It is estimated there are 7 Billion people alive on earth, I would like to think there is only one of me. Alas if only that were true. I think we are not unique and whilst we are products of our DNA, it does not make me the only one of me. For all my belief that I have something new and unique to say by blogging, I am not unique and my words are not new......they are just the random words mixed up in my head and then re-arranged into sentences posted on to this blog to make it sound like me.
I have on a number of occasions tackled
the London to Brighton bike ride ..... and on each of the past rides, I
have never been able to conquer the infamousDitchling Beacon.....
that is until ........
On Sunday 21st June this year, my best
mate Mike and I hit the pedals at 7am and it was very congested getting out of
central London but we were a bit surprised to pass a Roman Chariot along the way….
That must have sounded like a great idea between pints 6 & 7 but on the
open roads ?
........
what were they thinking ?
The only drama’s we had to contend with,
was Mike getting a puncture at 32 miles, and then me coming out in sympathy 5
miles later with my own puncture. But we were soon back in our rhythm and
reached the base of Ditchling Beacon in fine fettle. By this time the sun was
out and it was warming up into a nice 22c
So for the assent of DB, I put the bike
in to the lowest gear and worked with one simple strategy. As long as I could
keep turning the pedals, then the wheels must keep turning away. It is
interesting watching people tackle DB with great gusto and for the first
quarter of a mile, many are in the saddle pedalling away, but as the climb
steepens, you see them one by one dismount.
For sure I was huffing and puffing all
the way up and about half way for one brief moment, watching people dismount, I
thought how nice it would be to get off the bike and walk ……. But I am not a
defeatist and I was here to beat Ditchling Beacon, so I dug in and kept the
pedals turning …… and finally 1 mile and 12 minutes from base camp I reached
the summit on 2 wheels…… at 52.5 years old I had finally conquered Ditchling
Beacon !
The image of the peak coming into view
was a sight to behold .......
And the feeling..... to finally beat the Beacon was wonderful and clearly all the bowls of porridge [with one or two doughnuts thrown in…. in fact.......lots of doughnuts]
and miles of training had paid off. To be fair 12 minutes for the Beacon is
slow, when you consider that the pro-cyclist run up there in under 4 minutes,
but I didn’t care....... like the Romans in their Chariot heading out of
London
……. Veni, vidi,
vici
I would imagine that the pro-cyclists could probably
cycle up the hill backwards and still beat me ..... but who cares I beat it
...... want to know why personal bests are better than any world record ? ....
well anyone can achieve a world record but only you can achieve your PB.
The ride in to the finish line along
Maderia drive from the Beacon was wonderful and with my resplendent red shoes I
crossed the finishing line with a beaming smile, all completed in a respectable
4 hours. I even raised an healthy sum of money for the BHF .... what the PR
guys call a 'win-win'. To add to the occasion the BHF even gave me a medal that
matched the prettiest shoes ever to complete the London to Brighton Bike Ride
......
.... this week it's blokes with guitars week .....
Last week trapped in my car for 2 hours I was listening to radio 4 and there was an interesting program [well in my head it was interesting] about how this chap was giving up music for lent......
A first flush it sounded an easy concept, but it got into very deep thought as to what constitutes music..... is bird song music ? what actually is music ?
There are people who cannot hear music.... amusia it's called..... how dreadful must that be....
At the time of writing this, the program can still be heard on BBC iPlayer, but be warned if you are trying to give up music for lent don't listen to it during lent.... it contains music.....
What I have often thought is why I like certain music.... my theory is down to frequency.... all music has a certain frequency ...... and we as physical beings resonate at a certain frequency...... think about it ..... we are merely a mass blob of molecules held in rigid form by skin and bones..... without the skin and bones we'd just be a messy guey blob on the floor ..... but even the skin and bones are just molecules.... and one thing that molecules do is move around..... I think when we hear a tune .... what happens is our molecules are dancing.... and when they dance in perfect harmony of the frequency of the music..... kappow you just love the song ...... we even use the phrase in tune with our body ......
I know what music I like..... but I have no sodding idea what frequency my body resonates at .... but looking at my SoD's it is very similar to the frequency of blokes with guitars ...... time after time there they are ...... as for the Blue Nile, it goes beyond guitars ..... their music is so aligned to my frequency everything else just stops .... hence when I pass from this life to the next and my molecules stop dancing ....... oh gosh I do hope I am listening to Paul Buchanan ..... I know he will still be singing to me in the next life......
So this week, it's a week of blokes with guitars SoD's .......
Starting with non other than Damien Jurado
this guy just hits my frequency everytime
and I started with this one because....
my kids went to Beacon Hill
some of my happiest moments were....
scoring goals for the
Beacon Hill Dreamers .....
...... ageing dads
having one last oorah with a football...
before making that last step into middle age....
Something changes the moment you decide you’ve found a person you are ready to reveal parts of your soul to. Something stands out and makes the moment unique.
A profound multidimensional clarity resembling a piece of carefully gathered stardust; As if you are whispering “finally” and your eyes fill with light and spontaneity. As if you do not care whether your heart will melt or crumble in the process because your brief courage
undoes your tremendous fear of disbelief.
You live for these moments; For you are, maybe for one second or more, sweetly forced to surrender yourself to unconditional intimacy. A moment of psychological reward smashing all self-imposed disciplines founded on terror. This is all you need.
Over the weekend the BBC went wall to wall Glastonbury... and by some accounts it seems some of the presenters had never been let out of school before... they were like kids on a school outing.....
I have always fancied doing Glasto..... even at my ripe old age, but it seems there was 175,000 people trying to watch 2,000 acts....and there were some fantastic bands playing.... and even the odd pensioner or two.....
Back in 2011 I saw Kings of Leon live at Slane Castle, Dublin..... and proof if proof was needed..... here is the proof....
It was a fantastic day but as you can see.... [towards the end of the vid] I reckon the folks in the hot air balloon got a closer view.....
But what a line up..... we had the White Lies, Thin Lizzy [of course sans Phil Lynott, but as a side note TL were the first headline act at Slane Castle some 25 years earlier], then there was Elbow, and finally KoL..... all doing a full set..... [there were a couple of other minor bands but never heard of em..]
But at the end of the day, and just one day I was all music'd out.... I could take no more.... and so no matter how many great bands there might be at Glastonbury.... there is a limit to just how much you can take...... My mate Jake Bugg did some great numbers..... but would my life been any better had I experienced him at Glastonbury instead of Norwich ?..... erm .... erm ....no.....
But it's the atmosphere....... the excited CBeebies presenters kept reminding us..... aaaah yeah... the atmosphere.......
The atmosphere..... the same atmosphere that dumped.... torrential rain on you and made the fields a mud bath..... ooooh that atmosphere....
And so for my song of the day today,
from the comfort of my
dry clean office chair
I am minded of this song....
he didn't play Glastonbury this year,
but when I heard this song,
and I saw those scenes....
it sure was metallic clouds....
and as this is my blog.....
and as this also a fab song....
I can play this one too...
