One of the 28 things I want to have a crack in the next year is to get some self-defence instruction. I'd read a bit about Krav Maga and it seemed like the right fit for me – a practical system for dealing with real-world confrontations (of the sort that seem all too common at the moment) rather than a conventional martial art.
I found the London Academy of Krav Maga's website, booked online for an induction (this evening, as it happens) and was amazed to have a phone call this morning from the Academy's founder, John Aldcroft – he'd just seen my website and offered, there and then, to sponsor my Krav Maga training in its entirety (thanks, John!)
'I'm not sure it'll work on polar bears' were his parting words. I'll let you know how I get on…
— Filed under Rumination
I joined London Dynamo's Sunday morning 'Surrey Hills' training ride this morning. It wasn't long after we set off that I wondered if I'd made the right decision – the twelve-strong group certainly wasn't hanging around (averaging 25mph before we hit the hills) and I had to dig pretty deep to avoid getting dropped (we lost a couple 'off the back' at one point). The group split in two at the top of Box Hill, and I chose to go with the six that, it transpired rather quickly, were In A Hurry to get back to London.
Without speaking, the formation of our paceline evolved and mutated for maximum speed; one minute an elegant single-file echelon, angling into the headwind, the next, two files riding elbow-to-elbow, milimetres from the wheel in front. At one point the rider to my right dropped his water bottle, at nearly 30mph. I'm not sure if it landed in his spokes (the cycling equivalent of an airliner sucking up a hapless goose) but he still swung off wildly to the right, shouting expletives as he slammed on the brakes. It reminded me of a Star Wars scene – Luke Skywalker's wing man being hit by a stray laser beam, his X-Wing spiralling out of control.
To me, there's something thrilling in travelling with a group of skilled cyclists at high speed; in some ways you feel constantly on the brink of disaster, that a sneeze at the wrong moment could bring the whole thing crashing to a halt. We blasted back into East Molesey three hours after we set out (at least an hour less than it normally takes) and I stopped to call in on my brother for a cup of tea. 'Same time next week, lads?' was the last thing I heard as I peeled off the back of the group…
— Filed under Cycling
It seems I may have a little competition when it comes to my 28 goals…
— Filed under Aside
It's my 28th birthday, and I've decided to share 28 things I'm going to do in the next year…
- Blog daily. One of my aims is to document the build-up to the next expedition – the training, the preparation of gear/food/etc – on a day-by-day basis. I'll probably start this late next month, with a 12-month countdown…
- Get some swim coaching. I'm useless at front crawl, and I'm going to need to change this on order to…
- Complete an Ironman triathlon. I'm not sure which one yet – maybe New Zealand or South Africa. Watch this space.
- Eat organic.
- Go to bed earlier. I've been averaging 1am recently.
- Get up earlier. Averaging 8am. Not enough zzzzs.
- Give ten presentations for free (to state schools, charities and youth groups).
- Learn about China. I know most of the States in America, but I couldn't tell you anything about China's 22 Provinces.
- Call my mum more often.
- Eat lower GI food.
- Race the Ballbuster Duathlon.
- Start using my Flickr account.
- Learn to cook.
- Learn to dance. (For me, this is probably the scariest of the 28.)
- Learn to say no.
- Learn to ask for (more) money.
- Learn to deal with confrontation. (See point 17.)
- Learn to *never* sign a contract without getting a lawyer to look at it. (See point 16.)
- Finish the Expedition Resources section of this website.
- Get my VO2 MAX to 65ml/kg/min. (This will only mean something to the fitness geeks amongst you. I'm around 60 at the moment.)
- Start writing a book.
- Take self-defence lessons. (Probably Krav Maga.)
- Do some commercial web design. And then…
- Open a savings account. (And pay into it!) I have no savings right now. No pensions, no investments, nada.
- Stretch more.
- Stay on top of my emails. I'm getting a shed-load of email nowadays, and it's going to take a bit of focus, discipline and ruthlessness to stop the inbox overflowing again (I've answered 338 emails in the last seven days).
- Speak more. Professionally, I mean – motivational and after dinner speaking.
- Take my mum to New York. I promised her this years ago. It's one of my favourite cities and she'd love it.
— Filed under Rumination
Tomato TomA[h]to – a brilliant Tom Peters article over at ChangeThis.com (it's a 1mb PDF, but well worth downloading).
— Filed under Aside
Hero, friend and all-round lunatic Bob Brown is running across Europe (4,300 miles from Lisbon to the Urals). Go Bob!
— Filed under Aside
