indulgence, pride, loneliness   and joy. Anything else? 

How far can you go?*

My ex-wife, and our other sons are not competitive. I try not to be.

I have known Barbara for 22 years. We began co-habiting nearly 20 years ago and have been married for 15. Hard though I try, I have never been able to totally give up competition.

B, I call her in print -there are too many sheep here to go Heybarba-ra-barring on in full. ( What do you call a..? )

B, a Hash House Harrier* 2 (ex-Pat runner), came here as a keen walker and teacher. Not being a Welsh speaker, desirable for teaching in Snowdonia, she had moved as close as she could. We met as runners at the club where I was Chair*3. I was (often seemingly unsuccessfully), engrossed in its internal politics while trying to raise the standard, but still trying to give members what they thought they wanted.

Hypocrisy Reflecting the world, Sport is full of it, self delusion. Cycling, because of aerodynamics and it long history as a publicity vehicle, is probably the most style conscious. Poserish, some might say.

Groups It's also often said, two folk find a third and a club is formed.

Groups or clubs may be likened to little islands, themselves in lakes, in countries, separated by oceans. They may be appropriately insular. This insularity, often seen pejoratively, may work for  them. Much like islanders who muck in or turn to several jobs they become all-rounders or find un-tapped skills. Equally, others may never try another aspect of a sport or know how to make comparisons.

On-line groups (Forums) linked only by some specialised interest have mushroomed and mutated. One stormy weekend I briefly met some NACF*4 members planning their day at the Rally.

Some, like cave dwellers, you might say, may see more pulled pumps and upturned glasses than pumps for tyres or for feet.

Irrespective of effort, joiners want to be seen wearing the right badge, tie or colours.

Place Money has helped us lose a sense of place. No more so than in football.  I  make little reference to it.

I quietly champion Place. Smaller communities may have a better chance of survival. Surviving in extremes of heat and cold, long and short days, is the stuff of stories that help us understand the world.

Example Had I read Montaigne and not first unwittingly absorbed Einstein, then I might have realised that trying too hard to set an example, might have put me in another league.

It's all right for you, you learned to eat properly in your 20s; I hate pain, can't train like you etc, I need my beer, my chips etc, and salad's not for me.

It seems to be no good telling folk that I/we- you maybe? -really enjoy exercise and simple good food.

Effort Simply put and intelligently applied, the more you do, the more you can do. Modern sport bears this out for all. Leagues may be where the consistent plodder scores. League may also mean tier.
 The one day, the series, the league may favour different types. I never really enjoyed competition so tended to opt for the first and just do enough to win. 

Rise and fall B, now early retired, shows a competitiveness that seems to rise as mine falls.

For nearly 2 decades she was running slower than me. Being much younger our declining curves have long crossed (especially in the shorter distances).

It’s like the family crisis when dad stops dragging the youngster and is himself dragged. (Maybe you have got that T shirt!) We keep company when the aim is sociability first.

Facebook: Mick, Mike and Michael

It is with mixed feelings that I found myself hooked into Facebook by well-meaning others, with Friends that seemingly might have been favourably influenced by me in their youth. Flattering .What I wish for now is BRAND.
 What if I had posted as Mike or Michael? What's in name? Well, many unwittingly meet... prejudice. Having 3 “A” sons did not yield 3 amateur athletes. Nor are they tyrannical or biblically obsessed. 

I find myself too busy to spend long on Facebook comments, have pangs of guilt in only commenting now and then - even to family - so I have plunged in at the shallow end of blogging and direct them to it.

Metaphors Shallow end? swimming? Now that's an unfamiliar metaphor, awakening earlier memories. Indeed, I now have Pincher Martin*5 nightmares.

As an East of England teenager I swam freely in the brown waters of the R. Stour.
all now so fashionable. This was only 2 or 3 stone-throws from the house. I also had a season ticket to the local *6 open air bath. It was all a bit Posy Simmonds: like village teenagers hanging round the bus shelter. See Tamara Drewe.*7 .We would lie on our towels sunbathing. I can’t really remember when I first fell in love, but it might have been linked to diving …I had swum the day before in the deep-end for the first time (breast-stoke). Closing time neared and I asked a bigger youth how you dived.

Just do it, he said.

Fall in. You’ll come up again.

*8 Notice the 3 little words? Quoteland*9  is full of such simple advice..A journey of 1000 miles… you know howta whistle doncha?... cycling: Turn the pedals, one, two…one, two, repeat;  running: first, get out of the chair…now fall forward, repeat…

It’s about making the first move. Then continuing. Practice makes perfect blah blah.

Basics are simple. We all look for magic bullets just the same, and the world turns on its sophisticated sales. New kit can uplift the spirit in bad times.

Often a combination of circumstances may make them seem to work.

Our athletic efforts are usually cumulative so we are likely to improve anyway. As long as we are working at it. 
Injuries also quite often heal if you just let nature take its course.

Money changes all this, as it does much of sport.

Recipes (and insects) TV is awash with food, but I want to ask questions about encouraging folk to eat better, and in so doing not put a strain on national resources. Revive our (UK) apple orchards. I want more to get in touch with the re-understanding, re-learning and treasuring what herbs, insects, birds, we still have and will lose. Pandas may be pandered too (if you don't like puns, stop here!) I have done the odd drawings of insects since way back ...as for saving our less cuddly creatures.. like less attractive people, should they be forgotten?
But back to sport: doing it without material gain foremost. But then for governments to recognise effort with financial support. If they want a healthier nation, that is.

Success brings its own reward. Sweeties may help towards the child's mountain top, or the exam passed, just as a carrot dangling over the donkey's face. Cash helps those making extra effort to better the tribe, community, club . But, competing or helping  we may only want occasional recognition. 
It seems to me in general, where  financial gain is the primary incentive, things begin to go downhill. Sports which are expensive  are pretty much for the rich. Therefore are they worth as much?  Worth ? Minority sports raise similar questions. Human beings' desire for recognition will lead to what Brits know as Getting in the Guinness Book of Records. Pole squatting, as was.  

However, financial help would make it easier for older top athletes who already train harder than the masses. (And me, if there reduced rates for taking up less space,etc).

Would the norm rise overall, more people feel better ? be more tolerant of others beliefs? And not block hospital beds.

The British Veteran (Athletes) were photographed being entertained by an incoming Tony Blair (1997). But ask Veterans (now British Masters) how much help they get to compete in World Championships.

We (London) have just hosted the Olympics. Now look out for nonsensical cycle lanes, often as little as 2 or 3 metres long.

*10 And even these have obstructions!

In any case, if you subscribe to the theory that the ARTS are either about Shock OR Love (I don't) then I want to get nearer to most of what I hope to post. For me these things are just life's fabric. Like most positive activity, doing is usually more worthwhile than lazing. I won't try to define mindless, mindlessness. Every activity might have its bits of..dare I say it? ...knitting: essential repetition to reach a result. Maybe the rhythm involved is satisfying . Just watch  some menial worker and see. See where the smiles are in the world . 

Anyone can have a blog, it seems. You have to be confident it will be worthwhile. I have experienced the loneliness of the (long distance runner) as radio broadcaster. Talking into the air. It can't be worse.

Just as history is mostly recorded by the articulate scribe, so we come to regard superior folk as the norm. In life it is the well-known success, who gets the press. Or the notorious. (Already perhaps we should lose the easy rhyme and  substitute line for press).

But effort and feelings associated with competition is much the same for everyone. It’s feelings that fascinate me. EVERYONE HAS THEM.

The Walk .
We had gone to the garage, only to find that each had a puncture. I had a jammed nut in my head-set. That alone spelled trouble, sunshine was forecast to be early only and in short supply in the hills. It would soon turn to rain…Sod it!

We donned walking togs, picked up rucksacks.

We had recently replaced the car. B said, look Old Man, no tapes or CD deck, but there’s a port for a mini-thingy (MP player) which emanates from the car radio.

(emanate is my verb. I just like playing with sounds, words, and mostly with images. MN8 tickles my fancy).

I like Inov8*11. They don't pay me, but I can say I thought these shoes were the bees' knees when they first arrived in 2003. It is fascinating to see old assumptions challenged. By then I had given up on expensive world travel to compete amongst fanatic old runners. I check their names. They are so committed.

They are unlike me, doing it once is not enough for them.

I guess it is like the wild: the annual tangling of antlers. And then being as constantly highly competitive as their bodies will allow.

I may be seen as cherry picker. So, sorry! I am not a record breaker by nature either, and only do enough to win. Or try to.

We park. See our Wedding Hill (more later perhaps) in the nook of the left bump. There, where the cloud appears to touch .Halfway between the 'k' and 'W' in the watermark

Why do we love living here? We don’t actually, but about 9 miles east. Until a few years ago we had only really looked NW to West to this mini Snowdon (but with trees. I love trees. I love trees).

We then realised how flat it was from home and the Severn valley towards Shrewsbury. And so it was by the Dee, right up to North of Chester. One runner who took up CTC riding tours, took me to the N West’s cycling-dedicated Eureka* café for training. He had been a tourist in his youth, encouraged back by our local camaraderie of retired and self-employed oldies who were runners (frequently injured) who rode bikes.

Last year I discovered I now only need one gear. (Low)

When I arrived here in 1988, if it weren’t for the hedge flailers I might have I thought I had come to heaven anyway. Real hills, real flat.

We still have many miles of quiet lanes to explore.

*1 this happens to be the title of a much read novel by David Lodge

*2 Hash House Harriers: ex-Pat social running begun in Kuala Lumpur in 1838

*3 Oswestry Olympians A C.

*4 NACF Not Another Cycling Forum.

*5 William Golding's novel of a dying sub-mariner.

*6 Haverhill, Suffolk.

* 7 neither graphic novel nor cartoon, but a film based on acute observational line       drawings of young life in The Guardian.
*8 tick that one off.
*9 Quoteland I just invented that place because the online world is full of dis-embodied      quotes.

*10 www Anorak .co.uk

*12 If mn8 is a phonic nicety. I am equally interested in concrete poetry.

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