Titled

Words etc for a better world.

[mike-elm]

New Story Run short film released!

New Story Run short film released!

https://vimeo.com/490190740/4bd0c6726b The New Story Run short-film by Guy Loftus of Studio Future is out!!! In September, Guy came out to Bulgaria on a combination of trains, buses and I belive a boat – because flights are really the worst. He filmed with Rosie for a few days on the spectacular Kom Emine Trail. Then he managed to track me down, much as I/my route planning tried to give him the…

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[mike-elm]

Scary Goals / Failing: A why to guide

Scary Goals / Failing: A why to guide

Scary goals. They’re like ordinary goals if they’d been conceived by 2020.  There’s something about doing things that you think are ‘Scary’ as it brings you out the other side thinking that maybe it wasn’t as scary as you thought? Or maybe it was, but you did it! And isn’t that bloody great?!  Disclaimer: If they’re too scary, maybe you won’t come out the other side. This brings us on to an…

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[mike-elm]

Think Global, Eat Local - Mrizi I Zanave, Albania

Think Global, Eat Local – Mrizi I Zanave, Albania

Fishte, Albania, July 2020, 3235km

Food. Know what I mean? 

They say you should talk about things that people can relate to, I’m guessing you’re probably one of those trend followers who eat food too so I hope you can relate to this. I’m just like you, an everyday salt of the sea, food eating kinda person. 

My inverse relationship between style and temperature

Sometimes it’s about how we…

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[mike-elm]

Getting the story out! - Upcoming talk & something to read

Getting the story out! – Upcoming talk & something to read

Hello and welcome not to a blog, but a bunch of self promotion opportunities to get a deeper dive into the New Story Ride.

Firstly, coming up THIS SATURDAY! I will be giving my first talk all about the New Story Ride! Through the talk I’m going to be sharing stories of adventure and of the inspiring people I’ve met along the way. There’s going to be a chance to ask questions at the end…

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[mike-elm]

Go adventure while you can - A kit list

Go adventure while you can – A kit list

Someone close to me dropped dead whilst out running yesterday. They were and forever will be 30 years and 11 days old. This was completely unexpected.

The rest of this was already written before I heard this news. I think it’s fitting tribute to them, a terrific adventure loving person. The type of person who made we want to do better at so many things. And also to be very silly and laugh a…

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[mike-elm]

How to save a... - Veton & Erol, DokuFest

How to save a… – Veton & Erol, DokuFest

Prizren, June 2020, 3038km

“What we wanted – and bear in mind this is 2002 just a few years after the war – was to find a way to revive the cinema” 

Veton Norkullari, DokuFest

Sometimes you don’t have to know what you’re doing, or how you’re going to do it. You just need to know why.  

I met Veton Norkullari from DokuFest in the last days of the three months of lockdown I’d spent in…

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[mike-elm]

Please hold - A COVID-19 induced return to the UK.

Please hold – A COVID-19 induced return to the UK.

So I don’t know if you know, but there’s this thing called COVID-19.

There are many things it has done, is doing and – more importantly for this post – will likely do.

The route ahead of Rosie and I through Georgia and Azerbaijan is closed for the foreseeable future. There are also alarming and alarminger bits of news about rising COVID-19 cases around Europe.

It appears we are between…

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[mike-elm]

This is what a forester looks like

Prizren, March/June 2020, 3038km

“My friends told me that’s for men not for girls.

I’m going to change the world.”

She looks and sounds determined. I’m inclined to believe her.

Before Fioralba started studying in the newly created Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences she wasn’t scientific and was afraid of nature.

Faruk, Vjollca, Erleta, Redona, Xhemile and Fioralba

I am…

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[mike-elm]

The re-beginning of the Ride

The re-beginning of the Ride

I’m sure we’re all getting to know, if not necessarily to deal with, uncertainty. Or to think of it another way, to understand that certainty only lasts so long. There’s enough temporary certainty in Albania and Macedonia which are both out of lockdowns that I’m going to tentatively start cycling again, meeting people again – as much as they are comfortable and – once I stop heading West and…

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[mike-elm]

Finding unity in Mostar - United World College

Finding unity in Mostar – United World College

2004km, Mostar, February 2020

Here follows a verbatim copy of one side of an SMS conversation. 

Thursday 

11:45 

“Leaving has taken a lot longer than expected J I’ll text you before I crss the border, cos maybe I’ll camp tonight.”  

15:15 

“I think I’ll make it tonight but maybe not until about 8pm if that’s not too late!” 

19:14 

“My chain broke! I’m making slow progress.…

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[mike-elm]

The Next Normal

Normal is dead. Long live Normal! 

The end of a world is also the beginning of a world. Right now, the world we inhabited but did not really know, has ended. The new beginning is coming, is already happening.  

I read a piece by mentor & inspiration Daisy Narayanan in which she describes how her 9 year old asked whether ‘going back to normal’ means they can still cycle on the roads? 

Forward…

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[mike-elm]

V-e-l-o L-o-v-e

H-e-ll-o My dearest v-e-l-o

V-e-l-o I’v-e l-o-ved And I’ve h-a-t-ed And I’ve a-l-o-n-eed And I’ve been f-r-e-ed.

My V-e-l-o. I’v-e l-o-ved Life partners, Or thought they were. You’ve taken me places You’ve taught me things.

V-e-l-o I L-o-v-e. I can hardly say what you M-e-a-n to m-e. With your chain that sets free You always spoke straight to me.

My v-e-l-o My l-o-v-e It was meant to Be I see cle-ar Th…

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[mike-elm]

"Biking while black"

“Biking while black”

It’s no secret, I love cycling.

I wish for everyone to have the same freedom to love it and/or just to use it as a practical means of getting around.

It is not within my expertise or experience to talk about the experiences of people of colour, so I won’t.

Here’s something really interesting to read by Professor Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at…

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[mike-elm]

Making cities lovable - Tjaša Ficko, Deputy Mayor, Ljubljana

Making cities lovable – Tjaša Ficko, Deputy Mayor, Ljubljana

866km, Ljubljana, December 2019 

When you go to a city, what do you love?  

The architecture? The history? The night scene? The food? The greenspaces? The people? 

Did you ever love a city or a town because it was full of cars? They are noisy, smelly, dangerous and take up an incredible amount of space. And let’s not forget about the climate crisis. 

So how do you make a city more…

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[mike-elm]

The Argonautas love

1636km, Murter, January 2020

Love or fear?

Is it love or fear that motivates the greatest acts? That causes humanity to move real and proverbial mountains? I thought on this when I realised I’d got to the top of the wrong hill. Now, it’s debatable whether there is such a thing as a wrong hill. But let’s focus on the discussion at hand. 

Lightly checking the map, and having a rough idea…

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[mike-elm]

Billie the bike / Ruby?! - Old Kit New Stories by Graham Watson

Billie the bike / Ruby?! – Old Kit New Stories by Graham Watson

To start the “Old Kit New Stories” mini series where else to start but with “Billie the bike Burgundy” also known as Ruby?!

Kit is a means to an end. We need much deeper systemic change than just ‘buying stuff that’s a little better’, so what if we could as far as possible avoid new things? I’ve tried to source as much old kit as possible for the Ride. I’ve been asking the generous people…

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[mike-elm]

Little big changes - From lockdown to the Next Normal

Little big changes – From lockdown to the Next Normal

“A better world for our children needs a better world for us right now”

Me, AP, Washington Post and 90+ news sites

Mayor wishes come true

Prizren and the rest of Kosovo is rapidly coming out of lockdown, even if that’s not really what the government had planned. Or what is best for dealing with COVID19. What can be learnt from lockdown?

To take the opportunity of Mytaher, Prizren’s jovial…

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