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good vibrations by andrew sykes completely novel publishing. paperback (£8.99) and e-book (£2.99)

good vibrations

my only venture onto mainland europe on a bicycle was via hot chilee's london-paris ride in 2007 and again in 2008, the latter because i enjoyed it the first time and that the second year used a different route. for those who have not ridden this particular event, the formula splits all riders into four distinct groups, divisions which are based upon the sort of speed you figure can be attained over those 300 something kilometres between london and paris. the guys in group one expect to ride at around 32kph plus, while those at the tail end of proceedings ought to be able to mosey along at around 25kph.

unfortunately, there is no verifiable way of checking that either of those speeds are attainable by entrants until the first stage south to dover. while i can manage around 30 plus kph average from home all the way to debbie's and back again, that is pretty much flat from start to finish. france isn't. that is my very subtle way of pointing out that several riders were being constantly left behind. if you're in one of the first three groups, 'tis but a mere matter of dropping one level at lunch or at the end of the day. those who struggled to keep up in group four probably ought not to have been there in the first place.

on both occasions, i opted for the slowest group. less because i did not have the requisite speed, and more because i wanted to see something of the country in which i had paid to ride. there are no brownie points to be gained when asked what france is like, to reply "i've no idea, but it has assos written on the back."

good vibrations

londres-paris is, to quote the might dave t, 'cycling for softies. we stayed in nice hotels, our luggage was transported to those nice hotels on a daily basis, we had closed roads in france, motorcycle outriders for each group, the equivalent of a mavic car behind, and a lead car up ahead. as the slogan states "the professional ride for amateurs". this definitely makes me a softy, for i doubt i'm intrepid enough to load up a bicycle with panniers, camping equipment, a rudimentary arrangement of maps and a vague notion of the direction in which i should head. i generally admire those who do.

one of those deserving of admiration, is andrew sykes, a modern languages teacher at a secondary school in south oxfordshire.

according to andrew, there are three reasons to become a schoolteacher: christmas, easter and summer. the latter provides sufficient days' holiday to undertake more than a long weekend at a campsite in the dordogne, an opportunity that andrew sykes was only too keen to take advantage of. i do often wonder at cyclists who give their bicycles names, a very strange variation on anthropomorphism that i have thankfully refrained from indulging in. however, his purchase of a ridgeback touring bicycle did (sort of) lend itself to the abbreviation 'reggie'. reggie gains a lot of mentions in this narrative, for though a story concerning a bicycle tour would be severely limited if constrained to a discussion of the transport. it would also be a touch negative if the means of transport were ignored altogether.

though the book is available in paperback or e-book format, andrew sykes has a website all of his very own that allows him to publicise his writings. the general trend in this publicity and liberal spreading of quotes emphasises the humour incorporated in his narrative: a comical tale, a wonderful, witty account. you get the general idea. though you should probably not judge a book by its publicity handout, i had expected to close my laptop each night, hoarse from laughing, a situation that did not transpire. however, one of the other quotes inhabiting mr sykes' home page states "buy this book! you won't regret it.", and with that i would most heartily concur.

good vibrations

andrew sykes cycled for thirty days, interspersed with six rest days on his way from southern england all the way to brindisi in italy. for those whose grasp of continental geography is as rudimentary as my own, brindisi is sited midway down the heel of italy's boot. a certain level of planning went into this trip, including arrangements to meet up with old and new friends along the way, friends he hoped would assist in finding the almost mythical eurovelo cycle route, one that defied concrete definition, despite many weeks of prior research.

as you'd expect, the book concerns the sights, sounds, campsites and folks that sykes met up with along the way. the glorious days when everything went according to plan along with the intermittent periods when circumstances seemed intent on conspiring to halt forward travel, not least the lack of coherent signposting in certain sections of the trip. there's also the loneliness of the long-distance cyclist; would he end up hating his own company, would he spend days on end talking to himself, or would the isolation send him rushing to find the fastest route back to civilisation?

sykes has a glorious, yet understated wit, which is way more satisfying than any rip-roaring induced laughter at each paragraph end. the best writers and indeed, the best comedians are those with an acute sense of observation, married to an ability to translate this into eminently readable text. my review copy was in fact, the e-book version, one that opens in adobe's digital editions. it is the modern way, i am assured, but i cannot say that, for me, it's the ideal way to read a book. though numbers atop the screen indicate at what stage the reader is in the book, it's just not the same as leaving a physical bookmark in place. perhaps needless to say, i could not manage to get the electronic bookmark feature to work.

good vibrations

i have not had sight of the paper and ink version, but the e-book is totally bereft of illustrations, no doubt an economical way to publish a book, but not one that assists the enjoyment of reading it. though the website has links to facebook pages full of photos from the expedition, something that could perhaps have been viewed as i read, i'd have preferred some illustrations augmenting the text. perhaps next time.

that said, i cannot but congratulate the author on writing a throughly enjoyable read, one that encouraged continued perusal through its pleasant and easy to read narrative. there must be thousands of cyclists who take their bicycles to mainland europe every year, so the fact that a schoolteacher from oxfordshire did so a few years ago is a less than remarkable fact. i have seen a number of manuscripts that offer a similar invitation to travel, yet fail magnificently by way of convoluted plot, lack of a decent grasp of the english language and attendant punctuation, but most often through a complete lack of any clue how to tell a story in an interesting manner. this is a confident chronicle of what seems to have been a joyful trip and one that fulfils a similar purpose to all that tour de france tv coverage, illuminating aspects of the european countryside that more normally remain hidden to the average brit.

most enjoyable.

cycling europe

friday 13th july 2012

twmp

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