Pyro's Yard v2.0

"She says "it's cold where you brought me..." He says "Darlin', don't you worry You can stay in my arms until the springtime comes" " - Cowboy Junkies, Winter's Song So, winter has hit the north of England with a dull and slightly soggy thud. The entire populace of The North appears to have forgotten that this happens every year and is either grumbling and crashing their cars because in the intervening 10 months of sogginess they've forgotten how to drive in icy conditions, or they're wrapping up warm, driving carefully, and just generally getting on with it. NB: I'm currently stood in the kitchen in a fleece, sipping an industrial strength coffee. You can see which of these options I went for. Last weekend I was shooting down at the Land Rover G4 Challenge UK Selections, which I have to say was fantastic fun. Big thanks to Land Rover and Trimedia for getting me involved, to Jo and Vix in particular, and to the competitors for...

"...I got paid, and I feel alright. So let's go downtown, and I'll buy you a drink: I'll be broke by tomorrow but I'm flush for tonight" (Jeffrey Foucault - Drunk Lullaby) The times they've been a changing. I've started my new job, am loving it quite a lot. It's completely the opposite of what I've been doing for the past 3 years, and is good. I've got a new(ish) car - well, new to me anyway - thanks to PC. Mate, not sure if you've ever read this, but you're a wonderful person. And... well... That's about it really. I've been a few places, caught up with a few people, seen a few things. I'm not massively happy or insanely sad, just caught up in the humdrum head-down of winter, and in need of a swift kick in the jacksy to free things up. That is all Pyro

"Neither success or failure is ever final" However mysterious and cryptic I try to be, word gets around. Recently there's been a few posts on stalkbook and here about things changing, and they genuinely are now. Most of the posts have been purely in the 'optimist' range - I've been hoping that writing things down will make me more likely to actually DO something to influence the way my life's been going: I know I have a tendency to rest on my laurels and try and let change come to me, but a fire under my a*se is something that's been a long time coming. The story so far goes a bit like this: I've been applying for new jobs, both inside and outside of my current company, due to the increasing frustrations I have with the office. I won't go into detail, but I came to a realisation a while back that all the snide, snipey little cracks I made about people, management, location etc were borne out of a real frustration and loss of patience with the p...

"Seasons change, mad thngs re-arrange, but it all stays the same like the Love Doctor Strange" Summer to Autumn to Summer again, this season's been a wierd one. But, out of the strangeness comes a wee touch of joy, and the start of my favourite part of the year - Yes, Summer is good, but I'm an Autumn/Winter person. Crisp cold mornings, thanking Merino sheep, Thermoroubaix lycra and W.L Gore and co as I fire into work, trying not to slide on the rare icy patches along the way. Work's the first joy, bizarrely. Things are working out. I finally got the Business Expert job I've been chasing for the best part of a year. I've got other interviews coming up which I'm still going for, but at least the base situation (in terms of both money and circumstances) has improved. Other work is the second joy: I'm booked up pretty much solidly from now til mid-November. Now, maybe working 7 days a week isn't the best of things but the weekends are going to be ...

Hmmm. I've actually struggled to write this blog entry, maybe because I'm pretty much still wrestling with what went on in my own mind and body during the race. But hey, here we go... A good friend's had a few episodes recently where he's been questioning why we do what we do, and a lot of the stuff I've written in previous entries has been focussed around that: WHY I adventure race, WHY I hurt myself and WHY it makes me what I am. Still, even after the boost to my confidence in surviving Sleepless in the Saddle, I was very very apprehensive coming into Man of Porage last weekend. For those who don't know what Man of Porage is, it's a bit of a cult event in UK AR circles. It's a long bike/run event, ostensibly just for fun, and one for which you cannot buy an entry, you have to be invited. The tales around it's origin are vague and sometimes contradictory but essentially it is this: A bunch of people go for a long ride/run event, from somewhere to...

Sorry, been a while since I last posted anything coherent (although it's debatable whether ANYTHING I post is totally coherent...) so here's a little excuse post. Been a bit busy recently, working for myself, Npower, Detail Events, Extreme Care and even getting some races in. Sleepless in the Saddle was a long time ago, and the weekend after that I did the Man of Porage. A lot of strange things (mentally) happened during Porage and I'm still wrestling with what exactly went on, but there'll be a more comprehensive post when I work it all out. Since then there's been safety and rescue work, watching my Dad abseil off the Tyne Bridge, having some good natters (and some good Cajun food) with some really good friends, and a lot of general fun and games shenanigans. On the employment front, things may be looking up, but I won't say much because nothing's confirmed yet, and I'm DEFINITELY keeping myself busy at the weekends - I'm working for SOMEONE 15 out...

Just read the quote below, in a book about Adventure Racing. It's by a guy called Nathan Lake, from Team PureFit/Orca. It's another thing that sums up racing, attitude, life, and makes me happy. "I am an Adventure Racer. My skills are many, my needs are few: a long trail to run, a high cliff to climb, a fast river to ride, a good bike, and trusted teammates. My sport is inherently risky, but risk taking is part of who I am. I consistently strive to know, understand, and prepare for those risks so that my team will arrive safely at the finish line. I respect all athletes for their acheivements, and the work and dedication they have for their sport. Having the ability to win is satisfying. Having the opportunity to participate is life. Sometimes Adventure Racing is my life and somtimes it is just a hobby, but at my core I am, and will always be, an Adventure Racer"

Just got back from Sleepless in the Saddle, a 24hr MTB race. It was good, bad and ugly: Good; Team 'Cake or Death' - Suzie, Jimbo, Jon, Stu and myself, the craic, the huge tent (thanks Steve), the laughs, and the awesome singlespeed last lap/finish Bad; Breaking the rear mech of my bike halfway round my second lap and having to run the remaining 4 miles of the course Ugly: The mud!! Jeezus, clay a go-go. A few of the jazzy arty/cool pics I managed to get (when I wasn't riding/pushing/breaking my bike) will be up on the new Pyro's Yard Productions photoblog Cheers all Pyro

Hmmm. I've just spent a week at the Saab Salomon Mountain X Race in the Alps, working with a bunch of other photgraphers/writers, and had an absolute blast. It's been an eye opener, shall we say. I've realised that all the half-humorous, snide, cynical comments I make about my job back in the UK are borne out of an increasing frustration that my career seems to be going nowhere. Advancement in my 'normal life' is non-existent, and I've had no motivation to do anything about it. What I've been badly in need of is an aspiration, a desire, and a good hard kick in le derriere, all things that in the 'status quo ante' I was sadly lacking. Well, that's going to change. Watch this space. Pyro, feeling pheonix-like, Geneva Airport.

...all you keep's the getting there" I really can't figure why some people hate travelling, and why they'd do anything possible to get every journey over and done with in a heartbeat. I love travelling, have infinite patience when it comes to sitting on coaches, ferries, trains, buses etc. It's not an adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride I know, but there's just something about being on the move that makes me feel contented. Maybe I was born to be nomadic. All of this links nicely into Adventure Racing, I think - it's all about the journey, not just the destination. I've just come back from the Hebridean Challenge , pottering around as a marshal-cum-journalist, and I have to say it's one of the most amazing races in the British Isles. The atmosphere, the people and the terrain are just amazing, and the whole race reminds me how beautifully barren and wild some areas of the UK still are. You get to some checkpoints which are way, way off anything people in...

This is a modified/extended version of an email I sent to Graham "German" Kelly. I frequently question whether what I do, in terms of Adventure Racing, is worth it. I'm of average fitness, probably never ever going to make a podium place, the news, an international team, or any money out of it. I pay substantial quantities of money to put my body and mind through a hundred variations on the theme 'hell'. I neglect my girlfriend, I put my career in potential jeopardy, and I hurt myself. I torture my legs and lungs, question my own sanity, mistake my intentions for my abilities, curse any and every deity that might possibly exist, and then arrive - wheezing - at the end, to all-too-readily forget my pain, once I have spent the next week recovering from, and paying for, my physical excesses. Would I change any of the above for a nice, comfortable life of couch-based ignominy? Hell no. Craig from Fast & Light has as his email signature the quote "mediocrity...

"...Is there anybody alive out there?" Okay, I shouldn't start posts with Springsteen lyrics too often, but tonight I feel like making an exception. Life has it's ups and downs. Some days have more of each than others. Today I signed for a new house. An 'up' because it's exciting and new. A 'down' because it means I'm leaving the place I've lived for the past 18 months, and this is an awesome house too. Opportunity whispered again, and I'm deliberating the relative merits of her offer. It will be an amazing shot in the dark, but it could have an effect on my social life later in the year. But grabbing the bull by the horns is always fun... Pyro

Some things never change. History repeats itself. New becomes old becomes new becomes old again. I'm never sure whether any of the above is a good thing or a bad thing. People change, little by little, but some factors will always stay the same. It's a great little faculty of life, and it means that if there was something you liked about someone when you first met them, it will probably always be there, ready to make you smile at a moments notice. Unfortunately, the same goes for the things you don't like about someone. It's a bit like Feng Shui, only with people instead of furniture. Get it right, and a jolly time can be had by all. Get it wrong, and the Dragon of Unhappiness might well bite you in the proverbials. That said, when you've spent the time running up to an event worrying about who will be there, and what they'll do that will make you want to cheerfully slap them, it takes the wind out of your sails (in a thoroughly pleasant, positive manner) when ...

...has been falling mainly on the Raid Bimbache Extrem 2008. For those missing the point of this comment, one of Opportunity's little sojourns into my life has been the chance to come over to Segovia to report for Sleepmonsters on the Raid Bimbache. She was definitely smiling at me this time - a huge, wide beautiful ear-to-ear grin, much like I've had for a lot of the week. I've had a blast this week, taking pics, writing until the early hours of the morning and just enjoying the feeling or being a racer at a race, but not racing. And I've met some more great people: The Spanish press guys; the marshals; Fred from XPD Portugal; Anne-Marie, Angela and the Raid Nature 46 team; Sukhana (I think that's how you spell it) and the Wilsa Helly Hansen team. Just a great bunch of friendly, enthusiastic people. Emotionally it's been fairly intense - at various intervals I've wished I was racing, been glad I wasn't, been happy, sad, confused, elated, frustrated. Th...

They say 'Opportunity knocks'. I agree, kind of. Opportunity can be a good and a bad thing. Sometimes, Opportunity comes screaming down the garden path in a blazing '69 Chevy, hammers through the door and drags you away kicking and screaming to a semi-inevitable conclusion. More often than not, Opportunity pauses at the threshold, taps timidly on the frame, and carries on peacefully by if you don't see her immediately. Such is the way of the girl. I've been lucky with a number of Opportunity's short sojourns into my life recently, and I've been unlucky with others. Recently, I've been able to catch Opportunity as she stood on my porch, and she's smiled at me and some things have been very good as a consequence. The key, I think, is to look and listen for her footfalls, to pay attention when she whispers to you, and to speak with people who she holds as friends. They're the ones through whom Opportunity makes herself known, and if you're to ha...

Okay, first blog on this whole new 'training diary' thing. Myself and Elise ran the Mighty Deerstalker (10km supposedly, my measurements show closer to 14km) at the weekend. I won't go into a massive amounto of detail because I've already done a write-up for Sleepmonsters (which should appear HERE. This is just a quick post to say "been there, don it, got the Buff", and to note a kind of big thank you to my sis. Last year, I got dropped by Jon very early on, and I think it made it much harder for me to run solo. This year, E and I ran every step as a pair, something I wouldn't have banked on EVER happening 2 years ago. Hell, as we ran down the finish funnel, we were hand-in-hand! Wierd s**t happens, eh? Next up, Student Rodeo next weekend, then Brum for the Rat Race after that. 'til then Pyro

Plans for the summer then: 1) use this blog more as a training diary - see 'Glasgow tae the Sahara ( http://gckelly.blogspot.com ) for more details 2) Run more, bike more, boat more. 3) By using the principals of 2), lose some weight. Things aren't too bad. Myself, Kiwi Steve, Steve Hutton and a couple of others do a regular run on a monday. I bike to work some days (although I most definitely could do more!). I boat every week, both general river stuff and polo. But I KNOW that what hurts me most is running, hence why I'm working on it now. Today's plan involved a ratch through the Runner's World events calendar to find local races to me that I can a) get to and b) complete! I know my biggest problems is big, unrealistic aims, so the work-in-progress idea is to temper these and and be less optimistic about my abilities. That and a well-plotted race calendar should help. At the moment, the calendar loooks like this: March - Deerstalker, NSR, work at Birmingham Rat R...