I hear that One Direction are doing quite well in the USA. Well, they are not the only ones to be getting rave reviews from our Americain cousins; Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie has just recieved its fourth positive review on Amazon.com (to complement the 71 reviews on Amazon.co.uk)…
“Few of us would have the combination of time, skill, fitness and gumption to take on a bike tour. Andrew walks us thru the process of what an average cyclist would experience. When I say “average”, I don’t mean some experienced racer, endurance rider, avid outdoorsman, boxcar hobo, etc… just your average bloke getting on a bike for 5 weeks straight (OK, that being said, he IS a French Teacher. Languages seem a bit easier to him than most ‘Mericans).
As I’ve been considering a “Grand Tour” of my own, to see how Andrew did it was a great insight; I can definitely learn from some of the issues he had!
His writing style is downright interesting, and it’s easy to stay engaged in the story. It could easily have become the equivalent to Google maps directions (say, if I wrote it). But my favorite aspect of the book was Andrew’s interaction with the people and culture he finds along the way, not to mention strangers turned friends via the internet and his Cycling Europe webpage. That is what traveling is all about, and Andrew captures the experience quite well. His language knowledge was definitely a plus (and made me carefully consider how I would have done in a similar situation).
There are some UKisms that might confuse us Americans (what is a carriageway, and what makes it dual? How is that different than a roadway?) I flipped to wikipedia more than once, but that’s not Andrew’s fault!
As for the other reviews, I only remember one typo, and it wasn’t a big deal. Looks like the ones mentioned have been fixed, the beauty of Kindle!
Overall, I think it’s a great book for anyone. If you don’t ride, you will want to after this (unless you are dead inside). If you do ride, you’ll want to go farther! And anyone this side of Willie Weir (Google him!) can learn something from this!
5*”
Matt Neubauer, Amazon.com
To save you the trouble, here is Willie Weir’s website.
