The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold

Apr 15, 2025 3:48 AM

Author:Tim Moore,Tim Moore

Random House presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold, written and read by Tim Moore.

'Bill Bryson on two wheels' Independent

Scaling a new peak of rash over-ambition, Tim Moore tackles the 9,000km route of the old Iron Curtain on a tiny-wheeled, two-geared East German shopping bike.

Asking for trouble and getting it, he sets off from the northernmost Norwegian-Russian border at the Arctic winter’s brutal height, bullying his plucky MIFA 900 through the endless and massively sub-zero desolation of snowbound Finland.

Sleeping in bank vaults, imperial palaces and unreconstructed Soviet youth hostels, battling vodka-breathed Russian hostility, Romanian landslides and a diet of dumplings, Moore and his ‘so-small bicycle’ are sustained by the kindness of reindeer farmers and Serbian rock gods, plus a shameful addiction to Magic Man energy drink.

Haunted throughout by the border detritus of watchtowers and rusted razor wire, Moore reflects on the curdling of the Communist dream, and the memories of a Cold War generation reared on the fear of apocalypse – at a time of ratcheting East-West tension.

After three months, 20 countries and a 58-degree jaunt up the centigrade scale, man and bike finally wobble up to a Black Sea beach in Bulgaria, older and wiser, but mainly older.

Reviews

One hundred per cent self-inflicted … Beyond stupid … It's hilarious.

—— Adrian Chiles , Radio 5 Live

Bill Bryson on two wheels.

—— Independent

The world's funniest travel writer.

—— Observer

A good, entertaining writer, laugh-out-loud funny in parts.

—— Irish Independent

It’s a hoot.

—— Michael Kerr , Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year

Terrifically engaging

—— Times Literary Supplement

[An] entertaining travelogue.

—— Sport

Moore’s books are strangely inspiring. It’s hard not to be impressed by a man in his early 50s who hasn’t really ridden for two years…deciding to undertake a huge ride on a completely inappropriate bicycle. It makes the daily struggle to get motivated for ride to work seem a little weak, and whets your own appetite for a bike-based adventure. It probably won’t be quite as amusing without Tim Moore for company though.

—— Bike Radar

An epic trip… Underpinned by Moore’s pinpoint accurate observations and engaging style that has you rooting for him from the moment he pedals forward on his folding bike.

—— Peter Sharkey , Post

If you enjoyed reading about Moore's travels in France and Italy, chances are you'll love this too.

—— Road Cycling UK, Book of the Year

An epic, hugely amusing journey… Perfect Christmas fare.

—— Dorset Echo

It is well worth reading.

—— Paul Cheney , Nudge

Moore lurches from crisis to crisis in a hilarious 9,000km, 20 country, ride along the old Iron Curtain from the Norwegian-Russian border to the Bulgarian Black Sea with quasi-frostbite and a few rusted watchtowers thrown in

—— GQ

Calling it a 'proven formula' is not to take anything away from Moore's achievements, both in completing an incredible cycling journey, and then writing another entertaining book about it: to have done both three times is impressive. To keep to the successful formula, Moore first needs another ridiculous challenge as the theme of his journey: check. Then he must use wholly inappropriate equipment: check. Try to avoid any fitness training before the journey: check. Make sure that there are numerous challenges and obstacles to overcome along the way to provide amusing anecdotes: check. Finally, make sure that you can write in an engaging and humorous style: check… Tim Moore does it again, enhancing his reputation as one of the best exponents of the cycling travelogue

—— Richard Peploe , Road.cc

Tim Moore is a serial cyclist who loves to do things the hard way… His blackly comic account of his adventures will convince you that extreme cycling is best appreciated in anecdotal form

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Filled with laugh-out-loud scenes and witty comments, alongside serious reflections on the consequences of the Communist dream and reminders of how disparate Europe still remains, this book was difficult to put down

—— Rhiannon Roy , Time & Leisure

He is quite, quite bonkers - and very funny

—— The Bookseller

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