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On My Own Two Wheels: Back in the Saddle at 60

When Malachi was diagnosed with diabetes in 2009, just a few months before his sixtieth birthday, he knew he had to take hold of his life and make some changes; dusting down the old bicycle parked in his backyard was just one of these. This memoir tells the personal story of how the author challenged himself to cycle around Ireland during the summer of 2011, following many of the same routes that he took as a keen cyclist thirty years earlier.

The book uses journeys made by Malachi on his bicycle to discuss his reflections on growing older and the challenges ageing presents. Malachi cycled for whole days, successive days, along Irish coasts in the west, over the drumlins of County Down, and the horrendously steep Torr Road in north Antrim. He was doing the things he used to do, whilst not losing sight of the pleasure riding a bicycle can give.

Malachi’s narrative moves between past and present — as the author looks back to a younger self and his first journeys and compares it to his recent experiences — and reflects upon his relationship with his father, a champion cyclist.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 176
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780856408892
  • Genres
  • cycling, memoir
  • Release date
  • 2012