Hobbies other than cycling.!

[Danneaux]

welcome to the forum Dan - that's some serious enthusiasm you have there!

Thanks for the very kind welcome, Fred; much appreciated.  Everyone has been very kind and generous in their interactions with me, and I hope I have made some contributions to help others along the way.  Yes, I surely enjoy my Thorn, and am enthused about it (pics very soon; it is now done and just as I want it).  What a great forum;  Stutho does a fine job as administrator and members present their views with tolerance and helpfulness.  Long may it continue.

Cheers to you, guys!

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

yes Dan sorry if i didn't welcome you i wanted you to be well settled in before i start bending your ear on my sherpa ;Dbut i'll wait until you have ridden yours for a while loaded and unloaded.
ok listen i'll give you my thoughts on it . i went from hating it to loving it just could not make my mind up on this bike .i come from a racing background as in i trained for years with guys that raced  still do every now and then anyway basically all my bikes are lightweight, so getting on the sherpa was a major shock especially when climbing. but then i came to realize   hang on here man this is a different beast altogether i have got to relax and enjoy the ride slow down, and thats exactly what i done and now its a pure joy getting on the sherpa (except for hills).
but having said all that i still want to lighted the bike ,different wheels/maybe carbon forks lighter tubes and tires.  .well every bit helps so after you ha ve ridden your bike for a while please let me know your thoughts on it .
but besides all that FRed welcome.

[Danneaux]

i wanted you to be well settled in before i start bending your ear on my sherpa

Sure jags; looking forward to it.

Like you, I'm an old roadie, so my Sherpa looks more like a super-duty randonneur rather than having a "trekking-bike" orientation.  It has the widest tires I've ever owned, and it is proving quite a treat to go off-road on something wider than 32mm (or the 23mm I used back in the day on bad gravel fire trails when my philosophy was speed=floatation or I did the 'cross bike thing with a quick off-and-snatch remount through the worst of things).  So far, the Sherpa has been surprisingly fast on-road with its 2.0 Duremes at 50/55psi.  We'll see how it goes on the longer, faster day rides I have planned for him amidst the heavily-loaded tours.  Poor little fellow doesn't know what's ahead!

Best,

Dan.

[ianshearin]

I have always been lucky in having a variety of interests and sports that keep me passionate, recently as I have been getting older and thicker (round the waist)
some of those are becoming less acceptable as I find I cant compete as well, with this in mind I decided to get on a bike and try to incorporate fishing which I regard as a hobby and see if I could remain fit but passionate at the same time..

After having come back from Saudi where I was very lazy, i bought a Specialized road bike and some very cool mobile spining tackle and jumped on the bike to go to the lake district to fish.
The plan was to cycle up to a B&B the first day, get up the next day and fish around the lakes then cycle back on day 3.

I jumped on the bike having not cycled for 4/5 Years and rode for about 8 hours in really crappy weather, I arrived around 6pm at my destination, sunk into a hot bath with a cold beer (Words can not do justice to how that felt) and told myself how great I was at cycling such a way under such conditions, I was undoubtledy a superman...

The next day I awoke to a strange sensation, in my bed just below my waist were 2 lumps of concrete, I had no idea how they got there and could do nothing to move them, I managed a small squeek from my lips and waited until mid morning before the concrete turned to heavy lead, after a full morning of getting down to reception and packing the bike, I walked to the nearest rail station and took the train home..

Superman my ass....

Next time I will think first, ride later.

[jags]

ian brilliant post i know that feeling only to well

[Pavel]

As for me ... it is hard to really say because somehow I feel like I'm at the early stage of some major transitions.  I hope cycling continues to be a hobby for me.  I was re-bitten after more than a twenty year hiatus but now I'm interested in long slow rides rather than any kind of racing which I used to do in college.
I'd normally say photography is a hobby, but even that seems to be like stale bread in my mouth.  I know for sure I'm sick to death of digital in any form.  I hate most of what I see in the way I hate harlequin romances next to literature but I have recently built a darkroom and find that a nice blend of challenging and relaxing.

Gee.  Reading this post and thinking about it ... I must be in trouble!   I'm too old to chase girls ... in fact I'm too old to even have the energy to think about it.  I no longer read much (though I am half way through Umberto Echo's "Prague Cemetery" which is so far pretty darn absorbing.  I don't sit around in cafes any more.  Shopping has become boring.  I can't think well enough to play chess and I don't have enough money to travel!  Yep, if this Thorn thing does not turn out to be my new passion I do believe I will not be able to find a pulse in a few weeks.

Keep the hobby ideas comming please.  I need some ideas! 

[ianshearin]

After carefully considering your situation and using my long years of counselling experience Pavel I can only summarise,
You should kill yourself...

[Pavel]

I know what you're up to Ian .... you just want your Thorn further up in the que!  Hah! Wait your turn!

I guess you had a low repeat rate as a counselor!

[Danneaux]

Keep the hobby ideas comming please.  I need some ideas!

Pavel,

If I can offer a suggestion, it would be to rediscover the simple joy of Play. Play as a kid would, with no specific deadline or product or result in mind, but just reveling in the journey and sense of discovery. Do that, and there's a good chance you'll find your next passion.

Give this touring thing a try, and see how it goes. We all do this in our own way, and I'm guessing you'll find a method that reawakens the New in it for you -- and may even make your other hobbies like photography new again. You're getting the bike of a lifetime, now go back to the Stone Age with a camera and make it work. Buy a toy camera ( http://www.toycamera.com/ ; amazing photo galleries here http://www.flickr.com/groups/toycameracom/ ) and take it with you. Make a touring version of the pinhole camera. Challenge yourself with Play. It'll come fresh again. It is a strategy that has worked for me -- challenging myself to learn and grow, and see how others approach things so I can learn even more. When a hobby grows stale and it seems I might outgrow it, I go back to basics and see if I can do more with less (stuff, that is), and substitute my skills. Makes it new all over again, and it is even better when the results don't matter 'cos they don't have to; it's the process that matters, the play. Too often, life beats the play out of us and we have to take a little sabbatical from it and go back to learn how.

Try setting yourself a mission, and make it a little bit absurd. Challenge yourself to a photo a day even when you can't think of a shot to capture. Dedicate yourself to documenting your journey (getting a Thorn is just the beginning, you know, not an end in itself). If you're not a Writer (could've fooled me), pretend you are one, and keep a journal or start a novel. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the absurdity of life, and with it for all the beauty it holds. There's a lot of both out there, and they keep things fresh.

As for bikes...there really are no bad rides be they long or short, fast or slow. Think about the sheer wonder of the thing. If you saw it the first time in a circus, you'd applaud; it can't stand up on its own, carries a hundred times its own weight without complaint, doesn't eat a thing except the occasional drib and drab of oil and grease, yet it can take us around the block or around the world. Pretty amazing, that; Adventure in a Box. And.you're.getting.one.  Yours, to make of it what you will and use as you wish. The whole world lies before you, man, and we can't wait to see where it takes you. Full reports due, of course. With pictures! Maybe...just maybe...from a toy camera?  

Best,

Dan.

[ianshearin]

I love the idea of a toy camera Dan, thats really thinking outside the box 

One of the great revelations of the internet is that whatever we decide to do or no matter how absurd it seems to us or the people closest to us, your never alone....

So if you decide to take a picture each day with a Toy camera Pavel or just want to be shot out of a submarine torpedoe tube with a parachute on there will be someone to share the experience with (As long as you tell us of course)

[Fred A-M]

Thanks Dan & Jags for the Facebook likes 

Just to pre-empt any need for on-track moderation on the trouser thread, my Photography Facebook site can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/FredAdamsPhotography

Please click the like button if you like what you see and you'll get my latest posts as and when I make them.

Cheers

Fred

[triaesthete]

I did this sort of winter motorcycling (ich bin ein winterfahrer) thing a few times, mainly in the pre (before I knew about it) internet days:

Austria http://motorang.com/tauerntreffen2007/eng_sat1.htm  (this was actually a year we attended).

Norway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xtwQETIYPQ&feature=related

Germany http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1J_s5rWL5g&feature=related

Chilly for sure
Ian

[Danneaux]

I did this sort of winter motorcycling...

Oh! What a marvelous pursuit! Absolutely the sort of thing I enjoy, and it makes me want to go out and purchase a used (motor)bike and bundle up just so I can take part.

What terrific fun!

Thanks so much for sharing these links, Ian.

All the best,

Dan.

[expr]

Pavel,

If I can offer a suggestion, it would be to rediscover the simple joy of Play. Play as a kid would, with no specific deadline or product or result in mind, but just reveling in the journey and sense of discovery. Do that, and there's a good chance you'll find your next passion.

Best,

Dan.

Here here,

sound advice, and this does actually work... to often do we get caught up in the mundane tasks of day to day business that hopbbies just become a blur, sometimes you just have to act like a kid again to relive the moment or make it so much more interesting. I have found that simple things like climbing trees and running through fields with the dog can make such a difference to the way in which we look at things. well said dan.....