Cycling for health

Me, too.  I am one of what seems to be a large number of Olympic confessors who was, to say the least,  lukewarm when we won the bid, and doubted the organisers’ ability to put on a trouble-free show. 

We have all been proved gloriously wrong.  Instead I found a passion for watching sport on TV  - I can hardly believe I’ve just written those words – and my life seems just a little empty at present without the daily fix.   

In the warm after-glow,  there has been talk of the importance of competitive sport being re-introduced into primary schools.  And sports clubs are reporting a huge rise in the number of enquiries. 

It will all jog down, of course.  But I hope that what will remain, aside from the relative few who will be committed and athletic enough to seek the highest ambition, is a general change in our attitude to exercise. 

All the studies point up the importance of regular moderate exercise.  And one of the easiest way to do this is by walking and cycling.     I try to build one of these into every day of my life, and Annie and I miss it if we don’t get a daily walk in.  We start to feel refreshed almost as soon as we start our steps up the lane.  

We went to Weymouth to see the Olympic sailing on the last Saturday, and cycled in from the outskirts.  The road along the promenade, usually jammed with cars,  had been closed to all traffic apart from walkers and cyclists.  How liberating to be able to walk and cycle in the town right next to the sea, without the noise and danger from vehicles.   

I’ve got a suggestion:  why not make it permanent? 

Why not transform our road infra-structure to give priority to walkers and cyclists in our towns and cities?  Instead of spending £33bn on  a new high speed train line to Birmingham, why not invest that money on dedicated cycle paths and walkways?   

Would that not be the most egalitarian Olympic legacy?

Canvassing opinion

Not making Glastonbury this year, I did the next best thing (well next best after watching it on TV) and cycled to the site the Wednesday after it had finished.  I just wanted a bit of the atmosphere, and to see what was happening.

Experience has taught me that, in the UK (it's quite different in Holland), people on bikes tend to get ignored.  It certainly seems that way on the roads, anyway...  But that was not the case at Pilton.  My arrival within shouting distance of  one of the gates caused a small posse of grim-faced security guards to gather and and eye me warily.  My default position of using humour in such situations ("I've arrived at last - when does the festival start?") caused no more than the slow closing and opening of eyelids.

What were they fearing from a middle aged (I'm being kind to myself) man wobbling about on a bike three days after it had all ended?   I tried to start a conversation, but quickly gave up.  They had clearly all been well-trained at the school of strong and silent.  

What was most noticeable, from my glimpse through the gates and later as I looked back at the site from the other side of the valley, was the huge number of tents that had been left behind.  This trend has been commented on elsewhere, including a piece in Saturday's Guardian ("Forget pitch a tent - now it's ditch a tent" Money section p7 09/07/11).  It reinforces what a middle-class credit-card festival Glastonbury has become.  Those who can afford the tickets, travel costs and the small fortune to keep themselves fed and watered for 4 days (beer at £6 a pint, I was told) can doubtless also afford to view a £14.99 tent from Millets as eminently disposable.

But that's hardly the point.  Where does it leave Glastonbury's efforts to be green?  And who exactly do the abandon campers think is going to be responsible for clearing the debris of thousands of discarded tents, camping mats and cheap folding chairs?

Saturday's Guardian quoted a festival spokesman: "...we need to dispel the myth that overseas aid charities are going to want a load of cheap tents from Asda, because they don't.  And this is not a tent problem - it is a 'life' problem."

Barely believable

My partner is known for many things, including insomnia and a love of cycling. This week she combined the two by giving up attempts to sleep and, at just after 4am, slipping out for a (very) early morning ride.

She drifted along empty roads, the air filled with nothing but bird song. Then, after turning a corner of a particularly isolated lane, she came across a man standing behind his car. She was about to wish him a cheery good morning when she noticed that, apart from a pair of shoes, he was completely naked.

What was he doing? There are several possibilities. We prefer the more innocent explanation - if that term can be applied - that he was seeking to be at one with nature by wandering naked through the nearby woods.

But who knows....?

The insomnia remains, but the early morning bike rides are now off.