Saddlebags of Fun! (French Revolutions - Tim Moore)

Member Name: tim_russell

Product:	French Revolutions - Tim Moore
Date:	13/08/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, informative, well-researched

Disadvantages: None

Tim Moore is one of travel writing's best-kept secrets. His first book, "Frost On My Moustache" (see my op) remains the funniest book I have ever read, a combination of painstaking research and eloquent, self-deprecating humour, and the follow-up, "Continental Drifter", tickled my funny bone in much the same way.

So, as a regular cyclist and a Tour de France obsessive, I was ecstatic when I was informed that not only had the lazy, bungling Moore tried to cycle the route of the 2000 Tour, but he'd also written a book about his attempt. Marvellous.

Before reading the book, you need to know a few things about Moore. This is not a sports book written by a hard-training fitness fanatic, a "because it's there" challenge junkie. It is a travel book written by a lazy, incompetent, unambitious loafer, a man after my own heart, a man who knows he is unfit and too old to rectify the situation, and who is not worried by that fact. But although he is no athlete, Moore is a superb writer and manages to cram more laugh-out-loud moments in his books than any other writer I have ever read.

The premise, then is this: Moore, like many of us, became addicted to the heroic, insane sporting event that is the Tour De France when C4 began televising it back in the mid-80s. Unlike many of us, he decides to fight the onset of middle-age by proving that he too can ride over 3,000 miles by following the Tour route on his own bike.

He shares his plans for the expedition with us, his hilariously ill-informed attempts to purchase the correct equipment and keep the weight of his luggage down to a bare minimum, so that by the time he finally sets off we're practically riding with him, willing him on. Of course, this being Tim Moore he gets lost on the first stage, not having actually consulted the route map; he omits a large chunk of the first week because he can't be bothered heading North into Brittany, preferri
ng to head South; and it doesn't take him long to get involved in altercations with his old enemy, the French - the incident with the rancid anchovies a particularly hilarious example.

Moore uses his athletic exertions as an excuse to eat as much pizza and drink as much wine as possible, he takes a perverse joy in overtaking OAPs, and in one particularly shameless episode which I especially enjoyed, he invites a super-fit friend over from England to join him for two particularly tough stages, purely so he can ride in his slipstream and save energy. Eventually, the burden of cycling up hills with panniers gets too much and his long-suffering wife is forced to join him with a support vehicle.

Along the way, Moore gives us plenty of historical snippets about the Tour itself - stories of great riders such as Merckx, Simpson and Roche, scandalous episodes from the Tour's early, unruly history, and insights from some of the leading riders as to why they bother to get involved in such a tough sport. For fans of cycling it's gripping stuff, and even if you've heard the stories before Moore tells them with such enthusiasm it's good to hear them again.

The only criticism I would make is that Moore's self-deprecating humour does start to wear after a while - anyone who can cycle up Mont Ventoux, Galibier and Alpe D'Huez can't be that unfit, and by the end he is clearly very fit indeed. But that's just me being picky - in general, "French Revolutions" works as a humour book, a travel book, and a sports book, and you will find it impeccably well-researched, impossible to put down, and hilariously funny, whether you're a cycling enthusiast or not.

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