Three Men On Their Bikes by Richard Mapes. Published by Thistle Publishing, July 2018

The humour is crafted into the story of three un-grown-up, unfit men deciding to go on a cycle tour around Lancashire. Three mischievous blokes on the cusp of life considering careers, commitments and beer gardens. This is a young man version of Last of the Summer Wine, but these are graduates, challenged by technology, officious railway personnel, bicycle clips and brightly coloured Lycra. They encounter cramped hotel rooms and sober women cyclists. They argue the merits of padded shorts over checked trousers belted above the calf. Short cuts and gut instincts sometimes win over GPS and Google searches. Their friendships and stamina go through the pain barrier in the hills and valleys of The Penines, and none are quite the same at the end of the journey.

About the author:
Richard Mapes is a writer of comic novels. Of his other books ‘Three Men on Tour’ was published in November 2015 and ‘Under the Night Sky’ was co-authored by Bethan Mapes and Juliet Beaumont and published in July 2016. He can be contacted on Facebook and Twitter and has author profiles on Amazon.co.uk and Goodreads.com

Thank you Thistle Publishing and Net Gallery for this copy of Three Men On Their Bikes by Richard Mapes.

We all have been there. Friends set up trying to get together but life gets in the way like family, work and commitments. In this book we meet 3 guys Harry, Ian (the narrator), and George. They decide to get away and cycle many miles to keep up their friendship. They meet many people and ended up hanging with two girls who are cycling but for different reasons. I found some of this book laugh out loud funny and even reread those parts so I could get another chuckle. I can say Harry was not my favorite, very arrogant. Otherwise I liked this style of writing and characters. I would read more by Richard Mapes. If your looking for a fast read and many stop offs to view special places this would be the book for you. If it wasn't for Thistle Publishing I would of never known about this book.

Cherie'