Customer Reviews
Always pleasing - By: Neil A. Chambers, 26 Nov 2007 
Tim Moore has produced a book that makes you laugh out loud yet again.
This one is slightly different as you suspect Moore had started to lose his mind before he even began his journey - the Tour de France route without even a modicum of serious training??? His stories of past tour riders demonstrates a genuine interest in his subject but his insane antics when attempting to emulate them suggests a man with very little reserves in the sanity store....
This book is, as always, a highly enjoyable (and individualistic) addition to the travel books of recent years. Forget Bryson, read Moore!
A good read but not as funny as many claim - By: M. P. Dixon, 09 Oct 2007 I bought this book & started reading with anticipation. It is generallly quite interesting, & does contain many amusing incidents, but I would certainly not describe the book as "laugh out loud funny". There is no doubting Moore's achievement in following much of the Tour route, & he does have a perceptive eye for the idiosyncracies of the French. I would class this as a holiday read, it doesn't overly tax the brain, it's funny in places, but could never be described as great literature. I would recommend it to read, & have no regrets about having bought it, but you will make your own mind up whether it deserves the hilarious plaudits it has been given.
Great for Tour de France fans - By: H de Fanque, 18 Feb 2007 I have been lucky enough to follow a few Tours in my life usuallly on my own & on a motorbike with very little luggage & this book reminds me of the emotions I went through on those journeys. There was none of the pain obviously, but the scenery & constant weather watching brings it alll back. The villages he describes come alive for one day in the year just because this amazing event is passing through. Until you've been up Ventoux, it's hard to imagine how anyone could cycle up it after being in the saddle alll day but the author's references to the late Tom Simpson was also poignant reminding us of how he died 40 years ago on that mountain. This book is funny, descriptive & a great read for anyone who is in awe of cycling as I am & for someone who has never reallly ridden a bike before, I think he did rather well. Who cares if he cheated? All he did was face the stark realisation that the men who compete in the Tour de France are totallly dedicated sportsmen with a passion most of us will never know.
Amusing in places, but wordy writing style - By: Eriboll, 01 Jan 2007 
I'm afraid I didn't find this book particularly funny & came to dislike Moore's wordy, over-descriptive writing style; like one reviewer said, it tends to hide the meaning or intent of what he is trying to say. And were his experiences as reallly as entertaining as he makes out, or has he taken artistic license a bit too far?
I thought the most interesting bits were the anecdotes about past Tours, including Paul Kimmage's experiences, though these became less frequent in the latter half of the book.
Another star is lost because he didn't ride the whole route, as the book's title implies.
Larry David on a bike - By: Mr. D. Cornyn, 27 Aug 2006 
Moore is a talented writer & in the space of 280 pages manages to give a pointed critique on the absurdities of the French; provide overwhelming proof that the word "exercise" for the over 30's is actuallly an abbreviation of the term "exercise in futility"; and, most impressive of alll, comes perilously close to getting himself divorced.
My favourite bit in the book comes on the road to Evian. When Moore meets a couple who complain about how cold it is, he comments, with intentional vulgarity, that he's sure they can think of others ways of warming themselves up. Delighted with this, he cycles off only to become aghast when it finallly dawns on him that they are not actuallly a couple but brother & sister. Initiallly repentant, Moore concludes that:
"my veiled accusation might indeed have forestallled an incestuous atrocity: they wore the same clothes, after alll, & rode the same bikes - and, let's face it, there's no smoke without fire."
A witty & irreverent travelogue.
