David Moore

Monday, June 30, 2003

Hello from Lansing, Iowa, on a sunny day beside the river.

Seem to have found my riding legs – notching up higher speeds now (and the kind wind helps). More picturesque scenery out here – steep-sided wooded bluffs on either side of the river, and a few more towns and villages.

Temps should be in the 90s over the next few days, but no thunderstorms until the end of the week. Nearly 600 miles done, and into my fourth state.

Returning to Dublin for an enforced break next week (have to go back to work for a week or so), then picking up where I hope to leave off – in Burlington, IA.

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Arrived here on my giant bike trip down the Mississippi- 380 miles in the first week, and a well-earned rest day today.

Quick synopsis: Fargo, ND: heard someone talking about the film Fargo. Was recommended I eat at the hospital cafeteria by the hotel reception dude, as all the other restaurants were worse.

Mosquitoes: lots of them, to go with Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes.

Source of the Mississippi: stood in the stream with a stupid grin on my face.

Storms: was camping in Little Falls, MN, when a huge thunderstorm parked itself above my tent. Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightning. 6 inches of rain in 6 hours. Town’s movie theatre roof collapsed, roads flooded. My tent miraculously dry inside. Tornadoes last night, but I was tucked up in a hotel.

Food: bland bland bland. Quantity not quality. ‘Could I have some taste with that please?’

Cars: didn’t see a European car for a week, until I reached the big city.

People: Very friendly, but big like Vikings.

That’s if from me – until the next public library with Internet access.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

The guy cutting my hair yesterday said an unlikely thing:

“You know there’s something strange in the world when the most successful rapper is white, the most successful golfer is black, the French think Americans are arrogant, and the Germans don’t want to go to war.”

Pat I know, but maybe there’s something to it.

Thursday, May 22, 2003

I know, I know, I’ve not been blogging. My bad, as they say over here. I’m back in Santa Fe, with many things sorted out, and more questions raised.

The trip is set – the Mississippi. From top to bottom, Lake Itasca, Minnesota to New Orleans. 2000 hot miles on a bike. With an enforced break to go to Dublin to deliver some training. I’m looking forward to doing it, and most of the things are set – have a daily route sorted out, almost all the kit I need, all that. And I’ve got the bike, and it’s a lovely thing. Still waiting on my kick-ass custom wheels from Joe Young though.

I’m underprepared as far as background reading goes, but I’m not leaving until Jun 17th, so I can try and work on that. As well as doing some day job work for the Dublin dudes.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Another day, another possible journey. Right now I don’t know if I’m coming or going with the big trip over the summer. West Coast plan lacks a hook, so I’ve come up with another route that I like, but which won’t get publicised here until I hear what the publishers have to say about it.

On which point, I’m in what’s known as ‘contract negotiations’ in the sporting world. I’ve agreed to sign for the first book, but now we’re discussing personal terms, and it won’t be of either the football (50K a week and all the bad suits I can wear) or pop star (fifteen cases of Stella, white fluffy towels and 100 Big Macs backstage after every gig) variety.

Given the modest nature of the advance and the small size of the market in Ireland, wrangles over royalty percentages don’t really amount to much, but I find myself bizarrely inspired by the BBC show, ‘Wrong Car, Right Car’. Punter gets sent into car dealer with a hidden earpiece attached to our own friendly dealer. At crucial points in the negotiations, our punter is told what to say: ‘Go on, tell him 15.5 is as high as you’ll go, and you want tax, mud flaps and a full tank of petrol with that.’ Today they were in Porsche dealers trying to shave points off a 100,000 quid deal, and getting a lighter and handbag thrown in ‘for the wife’. And you know what? They got it, too. There’s a lot to be said for moral victories.

Saturday, April 05, 2003

Back in Dublin, sitting on the sofa watching Football Focus; it’s Grand National day, the Boat Race tomorrow, Arsenal going for the double Double, Brazillian Grand Prix, too.

Sport grounds you, tells you where you are: the chat in the pub, the stories on the newspaper back pages. Having been away for three months, it’s great to get my fill of it all, and in the process it recalls all the previous Grand National weekends I can remember.

Hard working week, as soon as I got back, so it’s great to reach the weekend intact. A bit of work on the book, and a lot of doing nothing. Come on you gooners!

Thursday, March 27, 2003

That’s that. Ordered the bike, from the ever-helpful Airborne guys. A Carpe Diem with Ultegra up front, XT at the back, an Co-motion Americano chunky funky front fork, and a Chris King headset, for the indestrutability. Got some Mavic Open Pro hoops with Dura-Ace hubs as the wheels, and will use those for unloaded spinning. Will probably order some chunkier loaded touring wheels when I’m back here in May.

About which: after nearly three months here in Santa Fe, I’m back home to Dublin on Sunday. So much has happened since I arrived: I’ve got engaged, got a book contract, got to know the town, got to go snowboarding, cross-country ski-ing, ice-skating. Went to LA, Carlsbad, Cloudcroft and other unlikely NM spots. It’s been great, and seems like I’m going back to Dublin much changed, and greatly for the better.

Current plans on my return: rent-paying work, publisher’s meeting, book editing, wedding planning, Temple Bar Italia eating, trip planning and good TV watching.

Just hope the flights are empty-ish on the way home, with people staying at home and watching the war.

Monday, March 17, 2003

So now I’m not so sure about this Canada thing. I realised that while I was interested in the topic, I wasn’t that excited about it. And it doesn’t have the obvious hook of the first book. Without huge enthusiasm and a simple elevator pitch (in terms of route or history), I’m not convinced.

Plan B is forming in my mind: down the west coast of north America. From Vancouver to Tijuana, or some such. The angle would be ‘travels in your future’. The folks there are ahead of the rest of us in many things (good and bad), from environmental awareness to plastic surgery, from leisure pursuits to cultural imperialistic movies. Questions to ask would include:

– why does this place think it’s the future?

– what does that feel like on the ground?

– why do people move there, and do they get what they expected?

– if everyone’s so bent on self-improvement (physical, economic or spiritual), are they really any happier or better than the rest of us?

It’s a start, perhaps. I feel better about that ride, about the book of the ride (more Pico Iyer than Pete McCarthy), and about selling the idea.

Other news has seen me celebrating a birthday, being good at bowling, feeling ill and playing a part in the creation of a great engagement ring.

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

It’s pretty obvious, but sometimes you forget the obvious, so it stands repeating. Libraries over the years have been my offices – from the UL in Cambridge, the ugly overcrowding of the Lecky in Trinity, the elegant vaulting of the National Library in Kildare St and sundry other places from High Wycombe to Manhattan, Kansas – and I feel comfortable there.

So it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that when I walked into the Santa Fe public library this afternoon, it felt like I was coming home. Into the reading room, and out with the books. Great stuff. So now I have a place to work.

In other news, I’ve had an offer on my first book. Fantastic. So that means rewrites and fussing over contracts and the like, but it also means input from the publishers on how the next trip should work out. More news as and when.

Thursday, February 27, 2003

Cross country skiing kicked my ass – I can go up, but not come down (except in a very undignified fashion). But I’ll be back, and it’s another load of kit for me to lust after.

Work this week has been largely non-Canada related, as I keep my hand in with Posted by David in
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