Category: Words

An old friend of mine who I used to ride with and is now an internationally traveled and almost stereotypical surfer once said to me, you’re either an ocean person or a mountain person. It’s not until you’ve experienced the best and worst of the realities of both environments that you find which is the one for you. It took years to really understand what this meant, but I think he’s right. You can enjoy both, but you only feel truly comfortable or at home in one place. I know that I’m a mountain person. It doesn’t matter if it’s the most amazing golden sandy beach with equatorial warm ocean water and offshore reefs awash with aquatic wildlife. There is no contest to the mountains in my book.

In my visit to the RGS in October, I borrowed a copy of Imagining Tibet from the Library. It’s an academic text, so it’s not really one of those books that is difficult to put down, it actually quite hard to get into the right frame of mind to absorb it. I chose it because Tibet is one of those places I would really love to go and ride a mountain bike. When people talk about traveling in Asia, I don’t think about Bali or Hong Kong, I’m thinking of the ceiling of the world, the big mountains and plateaus. In the book there is a chapter by Jamyang Norbu, called Behind the Lost Horizons which other than making me think of the music from an album by Lemon Jelly, contains a paragraph of text that I think is very accurate. Although not rewritten word for word, it essentially states:

The desire to maintain the cultural purity of such Shangri-la-like societies as Tibet and Ladakh or certain Amazon Indian tribes seems to necessitate cocooning them against the realities of the outside world, especially politics, commerce, and technology. Development for such societies is only deemed appropriate when it is nonmilitary, nonindustrial, and environmentally friendly in nature. Such considerations are probably well meant and sincere, but often ignore society’s own changing history, its role (however humble) in geopolitical strategies and even in the desires of its people, who may be seeking change for their own reasons. When Claude Levi-Strauss said that anthropology is the handmaiden of colonialism, he was probably not envisioning the kind of “New Age” colonialism that the few surviving ancient cultures in this world have to put up with.

So if and when I go to Tibet I want to remember this. I want to be able to focus on the natural landscape that has drawn me there, not the fact that I am privileged to have flown half way around the world to be able to take it all in. I am not going there hoping for a cultural or religious life changing experience. As Norbu writes, however hopeless their cause or marginal their survival, Tibetans are better off living their own reality than being typecast in ethereal roles in the fantasies of the West. In my mind no matter how wonderful the people of Tibet are and irrespective of how jaw-droppingly beautiful its environment, it is not going to save our materialistic and self-destructive consumerist society.

“You’re scum and you’re too poor to have a car and you don’t pay road tax”.

Remarks like this are an unfortunately too frequent retort from some motorists when you pull them up for driving like a crack addict looking for their next fix. So should cyclists pay road tax? Well the brief answer is “no” because a bike is not a motor vehicle, but below is a report by Howard Peel on the subject as originally featured at Bikezone.

Continue reading “Tax”

I’ve changed offices at work. I now look out over Manchester towards Calderdale and the moors. That’s the summit of Knowl Moor (419m) above Rochdale nestling under the clouds. There’s a trig point up there too. It’d be interesting to go up the top and see what Manchester looks like from there.

The waters have subsided and this morning I saw my nemesis from last week for the first time. It’s a huge pothole, probably 18 inches in diameter and a good six inches deep. I’ll get the camera out and try and get some photos of it tomorrow. With that monster lurking underground, some one had better get some photographic evidence before someone has a really nasty off or some Mercedes owner bends an AMG alloy in it.

Updated 17th January:

It’s been lurking under water for a few days, but here’s the beast…

Last night it rained as far as I can tell relentlessly through the hours of darkness. This morning there were small ponds where there are normally puddles and lakes where there are normally small ponds. You could tell riding to work was going to be fun just by looking out of the window into the grim grey light of day. Added to the allure of the commute is the fact that they have dug up one of the junctions to carry out some more works near the hospital. The result is traffic queues of monumental proportions and lots of drivers bored at being stuck in traffic.

Today as I scooted up to the set of lights in question, my usual white line route up the middle of the road was occupied by cars making the only way forward up the inside. I could see the lights were red. There was no rush to get to them. They weren’t going to change any time soon. So I cruised up to the junction and weaved through a large puddle at something ridiculously slow like 5mph. Which was fine. Until something hidden underwater swallowed my front wheel and pitched me over the bars.

My downfall into a foul pool of diesel water and filth was joyously observed by a queue of motoristss smug in their mobile cocoons. I didn’t splash about in my misery. I grabbed the bike and jumped back on it quicker than a greased ferret going down a drainpipe. Then sat there dripping and shivering until the lights changed. I shall have to revisit the spot when we’ve had a few dry days to try and identify my nemesis. No damage from the crash apart from to my pride and an aching elbow and knee. Mental note to avoid that off again in future…

There’s nothing like getting cold and wet on the way to work to put you in the mood for a good lunch. I’m a big fan of soup and I think I’ve perfected the ideal winter warmer. Take a stock Carrot and Coriander Soup from the likes of Sainsburys. Add half a carton to a bowl and dilute up to required portion with semi-skimmed milk. Microwave on full power for 5 minutes during which time grill some halved bread rolls to go with it (Olive rustic rolls are ace). Remove soup and add a dash of Nando’s Hot Peri-Peri sauce and season with Paprika and Black Pepper. Butter up the rolls and you’re set to tuck into a top food.

It’s fair to say that the last six months have been a bit poor in terms of riding. Beyond my little sortie into the Lakes at the end of October, I haven’t really ridden off road since I came back to from the Alps. It’s given me lots of time to reflect about what is important in life and what I would prefer to be doing with some of my free time. Riding has had an important place in my life since I was seven years old and I’m not going to give up on something that has given me so many good times over the years just yet. So with some new enthusiasm, I jumped at a recent offer to explore some of the trails into the Peak District from Sheffield.

Cy Turner offered to guide some cheeksters around his local trails from his new home. It meant and early start, but it turned out to be a stunning day in the Peaks. Blue skies, warm sunshine that made the lunch stop at the Hathersage Deli like a day in spring and fairly dry trails on the whole. The light wasn’t great for photos. I’m still struggling to take shots in any wooded areas and really need to get some advice on this. Anyway there are a few more shots up on Flickr.

Gster sent me details about creating electricity from bikes. As most riders know dynamo lights have been around for years and the latest versions are a long way from the ones that were mounted on forks or seat stays and ran off friction generated between a knurled roller and specially reinforced tyre sidewalls. The latest version from the likes of Shimano and Schmidt are very efficient and can be coupled up to some amazing light systems these days especially with the growth in LED lights.

The exciting thing is that when indoors bikes can be hooked up and used to generate electricity that can power all kinds of households goods with the right know how as these videos from the Italian press and You Tube show. So all I’ve got to do now is convince the boss that we need to change all the office furniture…

It’s been a few years since I made any real effort with New Year Resolutions so I’m going to lay them out now so here’s some bike related targets:

• New full suspension bike
• Special riding trip in the Alps
• At least six rides with my Lakeland Partner
• Easter adventure

I picked up a copy of the latest National Geographic yesterday and it’s packed with stunning photos and some interesting articles. The winter assault on Nanga Parbat was the feature that sparked my interest, but the most interesting article is the feature on High Tech Trash.

There’s a lot of written about how the Digital Age was expected to usher in an era of clean production, an alternative to smokestack industries and their pollutants. Yet the reality is that the use of heavy metals and plastics and a mountain of consumables that end up being produced every year means that although the waste mountains and issues of disposing of waste may not be local issues in the developed world, the waste is just ending up somewhere else.

The imagery and accounts of how metals are extracted from wiring and circuit boards for  resale and recycling are stunning and thought provoking. If you want to read more pick up the National Geographic or read a similar account in Elizabeth Grossman’s book.