w.h.i.t.e s.p.a.c.e l.i.f.e

John O'Connell, tumbleblogging from London.

40's, educated, cultured, green activist, geek, and motorcycle nut .... Into art, culture, philosophy, bikes, protesting about everything, linux computing, environmental issues, alternative fuels, minimalism, anti-consumerism, liberalism, screwing with the system and generally messing with your head. Oh, and cats.

Mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before.
So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome.
Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience.
And if it hurts, you know what? ... It's probably worth it.

facebook picasa last.fm delicious deviantart flickr

Jul 23

Not Bad For A Sick Guy …

I’m a big fan of the Tour De France, and especially Britains’ Mark Cavendish who won today’s stage in the TDF, finishing in Bordeaux. The two really surprising and inspirational points about todays wins are these:

He won without the support in the last two kilometres of his HTC team-mates, the ‘domestics’ who shield, protect and deliver Cavendish the sprinter to the front for his burst of speed. He had to do the work mostly by himself, and he did - winning emphatically and going away from the bunch at the end.
He’s been suffering in the last few days from bronchitis. Let me say that again. BRONCHITIS. Today a sick man was the fastest man on the Tour.

Britain may not have Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky up there with the General Classification guys (the real Tour winners) and it looks like Andy Shleck or Alberto Contador will win, with only 8 seconds splitting them. But we have the fastest man in the world on a cycle. That’s 14 TDF stage career wins for ‘Cav’.

Seeing as I average about 10mpg on my cycle, it just stuns me that ‘Cav’ can sprint like that - at the end of a 5 hour day in the saddle. The rest of us are mere mortals.