Tim Moore's Cold-Weather Cycling Adventure

david canford: The author cycles the five thousand mile route that follows the old Iron Curtain and makes his expedition even more challenging by using a bike made in East Germany during the Communist era which is not well suited to the task as well as beginning his journey through Finland in the middle of winter. It is an enjoyable mix of a travel book and history lesson. The author’s humour is however very British ( and sometimes a little forced) so some of it may be unintelligible to North American readers as will reference to various British personalities. What emerges from the account is that little of the route sounds appealing to visit and the people who inhabit it do not come across as friendly with the occasional exceptions such as those in Serbia and Turkey, so while it is an entertaining and interesting read I’m not adding the places he visited to my bucket list.

United Kingdom on Aug 30, 2023

BRITS: However i learnt few new words 🌝

United Kingdom on Apr 15, 2023

Callum: Bought as a present for my father in-law and he absolutely loved reading it. Must read for cyclists

United Kingdom on Aug 26, 2022

Civilguy: This one kept me busy looking up all the obscure literary references and British colloquialisms. However, there was a great deal of it that was engaging. I highlighted passages copiously at first because I do like a clever turn of phrase.

However I will say that, by the end, poor Tim was running out of gas on his journey, and I'm afraid that the narrative did too.

I think I recall Nicholas Monsarrat noting to the general effect that someone suggested he had grated the cheese a bit fine in his second book. I'm afraid that's how I felt about the final chapters here.

United States on Aug 14, 2021

MrF: Enjoyed thoroughly. Funny, informative, looked forward to picking it up every time I had the chance. Very much appreciated the views and history on countries we don’t read about all that much in the US, such as Finland and Czechia and Estonia—although the parts in Germany were wonderful as well, especially the trip to the MIFA factory! I liked that Mr. Moore did not take himself too seriously, and was always quick to acknowledge an erroneous assumption or heretofore biased viewpoint (or even just how silly he must have looked to various onlookers). I confess I started with a little trepidation, worried that anyone undertaking such a fatuous stunt as biking 4,000+ miles on a tiny, two-gear folding cycle would be too self-absorbed to be an interesting travel companion - but nothing could be farther from the truth, I found him to be delightful. Can’t wait to read more by Mr Moore.

United States on Jan 10, 2021

Peter Harrold: The book is as much about what he learns about the former communist countries as it is about biking. If, like me, you have read most of his books, this does not have the laugh-out-loud qualities of French Revolutions, or the amazing cycling feats of Geronimo, but it strikes a wonderful balance between travelogue, history and a biking yarn, albeit the most ridiculous he has yet taken. I know a fair bit about these countries from working in a number of them, but learned a huge amount, not least because of his reluctance to stay in the well-known parts, but instead to seek out the unvisited and uncelebrated. I confess to enjoying the last 2/3 of the book much more than the first third, so don't stop if you start this and don't get grabbed at first. As I put this book down having finished it, as if by magic Amazon informed me of his new book about Trump's America, so I am really looking forward to that now!

United States on Sep 25, 2019

HD NY: I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the cultures of the counties he travels through and about the Cold War in general. I thought that his book Gironimo! was an easier read and funnier, which is why I only gave this 4/5 stars. If you’ve never read any of Moore’s books, I suggest starting with Gironimo!, and then reading this if you like his style. I wish that the book described a bit more about how he managed the packing for such a long, arduous journey. What exactly was in the panniers, did he ever wish he had brought something that he didn’t pack, was there anything he brought that he felt was unnecessary, etc.

United States on Feb 11, 2019

Heinz: I was absolutely stunned by the almost mad courage of Tim. Where the hell did/does he get the stamina from?
The lad did more than those gutsy guys who ride the Tour de France and they are super heroes. I read his odyssey almost without putting the book down. Why aren't people like him running their country instead of those wet shirts, gutless weasels who do? It'd be a much better world.
Thankyou Tim, cheeeers, heinz

United States on Apr 21, 2018

M. Harper: This is classic Tim Moore. He intersperses tales of his cycling and mechanical ineptness with well researched histories and observations about the places he is travelling through.

Obviously he can't be anywhere near as unprepared and mechanically clueless as he makes out and his writing can be a bit flowery at times but his musings and characterisations of different nationalities and countries are very acute showing why, to me, he is by far the best of the travel writers who do these silly adventures and write about them.

This trip takes him from the north of Finland and along the route of the former "iron curtain" to Bulgaria. To someone of my age who grew up in the cold war with the threat of nuclear annihilation ever present its very interesting to read about life in the Soviet bloc. He did a similar journey in 1990 shortly after the fall of the iron curtain and he occasionally intersperses excerpts from his wife's diary of the time to compare how much things have changed, or not, since then.

There was some weird formatting in my Kindle edition which obviously doesn't handle Eastern European letters very well but this didn't affect my enjoyment of the book.

United Kingdom on May 21, 2017

Ind Nicholas: Tim Moore is an entertaining writer - and the first half of the book is excellent. In particular the stories of his adventures in the freezing cold of Finland make your laugh out loud - as do his travails in Russia. But, as he progresses South on his quest, the book loses its zest. We move from the extremes of weather in Finland to a rather mundane narrative about tired legs, reckless drivers, potholed roads, dull hotels, bad-tempered dogs and rotten food. The second half becomes negative and repetitive. You sense that Tom Moore is racing towards the finish line and he can't finish the book quick enough. As I read Moore's book, I recalled Patrick Leigh Fermor's books on his walk across Europe in the early 1930s - what makes those books particularly engaging are the quirky and engaging people he meets along the way. It seems to me that this is what Moore's book lacks.

United Kingdom on Jan 06, 2017