patriot games

Patriot Games (Jack Ryan #1) by Tom Clancy

It is fall. Years before the defection of a Soviet submarine will send him hurtling into confrontation with the Soviets, historian, ex-Marine and CIA analyst Jack Ryan is vacationing in London with his wife and young daughter, when a terrorist attack takes place before his eyes. Instinctively, he dives forward to break it up, and is shot. It is not until he wakes up in the hospital that he learns whose lives he has saved — the Prince and Princess of Wales and their new young son — and which enemies he has made — the Ulster Liberation Army, an ultra-left-wing splinter of the IRA.

By his impulsive act, he has gained both the gratitude of a nation and then enmity of hits most dangerous men — men who do not sit on their hate. And in the weeks and months to come, it is Jack Ryan, and his family, who will become the targets of that hate.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the second Jack Ryan novel published by Tom Clancy but it’s the first chronologically and prior to “The Hunt for Red October” which was published first. This was confusing at first as Ryan is still a teacher and only starts working with the CIA during the story.

This is quite a long book. It’s split into three connected storylines that chronicle Jack Ryan’s interaction with a fictitious extremist Irish terrorist organisation that is trying to destroy and supplant the IRA who they feel is too moderate. It initially starts in London when Ryan prevents an attack on the Royal Family. It then moves to the USA when Ryan and his family return home and the main terrorist antagonist looks for revenge.

Overall it was a very enjoyable book. There is still quite a lot of military and intelligence terminology but nothing like Red October and much more readable. He also manages not to fall into the “Oirish” trap with the Irish characters. It’s written and set in the mid 80s so the technology and politics are definitely of its time.

Like Red October this book was also made into a very successful film starring Harrison Ford.

Header image by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels

any way the wind blows

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The weather really has played havoc with my cycling this month. I’m limited to my two days off each week, unless I cycle in the evenings after work, and most days it’s been horrible weather. Today was only my third spin this month and one of those I’m counting as June!

The forecast for today was to be better than it has been but still nothing close to what July should be like. 16°C with a blustery 23km/h Westerly wind would have to do as at least it was to be dry with a possibility of intermittent sunny spells.

The wind made the day “interesting“. In the wind the going was tough and cool, verging on cold, out of the wind or with the wind behind it was easy and pretty warm. Manage the latter in sunshine and it did feel like Summer.

uphill into the headwind coming out of convoy

My route was thrown together late last night based on a desired distance of 60km and combined parts of two more usual routes. Down the main road to Strabane, back road to Clady before taking back roads over the hill to Raphoe and home via Kilross and Ballybofey. Coming into Clady I almost convinced myself to take an easier route, staying in the valley, but managed to overrule that and stuck with the plan. Leaving Clady up a 14% climb I was cursing my decision!

Stopping for a break in Raphoe I was thinking that I should have planned the route in reverse to avoid the headwind on the uphill sections but in the end they weren’t too bad and I really enjoyed finishing with a tailwind rather than a headwind.

Unfortunately that looks to have been my last road spin for a while. My local Halfords store finally reopened on Friday so I took my bike for a much needed service. In 3 days they’re already up to a two week waiting time! I’m hoping that’s a pessimistic waiting time as it was a lot less than predicted last time. I did however manage to finally order the broken derailleur hanger for my MTB and that should be here by the end of the week so at least I should have something to ride next weekend🤞

Finally, there’s no way I can get away with using Queen lyrics in my title and not link to the video! Enjoy 😊

gone forever

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Gone Forever (Get Jack Reacher #1, Jack Widow #1) by Scott Blade

From Goodreads:

Jack Widow is an elite NCIS Agent. He’s the guy sent to hotspots all over the world, undercover as a Navy SEAL to investigate high-level crimes, until he is pulled off assignment after someone has shot his sheriff mother, way back home in Mississippi.

In order to solve the murder of a mother, that he hasn’t seen in years, Jack Widow is forced to return home from an undercover assignment. Taken-to-be a worthless drifter, Widow discovers a distraught husband, a missing wife, and the small town of Black Rock, Mississippi, where the people harbor a horrifying secret that they will die to protect.

Good thing Jack Widow will kill to find out what.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This is a difficult book to rate as there are two different versions of the same story.

The first version is based around Cameron Reacher. He is 17 years old and the unknown son of Jack Reacher who is a character created by Lee Childs. His mother dies of cancer at the beginning of the story but on her deathbed she tells him the truth about his father. Cameron leaves his hometown to try and find himself and his father. Along the way he stumbles across and disrupts an organised crime gang that kidnaps and sells young women into sex slavery.

The second version is a rewrite published approximately 1 year later and sees Cameron replaced by Jack Widow who is in his mid 30s and an experienced NCIS undercover agent. He is estranged from his Mother who told him the truth about his father when he was 17. She has been shot while investigating the disappearance of a young woman and Jack returns to his hometown in time to say goodbye to his mother and take up the investigation to find her killer.

I’m a big fan of the Jack Reacher storyline and this fits well with it. This author writes in a similar style to Lee Childs which makes the story feel familiar. I accidentally downloaded the first version initially and read it to completion before realising that there was a second. This first version is full of issues, not least being the improbable experience of Cameron Reacher at only 17. The more mature version of Jack Widow suits the story so much better. I’d struggle to give the original version much more than 2 stars.

Once I realised there was a rewrite I then read it to see the differences. The first third dealing with Jack’s back story, his mother’s death and connection to the investigation are much better and I’d definitely recommend this version. This is the version I’ve based this review on. I can see why the author went with a new name but I do wish he had stuck with Cameron Reacher, it connected better to the original Jack Reacher.

Header image by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels

blogiversary

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One year ago yesterday I created this blog and made my first post. In the year since I’ve written a total of 114 posts consisting of 41,430 words.

As that first post states I started this blog for myself. I use it as a place to empty my brain and I like the feeling of writing about what I’m doing and experiencing. However, some people also seem to like what I have to say!

I have a total of 60 followers who get updated when I post, I’ve had 834 visitors, 412 post likes and 63 comments from readers. It amazes me that anyone can be interested in what I’m writing but I have to admit it also feels pretty good.

I’ve followed a small number of blogs for a few years now. Secondrate Cyclist, The Viscous Cycle and Tempo Cyclist are the three I’ve followed for the longest but over the last year I’ve also discovered a few others that I find consistently interesting. A Dude Abikes, Biking to Work, Kieran’s Bullshit Humour, View from the Back and Today’s Perfect Moment would be my favourites.

Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to visit, read, like and comment on my posts but thank you also to all the authors of the many blogs I’ve discovered and enjoyed.

Header image by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

ship of magic

june 31st

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All through lockdown the weather was great with lots of settled and sunny days. While it was very welcome and enjoyable it wasn’t possible to enjoy it properly as a cyclist with the travel restrictions that were in place.

Since going back to work on the 8th of June the weather has taken a significant turn for the worse. It has become cooler but also a lot windier and with spells of rain including a couple of unseasonable storms.

The weather, less spare time and tiredness from work has led to reduced cycling opportunities and therefore reduced mileage from May to June.

I had a plan to complete the June Metric Challenge on Sunday but a weekend of heavy rain, thunderstorms and localised flooding put paid to that. Yesterday was my first day off since meaning this year June has 31 days, I’m calling 2020 a Lockdown Leap Year!

My chosen route was an extension of my last longish ride and a route I haven’t ridden since October 2017 taking me across the border to Castlederg and home via Newtownstewart and Strabane. Total distance was to be 107km.

Everything was going well until the 60K mark, between Castlederg and Newtownstewart. I started feeling queasy and my energy levels were starting to drop. The first half of the spin was fast with a 29.9km/h average at 50K. I was starting to think I’d gone out too hard and was having my first “bonk“. I managed to crawl my way to Newtownstewart where I’d decided to have a break, eat a sandwich and have a can of Coke.

Unfortunately my sandwich choice wasn’t as plain as I’d expected with lots of mayonnaise and onions that wasn’t exactly what my queasy stomach needed. Initially when I left Newtownstewart I felt a little better and with 75K done I was confident of getting home in decent shape. However, with a bit of a headwind and a rolling hilly road my batteries were soon depleted again and I was in limp mode all the way to Strabane and 90K.

I pulled into a shop, got a cup of tea to try and settle my stomach, worked out that 10K would take me to Castlefinn and made arrangements for Catriona to come and pick me up there. With that decision made and a bit of relief from the breeze I pushed on with my head down and simply ground out the final 10K to get across the 100K line.

I’m still not feeling 100% today, a kind of hungover type feeling. I have a feeling that I’ve picked up a mild bug, probably at work, and hopefully will be back to normal again soon with a few days of rest and TLC.

symbiotic training

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I’m getting to the stage where cycling and running at the same time is really starting to improve both.

I first noticed this last week when I ran my first 5K on Tuesday. That day and the next my legs, especially my quads were really stiff and achy. I went for an easy ride on Wednesday to spin out the stiffness and was able to get out running again on Thursday with a lot more comfort than I expected.

wednesday’s ride. click the image to view on strava

Since then I’ve had four runs, including another 5K on Sunday, but haven’t had another chance to get on the bike until this afternoon. Despite feeling tired and needing to really push myself out the door and into the heat I had a great spin averaging 29.2km/h over 40km and 292m of climbing. I’ve noticed my speed gradually increasing over the last few weeks but I don’t think I’ve ever averaged that fast on my own!

Having written myself off as a runner for many years I’m really pleased that I can now run consistently but even more pleased that it’s making me a better cyclist.

Header image by Pixabay from Pexels

now i’m a runner!

6 Replies

Back in October I started the None2Run program. This is a program for complete beginners, very similar to Couch25K (C25K) but slowed down and extended from 9 to 12 weeks. C25K has a distance aim of 5km at the end whereas N2R is based solely on time. It goes from Week 1 running intervals of 30sec and walking 2min to running 25min in Week 12.

I pushed the program too hard, adding extra time to intervals and running some of them back to back quite early on. This led to pulling a muscle in my left calf that knocked me off running for 2-3 weeks. The injury happened in the middle of December so I wasn’t recovered until Xmas and then laziness set in. Cycling took over a bit in January and it wasn’t until lockdown at the beginning of April that I decided to try again.

I restarted the program on Week 3 as I had been doing quite a bit of walking and figured I had a decent amount of strength in my legs. Apart from a 2 week gap at the beginning of May I’ve been consistently moving through the weeks.

Last week was my first time to run non-stop for 20 min in Week 10. This was a big deal for me as I’ve always said I’m not a runner. Today was the first of my Week 11 runs and I ran a full 5km without walking! Not only that but I ran sub 30min at 29:38. I never thought I’d achieve either of those targets and pleased would be a massive understatement!

The mantra on the N2R Facebook group is that if you are running, even for only 30sec, then you are a runner. Last week was a big step but it’s today that I really feel like a runner 🏃

Header image by Zain Ali from Pexels

getting back to normal

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On Friday last week the government announced that we were moving forward into Phase 2 of the “Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business” on Monday as expected. What wasn’t expected was that the roadmap would be adjusted from 5 to 4 phases and with some accelerated restriction relaxation giving us the snappily named “Phase 2 Plus“.

What was expected was that retail stores were finally allowed to re-open meaning I was fully back to work on Monday morning.

It was very weird going back to work. Everyone was quite anxious about what it would be like, how busy it would be, how we would all cope with the new requirements and changes and how safe everyone would be. This was compounded by the physical changes in the store as a lot of the store had been refitted and painted during lockdown and lots of the displays had been rearranged. It was great to see everyone again and catch up with them but it was amazing how much I’d forgotten about products and the computer system. To me it felt like we had all started a new job on the same day.

In general we’ve been very busy. Nothing unmanageable and so far we haven’t needed to close the doors or enforce a queue outside. It’s been fairly steady and most people know pretty much what they want before coming in. Wednesday was one of the biggest sales days for many years and Saturday was the same. The other days have been like a series of very busy Saturdays and even busier than a peak period like January Sale. I had my own biggest ever personal sales day yesterday so I’ve bounced back pretty quickly and haven’t lost it completely during lockdown.

The downside of all this work business is that it is now interfering with my fitness training 😆 The level of business is tiring as is just being back to work, my step count is way up and I could really feel it at the end of each day in terms of lack of energy as well as tired and sore feet and legs. Work also means less free time and mix that with bad weather on my day off on Wednesday and today is the first time I’ve been able to get out on my bike for over a week.

It has been much easier to keep running and I’ve now finished WK10 of None2Run meaning this week I’ve been running a full non-stop 20min after my warmup walk which I’m really pleased with. I went out twice this week at 6am and the plan is to do that 3 times each week. I much prefer the mornings rather than trying to muster the energy and motivation in the evenings after work.

The surprise change in the government’s announcement was that instead of relaxing the 5km limit to 20km we are now permitted unrestricted movement within our own county and 20km into another county if we live close to a county border. This meant that today’s spin was a much more normal route taking in towns and roads that I haven’t ridden for a very long time – September 2019!

After a break of 10 days and working all week I had pretty low expectations for today but managed to surprise myself. All the extra steps and running must have had a positive impact as I had an average speed of 27.6km/h over 72km with 505m of climbing. Pretty sure it was my fastest time over that route and I really enjoyed it despite getting soaked twice in very heavy thundery showers. It was a pleasure to ride a regular route without repetition and to be able to stop for a tea break 3/4 of the way around.

The incoming week is forecast to be dry again so the plan is to keep up the running and get two, possibly three, spins on the bike.

niall harran

walk | hike | cycle | blog

patriot games

any way the wind blows

gone forever

blogiversary

ship of magic

june 31st

symbiotic training

now i’m a runner!

getting back to normal

friendship