Product Description

'Riding a bike removes the need for clutter, toys, rubbish that other men have to take on holiday. If I want adrenaline, I'll rush a giddy overtake, not rent a jet ski'. The world through the eyes of Dan Walsh is never less than Technicolor, and always uninhibited, rebellious and on the edge. Not since the days of "Jupiter's Travels" has one man embarked on such an angry, narcotic-fuelled bike trek around the world. 'For me, Chile will always be South America's supermodel sister - very beautiful but too long, too skinny, and too expensive to ride, and despite the groovy exterior, unpleasantly right-wing underneath'. Dan has travelled the length and breadth of the world on his BMW F650 GS Dakar. Along the way he's visited Buenos Aires, where 'revolutionary' means the angry poor invading the presidential palace, not a really small phone that's also a camera. He's been mistaken for a bum in New York, bashed by deadly tequila in Mexico, contracted typhoid in a dilapidated Bolivian hotel, and visited The Most Beautiful Road in the World in Peru. 'I get my bum pinched by a tranny, my pocket picked by a grifter and get a gun pulled on me by a one-eyed, one-armed midget who's upset cause I winked at him. These are the days that must happen to you'. Soaked in adrenaline and coruscatingly funny, Dan Walsh is the rightful heir to Ted Simon as the pre-eminent biker-rebel of our generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24060 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Inside Flap
"Riding a bike removes the need for clutter, toys, rubbish that other men have to take on holiday. If I want adrenaline, I’ll rush a giddy overtake, not rent a jet ski."

The world through the eyes of Dan Walsh is never less than Technicolor, and always uninhibited, rebellious and on the edge. Not since the days of Jupiter's Travels has one man embarked on such an angry, narcotic-fuelled bike trek around the world.

"For me, Chile will always be South America’s supermodel sister – very beautiful but too long, too skinny, and too expensive to ride, and despite the groovy exterior, unpleasantly right-wing underneath."

Dan has travelled the length and breadth of the world; in Africa, on his XT Desert Rat; across the American continent, on a BMW F650 GS Dakar. Along the way he's visited Buenos Aires, where ‘revolutionary’ means the angry poor invading the presidential palace, not a really small phone that’s also a camera. He's crossed the dry sub-Saharan savannah, which is like riding across a piece of toast with a mouthful of crackers. He's been mistaken for a bum in New York, bashed by deadly tequila in Mexico, contracted typhoid in a dilapidated Bolivian hotel, visited The Most Beautiful Road in the World in Peru, been kidnapped in Kenya and finds that downtown Soweto is about as threatening as Stockport.

"I get my bum pinched by a tranny, my pocket picked by a grifter and get a gun pulled on me by a one-eyed, one-armed midget who’s upset cause I winked at him. These are the days that must happen to you."

Soaked in adrenaline and coruscatingly funny, Dan Walsh is the rightful heir to Ted Simon as the pre-eminent biker-rebel of our generation.

About the Author
In 2005 bike journalist Dan Walsh departed Peterborough on a 650 BMW and headed for South America to become a biking drifter, pilgrim, and latter-day heir to Ted Simon. His Bike magazine columns about his travel experiences - lyrical, edgy, fraught with danger, despair and surreal highs and lows - have earned him a vast cult following and he has been labelled as "the saviour of motorcycle writing". Dan still contributes to Bike magazine and is still out on the road. This is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Only Dan tells it like it is
If you want to get an honest feeling of what riding a bike is like for normal people, not superhuman daredevils, this is the book for you. His insight into the countries he visits, the people he meets, teaches you more than any travel guide or history book. Since getting this I havent been able to put it down. He is selfish, dumb at times, ignorant, all the things real people are and this book reflects its.

For those of us who will never snort cocaine with a prostitute in South America this is good way of finding out what it feels like and more importantly how you end up in that state in the first place.

Sit back, enjoy and start questioning your own priorities.

Have fun and keep drifting

Excellent but be warned...
If you've read Dan's writings in Bike magazine, you'll know how "colourful" it can be. If you enjoyed his writing enough to be thinking of buying this book then you, like me, forgive him for offending (everyone eventually!) and probably admire his honesty.

I'd have given this book five stars but for two things - the subjects of the warnings in my review title:

1. If you've read Dan in Bike magazine - you've read the book. I'll be getting rid of the mags (one day) but the book will remain and be read more than once!

2. You may not want your teenage kids reading it. They may (?!) learn things you'd rather they didn't and they might like the sound of them.

However, warnings aside, a great read from an inspiring character.

Dan, if you;re reading this - keep riding and writing till you find what you're looking for. Then write about that too :-)

Seen there, been there
As somebody who has done the same trip through Africa and actually toured on one occasion with the author, I just wanted to add my bit.

Dan has a unique style of writing that a lot of people find refreshing and a few won't get.. (It couldn't be any other way.) And, yes, Dan does drink and smoke a lot... I endorse all of the other reviews here - they are all correct!

It won't win any literary awards and is not competing with the likes of Jupiter's Travels. This is not a philosophical tome. It is Dan living life his way and recounting the experience in his own unique style of writing. I have read many other travellers' tales and there is nothing comparable.

I could write a similar tale without any embellishment, so what we have here is a genuine memoir wrapped in a unique style which, in itself, is very refreshing.