obliquepanic-ii

This had to be the book for me: written by someone with a love for bikes and literature – and the snippets I had read on the net were excellent: ‘It wasn’t a mid life crisis that got me on the road, but mid life money’ (well something close to that). This book has lovely aspects – that self-deprecating, almost characterless Canadian tone, some insights into the personal politics of major literary archives, some fascinating information about T E Lawrence (yes I mean him, not D H), some nice moments of humour. However, somewhere in the book Ted says he is looking for a way to link biking and literature but he can’t find it. And for me this is the book’s weakness – his sometimes laboured attempt to find suprising connections between these two worlds and sensibilities. And trying to wind these two together seemed to result in a book that did niether very well. This book is never quite travel writing. I also had the feeling that there wasn’t quite enough material for a book and that Ted had dived into some research to fill out various parts (mind you, knowing that 11 North Americans are killed every year in incidents involving vending machines is priceless). The North American editors must have been nervous about the readership: surely even a biker who has never left Edmonton (the one in Canada – only marginally nicer than the one in North London) doesn’t need it explaining that ragu is an Italian pasta sauce or that when Albert Camus wrote ‘je voudrais m’acheter une motorclette’ that he really meant ‘I want to buy a motorcycle’.

For me the nicest part is near the end when the author hobbles back after breaking his back in two places in a bike accident. We’re prepared for the ultimate anti-climax – that he decides never to get on a bike again – but instead in a couple of sentences we see him reunited with the beauty of his Ducati Monster – and of course he has to ride it home from the mechanics – and at over 100mph.

This review is on Amazon. The book is available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Riding-Rilke-Reflections-Motorcycles-Books/dp/0393330745

I’ve just read this on the BBC Technology News site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8458880.stm)

“Leading technology figures may have an image problem in the UK, according to a survey.

In a poll of 1000 British people, 20% had never heard of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and a further 10% thought he worked for a trade union. (They also say Steve who? One in 20 surveyed thought Steve Jobs was a footballer.)

Fifteen percent believed that web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee was either head of MI5 or an Arctic explorer.

Microsoft boss Bill Gates was the most well-known but 5% of the group thought he was a comedian or a famous thief. ”

I suppose they were kind of right.

Avatar seems to be publicised as much for its innovative 3D CGI as for its storyline. That seems about right. Although there are some pointers to ‘issues’ like ‘fighting terror with terror’, exploitation and ecology, its the punch ups, sonic reverberations and grizzly end of the baddie that provide the real enjoyment of this film. The 3D effects are impressive, especially of the holographic computer displays that are used. Characters are stock baddies and powerless goodies-with-consciences that eventually win out. The film does seem to echo previous movies including Chris Marker’s 1962 La Jettee where a test subject is sent into the past and future by scientists through being put to sleep in a laboratory, the Matrix and of course Star Wars.

Thanks to my dear friend (and technology guru) Geoff, I have discovered a source of Camel cigarettes (my favourites) which are not only much cheaper than those I usually buy but are entirely health-risk-free. Look!

Not a health warning in sight. These cigs don’t harm your baby, damage your sperm, give you throat cancer or lung cancer or have any association with heart disease or arterial problems. And they also cost about one pound a pack. (They are from Dubai where they are obviously enlightened.)

I’d like to know though, how risky those cigarettes I used to smoke really are – I mean were. Stats often talk about the ‘increased risk of being a smoker’ but they never say how they define a smoker. I think the WHO defines a smoker as anyone who has smoked 100 cigarettes (or was it 10?) But I wonder about the relative risk of smoking 8-10 a week as I do compared to 8 – 10 every day. Maybe health promotion bodies don’t want to get into this kind of detail as it might distract from the message that smoking is BAD.

Now its the moment for investing in some decent motorcycle boots and motocross/enduro boots seem to offer the best protection. Yesterday I bought some Alpinestars Tech 3 boots:

Shopping is a strange experience. In this case I had to endure the gratuitous comments of shopkeepers along the lines of ‘well, you don’t strike me as a supermoto rider. No, really. How long have you been riding then?’ My answers are usually bumbling and mumbling. Yesterday after a good ride upto Peterboro (apart from getting completely lost around the roundabouts there giving rise to some not too bad u-turns) I investigated the off road specialist shop above the Suzuki dealer Stamford Superbikes. At last a shop that actually stocked Aplinestars boots. But they only stocked the top of the range nearly £400 lumps of highly protective concrete – ‘they drop a ton weight on them to test them’ the young assistant told me – and the ‘entry level’ boot for £169 which is what I walked or rather hobbled out with as a kind of gentle introduction to wearing boots that don’t bend at the ankle. Unfortunately once on the bike in the carpark outside the shop I realised that I coudln’t do useful things like change gear in these boots so slipped back into my old carpetslippers I rode there in and strapped the huge Alpinestars to the back, resolvng to find an hour to spare to learn the new technique I’ll need to actually go anywhere in these boots – or adjust the machine or buy some snazzy and overpriced new part from Touratech specially made for riding in these ridiculous boots.

Its the nicely titled ‘Riding with Rilke’ by Ted Bishop. Here’s (what I think is) the opening paragraph:

It wasn’t a mid-life crisis: it was mid-life money. I had inherited some cash and was desperately afraid I would do something sensible with it, like put it on my mortgage or into mutual funds. So I bought a Ducati Monster. I had the fall term off and planned to go to the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, the improbable location of the best archive in the world of British modernist writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and T.E. Lawrence. Then I got a travel grant from the Ransom Center. They didn’t say how I had to travel. September would be perfect for a ride.

Good eh? As the reveiws say, a book about biking for people with an A level in English Literature.

This year I’ve visited four new European countries: Lithuania, Portugal, Czech Republic and Slovakia. There’s still something about those Eastern countries that draws me. See this map from world66


create your personalized map of europe
or write about it on the open travel guide

People don’t seem to talk about it much but it seems to me that the original Star Wars films from the 1980s were influential in style terms – in terms of computer games, vaguely Zen philosophy and, of course, motorcycle helmets. The lid I’m currently trying to get hold of seems to owe somethings to those nasty anonymous storm troopers.

nasty storm trooper

This could be very approximately the first half of next year’s biking journey from Santander via the Pyrenees and Geneva, and the Rhine to Hook of Holland:

this first leg is 937 miles: could be done in 4 days

The second bit is 640 miles: and could be done (by me) in 3 days:

… in my opinion, at the moment is Cafe Adriatic at 66 Mill Road. Its been there for nearly 5 years and serves mainly fish and seafood dishes inspired by the Croatian fishing town that the owner is from and Italian pasta and pizza dishes. Ther details are at www.cafeadriatic.co.uk