The Accidental Tour-ist

Ned Boulting's highly anticipated follow up to How I Won the Yellow Jumper Picking up where his bestselling memoir left off 15 years ago, Ned Boulting's love for the greatest cycling race on earth has deepened, his fascination has been sporadically rewarded, his fitness has slowly declined and his hairline has receded... Bringing the story up to the present day, Ned reflects on how the sport has somehow shrugged off the ghosts of its tainted past to reinvent itself. But his latest dispatches from the front line of road racing don't stop at the finish line in Paris. Now graduated from reporting to commentating, his new role has seen him expand his horizons far beyond the reach of the Tour de France. The Accidental Tour-ist takes us behind the scenes to bike races across the continent of Europe, to the Middle East, to China, Malaysia and around Italy six or seven times with a deep dive into life on the road of the Giro d'Italia. Along the way, there is an unhealthy dose of confused encounters with surly waiters, mutual incomprehension in a variety of languages, sudden uplifting and bizarre encounters with strangers, wild dogs, Sicilian police officers, nonagenarian Presidents and lots and lots of professional cyclists. And there are stories born from the absurd rigours of weeks and weeks on the road surrounded by ex-racers who have become close friends, none of whom could be described as 'straightforward'. Quite the opposite.