Heft on Wheels: A Field Guide to Doing A 180 »

Mike Magnuson teaches creative writing at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and has written for Esquire, GQ, and Bicycling. He is the author of two novels and a memoir.

Take one very large guy. Add booze, cigarettes, and an extreme amount of junk food. Mix in a wry, self-effacing wit. Throw in a bike. The result? Heft on Wheels, a potently funny look at turning your life around, one insanely unrealistic goal at a time.

Not that long ago, Mike Magnuson was a self-described lummox with a bicycle. In the space of three months, he lost seventy-five pounds, quit smoking, stopped drinking, and morphed from the big guy at the back of the pack into a lean, mean cycling machine. Today, Mike is a 175-pound athlete competing in some of the most difficult one-day racing events in America. This irreverent and inspiring memoir charts every hilarious detail of his transformation, from the horrors of skin-tight XXL biking shorts to the miseries of nicotine withdrawal.

Heft on Wheels is an unforgettable book about getting from one place to another, in more ways than one.

Publishers Weekly

Lance Armstrong has shown the world what tremendous athleticism it takes to be a champion cyclist. Now Magnuson weighs in on the sport, from the point of view of a regular guy. The author of Lummox: The Evolution of a Man is a 255-pound, pack-a-day 40-year-old who's desperate to get his life back into shape. And he chooses the challenge of cycling to achieve that, largely because of its total lack of mercy. "I needed the crap beaten out of me," Magnuson explains. So he launches into his own journey, one where he succeeds in spades, drops pounds and quits smoking to become a true road warrior. It's a compelling premise, made all too real by the cover image of a mostly nude, overweight man on a bike. Magnuson approaches the book with that kind of humor, and a rapid pace that mirrors the sport he's fallen in love with. The downfall is that the colloquial fun often drifts into silly superficiality (on reading Samuel Beckett: "I'm like totally wow, blown away, this stuff rocks!"). And although Magnuson, a university creative writing professor, occasionally tries to inject a bit of intellectual heft, dropping in Kafka and Camus references alongside his racing stories, it just never works as a thrilling narrative. This life makeover is an admirable achievement, but doesn't make for great reading. (On sale June 15) Forecast: Cross-promotions with local bike groups nationwide might stir up interest. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.