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Author's Note Thank you for showing interest in my book Twisting Throttle Australia. I'm depending on you to BUY THE BOOK as I receive a few dollars per copy sold which will slowly build up my Twisting Throttle America fund. In return for your patronage I promise you an unorthodox read. This is no Lonely Planet guide to Australia: in fact I wouldn't have a clue whether Perth is bigger than Brisbane. Would you really care anyway? Twisting Throttle Australia is the story of my journey on a Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom motorcycle around the outside of Australia. It took me 35 days to do the 17,350 kilometres before I found myself starting a second lap as I crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Each night before collapsing into a deep, although often uncomfortable, sleep I tapped out the day's events onto my laptop. The book is a collection of those daily logs and photos which describe a solo ride around a very big country. Solitude and unmitigated boredom gave way to some bizarre behaviour on and off the bike simply to relieve the tedium. Have a look at these photos:
Here's what the book's jacket says about it: I
was riding due west and the sun was low in the sky. It was frying my head inside
the helmet so I opened my visor . . . a bright green fly flew in and perched on
the lining of my helmet .The outback is the ultimate leveller — the fly
depended on me for a lift and I might have needed to eat it. Twisting Throttle Australia is the witty tale of a mid-life crisis which took an ordinary Kiwi bloke alone around Australia on a motorbike, to fulfil Easy Rider-inspired dreams of his long-lost youth. The result is a very dry look at the Big Dry Country, told with self-deprecating wit and uncompromising humour. Unlike
the rich boys who cruise the world on luxury bikes, this endearing and extremely
funny tale is about an ordinary bloke doing it on the smell of an oily rag –
with some wonderful seat of the pants results. Be there for the invention of Dr
Throttle’s Bikesthenics, be baffled by incomprehensible Aussie salutations and
share the sadness of Glovey’s passing as Mike mercilessly pokes fun at himself
and the Aussies. This is his first book; one with a real heart and a real
difference for real blokes who ride real bikes. Definitely one for every
middle-aged man you know —and their wives! Mike Hyde lives in Christchurch and warns that long periods in the saddle with only insects for company can affect a traveller’s state of mind. You be the judge!
WHY SHOULD YOU BUY MY BOOK? Because I want to ride around America in 2008, writing a sequel to this book called Twisting Throttle America, and your purchase will contribute to my travel fund. I don't have the money otherwise! I am sure you will consider the book to be value and well worth the spend. So much so perhaps that you rush out to order more copies for Father's Day, Christmas and gifts for those hard-to-buy-for friends and family members. Click here to BUY NOW (please)
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On
Day 35 when I posed like an idiot with Sydney Harbour in the background, I had
completed the circumnavigation of Australia not without incident. You will read
about tyre baldness problems in Western Australia, speeding tickets, fuel
worries, road train overtaking anxiety, the contents of Australian meat pies,
how to find your bike on a ferry, arguments & laughs with Australian locals,
bus drivers doing crosswords, dead things on the road and much much more.