'Why Don't You Fly?' Back Door to Beijing - by Bicycle

In May 2000 Chris Smith left his comfortable Worcestershire home, but instead of cycling the routine twelve miles to work, he kept on pedalling. Thirteen months later (having fallen off six times and worn out three sets of tyres, three chains and two pairs of boots) he arrived in Beijing. During a gruelling 16,500-mile examination of physical and mental stamina he traversed scorching deserts, scaled lofty peaks, crossed mighty rivers and risked extinction in the chaotic traffic of the cities. He ate and drank in roadside cafes in the company of inquisitive lorry drivers and shared dormitories with farm hands and mosquitoes in remote Chinese villages. He survived bugs, blizzards, cockroaches, heat, hurricanes, sandstorms, cyclones, stone-throwing locals and lunatic drivers. Sceptical western existentialism encountered religious fatalism in the cafes and teahouses of the Middle East and India during a physical and spiritual journey that constantly raised questions about attitudes and values widely taken for granted in the West. 'Why Don't You Fly?' is the account of an epic quest to rediscover a misplaced sense of identity in which exhilaration and exhaustion trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour. 'Fascinating reading.' -- 'Limited Edition' Magazine 'Smith's smart, honest prose is crafted superbly and peppered with wonderful moments of drama, dialogue and real humanity'. -- 'Asia and Away' Magazine

Table of Contents:
Prologue: Riding Home in the Rain (I) PART ONE: THE ROAD TO INDIA 1 'Never Right' 2 Sunny Delight 3 Mountain Biking 4 'Always Right' 5 Travelling Light 6 Zam-Zam, Cockroaches and Moby Dick 7 Savouring Moments 8 Bandit Country 9 Engine Trouble PART TWO: TOUR DE INDIA 10 Accident-prone Drivers 11 'Foot Odour' and 'Special' Tea 12 'A Long Way from France' 13 Maintaining Momentum 14 Grand Trunk Road Rage 15 Closing the Loop PART THREE: BEYOND INDIA 16 Pakistan Revisited 17 Klompjes, Rosie and the Karakoram Highway 18 Over the Top 19 Sand and Noodles 20 The Lungs of the Gobi 21 The End of the Civilised World 22 A Close Shave 23 Smiling at China 24 Man With No Name 25 Homeward Bound Epilogue: Riding Home in the Rain (II) List of Equipment List of Illustrations (See www.cycleuktochina.com)

About the Author :
By the age of seven Chris Smith was coming top in any Geography test that involved countries and oceans and rivers and capital cities. While at university he hitchhiked the length and breadth of Europe and ventured into Africa and Asia during the long summer vacations. After graduating he spent a hideous three months squirting jelly into pork pies in order to fund a visit the USA, where he drove from New York to San Francisco and back. He went on to drive six-axle lorries all over Western Europe, the Communist Bloc, Scandinavia, the Soviet Union and - after the USSR's dissolution in 1991 - to Russia, Lithuania, Latvia and Kazakhstan. The roads would be under sheet-ice a foot thick during the Russian winters, and from Moscow to Kazakhstan an armed Russian policeman would guard vehicle and driver against attacks by bandits. He eventually swapped this nomadic existence for work in a number of management positions but never really took to the office environment of computer and telephone. Following a split with a long-term girlfriend and redundancy he announced - to general disbelief - that he was going to attempt to cross the Eurasian landmass by bicycle. He lives in the picturesque town of Bewdley and cycles twenty-five miles a day to and from work.