Did any of you see that my new book was published earlier this week? What? No? After all that hard toil along Europe’s cycle paths and effort invested at my computer in putting the story of a trans-continental cycle ride down on paper and you didn’t even notice? My marketing skills must be letting me down… But hang on. You didn’t think I was referring to Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie did you? Sorry, perhaps I need to make myself clear. That particular tale of European cycling is out on the 11th May 2017. I’m referring to the original book, Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie which has just been released in Italian… Here are the two covers (by the talented Andy Mitchell), side by side:

In fairness, the effort this time was not really mine but that of the translator, Enrico Antonio Mion who has done sterling work in recent months bringing the original tale of pan-European cycling to a whole new audience. Let’s hope the Italians like what I wrote back in 2011 just as much as the English-speaking world has done. Currently the book is only available to download as an eBook and you can find all the links to do so on this page of CyclingEurope.org.

Italian isn’t one of my own languages or rather not one of my fluent languages (which are limited to just English and French). It is one of my ‘functional’ languages however and I have to say it is my favourite. If you are a fluent speaker or even a learner, for the sake of €4.99 / $5.49 (I hate to guess how many British pounds that is nowadays…), why not have a go. If you have Italian-speaking friends or family, pass on the news. Here’s the ‘blurb’. See how you get on:

“L’anno accademico doveva essere stato difficile perché Andrew Sykes, un insegnante di scuola media, con l’arrivo delle vacanze estive era felice di fare il meno possibile. Ma mentre era seduto sul divano di casa a guardare i ciclisti che percorrevano la Grande Muraglia cinese in occasione delle Olimpiadi di Pechino, si rese conto dell’errore che stava facendo e decise di rendere la sua vita un po’ più avventurosa. Due anni più tardi, accompagnato dal suo fedele compagno Reggie (la sua bici) e con un piano rudimentale, Andrew partì per un’avventura ciclistica transcontinentale che lo avrebbe condotto lungo il percorso della Via Francigena e dell’Eurovelo 5, da casa sua nel sud dell’Inghilterra fino a Brindisi. Ci sono stati alti e bassi, pioggia e sole, gioia e disperazione, e ci racconta tutto in questo diario di viaggio narrato con uno stile scherzoso e vivace.”