Skip to main content

Cycle Touring

 Well I haven't riden beyond abput 40k's yet. But I've read lots of posts, articles and ebooks by long distance cyclists and I'm developing a body of useful knowledge. 

  There must be a shiteload of interest in cycling because the amount of advertising, spam and pseudo advertising through blogs and books, is mind numbing.  Honestly, every Goggle search reveals pages of crap: buy this bike,  it'll make you feel alive,  take you places you only dreamed of,  make you feel cool or other amazing feats.  Then there are the experts that push the novice towards high cost options,  daily gym workouts and guided tours.  All depressing reading.  

   But occasionally there are gems.  Just note i read an article by Magda in New York who wrote about her first 500 mile ride.  She said something profound: "I hate experts.  I wantto start a movement of people that defy experts and go on great adventures". Or words to that effect. The point is that there is absolutely nothing stopping anybody from getting out of bed,  searching out a used bike,  throwing some stuff on a bag slung over the handlebars,  rack or back,  and going cycling for a week.  Yes,  they'll  probably get a sore bum,  face general physical discomfort,  have a near miss with traffic and get lost. As do all cyclists, but they will have an adventure they will be proud of.  

   So, my message to the world today is to get on your bike. Have fun. Doesn't matter if it has two or three our even four wheels,  whether they're skinny of fat ( the tyres that is), doesn't matter how you lash your gear.  Just have a crack. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Spring Bee Lessons

 Well my bees beat me up these last two weeks. To be fair though  it was mostly my fault. So,  I started with radix hives; two at coastal Merewether and two on my property near Paterson.   Obviously the Merewether hives produced through winter and with a bit of an up-change in the weather they needed space for brood and honey.  This caught me out (Lesson 1: don't procrastinate or aim to do the least amount of work. In other words don't be lazy.)  I then had to rush around buying and assembling frames. Penders Bees reported that from their orders it's a bumper season. But I  really need to not be so unprepared again.   Adding Supers and extracting helped create space,  but I'll be extracting again very soon with my spanking new machine. Unfortunately in hive #4 the Queen spent the winter above the Excluder and it really knocked them about. Removing the Excluder (which was a third full of dead Drones) got them working ok again.  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swarm Cut Out.

Today's principle task was to participate in my first cut out of a wild bee colony. Leading the extraction was my bee mentor Warren Bee and his neighbour, also experienced extractor, Dave. Well, the colony was hiding in a wall in an abandoned dairy building. Two things straight up to assault the senses, the smell of rear poo (and dust) and a vast number of dead bees. In a north facing wall below the kitchen sink, these bees head cooked in hot weather. The process was to remove all the internal fittings and linings, remove comb and suck up as many bees as possible. Good comb was saved for honey extraction, old comb was trashed. Sucking up the bees was done using a little vacuum cleaning drawing bees through a filtered hive box especially designed for the job. It took about 3.5 hours. I never got stung, so I liked them all. Hopefully, of those that survive this process, they will have a brighter future than their old buddies. PS. As it happens I went to my mentor's yard ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Separation > Life

 That cryptic header refers to life after separation. Up until 5 or so years ago I was married for 30 years, before my wife decamped. I was left unemployed,  with regular weekly debts and responsible for the daily care of two children.  The psychological and social impacts of this situation for children I will avoid commenting on. Even though our society totally supports separation as being good for the economy, it's disastrous for children as it undermines their sense of stability and trust in humankind.  But this is my blog, my post about what it's been like for me. Well obviously,  straight up there are some sleepless nights spent planning how to generate an income.  Even though my ex, (whom i don't talk to for obvious reasons),  left the home, I believe she expected me to fall in a heap and allow her to sell this property and then toss me a bag of lose change. But here's the thing,  becoming free from  her ah, negativity, and having a fre...
Post a Comment
Read more