Janice Simpson is participating in the RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride. 66470 Picture: Damjan Janevski
By Charlene Gatt
RUSHING around eight countries on a 4000 kilometre bicycle trip sounded like a good idea to Janice Simpson.
After all, the Bicycle Victoria board member rides to work and knew how to mend a puncture or change a tyre.
But she didn’t consider how she’d fill in the never-ending hours as the kilometres hummed by under her wheels.
This is the backdrop for Ms Simpson’s new book, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
“I was buying a bike (in 2008) and I saw a postcard advertising something on the Orient Express and I’d always been fascinated by that … and this bike ride from Paris to Istanbul was sort of following one of the routes of the Orient Express,” the Yarraville resident said.
“I’d always wanted to go on the train, but I’d never be able to afford it, so this seemed like a good alternative.”
“It’s more than just a bike ride – it’s a reflection on myself and politics and history and things like that as well.”
The book explores her adoption and her strange relationship with her adoptive parents; her early marriage and violent divorce; and the struggle of being a single parent.
Along the way Ms Simpson also forges strong friendships with her fellow riders.
In 2010, she caught up with them on another ride between St Petersburg to Venice. This year, she will meet up with them again for a ride from Copenhagen to Barcelona in July.
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie will be launched at the Sun Bookshop on 5 February at 2pm.
