[Cycling] June's final ride.

Another month of cycling done, and I have not gone nearly as far as I should have done. Only covered 60 miles in total, that's my previous weekly total during May! Next month, with no business trips or holidays planned, I should get some more serious mileage under my belt.

Anyway, so today's ride was the first dry road bike ride since 3rd June and the first time on the road bike since I got soaked in the middle of June; so I thought I might be a bit rusty. It seems not. Wasn't sure which route to take, but I decided on a nice jaunt round the local back-roads and a blast down the A128 home. All good, managed to keep some decent pace, only really slowed on 1 hill when I hit a wall. Not, not a physical wall... my legs started to remind me that they hadn't cycled this far in a while!  Maximum speed of 34mph, total of 15miles, 52 mins and 594' of elevation gain.  Good times.

So, yeah decent ride. Apart from almost being knocked off my some old dear in a Rover Metro. I was turning off the A128 (turning left) to head back home and she was turning across to go down the same road, but coming from the opposite direction. She either didn't look or thought I was going much slower than I was (I was doing about 20) and pulled right into the spot I was in. She missed my front wheel by 7 inches or so. No doubt that had I been heading straight and not turning, she would have hit me, and the combined speeds of 25 and 25 would have seen me damaged in a major way. As it was, she missed me so I shouted a loud warning but she couldn't hear me. I dropped a gear, paced it after her and when she had parked up, calmly (I know, I couldn't believe it either) explained that she almost knocked me off. She apologised profusely and explained she hadn't seen me, but that she always looks for cyclists. To be honest, I'm not sure she could see that well and could hardly get out of the car. Bah... but I didn't let it spoil my ride. Just wish my helmet camera had been charged and I had taken it with me so I could show you footage!

June's Cycling Totals:

• Total Duration = 4h 26m 53s
• Total Distance = 59.88 mi
• kCal burned = 4239
• Average Speed = 13.43 mi/h
• Average Pace = 4m 45s/mi
• Elevation Gain = 3133 ft
• Elevation Loss = 2979 ft
• Avtivities = 6 (3 Road, 3 Dad's MTB)

[Music] The Faces documentary.

Just seen this after it was posted on twitter. A short 8 minute documentary on The Faces, looks to be from 69/70 judging from the way each member is introduced. Interesting stuff, nice footage of them playing/jamming too.

[Books] Frederick Forsyth - The Avenger.

I've been a reader of Frederick Forsyth books since I stole borrowed a copy of "The Dogs Of War" from my Dad last summer.  I always assumed this style of crime/spy/thriller novel wouldn't be my cup of tea at all, but his novels have a flow, feeling and style that really work for me.  I find them very readable.  After devouring "The Dogs Of War" [which, by the way is excellent and ranks up there amongst the best books I've read. Classic] I quickly read "The Day Of The Jackal", another cracker of a read and usually rated as his best book.  The atmosphere he presented was awesome.  The last book I read of his was "Icon" in October last year, one of his more modern novels [1996] which also provided some good reading too and from a work meeting in Leeds.

Anyway, so I got a triple-pack of his books for Christmas but I've been rather slow at reading them - so I grabbed "The Avenger" when packing my stuff for Mallorca in the hope that I would get some downtime to read.  In the end, it turned out the DVD player in the villa was broken, so gave us plenty of time to read in the evening once the boys had gone to bed.

"The Avenger" is typical Forsyth, in so much as it contains his trademark system of interweaving stories, reaches back to history, mixing fact and fiction and a hero who is ex or current military or secret service.  In "Avenger", the eponymous protagonist is ex-US Military and the story managed to link various world conflicts including World War 2, Vietnam, The Balkans Wars, the Soviet Afghan invasion and the current 'War on Terror'; using characters from each to paint different points of view and have them all combine in the finale. I wont write any spoilers here as I don't like reviews that do that, so I also don't recommend reading the information on this book on Wikipedia as it does spoil some of the plot twists somewhat.  

The basic premise of the book, without spoiling it, is that a young American is killed whilst employed as an aide working in the Balkans.  Through a series of linked stories, the boy's Grandfather manages to call in some help from old friends and recruits the title character to help "render" the killer to American soil where he can be tried for his crime.  What hinders this is the facts the killer is already known to both the FBI and the CIA and is currently missing from all intelligence databases.

Despite good opening few chapters, the books does slow down a bit in the middle section, and FF does get himself too muddied in his endless lists of real life facts used to back up his fantasy at some points, which tends to dull the reading a tad.  The start and finish are good though; the character introductions are nicely paced and you don't get lost trying to remember which group of people you are reading about. The finale of the book works well and the speed picks up at the right time.  It's annoying that a couple of new characters are thrown into the mix in the final few chapters, meaning that you don't have a character background on them, very odd bearing in mind there would have been no reason for one of the other characters to take the place of them without altering the story at all.  I had guess the final plot twist about three quarters into the novel, but that doesn't spoil the ending at all.

The book leaves you with a poser of sorts, leaving you asking yourself the great dichotomy about whether it is allowable to let the actions of a few go unpunished, no matter how abhorrent those actions, if the perceived benefit is the betterment of society and the hopeful saved lives of thousands.