On yer bike son! (French Revolutions - Tim Moore)

Member Name: gillyman

Product:	French Revolutions - Tim Moore
Date:	07/08/03 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, Combination of genres

Disadvantages: -

Like many men (okay boys) I have always had dreams. The dream involving Britney, Kylie and lots of whipped cream does not yet have a suitable category on Dooyoo despite my repeated requests so I will give it a miss. The other dream however, is of sporting greatness. Whilst I've (almost) given up on Sven Goran Ericsson calling me up for England's problematic left midfield spot, I still dream of completing my hat trick for Liverpool at Wembley, becoming the first British man since Fred Perry to triumph on centre court and triumphantly hitting the winning six to reclaim The Ashes at Lords.

Now obviously the chance that one of these dreams will come true is not particularly great. But here's the thing - we can all play football, or cricket, or rugby and we can all imagine ourselves in the shadow of the greats. I don't wear a number 7 Liverpool shirt by accident - its the shirt once worn by Keegan, Dalglish, Beardsley and McManaman. When I score the Kop roars its approval!!

And so too, Tim Moore arrives at his latest challenge. The Tour De France is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. This year commemorated its 100th anniversary with another thrilling victory for the American Lance Armstrong and having read this book, I found myself tuning in to watch the competitors legs piston up and down as they attacked the course, cheered on by huge crowds of crazy Frenchmen (tautology?!) Moore decides in a fit of madness that he is up for the challenge of cycling the course - of feeling some of the glory that goes along with this most extreme physical pursuits. So it is that as the summer draws close he finds himself preparing in typical fashion - going out and buying a bike (the trusty ZR) and accompanying equipment, half heartedly doing a bit of training and desperately trying to find the details of the course from the nasty organisers.

Now riding a bike is pretty much a childhood rite of passage. For me, it went alongside l
earning to swim. Today it may well have been phased out in favour of Playstation 2 games and mugging grannies but in my day everyone had a bike. Assuming that you are similar therefore, you can immediately see the problems inherent in Moore's challenge. Firstly the Tour de France is over 3600 km long. Secondly, every time I switched on the TV this summer, they were going up some ridiculous mountain and thirdly, its really difficult not to look poncey in skin tight lycra shorts and T shirt. I'm not even sure how relevant the second and third things are - 3000km is a really long way - I'd think twice before driving that distance!

Moore has made his reputation (as I have mentioned before) as "the new Bill Bryson" and the back cover manages to mention BB a couple of times in passing. His other books are of the humourous travelogue variety and I think that this was intended to fit into that same category. The fact that I don't feel that it does is largely based on the fact that any time Moore turned up in a new place it was either on his daily cycle route, in which case he generally just cycled through it or maybe stopped off for lunch, or alternatively it was his nightly stop off in which case he generally collapsed into bed. This book is fairly light on the details of French regional geography.

So where does this fit in then? It contains a fascinating amount of really interesting trivia about the Tour de France, some amusing, some tragic but I found myself enjoying this year's Tour a lot as a result of it. It's certainly not intended to be a history of the race however. It's also the chronicle of a man's determination to complete the task that he set himself. More or less. You see, Moore does what any self respecting knackered cyclist does - he cheats. Only a little bit mind you so its all in the spirit of the thing but corners are definitely cut. The task that he completes however is no less Herculean.


Bringing it all together however, is Moore's inimitable writing style. Incredibly clever word play, a gag in each paragraph, he tells the tale of this travels with such humour that it is impossible not to find yourself being drawn into the book and really enjoying it. WHSmith stick it with their travel guides whilst the Sunday Times call it "One of the funniest books about sport ever written" - it is an excellent mixture of the three genres and will keep everyone happy.

This is a fascinating account of one man's battle against the conditions of the road, tired legs and French bureaucracy. The growing feeling of achievement that Moore feels will be familiar to anyone who has ever set themselves a seemingly impossible task only to come triumph against the odds. A book which shows that we can live our dreams, albeit at a slower pace than the sporting stars of this world. And most importantly, this is a book that will put a big smile on your face and have you asking why you haven't heard of Tim Moore before (because you don't read my reviews - that's why!)

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