At the end of last month I read a post over at Laurie Ruettimann’s Cynical Girl blog that started ‘If you are a blogger, you should blog on a daily basis. I believe that blogging is a full-time job. Target, McDonalds and Walmart barely shut their doors. Neither should you.’ I’m not going to start saying what I think is right, wrong, up or down about blogging, the last time I tried that I got my ass kicked and couldn’t sit down for a week. You draw your own conclusions about what blogging is or isn’t.
Anyhoo, the words Laurie wrote got me thinking, how hard/easy/smart/dumb would it be to try and get a new blog post out every weekday in July? I decided to go for it and feeling chicken, I kept the challenge to myself. After all, most of what I write comes pretty much from the here and now and I’ve always struggled to have a lot of drafts and reserves to call upon, so the chances of me making it are pretty slim right?
Yeah it was close at times and I made it to this finish line. I found some time on weekends to sit and pen a few thoughts which helped along the way, and I learned the importance of scribbling down good ideas. Over the course of July I’ve had four lightbulb moments which I think would have made great blog posts, but because I didn’t write them down I forgot ’em all, dang it!
Thanks for sticking with me this past month, August won’t be quite the same as there are holidays coming.
The Olympics are here, and what a weekend it’s been. On Saturday around a gazillion people gathered on some narrow Surrey lanes and various parts of London to watch the men’s cycling road race. Despite Team GB not being able to deliver Mark Cavendish to The Mall for his trademark sprint finish the day out was fantastic. As you can see from the picture above it was a huge party and everyone seemed pleased to be a part of The Olympics and British cycling. Road racing can be great fun to watch and you get right up close to the action. The rush of air as the peloton flies by is really invigorating.
Bradley Wiggins tows Mark Cavendish around the Box Hill loop
On Sunday we went back to the Surrey lanes to watch the women’s race. When I say we, I don’t mean the gazillion people who took to the roads on Saturday, I mean….well by comparison, hardly anyone.
Where is everybody? Much smaller crowds for the Women's Olympic Cycling Road Race
Even the cycling club I belong to which encourages cycling for all and had done a super job building a huge gantry to house around 250 people on Saturday, could barely fill a tiny gazebo on Sunday. It wasn’t just Surrey where there was a big difference. Courtesy of Mervyn Dinnen, here are two views of the men’s race and women’s race going through Fulham which show pretty clearly the difference in crowd sizes. Some might argue that the women’s race was shorter which meant they came past our vantage point twice compared to nine passes by the men on Saturday, but the racing was just as exciting and of course GB went on to secure its first 2012 Olympic medal courtesy of the women’s cycling team and Lizzie Armitstead. The pic below shows Lizzie on the left of the picture looking cool and calm as the peloton rushes past us.
Lizzie Armitstead racing through the Surrey Lanes, Women's Olympic Cycling Road Race - London 2012
OK so this year we have our first ever British winner of the Tour de France in Bradley Wiggins, and Mark Cavendish is the current cycling world champion, but my heart sinks when I hear men saying stuff like ‘Nah, I’m not going to the women’s race tomorrow, it’s not as important as the men’s’. Doesn’t say much for inclusion and diversity, does it? That reaction and the lack of interest in the women’s race felt misogynistic, and it is certainly misguided. After the race, Armitstead said ‘The sexism I have encountered in my career can get quite overwhelming and very frustrating’.
Lest we forget, Nicole Cooke first won the women’s Tour de France back in 2006 and has a list of cycling achievements most professional men can only dream about. Emma Pooley is an outstanding climber who can also count world time trial champion among her many successes, and Lucy Martin is a bright future prospect. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. Lizzie Armistead, silver medal winning Team GB cyclist.
Those of us who turned out to support the cycling team yesterday witnessed the British riders on their way to Team GB’s first medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games. That felt pretty important to me, here come the girls.
We don’t seem to get many super sunny scorchio summer days in the UK, so when we do I think it’s time to break out the shorts. I’ve never been a fan of dress codes (this earlier post on the subject drew a lot of comment when first published) and I think it’s daft that so many men boil, toil and sweat their way through a hot day in the city. Women readily take the opportunity to dress in a way that helps them stay cool, why don’t we? When I wear shorts it seems to coincide with plenty folk giving me sideways glances and having a laugh at me – and I’m fine with that 😀 After all, I’m not the one sitting their sweating buckets, which trust me ain’t such a great look in itself kids.
Something else that seems to cause a fuss is my old faithful Gucci manbag, I splashed out and bought this little beauty many years ago. I’m a little embarrassed to tell you that I paid £385 for it (ouch), even though I’ve like, used it loads and if I’d bought a cheaper one it would have worn out and I’d have to buy another and that would be like, more expensive in the long run. 8 years old, that works out around £48 a year, and falling 😉 Whatever, it’s a bag, I put my stuff in it and I like it.
Maybe it’s the heat that makes me go a bit doolally and favour slightly less usual attire, but surely I can’t be the only one….can I?
