The World and Champions!

It's my 500th Blip.
 
What a journey it's been too. It's opened my eyes up to a whole new world through the lens and helped me understand the world better!
 
Being a busy day, I had a choice of images to choose from but had to go with this one of multiple World Champion and Hour Record Holder Graeme  Obree. He and Chris Boardman were competing head-to-head when I was relatively new to the bike, a world away from where cycling is now.
 
Mr Obree and I are from a similar world with our beginnings not being too different. We're both from wee Scottish towns, have a feeling being a bit unworthy and we found salvation in bicycles. We have quite a few friends in common too. The big differences are that he was born with an amazing engine and an incredible ability to push beyond the limit in competition. I was born with a much smaller engine and a lessor ability to self-flagellate.
 
Obree was at the 220 Triathlon Show at Sandown Park as the after-dinner speaker and he did a job that only he could do. Slightly off-the-wall, occasionally random but entertaining all the same. I've rarely heard a bad word said about the chap, and if there's anyone to demonstrate that life's not fair, then it's Obree. He was bullied at school, suffered mental illness, had the powers that be in the cycling world change the rules retrospectively to his disadvantage, failed in an attempt to take his own life and relatively recently came out as gay. 
 
I managed a 5 minute chat with him. We talked a bit about the cathartic nature of the bike, Sandy Gilchrist a mutual friend and just normal Scottish bikie stuff. What got me though was that the light in his eyes wasn't burning. Rather there were two black holes of inner-despair, revealing that mental illness was still with him. Our chat was interrupted by two well intentioned guys who were a bit star struck. I wanted to tell them to piss off and leave him alone, coming over all protective.
 
I'm fascinated by people and their behaviour. I'm sure I've mentioned it before that I wanted to focus on psychology in my sport science degree. However, I accidentally fell into physiology and that set me off in a quite different direction. That could be a good thing.... I hate injustice and feel others pain too deeply for my own good. I felt Graeme 's pain.
 
There were a few tears earlier in the day too. When passing through London, I had some time to spare. so headed to Soho and the Photographer's Gallery. There was an exhibition on 'Human Rights, Human Wrongs' which explored racism and the effects of colonialism on the world. There were great bits, such as seeing original prints of Martin Luther King and Che Guevara. There were also disturbing pictures of death, subjugation  murder and other disturbing human acts.
 
I disagreed with the racial interpretation of the subtext from the curator. Rather, I think humanity gives itself far too much credit for where it sits on the evolutionary chain. We're incredible at problem solving and resourceful creatures too. However, many hierarchical structures in society are not too dissimilar to those observed by primatologists. As part of the survival instinct, difference is seen as a threat, especially for alpha-male types who's stature is at risk. The intellectually endowed amongst us find people like Vladimir Putin, quite ridiculous. Even if such people in power are overthrown by better intentioned ones, power can only be retained by appearing strong and neutralising those who seek to take over, typically through any means necessary.
 
My guess is that even people like Robert Mugabe started with good intentions and continue to rule because they can play the game. Society at large will play along as long as they benefit or are not directly affected. Those who seek to fight the power or challenge the status quo often struggle to find allies or are crushed when they become a threat. Observe the behaviour of a chimpanzee troop and it won't be that different to what we see at Westminster and beyond.
 
A few tears appeared at the exhibition when I saw the images of Nobel Peace Prize winners among those of death and destruction. It's amazing how these awards are often given to men who ultimately have responsibility for terrorist killing, drone attacks, nuclear weapons and so on.
 
On a much happier note, I met up with my mate Claire at the 220 Triathlon Show. I hadn't seen her for ages so we had plenty to catch up on. Strangely, our gossip was more interesting than the shiny triathlon kit. Then it was time for my seminar.....with a bit of panic due to IT issues. Although the audience wasn't huge, it was fun. I can be a stress head, but taking to a stage and attempting to engage with an audience is something I love to do. Afterwards, we headed back to the B&B to get changed and then back to the racecourse for the dinner.
 

It was a fun evening with minimal alcohol consumed. I met a few familiar faces and had mainly a jolly night! A day quite fitting for my 500th Blip!