on the smugness of being a cyclist..

This week I’ve been travelling to meetings onboard my Salsa Casseroll…. I mean I’ve been riding it to meetings rather than holding the meetings onboard the bike. An old-fashioned Carradice Barley saddlebag on the back has just enough carrying capacity for a change of clothes and some buns for fuel.. and it complements the retro styling of the bike perfectly.

Not that many years ago while still in the grips of a racing obsession I doubt I would have been seen with such a ‘beardy’ accessory but now I think it’s great.. no doubt a stage on the long and varied road to getting old. Indeed riding around on it now one does feel that perhaps a beard to complement the wool jersey might in fact be a necessary accessory. That and toeclips.

Salsa riding gear.. a bit of ginger carpet should suffice, or perhaps some rusty steel wool.

Anyway, on to the main topic of my thoughts while riding today. There are a whole bunch of feelings/emotions associated with being a cyclist… in my case I’ve been guilty of arrogance in the past but I’m comfortable with my human failings so I don’t worry about that ;-) I don’t feel any sense of self-righteousness.. although acutely aware of the damage cars to do to environment I’m not riding to “save the planet” particularly… I just like riding.. and taking pleasure from being able to get from A to B without having to put any ££ in the pockets of the oil companies and the government. Another one… smugness.. that’s a fun feeling. I do smugness very well I think… it’s particularly relevant at the moment with the present threat to the delivery of fuel supplies. I swept past enormous queues of motorists along the roads today, all lined up in their panic to fill up at petrol pumps. People can be pretty dumb sometimes, there isn’t going to be any threat to supplies for at least 7 days.. so if you really are a slave to your car then filling your tank now, especially given that some local garages are now rationing to 20 litres, isn’t going to do any good at all if supplies dry up after Easter. I made sure to share a great big smile with them all as I rode past. I should probably also add that I feel lucky to be physically and mentally adapted to routinely riding lots of miles, it’s not something that everyone has the option of doing… There, should’ve been a diplomat.

On a related topic as I ride around the roads of Cornwall I have noticed increasing numbers of people carrying stuff around by horse and cart.. farmers and small-holders presumably. On the cart are usually bags of grain or boxes of vegetables. I think it’s a great response to the continued increase in fuel prices.. If you have the time, and a horse of course, and don’t have to carry lots of stuff a long way then why not. Currently considered as a mark of a undeveloped or developing economy perhaps in future the horse and cart is going to also become a characteristic of an evolved society more in tune with a world of energy shortages and environmental problems. Of course it’s not going to work on a large scale but as an individual response to an energy crisis I thought it was brilliant, although I do sympathise with folk in such a position that they may feel forced to do so (there’s that diplomatic streak again..)

I’ve written before about the bicycle as a fantastic tool for ideas and exploring trains of thought… sometimes those trains of thought might be quite stupid and once the post-ride glow has worn off I write them off as such but given the overall flavour of this post I thought I might write down the next idea that occurred to me.. this followed on from the horse and cart ponderings above and could well fall into the “bollocks” category but here it is nevertheless….. 2012 is supposed to be the year that the world comes to an end.. that is if you subscribe to the notion that the ending of the 13th baktun of the Mayan calendar represents such an event. I don’t.. personally I suspect that Mayans just got bored. If you did however.. and just say there was some truth in it.. then perhaps it’s not the end of the world as a cataclysmic event, which is the preferred scenario of both Hollywood and any number of religious nuts.. perhaps what is really going on is that it represents the end of an age in human evolution.. the ending of an age of plenty driven by greed, excessive profits, materialism and so on. A painful ending. Looming crises in energy and natural resources may force a transition, with more than a few wars and humanitarian crises along the way, to a society living in tune with a world of limited resources, poorer in material terms  but richer spiritually. I’d love to live in a society less driven by greed and profit without conscience but I have my doubts that humanity as a whole can adapt to that, so the truth may very well be that we’ll all tear ourselves, and the planet, to pieces fighting over dwindling resources.. and if that happens then the Mayans will have been more clever than I gave them credit for and humanity will suffer an ending that may well be considered to have been richly deserved. There.. I suspect the endorphins were running pretty high by the time I had got to this point.. and all because of a horse and cart :-)

Cheero!

some stuff on offer.. surf kayak and a useful book

feeling mellow after a lovely morning of spring time surf in the sun and easing myself into an afternoon and evening of being productive…. Firstly however a couple of things on behalf of friends that may be of interest… in no particular order of importance:

First is a Mega Boost xtec surf kayak for sale, belongs to a surfing buddy. In really nice condition this is the top end spec – foam-cored vac-bagged carbon kevlar – very light and very stiff. It has the usual minor scuffs you’d expect from normal use but has no damage, and has never sustained any. The white flecks you can see around the cockpit rim are surf wax rather than scrapes to the gelcoat… it improves grip on the paddle shaft but sticks to everything like the proverbial to a blanket. A terrific high performance boat with a new value of £1400. Asking price is £650 (no fins), and you might get the sponge included if you ask nicely – it is a very good sponge, I borrowed it today having forgotten my own and was sorely tempted to not give it back ;-) The boat, and sponge, are  located in west Cornwall but courier can be arranged, and is not as expensive as you might imagine at £35-£40 to mainland UK. If you’re interested drop me a line via the comments field and I’ll put you in touch.

The second thing is a book and a useful one at that. I have a friend with many years in the health and wellbeing business. She’s a prolific author and really knows what she is talking about.. and at only £0.98 for the Kindle download version this one really has to be worth a look if you’re looking to lose a few pounds. I like the way it is presented as a series of useful tips, small differences that over time can result in a big change – which is by far the best way to do it rather than embark on a crazy diet. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a Kindle, you can get free emulation software as a download from Amazon that runs as a kindle on your mac or PC. Click the image below to go the relevant Amazon page.

There, obligations and promises for the day fulfilled :-)

bicycle induced musings on entrepreneurship.. or something

My sister gave me a copy of Steve Jobs’ biography for my birthday (yep, one happened recently, shame on you if you forgot…). I wondered if she was trying to tell me something… perhaps along the lines of “become a multi-millionaire entrepreneur so you can buy me a house“. Or something. No matter what you might think of mister Jobs you have to admire what he achieved. I don’t think I’m much of an entrepreneur, if I was I’d probably at least have a yacht by now ;-) I frequently wonder if being successful in business is compatible with a love of riding bikes and paddling kayaks. I tell myself that I’m not a wildly successful entrepreneur because my priorities are riding bikes and paddling kayaks rather than making money.. But perhaps that’s bollocks, after all one only has to look at Mike Sinyard, founder of Specialized Bicycle Company, to realise that riding bikes and being successful in business are not necessarily mutually exclusive. No, rather I think sometimes my problem is simply one of discipline and prioritisation.. and of course  ”not being a natural entrepreneur” is always a handy excuse to have in one’s back pocket. Case in point yesterday, Monday, dawned beautifully sunny.. a cheeky Monday morning session in the surf turned into a cheeky late lunch of a Cornish pasty sitting in the sun with a friend on the harbour wall in Hayle which turned into “oh gosh is that the time..! Hardly worth starting anything now“. Then again I worked on the weekend.. well, some of it, and I’ve swapped the steady security of an employed career for the hard work, uncertainty and much reduced income of setting out alone so one may as well take advantage of the non-material benefits that brings. Of course I have confidence in myself in that I’ve always been disciplined and prioritised correctly when it really mattered, I wouldn’t have the freedom I have now I suspect if I hadn’t. There it is, confidence in myself.. that’s what this is about I think, confidence in my ability to be successful at whatever I do.  Why am I writing all this.. errm, well it’s just something I was thinking about on my bike this morning, while riding home from a small business workshop I’ll have you know.. So not a ride for pleasure but rather for business -although I did very much enjoy the 60km round trip through the early springtime Cornish countryside.

Speaking of riding, despite the lack of words on the topic I’m doing plenty. Interestingly with the change in lifestyle much more of my riding is “utility” riding. My Nomad is getting more use than my regular road bikes thanks to it’s ability to carry stuff. This is no bad thing, I fitted a new Brooks saddle and it needs some serious breaking in before the next adventure.

That leads nicely into something else I was reflecting on while riding this morning… how life has scaled down, in a nice way, since leaving the corporate career. Rather than having to travel to meetings around the UK, France, Italy, Montréal etc, all of sudden I have time to make essential journeys, travel to meetings and workshops and so on all by bicycle. So much less “glamorous” but so much more satisfying. Granted I’m likely going to have to find a way to make a living well into my 70′s but “retirement” is not a concept that particularly appeals to my personality.. so long as I am doing something I enjoy. I’ll certainly have time to work as I grow older.. I’m not going to be able to sustain the same volume & intensity of cycling, kayaking, hiking etc when I’m 70 as I do now so I may as well have something else constructive and enjoyable to do. Well, that’s what I tell myself when I’m out in the surf on a Monday morning… :-)

mikesimagination goes pro…

Regular readers will know that I’ve been contracting my software skills to Design Room Cornwall by way of expanding that business. It has been, and continues to be an enjoyable, worthwhile enterprise. Not being employed directly however meant that I also needed to take control of my own future, hence my involvement with Outset Cornwall as mentioned a couple of posts ago. With that in mind I have created  my own site promoting my development skills with the obvious aim of building my own client base. The plan is to continue to work in partnership with Design Room for all their development and also where clients are looking for a full-on graphic design package (branding, brochures that kind of thing), while I concentrate on the online/application design.

I’m enjoying myself. It might sound a bit weird but writing code is a creative pursuit.. it takes me back to my early roots as an aeronautical engineer writing fluid dynamics (aerodynamics) software, taking satisfaction from creating something that does something.. and does it well. There is a pride in not just creating something but creating something that is as good as it can be. Without being deliberately immodest (!) I have a talent for both visual and technical design so I feel lucky now to be in a position where I can indulge both of those, and to be able to bring some significant engineering discipline and experience to the mix.

The “mikesimagination” brand has been around for a long time so it made sense to stick with that, a lot of people know me either as a result of this blog or my photography. For the next 12 months or so I’ll be operating on a sole-trader basis as I will be taking time out this summer to return to the Outer Hebrides as a sea kayak guide, continuing to work with Design Room of course, and I want to see how things go in general. In the future if the business grows I can shorten “mikesimagination” to “MI” or “MI-Studio” or something without changing my look or logo which is handy – may as well be positive and plan for growth.. or I may end up becoming a permanent part of Design Room Cornwall. Either way it is all rather exciting.

My photo portfolio is down temporarily while I redesign it and integrate it with the more professional mikesimagination now residing at the existing mikesimagination.net domain. Clicking on the screenshot above will take you there. Spread the word… please! In the meantime it is time for me to knuckle down to something which does not come naturally… marketing planning and execution :-|

a post about a life change.. or something

Usually when I sit down to write I have a clear idea about the words that are going to follow.. Most likely because the majority of content on this site is to do with adventures, cycling, kayaking, photography and so on.. all tangible things that are easily articulated, and relatively lightweight albeit potentially interesting or entertaining in content.. and in it’s favour I think that is why it’s become popular.. well, relatively ;-) All this preamble then is to try and warm up the writing part of my mind in the hope that the thoughts I am trying to articulate will begin to flow in a logical manner… “hope” being the key concept here ;-)

A couple of weeks ago in “not really a rainforest kind of guy” I rambled on a bit about what was next and to a point dodged the question by focussing on ideas about adventures… however life itself is also an adventure and it’s something I’ve shied away from writing about because to be honest when I read other folk’s blogs I’m just not that interested in those that get heavily & deeply introspective… when I log on it’s because I want to be entertained or inspired with something enjoyable to read  so out of respect for my feelings on that I try to avoid going down that rabbit hole on my own site. So, with that in mind you have my full permission to switch off now and go and do something else.. perhaps your gutters need clearing or the shower plug-hole needs unblocking.

Right then.. 14 months since I left my career as an aeronautical engineer here are some words about where I am now and where I think I’m going that may be of interest to folk thinking about the radical career change experience. Or not.

That was the only career I had ever had since graduating. In this country ‘career’ is a powerful concept. People become defined and pigeonholed by society here by what they do for a living…  when meeting people for the first time the question “so what do you do then?” is inevitably a popular opener. As a little aside ironic isn’t it how people traditionally held in esteem by society such as bankers, lawyers, doctors have often turned out to be the biggest crooks of all.. but I digress.. In my case having lived an expat lifestyle for 7 years purely because of a job that definition was an extremely powerful thing.. I was a senior engineer with a global bluechip corporation on the front line if you like of cutting edge technology. That was perceived as being successful, or important along with a raft of other adjectives of a similar flavour. In my case however it wasn’t. For sure I was very good at my job and my employer was a very good outfit to work for, and very happy with the work I did, but inevitably allowing myself to become defined by a career led, in my case, when things were going badly due to factors out of my control – such as technical issues, difficult customers, budget cuts and so on – to a severe and at times potentially life threatening depression. It took me years to get over that. Lesson learned.. but deeply ingrained was still the idea that I was only someone because of what I did for a career. Letting go of that last year was one of the hardest things I ever did. For the last few years I’d had a growing sense, almost a compulsion, inside of me that with just one life to play with I really had to take a chance and go and try & do something different. Getting away for a really long bike ride in South America in January ’10 restored my proper perspective on life and gave me the push I needed to make it happen. It was a difficult step, I had absolutely no idea where I was going.. beyond of course taking my bike back to Patagonia for the winter ;-) Looking back now it was no different really to getting on my bike for the first time outside an airport at the start of a wilderness adventure.

As of today then.. well I’m effectively self-employed but working for a small graphic design agency (I’ll write about them separately in due course, they’re ace) here in Cornwall. It’s an industry I’ve wanted the opportunity to get involved in for a long time… my creative streak needs satisfaction to be happy long term and I also have the opportunity to bring something to the outfit in terms of software, i.e web development. It isn’t particularly difficult relative to the stuff I was doing but I’m enjoying working on small projects within a relaxed environment immensely, taking huge satisfaction from learning new stuff again and pride in producing a high quality product. I’m not making very much in the way of ££ at all.. but the whole point of coming on-board was that the business needs to grow – so I am interested to see where I am, or indeed where we are in a year or so. I’ve been very lucky, as is so often the case it’s not what you know but who you know. In my case the ‘who’ is my sister. She is one half of the agency. Can’t beat a bit of nepotism eh?! I also have the flexibility to return to the Hebrides next summer for another season of guiding – hopefully not the last either, that was the most rewarding job I had ever done by a long stretch – as well as explore other interesting avenues of earning an income. That’s not to say I won’t go contract engineering should interesting short term opportunities arise..

So, I think I am in a pretty good place all thing considered. I’m not broke hence I have the freedom to take this chance.. I have the mid-week freedom to go for a daytime surf or spin on my bike if I so desire (I do, frequently) and I have the freedom to plan future expeditions without having to save up vacation allowance or negotiate unpaid leave. Despite the fact that I cannot afford 5* (or less..) hotels, weekend breaks in Europe or frequent restaurant meals I think a lot of folk would be envious… Hence to the reason for writing all this… I suffer from intense bouts of insecurity about what I am doing.. I worry at times about future finances, and I sometimes.. but increasingly infrequently.. wonder who I am now.  I also have days when my still fragile self-esteem, as a result of that depression, takes a knock for the silliest of reasons… for example it’s a reasonable thing to look to friends when one is in need of support, but make the wrong choice in terms of which acquaintances one considers friends and you’re stuffed… It’s a difficult transition to make but it’s turning out to be very a worthwhile one and for the first time in a long time I am genuinely excited about the future. I’m lucky. Very lucky I think. I even feel lucky that all the bad shit with depression and so on happened.. I learned a lot of good stuff from that and without it I probably would not be in the position I am now. Within reason & without being stupidly naive about it life often has a way of working itself out I think if you can keep a positive spin on things…

words are very dull without a picture.. here is one of an appropriate flavour I think. In Tasmania.

Hasta el futuro.. or something.

Wow, I needed to get that off my chest… I’ll not go there again. Next post.. back to the lightweight stuff .. hover sheep or carbon fibre toilet seats or something :-) In the meantime however I should probably go and take care of the hanging garden that is the guttering at the back…

cheero!

p.s it’s a very common thing depression so it might be useful if I said that the way I ultimately learned to cope with it was to hang on to the knowledge that no matter how dark things seemed on a given day there would always be a day in the very near future when, for no logical reason, things would seem OK. That was it.. and some help from my bike.

p.p.s oh and they do say “luck favours the prepared mind”.. being lazy won’t get you anywhere even with the best luck in the world…