The Cycling Tour

The Cycling Tour is the eighth episode of the third season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The Cycling Tour is unusual when compared against other episodes of the show as the entire show is dedicated to one long skit. Michael Palin portrays the central character of the show: a bicycle tourist named Mr. Pither.

Pither goes about his way on his bicycle repeatedly crashing and damaging his food supplies. As he talks to people he meets along the tour, he informs them that he is on a cycling tour of North Cornwall. However, Pither encounters an individual with shifting personalities who causes the two of them to end up going through other countries ultimately, facing mortal danger.

I thought that I had remembered this episode well. It was probably my dad’s favorite episode of the series. He referred to it any time Monty Python entered a conversation. I find it interesting that Palin went on to be quite the world traveler.