Category Archives: heroes

154. Thinking blogger award

Posted on 5 July, 2007 by | 7 comments

thinking-blogger-award.jpg Hot news from the internet red carpets of Tinseltown is that thanks to EllaElla of From Scratch, this site has been nominated for a Thinking Blogger Award.

english-summer-2007.jpg That must surely have been a misprint, though.

Certainly Tuesday evening’s incredibly muddy Hash Run through a thunderstorm might much more easily have led to a Sinking Blogger.

The trashed state of my socks later could also have justified the soubriquet of Stinking Blogger (but let’s not go there, shall we?)

pyrford-lock-surrey-hash-2007.jpgAnd after ‘following’ a floating flour trail during a torrential cloudburst, a belated arrival at the pub was more than cause enough for my enthusiastic reclassification as a Drinking Blogger.

Honestly, Ella, there wasn’t all that much thinking involved, but thank you very much, all the same.
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7 Comments

Posted in 2007, heroes, poetry, summer

153. The green monster – Ditchling Beacon and the London to Brighton bike ride

Posted on 28 June, 2007 by | 24 comments

UPDATE February 2012
— For a Ditchling Beacon map and gradient information, please see here:
223. Cycling on Surrey and Sussex hills – from White Down to Ditchling Beacon;

— And for return routes back to Guildford, see here:
245. London to Brighton, and back;

* * * * *

ditchling-beacon-the-green-monster-2007.jpgSummer. Early afternoon. A soft and unassuming heat haze rising from the lush green meadows of Sussex.

And rising too, slowly but relentlessly behind this pretty village, lies the reason that we’re here.

The most famous climb in all of southern England.

The mean city streets of London seem such a long time ago. The start in Clapham lies almost fifty miles behind us, and barely a handful more remain ahead. The countryside is peaceful. Very peaceful.

The chatter and banter of those early miles has faded now. With a myriad and more of cyclists on the road, along the classic route to Brighton – you can hear them, all the way.

london-to-brighton-bike-2007-spirit-of-the-peloton.jpgNot just the whirr of spokes, the squeal of frantic brakes, or the grinding, mashing sound of crunching gears. There’s a richer, more lyrical sound to listen to, louder and more urgent still than the rhythm of the riders’ breathing.

Much more than that. Because I’ll swear that on these Sussex roads you can hear the spirit of the peloton. Continue reading →

24 Comments

Posted in 2007, A1 - the best of roads of stone, cycling, France, heroes, Spain, summer, Surrey and Sussex

143. Shame about the Boat Race … Oxford vs Cambrige 1829-2007

Posted on 12 April, 2007 by | 11 comments

oxford-dark-blue-heroes-2007.jpgThe oldest regularly-held sporting event in the world reached its 153rd edition in London last Saturday, and I was lucky enough to watch the coverage along with millions all around the globe.

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, from Putney to Mortlake.

Rowing – it’s a sport I know so little, which taught me so much of what I know.

Now I could tell you that sport is all about fitness. I could tell you that it’s about improvement, and dedication and companionship. I could relate the heightened mental acuity felt by the long distance runner, show you the slow-motion symmetry of a perfect iron shot towards the flag on a silent summer’s evening, or try to describe the sound of a mountainside half-shrouded in cloud.

Sport might really be about all of those things. But I know that’s not true.

It was rowing which taught me that lesson. It was the summer I spent doing this. The summer when I learnt that sport is all about fear.

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11 Comments

Posted in 2007, heroes, history, life and times, London, racing, rowing

139. Snow patrol – Holmenkollen, Oslo

Posted on 20 February, 2007 by | 20 comments

oslo-winter-morning-2.jpgShut your eyes and think of somewhere
Somewhere cold and caked in snow
Snow Patrol – May 2006

All of winter, and all in one day.

It’s mid-morning on a snowy Thursday, but as troublesome journeys to work might go, I really can’t complain.

Guildford’s white and black night is far behind me, and just a few hours later the snow is screaming past the train as we speed towards Oslo at 200 km/h. No Norwegian dogsled ever made such progress.

oslo-theatre-2.jpgArriving early at my meeting, I’ve a moment to survey the scene.

From the office window, the muffled view stretches out silently into the distance, Oslo peering shyly back at me through the white mist of intermittent wintry showers.

The view down to the railway tracks offers a camera angle perfect for any latterday remake of Anna Karenina, the architecture of this place even more impressive for the white curtain draping all around it.
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20 Comments

Posted in 2007, A1 - the best of roads of stone, heroes, music, Scandinavia, winter

126. A new England

Posted on 6 October, 2006 by | 2 comments

I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl ?

a-new-england.jpgBilly Bragg, July 1983;
Kirsty MacColl, December 1984

It might seem a stretch to link political activist and singer Billy Bragg with the new leader of the Conservative Party, but both featured in the news this week.

Billy received a write-up in The Observer for his new book on English patriotism – a decidedly risky concept within the social landscape of modern Britain, fitting entirely comfortably neither on the terraces of Upton Park nor on the East London streets of Bragg’s childhood home in nearby Barking.

And David Cameron was everywhere it seemed, following his début at the Tory Party Conference, where he made that speech – a decidedly risky exercise within the political landscape of the right, fitting entirely convincingly neither in the Conservative Party conference hall nor in the white middle-class streets of Bournemouth which surrounded it.
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2 Comments

Posted in 2006, heroes, history, music, politics

125. The green and the gold – 2006 Ryder Cup

Posted on 25 September, 2006 by | 2 comments

It was a cool, misty morning on the banks of the River Avon, the rain falling as softly as Irish tears beside the Liffey.

And as I ran this Sunday, I set my mind back to all the great Ryder Cups I’d watched through the years. Some won, some halved, and so many which were gloriously and frustratingly lost. Every single one of them was just as captivating and compelling as golf ever can be.

ryder-cup-2006-k-club-dublin-ireland.jpg

And yet in this year’s event, I felt there was something different, something intangible which I hadn’t seen before.

To be sure, the spectacle, and the atmosphere were more magnificent than ever, with both teams privileged to drink at long last from that well of Irish hospitality and welcome which flowed to the brim in County Kildare this week.

But more than that, I realised that it was our expectations which had changed.
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2 Comments

Posted in 2006, divided by an ocean, golf, heroes