Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-Life Crisis

Mike Carter

Jan 2014 · Random House

About this ebook

A broken heart and a moment of drunken bravado inspires middle-aged, and typically rather cautious, journalist Mike Carter to take off on a life-changing six month motorcycle trip around Europe. Never mind that he hadn't been on two wheels since an inglorious three-month teenage chapter involving a Lambretta, four crashes and an 18-month ban for drink-driving, a plan had begun to loosely form...

And so, having completed a six day residential motorcycle course and hastily re-mortgaged his flat, Mike sets off alone, resolving to go wherever the road takes him and enjoy the adventure of heading off into the unknown. He ends up travelling almost 20,000 miles and reaching the four extremes of Europe: the Arctic Circle in the north, the Mediterranean coast in the south, the Portuguese Atlantic to the west and the Iraqi border of Turkey in the east.

But really it's a journey inwards, as, on the way, Mike finds his post-divorce scars starting to heal and attempts to discover what he, as a man in his forties who hasn't quite found his place in the world, should be doing. Self-deprecating, poetic and utterly engaging, his is a heroic journey taken for the rest of us too scared to leave our 9 to 5 office-bound existence.

Ratings and reviews

Take the fact that Mike is a journalist aside. Read this book knowing that he's had a midlife crisis. I would recommend this book to men above the age of 29 who have/want a motorcycle adventure. Mike takes you with him, emotionally and physically. Men will relate to some/all of what he feels... making all the more enjoyable to read. My only problem was that the end crept up silently and that the adventure ended. Mike, I hope this book pays for the 6 months out of your life. Well done.

It was okay. As a 42 your old BMW motorcycle rider I was hoping for a little more insight

Relaxed, easy going style made for another enjoyable read.

About the author

Mike Carter grew up in Birmingham and now lives in south-west London, from where he commutes to his freelance shifts at the Guardian and Observer on a bicycle. Although still married to his motorbike, the capital's traffic jams, speed cameras and bendy buses have somewhat cooled the relationship.