The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold

Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail

By: Tim Moore

Narrated by: 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.

Critic reviews

One hundred per cent self-inflicted … Beyond stupid … It's hilarious. (Adrian Chiles)

Bill Bryson on two wheels.

The world's funniest travel writer.

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

It’s a hoot. (Michael Kerr)

Terrifically engaging

[An] entertaining travelogue.

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.

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)

Iron Curtain Shopping Bike

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A very funny, travel adventure. Reflections on the Soviet Union countries during the Cold War era and that world as it appears today. Worth reading to the very end.

What did you like best about this story?

it was a grand adventure, funny, relatable, educational, poignant and thought provoking.

Which character – as performed by Tim Moore – was your favorite?

It's autobiographical, there can only be The One.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

That 19yr old East German kid who didn't make it past the border guards and that tree. You will know what I mean when you come to it.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended. It's not how fast the journey is but what you experience along the way. Another cracker from Tim Moore.