Just a quick one here to say that relationships can build from the simplest meetings. Yesterday, I attended a coffee tweetup in Leichhardt (known as #wscm) and was introduced to 2 people who can make a huge difference to one of the projects I am involved in – Riding4aCause.
Before attending the meeting I had resolved to ‘give this meeting a try’ as I was in 2 minds about whether to attend or not. Something, somewhere must have given me a gentle proactive nudge to attend, because it transpires that these new friends will help the project in a number of ways!
Sometimes we do not know why but I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason!
Technology can enable us in many many ways, and perhaps recently, has truly expanded the number of was we can (re)connect with people in our lives. Whether it be through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Friends Reunited, LinkedIn or other services, there’s a good chance we’ll find and be able to reconnect with people once prominent in our lives.
However we cannot rely on technology alone, for it can only go so far – when we want to deepen the relationship or move beyond superficial discussions, we can really only do that when we meet physically.
When I first started on Twitter, the first few people I followed were from Melbourne. These contacts helped me understand Twitter and showed me (through their tweets) how it worked for them. They also expanded my list of contacts by recommending me to others as well as recommending others to me. I now have at least 50 ‘new’ friends in Melbourne through Twitter that I regularly interact with (some of these people have branched out into Facebook and LinkedIn as well).
When I was planning the Snowyride trip (Here’s the awesomely detailed ride report on my personal blog), I decided to extend my trip to Melbourne (as I was already part-way to Melbourne) to meet some of these people face to face. No other reason except to make a more personal connection with people I’d come to know through Twitter. So far, I’ve met about 10 people, and through a couple of planned tweetups over the next few days this number will increase!
Melbourne from Williamstown
Something I ask of you (this won’t be too taxing, I promise) – Take a look at how & why you’re using technology, and see what opportunities it has given you to be able to (re)connect with others. Where you can, be proactive to explore opportunities to meet these people face to face. I know I can become a better person from the experiences, conversations, chats and insights gained from meeting people on this trip, and perhaps you could too? Feel free to share this with other people, and share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below!
P.S. I have now returned home and would like to try and capture the list if people I met whilst in Melbourne. If I miss you off this list PLEASE let me know!
If you’d like to follow my Melb posse (above), use my twitter list: My Melb Friends!
PPS. My friend Robin Dickinson just posted Seven easily missed truths about human relationships, about the differences between connections and relationships. After reading his post, it resonated with me clearly why I made this trip to Melbourne – it was to turn those ‘connections’ into real relationships (and I especially like number 7:Relationships are gifts that grow with shared participation, connections aren’t.
Thursday 5th November At 7am, the ride started out overcast, and by the time I’d reached Sutherland, it was a wet one. The rain did not let up until I reached Nowra, approx 2 hours away. Riding in the rain is not that much fun, especially when visibility is little to none (as it was when going over Mt Keira). From Nowra, the rain stopped but the cool weather + clouds stuck around. I met up with AB & Trev/Sandra in Batemans Bay for a top up (fuel + lunch). From Batemans Bay we went via the Princes Hwy to the Bermagui turn-off for a lovely saunter down to Tathra.
Day 1 Route
From Tathra we made our way through Bega to Bemboka, for PIES! (Pies on motorcycling trips seem to go hand-in-hand, no matter where you go, there always seem to be a pie shop involved – up the Old Pacific highway [Pie in The Sky], Robertson [Robbo Pie Shop], Bemboka [Bemboka Pie Shop] – Too many to list…back to the story). We met Greg in Bemboka who’d ridden there some way from Melbourne! Up Brown Mountain through tight, twisty roads great when you have the road to yourself and don’t get caught behind slower vehicles struggling up the mountain. The sun was low in the sky by now and we were feeling a little weary, so a quick stop in Cooma to refuel then onto Jindabyne in readiness for Day 2!
Day 1 Start time: 7am; Distance: 593km; Finish time: 6:15pm. Day 1 route map is here
Friday 6th November
Kiandra
Friday’s weather was glorious! Forecast was for 23C day with lots of sunshine, and that’s precisely what we were delivered. There were now 7 of us (3 more had arrived from Canberra on Thursday night – Gary, Paul, RAB) and decided to do the Alpine Loop from Jindabyne -> Berridale -> Adaminaby -> Kiandra through to Tumbarumba for a stop for lunch. I was riding pretty well today, consciously thinking about the task at hand and not letting my mind wander onto other thoughts unrelated to keeping the motorcycle on the road. At every stop I try and eat something, the biggest fave is the muesli bars my wife makes – I pack 6-8 of these before I leave and love munching on them throughout the day. Apples and water are also consumed in vast quantities!
At Tumbarumba I had a Lamb & vegetable pie (oh come on now, you *knew* there’d be a pie for lunch didn’t you?) from the Bakery where we’ve eaten the past few years. It’s great to know small businesses like this are still around when we come to visit! The weather was warming up (27C indicated on the bike). During the ride back to Cabramurra, the bike started ‘squirming’ around, meaning the bike was not responding properly to inputs, didn’t want to turn in, felt unstable through/coming out of the corners – I backed it off and trundled along slowly until I stopped with the others, thinking/fearing tyre dramas (every ride through the Snowy mountains I seem to have a drama of some description – in 2008 I needed a new front tyre). It seems my tyres are fine, but leading into Cabramurra, the road surface coming was melting (hence the reason the bike was not handling well)!
Tom Groggin
After downing a lemon Calippo (YUM!) it was off down the mountain to the next stop, Khancoban. There’s a mix of downhill, tight, twisty, blind bends & corners through the National Park, into a long, flat section that runs alongside the power lines. Khancoban is a regular stop for a lot of the Snowy Ride participants and once we turned up, there were approx 35 other bikes there, a far cry from the lack of bikes we’d seen on the road up until then! Lollies, an apple and water were the refuelling items of choice.
The ride from Khancoban to Jindabyne is always a tough one later in the day – it’s easy to let weariness into the mix so it’s important to stay alert and refreshed with plenty of stops. This day was probably the one where we spent the most time during rest breaks (7 riders was a good number to ride with and everyone was easy going and relaxed enough to not cause chaos – something that often happens on these trips!) We regrouped at the Tom Groggin rest stop, somewhere I’d only ever ridden past previously!
Nail in the tyre
I led the gang home on the stretch from Thredbo to Jindabyne, part of the oft-named ‘yellow brick road’ due to the yellow painted lines (which IMHO are better for visibility in all weather conditions rather than white). I refuelled before heading back to Mad Mooses to be able to leave first thing in the morning. However, there was a ‘nail’ in this plan. Once stopped at Mooses, John noticed something reflecting off my tyre, and upon closer inspection, there was a nail in it (see pic). Big thanks to Terry and Greg for plugging the hole with a tyre repair kit. As you can see it’s on the side of the tyre that’s only used when going around right-hand bends. The tyre held up well for the next 700km!
Day 2 Start time: 9am; Distance: 480km; Finish time: 5:40pm. No route map as some roads are missing!
Saturday 7th November
Saturday Morning View
This was the day I went it alone – I was headed for Melbourne whilst the rest of the gang rode around and did the checkpoint thing. I put some more air in the rear tyre to ensure there was enough before my trip. Headed out to Khancoban nice and early and passed many bikes coming the opposite direction (into Thredbo). For most of the day I was travelling against the flow of traffic. I was accompanied by a rider for most of the ride between Thredbo & Khancoban. I took my first stop at Scammell’s Lookout (yet another place I’ve never stopped before!) for an apple and a stretch. My next stop was to be Corryong, across the border in Victoria.
Tallangatta Park
Once I reached Corryong, I still felt good so pushed onto Tallangatta for my first big break. The park in the centre of town is absolutely awesome…big shady trees, a great playground for the kids, plenty of grass for a picnic (or you can use the seats and tables). This post has been devoid of ‘bike’ pictures, so here’s one of the bike next to the park. After a pie (yes, yes, you knew THAT one was coming, too) and a stretch in the park, I plotted the path to the next destination. The ‘locality’ known as Gundowring is on the road labelled Not the Kiewa Valley Highway (#55) by Peter Thoeming in his ‘Top 100 Rides’ section of the Australian Motorcycle Atlas. It’s a tricky road to find as it’s not easily labelled, but once I zigged and zagged the correct way, I was on it! 🙂 The road is awesome – flat, mostly straight with a few nice, open wide sweepers. This road is well deserved to be on the Top 100 rides list. (This was actually the 4th Top 100 ride I was on in this trip alone!)
I wanted to find a small slip road that joined up to the Kiewa Valley Highway so I could cross over to the Great Alpine Road up to Myrtleford. I did find the one I wanted but went right instead of left, and was left wondering if I made the right decision. I decided to stop and ask for help (yes, see, we can do it, and it’s all about being proactive!) The fellow I asked was only too happy to help and began chatting about the bike, how ‘she’ goes and other general chat – A thought here for those that rely on technology (such as a GPS): You can easily miss these opportunities to engage with other people, so stop and speak to others once in a while!
Pit-stop at Oxley
Once I found the glorious road (that took me through Rosewhite + Happy Valley), I was in heaven. This is a great little road and I’m glad to have found it! There’s a great view of the plains/farms in between 2 mountains (hills) that’s worth the ride. The road popped out at Ovens, and I trundled up to Myrtleford behind a ’57 Chevy and another ‘classic car – They were also coming in from the other direction so assume there was a show of sort happening. I did not stop as I was headed for Oxley for a quick pit-stop. After the top-up of fluids and a few lollies, I was on the way again. By now the bike was reading 29C and I was feeling it – the first 5-10 mins after your stop feels the best as the air dries the sweat which has built up whilst not riding – After this time the breeze just feels warm as the sweat dries up!
After Oxley I turned left down road C521 headed for Whitfield, and the start of the Whitfield-to-Mansfield road (Top 100 Ride #49, my 5th ride Top 100this trip). I stopped for more water and a yarn with the local shopkeeper and both noticed a large contingent of bikers were all headed out of Whitfield in the direction I had come. Not one motorcycle had come past going my direction whilst I was chatting. In fact, I had not seen another rider going my way since the Thredbo-Khancoban section. Anyway, the road to Mansfield was a combination of tight, blind, twisty corners with no safety barriers (bar the trees and a long drop) which opened out to long, fast flowing corners with great visibility. Some of the corners had a lot of gravel and stones on them (especially left handers) which made things a little tricky. I was only cruising through here anyway as it was the danger time of the day!
Mansfield
I rolled into Mansfield to refuel and top-up on liquids. Chocolate milk always goes down well! I found another shady tree in the park in the middle of the main street of Mansfield and rested and watched and listened to the world go by. There’s something refreshing about a main street that has a park in it (Tallangatta and now Mansfield, and I am sure there are other towns around the country just like this). To be able to rest in the shade is a great luxury in warm weather!
From Mansfield, I was headed for Yea (pronounced Yay or Yeah I have no idea) when I decided to take a punt on going a different way. Bring on my 6th Top 100 Ride for the trip, from Merton to Euroa. The pros of choosing this way: Merton to Seymour (via Euroa) was shorter than Euroa Merton to Seymour (via Yea)! The cons of this decision – Euroa to Seymour would be on the Hume [freeway]. The Merton to Euroa road was yet another awesome road…hardly used, great wide open sweepers and long straights. Scary-Crap-Myself moment happened when I looked in my mirror and saw a red Commodore who was not there a few seconds before, and by the time I focused ahead again, he was passing me. He must have had no change from $2.00 and soon was out of my sight. It would have lasted no more than 10 seconds from when I first saw him in the mirror to when he disappeared – It’s that sort of road!
There’s nothing good about the Hume from a riding perspective. It’s flat, straight and mind-numbing (as are most freeways). To give you some small idea of what it’s like (for the non-riders amongst my readers), when you’re on a great, engaging road where you have to focus on the next corner, your line, your balance on the bike, what gear you’re in, the road condition, time disappears – 10-15-20 mins disappear along with many corners. The only recollection is the grin on your face by the end of it.
Seymour
On the freeway there’s little to engage your brain – time slows and things seem to take forever. I believe this ‘mind numbing’ behaviour leads to more incidents and crashes. When your mind is engaged, good things happen. Somewhere along here I picked up a riding buddy on an orange Hayabusa with ‘QIKAS’ numberplate. We rode together for a long time, and that in itself helped break the mind-numbingness. Thanks for the companionship, Mr QIKAS! 🙂
At Seymour, there was a detour off the freeway for some reason so I took this as a sign to stop for a stretch and top-up of water and lollies. I also took the chance to take another pic of the bike, this time with not much shade!
Back onto the Hume for the last stretch of riding. Nothing to report here except how boring it was (for those that wondered why I didn’t go down through Healesville, Kinglake or any other method into Melbourne is that all I need to do when near my destination is turn left off Sydney Rd (which the Hume becomes). I really didn’t want to battle with Melbourne streets/traffic at the end of my trip, so opted for the ‘simplest’ method. Even then, I zigged when I should have zagged and ended up following the freeway down to Cooper St Epping, a small 10 min. detour saw me back on track.
Day 03 route
I arrived at my destination just after 6pm. The summary is that this was one of the best days of riding I have ever done! I was determined to not let any of my past demons rear their ugly head (more on that in a future post). Riding with a few good friends is awesome – riding with a large pack of riders isn’t as good as it introduces confusion and conflict, plus with differing skill levels, the group can become very splintered. During Day 1 (2-3 riders I have ridden with many times) and Day 2 (with 3 extra riders whom I’ve ridden with a couple of times before) we actually had a great group of people to ride with. No-one scooted too far ahead, I rode at my own pace (something I have not always done) and it turned out to be extremely pleasant for everyone concerned.
Day 3 Start time: 8am; Distance: 678km; Finish time: 6:10pm. Day 3 Route Map!
A big THANK YOU to my riding buddies on this trip; AB, Trev, Greg, Gary, Paul 7 RAB. You know who you are 🙂
Something I noticed the other day whilst purchasing new tyres, pedals and shoes for my upcoming Sydney to Wollongong bicycle ride *, was that for large items in my life, I have only one.
The reason for not having more than ‘one’ is borne out of a) not having space for more than one, and b), not having a need for more than one! I think it’s greatly enhanced my sense of living simply, as well as not looking at material possessions as any sign of status. Here are some examples:
I have one car
I have one motorcycle
I have one bicycle
I have one television
I do not have the need (or space) for anything more than this, and truly believe that the more you have, the less happy you are. I am also of the belief that you should (and most of the time can) make the most of what you have without needing to have more.
Do you agree? Is ‘more than one’ causing you sadness? Let me know your thoughts!
* More on my bike: I have converted the mountainbike into a road bike through road tyres and clipless pedals. I know know other people who have dedicated bikes for certain jobs, and this is OK – If I was a professional cyclist or began taking up proper mountain-biking, I may then have a need for the second bike.
I have been looking for a great way to kick off this blog and came across an awesome post by Stephen Mills of Rat Race Trap. The post is so simple & succinct, I felt it would be a great way to start MyProactiveLife!
Sometimes just a few words say about all that needs to be said:
Your life is your own damn fault.
Take responsibility for it.
Learn what you need to do to fix it.
Take action on what you’ve learned.
Enjoy the results.
– Larry Winget
Some people may be offended by the use of the word ‘damn’ in the first point – That’s Larry’s way with words, so you will need to live with it 🙂
* Some of the earlier posts on this site have been imported from my personal blog, written earlier in the year and before I had formalised the idea for MyProactiveLife.
I came across this picture a while ago and saved it to my PC, never to think about it again…until I uncovered it. I think this summarises my thoughts on what MyProactiveLife is all about! Enjoy 🙂
The 2009 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 has been run and won, by the best team on the day. They drove a faultless race and kept their heads throughout the day. There are many others out there who can write up the story very well, however I decided to dedicate this post to the TV coverage provided by Channel 7 (in Sydney).
In no certain order, here are my thoughts to Channel 7:
Use one of your un(der)used ‘digital’ channels to broadcast the ENTIRE race non-stop – Have your ads picture-in-picture with the sound, BUT keep the main part of the screen active with the race. We may actually see some of incidents you happened to miss whilst showing the ads.
Please provide a run-down of how each car is doing instead of switching to another ad break. A 5-10 second update on each car would be great. During your hourly update you told is how the FPR car caught fire, but little of the other players who struck trouble. Jason Bright got back onto the lead lap. How? We won’t know from your telecast because it barely rated a mentioned!
Since the race is not beamed 100% live to our telly (2-3 mins delay from what I have heard, this is not substantiated, but we all know it’s a little behind) surely you could have timed your ads better. There were a couple of times where you had 3-min ad breaks sandwich 1 min of racing (albeit under the safety car). One way to think of it (courtesy of @erkpod on Twitter) “Ch 7’s ad campaign keeps getting interrupted by some car race #bathurst1000“
You had so many little cameras in great places but did not use them enough!
The wing-cam on the Kelly’s car was great, would have been great to see more.
Whatever happened to cameras out ‘over’ the track as in days gone by?
The camera in the footwell of the car, complete with external footage and the V8 sound is phenomenal – we need more of it. One great comment by @StevePizzati: “Dear Ch.7 please please show more on-board laps (with footwork) where all commentators shut the hell up! Signed V8Supercar fans #Bathurst1000“.
Mark Beretta and Matthew White aren’t adding value to the commentary so feel free to deploy them elsewhere.
Yesterday, I had gone for a ride with my 2 boys (4 & 7) along the bike path adjacent to Botany Bay starting in Brighton, down to Dolls Point and back. For those not familiar with this bike path, it’s a shared path with pedestrians for the most part, and cuts through 5 carparks.
In one of the carparks, there was a car blocking the bike path (it looked like the driver simply drove into the carpark and just parked the car across the bike path.
Getting Mr4 to look ahead and try and react early is impossible, and I had to speed up and ensure both of the boys stopped before hitting the car. Something in me snapped. I was infuriated at how pig-headed someone could be to park across the bike path!
I noticed that the driver was still in the car.
I decided (most likely unconsciously) to let the driver know what they had done, as they probably don’t realise it.
I approached the car and advised the driver that they were blocking the bike path and that my sons had almost hit the car. (That’s how I wanted it to transpire), but in reality I turned ugly 🙁 . I did let the lady know she was blocking the bike path and that she should move the car to a designated parking spot, but I am not sure I came cross in a non-threatening, friendly manner. I know I then began repeating myself louder…i.e. the refuge of the defeated.
Afterwards, I definitely did not feel like I had done a community service – in fact, I felt like crap, mulling it over in my head for the rest of the night.
I am writing this as an open apology to the lady + her passengers who had to see/experience the ugliness that is still within me. It should have gone differently, it could have gone differently, but it didn’t – and it’s my fault. The control of the situation was completely in my hands until I snapped and went down the ugly path.
As some of you will know, my planned trip to New Zealand to celebrate my 10th Wedding Anniversary was thrown into chaos due to the Apocalyptic elements of Sydney weather early this morning (SMH article, Flickr photostream, BOM warning).
Whilst at the airport, the Air New Zealand staff did the best they could to explain the situation (in essence, no planes landed in Sydney to take passengers to NZ…simple really) due to limited visibility over Sydney. Our first flight (7am) was cancelled due to engineering issues so were provided a meal voucher to the food court (awesome!) and put on later flight (9:30am). At 7:30am it was apparent nothing was coming into or out of Sydney; the 9:30am was cancelled (due to weather) + the best we could do was call Reservations and make changes. I had confirmed seats on the same flight on the 24th, so decided to go home and make alternate arrangements for the rest of the trip.
Whilst on the phone with United (as the flights were booked through United, not Air New Zealand), I got to speaking to a lady by the name of “Chen” who helped me change my flights, and she was so lovely asking if it was OK to put me on hold many times. (Of course it was OK, I have worked in Customer Service and know how things work), to which I joked “sure it’s OK, I’m not going anywhere yet!” We got to chatting and I said to take her time as I understood there are delays in making changes and I didn’t mind waiting, at which point I asked her “how are other passengers/callers handling things?”
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference”
She said it’d been quite a tough morning as the majority of the callers were screaming, mad, angry and frustrated that their plans were thrown into chaos as well. I explained to her that Freaky Stuff Happens beyond our control, and getting mad at others over stuff you can’t control is stupid. I explained that I had time and wasn’t going to get mad, and wonder why others would get in such a way over something they can’t control. She replied “thanks very much for sharing that with me, it helps to get through the day to hear such kind words”
I believe I helped change the way her day will pan out, But wonder where other peoples’ heads are? When the Freaky Stuff Happens, knowing what you can control and what’s beyond your control should help you best direct your energies to achieve a resolution. Screaming at customer service people over the phone for no Freaky good reason is pointless, damaging and unproductive.
To anyone out there in a customer service role ‘affected’ by today’s Freaky Stuff, I wish you all the best to get through the tough day ♥☺♥. To all people inconvenienced by today’s Freaky Stuff, revel in the different day this is turning out to be, and don’t turn into an ugly zombie!
For those that don’t know, I am very passionate about donating blood, simply because I know the benefits it provides and know that it’s a very small imposition on me to donate something which I have plenty to give. I recently received a medal for passing 50 donations (of whole blood – Apheresis donors can donate many more times per year) and recently made donation #57.
I believe that anyone who can donate blood, should donate blood.
However, I do understand there are many reasons why people don’t: some are medical, some are pathological. Consider the rise of cancers in the world today – more than a third of donated blood is used to help cancer patients. Do you know of anyone who has or has beaten cancer? I have heard many stories where people donate blood to help out a family member undergoing surgery, however your blood can also be used to help other people along the way. I like to look at people as I walk down the street and wonder if I’ve helped them in some small way. You can read the stories of many people who rely on blood donations, such as Georgio, Jai, Marnie or Sophia (in their own way these people have their own Inner Story)
My Special Blood.
However, I have something special in my blood that I’d like to tell you about. I make regular donations 4 times a year like most others, but my blood is not used for transfusions. I am a member of the Red Panel cell donors, and in order to understand what this means, I refer you to an explanation from the Manager of the Red Cell Reference Laboratory:
The Panel is a project that has been in operation for over 20 years and continues with the support of special donors like Andrew. We currently provide three types of panels – Abtectcell II, Abtectcell III and the Phenocell A panel. Andrew is a part of the Phenocell A panel. The project involves the collection of donations which are sent to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne, where they are bottled and packaged. The product is then sent to hospital laboratories all over Australia and used to identify irregular red cell antibodies found in pregnant women and in patients requiring transfusion. By identifying such antibodies, we are able to give a patient blood which is compatible for transfusion.
Donors are selected to join this program based on their extended red cell phenotype. The blood groups of all of the donors in this program need to complement each other, and together they must cover all the blood groups that can cause transfusion problems.
Andrew’s Rhesus phenotype is found in just 2% of the population. When combined with his antigen negative status of some of the other blood groups, this makes him an especially valuable member of our program.
Why am I telling you this? In some small way it makes me feel special to know my blood is used in a way to ensure other units of blood are compatible before donation. You could say with the special bits in it (in no way am I going to use the language from the above text as I am not an expert and don’t claim to be) my blood is an enabler – in a way, similar to my view on life – to be an enabler to help others achieve their goals.
Perhaps you have something special in your blood and don’t yet know it? Let me know if you have any questions about donating blood by leaving comments below! (Please Note: I am passionate about donating blood but am not affiliated with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service)
. It’s a tricky road to find as it’s not easily labelled, but once I zigged and zagged the correct way, I was on it! 🙂 The road is awesome – flat, mostly straight with a few nice, open wide sweepers. This road is well deserved to be on the Top 100 rides list. (This was actually the 4th Top 100 ride I was on in this trip alone!)
