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Oh what a surprise… 94% addictied to apple… thanks to Ewan for the nod.
Category: General Ramblings (Page 10 of 19)
General thoughts on bikes… and stuff.
This is Don Hatton – an absolute gent who’s got caught up in the Dakar Rally cancellation.
He has a shed load of tickets from BA for various flights to and from Dakar – he now obviously doesn’t need most of them and all he needs to do is get home early – but from Lisbon and not Dakar.
BA have refused to help and said that his travel agent took his money not them, the customer service agent then hung up on him after telling him that he had no supervisor and that no supervisor was going to over-rule him… great stuff BA!
Top and bottom of it is that Dan is now stuck in Lisbon – if you know anyone at BA that maybe able to help – then please do give him a shout via Rally RAIDio.
…. if you know anyone who rides a CBF then point them to the greatest purchase they could ever make… a set of original Honda Slime-line Panniers.
I’ve had to tune in to Rally RAIDio for the last couple of days to get the latest news and reactions to the Dakar being cancelled.
What’s amazed me is the total lack of interest from main stream media. The BBC ran a story, and even as it was breaking ‘Terrorists stop Dakar’ it wasn’t even on the front page of BBC Sport. It did appear briefly on the front page of BBC News as a NIB (News In Brief).
Baaaaaaa! I’m begining to sound like a minority sport fan…. but bloody hell come on this story is huge!!!!
Perhaps it really is just me. Do tune in to Rally RAIDio though – excellent source of audio interviews with the real people from the Dakar – the privateers
Well the backstage party got off to a great start with us being evicted from the main bar to allow 650 Santa’s to come and go until 9pm – all in the name of charity (how could we be upset!).
They gave us so much entertainment in the first few hours of the party that I think we should all go and take a long hard look at the charity section of their site and remember that it’s Christmas.
Enjoy the little video below of them coming and going 🙂 There’s also a load of photos of the night over on my flickr.
There’s always been a connection between biking and Buddhism. I can’t explain exactly what it is, but as I grow older, as I spend more time navigating the streets and avenues of this life, I continually find myself bumping against blockages and and dead ends confined, and defined (that wasn’t mean to rhyme) by organised religion.
Why must I live my life defined by strict rules that where set out 100s of years ago, why must I think every-time I turn around what it is that God wants me to do.
I watched Tribe last week and saw as a monk explained that we all have within us the ability to make our lives what we want it to be. Nothing to do with a greater being, but if you’re good to others and work hard, if you believe in yourself and work towards making your dreams a reality; you can attain those goals.
So now I’m exploring what it is that drives us. What is it that makes us want more? Is it ‘more’? Or is it that we want to attain a comfortable level existance. If we look at Maslow’s hierachy of needs we see that, right there at the bottom are the basic needs, the things that simply make us tick… at what point in our lives do we move beyond those basic needs and start to look for wider meanings?
Is it possible to bury ones head until these things go away and you allow yourself to blindly believe…. should you ever allow yourself to blindly believe?
There’s no easy answers to any of these questions, but I believe, blindly or not, that we must strive to answer them. That we must take our time to ask, examine, and explore the issues surrounding these thoughts, and that we must, move forward from strict doctrine that so binds and harms the world in which we live.
I’m back in blighty – not only that but I’m back in London as it all seems to be kicking off. Grabbed a copy of MCN on the way out of the country a few weeks ago and caught a large article proclaiming to be organising a ride through Central London to let the government know what we think about road pricing.
londonbikers.com have a great article explaining why RiderConnect and MCN have teamed up to deal with this issue – it’s worth a quick read – but what gets me, and what worries me is why MCN are involved. I have a horrible feeling it’s only to increase their circulation rather than do any good. It’s that dreadful double edged sword of getting into bed with any red top… you get wonderful publicity, but you’re also sleeping with the Devil.
It’s a great cause, and I’ll be there with the others ready to have my voice, or engine, heard outside No. 10.
I don’t know if it’s just the feeling that I’m getting closer to home or if it’s the perfect weather, either way I feel like I’m walking on air. This side of Spain is wonderfully beautiful, I’ve decided to head straight up the middle via Madrid then up to the French border over the foothills of the Pyrenees and into Saint Jean de Luz.
I didn’t make it as far as France but ended up in a crappy chain hotel just south of the foothills. As I was passing 360 miles for the day on the speedo I saw a wall of raining heading for me, I watched in horror as the storm, stretching from horizon to mountains came straight for me. Seven, eight, nine streaks of lightening hitting the ground at the same time as you could feel the warm air rushing before it trying to escape the frigid cold that hid behind the hail stones.
I ducted into the nearest services (Autogrill) to wait it out, no sooner had I parked the bike under the sun shelter than it pelted down, I ran the 50 yards to the entrance of the garage and even in my bike gear was soaked to the skin. I’ve never seen anything like it. I decided there and then to book in and get dry. By the time I made it to my room the storm was in full sway. I stood on my protected balcony and watched was the biggest hail stones I’ve ever seen dented cars, vans and people alike as everyone ran for cover.
If you’re ever passing by an Autogrill, keep going, The hotel rooms are nice enough, and it was the best shower I’ve had since leaving home, but it appears they offer cheap rates to lorry drivers, who come and go all night long, shouting, laughing and drinking into the wee small hours. Even with my ear plugs in I didn’t have the best of nights.
What is God calling you to do?
Listen to my Thought for The Week on BBC Hereford on Worcester about vocation and what God may be calling you to be or do