"I was helping my Dad clear out his garage in Middlesbrough, when I found an envelope addressed to me. In my Granddad's handwriting. He's been dead for more than a decade, so I was naturally curious. It contained two items. A pair of bicycle clips, and a 1937 guide to Japan."
Thus began Nick Raistrick's quest. A search for meaning. On sensible bicycles.
Like the traditional 'Black Mamba' he bought in Tanzania, which takes him through Maasai country, or the mamachari he rides on the beaches of Zanzibar, whilst avoiding dog-sized crabs.
He travels to Colombia to experience ciclovía, and finds his path blocked by an illegal guinea pig race. He admires the customised Rasta BMXs of the Caribbean coast, and finds that gears can be quite useful in the Andes.
He accidentally ends up on dual carriageways and in Nuneaton Wetherspoons; gets caught in storms in the Peak District and the North York Moors; and follows in the pedal prints of Iggy Pop and David Bowie in Berlin.
In Japan he is shocked to find that they ride on the pavement; gets stressed about Donald Trump in a Zen museum; but finds inner peace in a capsule hotel in Tokyo. It is a non linear quest.
‘Amusing, and interesting throughout. It also made me cry.’
Kieron Connolly, author of Bloody History of America
“Thoughtful observations with wry humour…an unusual and very readable bicycle travelogue,”
Road.cc
‘Superb writing. Witty, pacy and highly readable - and it's a remarkable story.’
James Spackman, Pursuit Books
‘Fascinating, hilarious, and thoughtful.’
Anonymous Amazon review (5 stars)
"...a lovely, beautifully-written book that has something new on every page - even if, like me, you have read hundreds of books about cycling; or, indeed, if you have little interest in cycling."
Tim Dawson, Former section editor and cycling columnist at The Sunday Times
"A good eye for detail and an engaging style."
Jack Thurston, author of Lost Lanes
More reviews here:
the Bicycle Clip Diaries is a travel memoir in which the author rides practical bicycles in Germany, Japan, Yorkshire, China, Tanzania and Colombia.
Nick Raistrick has ridden bicycles on all of the continents with the exception of Antarctica; he's photographed them in Beirut, Baghdad and Bristol; and he's written about them, and other things, for the Guardian, the BBC and Boneshaker magazine.
He has worked as a copywriter, journalist, editor, and producer. He is also a trainer and consultant, specialising on humanitarian media projects, and has worked in Somalia, Syria, Azerbaijan, Burundi, Indonesia, Turkey, Kenya, Kashmir, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Moldova, and elsewhere. He has written about gender-based violence for the UN, and wrote the BBC handbook for radio producers in Zambia.
Nick has also taken down tents in France, pulled pints in Middlesbrough, and sold pens in Bromley to make ends meet. He has lived in Prague, Madrid, and Barcelona, but comes from North Yorkshire, and a long line of people with proper, solid jobs, like steel worker and North Sea fisherman.
Nick lives in Brighton with his wife, stepchildren, chaotic toddler and approximately eight bicycles, not all of them his.
For media enquiries, please contact nick.raistrick@me.com
