In 1989, prompted by a cocktail of cheap red wine and headstrong naivety, Rory Spowers and three friends set off on one of the most bizarre bicycle rides of the century. One year and two 278 punctures later, they had traversed the length of Africa on the Goodies's 1930s tandem and a mountain bike, retaining their sanity (barely), but minus one testicle and their preconceptions. Experiences ranged from starring as extras in a Clint Eastwood movie, being attacked by machete-wielding men and poisonous snakes, surviving regular bouts of malaria and travelling through some of the most beautiful lands in the world.