The Hungry Cyclist

Just finished reading The Hungry Cyclist by Tom Kevill-Davies. It seemed fitting to have a biking book at the start of this ride, and I've heard mention of him before but not in any detail so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.It turned out to be the brilliantly entertaining story of a twenty-something year old English guy who rather randomly sets out to spend two years to cycle the Americas from New York to Rio in search of the perfect meal, and I'm quite gutted I've finished it. It has lots about the history and food of various countries plus some adventure thrown in, but in a very honest and humorous way. As one friend put it, it kind of starts out with a 'cycling up hills is a bit hard and camping is horrible and this 'mattress' is rubbish and I appear to have bought a jet engine not a cooking stove' first chapter, and retains the self depreciation all the way through. None of this 'and on the second day I cycled 150 miles before lunch' to make the rest of us feel like wimps. It turns into a story about lots of unique local people, strange, amazing and disgusting meals but probably mostly about putting faith in people and places and ignoring preconceptions.He has quite a busy website with heaps of stuff i haven't managed to explore yet but you can get the book here, unless you want to borrow my battered copy when I get back. Actually, if you do then let me know, I'll pop it in the post and save some weight on the bike... :-)