Title: Gironimo
Author: Moore, Tim
Published by: Yellow Jersey Press
Year: 2015
First published: Yellow Jersey Press, 2014
Date reviewed: 03.23
ISBN: 9780224100151

This is the fourth of Tim Moore’s books that I’ve read, and the ninth he has published. My reading is definitely non-sequential though: I read ‘French Revolutions‘, his third, in 2002; his tenth, ‘The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold‘ in 2017 and his eleventh, ‘Another Fine Mess‘ in 2020.

‘Gironimo‘, like ‘French Revolutions‘ and ‘The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold‘, is the story of an epic bike ride; this time he rides the route of what is claimed to be the hardest-ever edition of the Giro^*. He does it on bike of similar vintage to the 1914 Giro he is replicating, as authentic as he could make it, down to the wooden wheel rims and brake blocks fashioned out of bottle corks.

As crazy ventures go this is what we expect from Moore as he lurches from one breakdown to the next, one repair shop to another (when he can find one), as his narrative cuts between his own adventures and the historical record of the 1914 tour and its suffering riders. It’s makes an interesting read, but for me neither as engaging nor laugh-out-loud funny as his other cycling stories I have read.

* The Giro d’Italia, the Italian equivalent of the Tour de France.