A wilfully ridiculous and thoroughly heartfelt travel memoir. Cycling Proficiency: the road to recovery is 4,500 miles of European pedal-mania with a crazy twist. The twist is that Alice Lushington is crazy. Not 'cute' crazy, not 'bohemian' crazy but bog standard, where-are-the-sandwiches-at-this-picnic crazy.

''I want to help people. I want somebody who is troubled to come across my story and realise the wild wonder beyond the horizon of recovery.

It is not a technical or pretentious book but one written precisely from my heart to yours, the reader put snuggly in my scruffy pink trainers and taken with me: through the highs, lows, deserts and mountains, underneath lightning, away from dogs and handsome French boys (but always towards recovery).

''It's raw, it's real, it's excruciatingly honest about the darker shades of my life, however the dominant flavour of Cycling Proficiency is naïve fun and wacky humour. There''s one more big twist too: each chapter begins with a hand-drawn pencil illustration of some of the places, characters and scenes from my saga.''