The blurb on this book hooked me from the start: “Paul is more than your average cyclist. About five stones more.” It goes on to say it “follows Paul’s novice attempt at cycle touring”. So far, it sounds great.
The start
The book starts with Parsons describing cyclists who carry almost nothing on the bike, doing “credit card touring”, and he says “I want to be that kind of cyclist”.
He continues to describe other cycle tourers, who do in-depth planning, and carry everything they need for a self-supported cycle tour. Parsons says he also wants to be that kind of cyclist.
Up to this stage, Parsons left me with a clear vision of him being a completely inexperienced, novice cycle tourer. He explains there are many different types of cyclists, including the cycle snobs. He goes on to say he’s the kind pf cyclist who “cheerily acknowledges any other cyclist”. You like him already, don’t you?
The revelation
Remember he claimed to be a total novice cycle tourer? Then he tells you how he completed the C2C route, over a few days. That’s not the background of a complete novice tourer.
Parsons goes on to say how hills he previously struggled with he would now breeze up. That’s great, and I genuinely cheer his progress on, but the picture emerging is of a confident roadie, with a fair amount of cycle touring behind him. That’s quite at odds with the picture the blurb, and the book’s first few pages tried to paint.
It got worse: in stark contrast to a cyclist who “cheerily acknowledges any other cyclists”, and who tries to portray themselves as not elitist at all, Parsons nevertheless criticises other cyclists using helmet-mounted mirrors. In fact, he calls that “unforgiveable”. That seems quite elitist to me, and left a sour taste in my mouth.
The verdict
Parsons is a good writer, there’s no doubt about that. However, he also only writes in the present tense, which I don’t particularly enjoy. After all, if you’re telling me a tale of something that happened, then tell it like it happened. Don’t tell it like it is happening right now.
The author had a great adventure – there’s no doubt about that. He does a good job of describing the adventure, the people, the landscape and the adventure overall. And yet, I didn’t really enjoy this book all that much.
I’m quite sure many others will enjoy it. As I said, it is well-written, and of course, it was a great adventure. Perhaps just tone down the roadie view of the world, and dial the gatekeeping back several notches?
You can get your copy here.