Yes, the book is about cycling. About an amateur who decides to ride the same track as the riders of Tour de France. Well, almost. He starts cheating almost as soon as he starts riding but nevertheless he manages to make 3000 km in a month! Chapeau! I wish I had the time to do this!
I found the book quite entertaining and enjoyable to read, especially as I know the places he writes about: Col d'Izoard, Col d'Aravis, Col du Lautaret, Col du Galibier. Yes, I know these places. And I know them pretty well:
A few years ago we even managed to follow two stages of the Tour: Les Deux Alps and Col du Galibier:
A crappy photograph but you can surely spot Lance Armstrong in yellow!
I'll finish with some interesting or funny random quotes from the book:
About France:
The surprise wasn't that there'd been a revolution, but that they'd waited until 1789 to have it.
[Talking about Loudun] A place where there was nothing to do and yet so much to be done.
Any place with "haut" in its name was to be avoided on gradient grounds.
One of the most unfortunate things about being an unfit Englishman cycling long distances in France is the number of signs that yell PAIN down every high street.
I had learned that Dax had paid the Societe du Tour de France one million francs to be a ville d'etape.
About heroes:
I learned about Wim van Est and his fall... They used spare tubes knotted together to rescue him! (source)
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I learned about Eugene Christophe and the famous Tourmalet incident when he had to weld his bicycle together (the riders were responsible for their own repairs!) and was penalised because a boy pumped the bellows for him!
I'm very curious about how today's riders would cope with the Tour rules from over fifty years ago. That would be fun!
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