Nature Hits.

.I’ve not been snowboarding for 27 years but a snowboarder got me thinking. The last time I had the pleasure of sliding down a mountain was 1995, and a student loan was well spent, in fact the previous year's trip to Chamonix was well spent too, and the one before that. It was during the rise of snowboarding and this new breed of mountain user certainly had an impact on the purity of skiing. I think it was the baggy clothes, the plaid shirts, big beanies, MX goggles, the music, and that need to be in the air most of the time, that probably got the skiers back up as they gracefully carved down the piste, whilst the off piste skiers and snowboarders were loving life in the backcountry. When surfing took over, and bikes came back into my life, snowboarding was sadly cast aside for the search of waves and the radness of dirt, yet I’ve never lost track of snowboarding, and have always been stoked on the freeriding aspect of the sport, but unfortunately couldn’t then, and still can’t today, afford to do everything, you can’t get student loans when you’ve left college.
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Recently I heard legendary snowboarder and activist Jeremy Jones coin the phrase ‘Nature Hit’, referring to the need to just get out in Nature whenever, and however we can. It’s important we define what that means to us individually because some go on massive multi-year adventures, explore the jungles or rivers of the world,  the mountain ranges, the oceans, some put their lives on the line pursuing their dreams, whilst others are content to simply step outside the door, walk the dog, mow the lawn, or build a sand castle with their kids on a local beach.  I implore you to watch Beau Miles on Youtube, an Outdoor Adventure Lecturer in Australia. He’s canoed thousands of miles, ran mountain ranges, and traveled the world in search of adventure, but now finds his most precious time on his farmstead in Victoria, running locally and creating these smaller projects. Beau Miles is a fascinating chap and I’ll put one of his videos below called ‘Run the Line’. 

As Covid took a grip on the world in 2020, globally, Nature Hits have been based within a local parameter, and as restrictions had an impact on us all many had to learn how to enjoy their local radius. Yet it was not Covid that taught me to enjoy my local area, it was probably my Dad, or my friends growing up, the sports I chose to follow. I believe we all know how to enjoy our local areas, but encouraging people to go and find a green space or a river, a lake to swim, a cycle track or inner city garden; that's the problem sometimes I can have so much fun two feet from my back door  where we built a skate ramp  in our small garden for us all to enjoy.

Occasionally we’ll go further afield and into the local woodland like my previous post, and set up camp for the day, or a gravity-fuelled bike ride at a bike park in North Cornwall or Wales, but mostly I ride on my local hill, the first and last hill in Britan. Endurance type rides can see me ride 50 miles but not be further that 10 miles from home, but with huge amounts of climbing so it feels like you’ve ridden further. Whether a ride, a cold water swim, or a surf, these activities all meet my essential need to get outside and get that ‘Nature Hit’ and it’s important we all do.

But why do we need them? In my post ‘Thumbsticks and Moors’ I mention walking with a smile on my face and I’m sure many who read this do too. Whilst previously working for a charity with Military Veterans we had a saying ‘Smiles on Faces’. Two hours of Surfing therapy gave troubled minds an escape and enough ocean energy to just forget the mental troubles for a while. The ‘Spiritual Rinse’ as I once heard it called, results in a  smile, and this is the least we can expect if we expect nothing else back from the outdoors.  Is it an addiction that needs feeding? Is the daily dog walk just for the dog, or just as important for your well being too? I’d say the latter is just as beneficial. Is a bouldering session about technique and progression or do climbers also think about having contact with that rock surface, that source of nature? The surf I had last weekend, the one wave where I just relaxed and brushed the wave with my hand as I  rode along in simple trim, and it might sound cheesy and all ‘Point Break,’ but touching the source and that energy that has traveled thousands of miles to the shorelines of our coasts, well I finished that wave with a massive smile and full of stoke. The bike ride where you just look over the hedges, or sit on top of your favorite hill, find an old thatched cottage or have a coffee next to the waters edge, and just take time to breathe; these can be some of the best Hits you'll get.

However we find it, whatever we do to achieve it, how far we travel to gain it, a Nature Hit is vital to our own well-being. Have a think about yours. Take a moment when you’re next out and reflect on your version of a Nature Hit, and if it makes you smile then it’s working. 

Photo 1: @warbey
Photo 2: @izzy_henshall