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Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-life Crisis

Author: Mike Carter
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 2934

Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.1 x 1.1

ISBN: 0091922682
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.304929
EAN: 9780091922689
ASIN: 0091922682

Publication Date: February 7, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book dispatched from stock in the UK

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Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

Self centered idiot and worst type of rider June 13, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful

Hated it - hated the guy writing it almost instantly. Tried to get in to it by reading more and ended up just hating it even more. The sort of rider that gets bikers a bad name. Adds nothing to the biking community.

5 out of 5 stars

Lots of laughs and some enlightenment May 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I found Uneasy Rider not only to be very funny but also compelling reading. A clockwise journey around Europe is undertaken on a BMW R1200GS covering 20,000 miles over six months.
Mike is a (another) journalist (see also Geoff Hill) on a journey, who having decided on the trip must first learns to ride a motorcycle. The new bike is duly purchased and we set off on an amusing voyage into the mental state of middle aged men - Mike seems far more concerned with his own pulling power than that of his motorcycle - but of course there could be no doubts about the adequacy of the big BMW.
Towards the end of the book things don't seem so funny any more and I was left feeling rather cheated of France, Spain and Portugal. They were ridden through (and are to be thoroughly recommended by motorcycle) but don't get a mention; one minute he was in Corsica and the next back in London.
A jolly good read with lots of laughs and plenty for those of a certain age to think about. I am pleased to reflect now that I have a better understanding of the disillusionment of mid life. The book is probably aimed at male readers, and indeed I bought it for my husband but was hooked after the first few paragraphs, and as a middle aged female motorcyclist found it most entertaining.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent entertainment and insight into the mid life crisis May 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I have read nearly every motorcycle travel book availible and i must say this is probably the most entertaining. As i approach my own 40th birthday i now understand my own 'mid life crisis' so clearly explained by the author. That aside, this book has been a true joy to read, funny, serious, happy, sad, bike travel, adventures etc etc etc. If you like travel books and/or are approaching middle age (crisis) and/or enjoy good reading you must buy this book. I truly hope to be able to follow Mike on his next trip, ride soon!

5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful ride and reading April 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book is a page turner, funny, witty and intelligent. I couldn't stop myself until I finished. It can be an enjoyable reading for both bikers and non bikers as it develops in the best tradition of humour and travel literature.

Highly recommended. And if you just turned 40 (as me) so much the better.

5 out of 5 stars

Uneasy Rider - Easily Readible April 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I don't `do' travel books as a rule since even the odd snippet of Bill Bryson I have consumed leaves me cold. So when a family member recommended Uneasy Rider I sneakily browsed the first chapter whilst lurking behind a conveniently large pillar in my local Borders. Hardly ideal conditions to discover a new talent when you are mainly concerned with eluding the store detective, but the fact that despite all these obstacles the book reeled me in was reason enough to part with the required money and read the rest without the handicap of a guilty conscience.

I am so glad that I did. Like all the best reads, you find yourself laughing along with - and occasionally, at - an author who happily does not take himself too seriously. I formed a bond with him that has outlasted the book and leaves me keen to know what happens next, both to him and to so many of the other eclectic and eccentric multi national cast of characters that inhabit practically every page of what turned out to be a warm, funny and deeply touching personal odyssey.

The fact that he is sensible enough also to support my own football team, West Bromwich Albion, would be enough for me to view him as another Adrian Chiles to be hero worshipped by a fellow baggie even if the work was as second rate as the team have all too often been in the past. But this book is no Championship wannabe; rather it belongs on the shelf with other Premier League titles and should be pushing for Europe, which is richly and appropriately ironic given the global flavour of its impressively written contents.

More please Mike Carter and please can I have a ride on your bike? Just keep your `idiot' to yourself!