middle-aged men and bicycles

I'm not sure what it is about middle-aged men and bicycles, but there seems to be a lot of us around. I'm the first to admit, people my age shouldn't really be seen in public dressed in lycra, but it's kind of necessary when riding any distance to avoid... ahem... chafing. So, I apologise about the photo.

I've had a Trek mountain bike for ages which I'd occasionally take along the trails near my house in the Blue Mountains, dodging potholes, branches and copperhead snakes. But after riding around Piedmont earlier this year and being utterly amazed at the number of Italian men taking to the hills on expensive sleek road bikes, I decided to take the plunge and buy a hybrid/road bike. It's only an entry-level Specialized, but already I've done 1,700 kilometres and it's certainly easier riding than the Trek.

This week I spent two days riding the Central West Slopes with the highlights being a delicious lunch at Taste in Canowindra; a $30 (!!) hotel room in Eugowra, and sharing brekkie at the same hotel in the morning with a rather wobbly mouse - like me, he'd probably eaten too much chicken schnitzel the night before.

If I don't fall off too often, I eventually plan to cycle the Canal du Midi - we drove along the route in June and it looks perfect for bicycling with villages every thirty kilometres or so, most with accommodation and patisseries ...

the future of the book publishing industry?

I've been thinking about the perilous state of the book publishing industry. Authors have never really been the best-paid professionals and with the advent of e-books and people wanting (expecting) entertainment items for free (or very cheap), the squeeze is definitely on.

Is it possible that one day in the near future, authors will be releasing their books/writings on-line for free or subscription, and hoping to make an income through appearance fees? This is how the music industry has gone with bands making money from touring rather than records.

The only difference is that what bands do live is usually "entertaining" - can authors of dense, wordy tomes compete live? Is there a future opportunity for the so-called paupers of the paupers (the poets!) to rise up and become the new leaders of the "live words" industry?

I'm not so sure.

However, for the past twenty years, I've made an extremely comfortable living by doing just that - my books usually go into reprint and my live "shows" in schools (two hundred a year on average) are booked a year in advance. So, it can work. But only for those authors who want to tailor their performances to an audience. And only for those authors who have a "performance". Methinks, the future will see lots of authors signing up for "how to speak to an audience" workshops... or selling themselves into schools at an ever-increasing rate.

Any comments?

In Defence of Food

My favourite non-fiction writer would have to be Michael Pollan. I've read and re-read his two influential books on food, The Omnivore's Dilemna and In Defence of Food. After the first reading of In Defence of Food, I decided to follow his loose guidelines on how we should choose what we eat. It's not a diet, just some simple food selection rules, like;

- eat mostly plants, especially leaves

- you are what what you eat eats too (meaning grass-fed cows, not grain fattened feed-lot meat systems)

- Avoid food products that make health claims (packaged food makes health claims, an apple just sits on the shelf, unadorned)

- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle

- get out of the supermarket whenever possible!!

- Avoid foods products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup

and my favourite, and the one that I think you should follow if you can't remember the above,

- Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

Which means plain yoghurt is in, flavoured yoghurt is out. Butter is in, margarine out. Wholemeal grain bread in, soft white (additive rich!!) bread definitely out.

After six months of following these rules, I'd lost five kilos and cut my cholesterol count significantly. Not that these things mattered as much as the fact that I really enjoyed eating and seeking out fresh natural food and, in the process, not buying as many items from giant multinational food producers and retailers.

And after two years of eating like this (and not regaining the lost weight, etc), I decided to take the next step and start growing a few leaves in the backyard. As a gardener, I'm a really good poet. But, after a few months, we've started eating regularly from our garden - lettuce (lots of varieties!), basil, spinach, cavolo nero.

And now the tomatoes are in beside the garlic, pumpkin and cabbage, although the capsicum and beans got badly treated by the recent snow (yes, in November!!). I can't believe how easy it is and how cheap, and ridiculously satisfying to go outside a few minutes before dinner and harvest the greens.

And, no, I'm not considering adding a cow for future slaughter, or chickens for sunday roast. I ain't a farmer, just a Michael Pollan devotee.

Read his books if you can - they suggest a realistic future for humankind and our relationship to food.