Books About Cycling Across America
For those of us that love the thrill of a good bike ride, perhaps nothing can be more satisfying than reading about other exciting, thrilling, and adventurous rides. Below, we’re going to review books about cycling across America and braving the great outdoors. These books will definitely push your limit for what you thought was possible and will ignite the inner rider in all of us.
Biking Across America
Where to Buy: Kindle or Paperback or Audiobook
After Paul Stutzman finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, he found himself longing for another challenge, another adventure. Trading his hiking boots for a bicycle, Paul set off to discover more of America. Starting at Neah Bay, Washington, and ending at Key West, Florida, Paul traversed the 5,000-mile distance between the two farthest points in the contiguous United States.
Along the way he encountered nearly every kind of terrain and weather the country had to offer–as well as hundreds of fascinating people whose stories readers will love. Through cold and heat, loneliness and exhaustion, abundance and kindness, Paul pedaled on. His reward–and the readers’–is a glimpse of a noble yet humble America that still exists and inspires.
Anyone who longs for adventure, who loves travel and stories of travel, and who loves this place called America will enjoy this book.
Cycling Across North America
Where to Buy: Paperback
More of a how-to than a narrative, Cycling Across North America is your one stop shop for guiding you on how to properly trek across America and ensure your own safety and security along the way. An absolute must read for anyone interested in completing the journey.
The essential guide for anyone who wants to cross the American continent on a bicycle. Describes a route that’s both manageable to ride and historically and scenically interesting. With detailed route maps and descriptions.
Across America by Bicycle
Where to Buy: Kindle or Paperback or Audiobook
Biking from Oregon to Maine is no small feat, especially for two newly retired women who carry everything they need for three months, powered only by the strength of their legs and a desire for adventure. Alice Honeywell and Bobbi Montgomery invite listeners to follow their ride by bicycle across the United States, as they face scorching sun, driving rain, buffeting winds, equipment failures, killer hills, wildfires, and even a plague of grasshoppers.
As Alice and Bobbi pedal along their 3,600-mile journey, they test and deepen their friendship, defy their aches and pains, experience the vast and varied beauties of their country, and discover the challenges and satisfaction of a scaled-down lifestyle. And, they encounter unfailing generosity from people they meet – from the prayers of a North Dakota woman for their safekeeping, to the offer of a house in Michigan, to invitations for dinner and a place to sleep at stops all along the way. And there are incidents to laugh over, too, such as the bewildered woman who asked them, “Well, but where do you pack your dresses?”
Ride along with Alice and Bobbi as they embrace retirement with gusto and live their dream.
You Can Bike Across America
Where to Buy: Paperback
Have you ever thought about biking across the United States self-supported, but all the logistics had you overwhelmed? How do you determine a route? How many miles do you have to bike? How do you find a place to sleep at night? What about packing all the gear you need? You Can Bike Across America is the answer to all your questions, and many more.
It is written as a framework to take anyone (yes, you!)—with or without experience in bike touring—through all the necessary checkpoints to plan and execute your own self-supported bike tour across the United States. Having completed my own 3,800-mile journey from Washington to Massachusetts, I believe that everyone can, and should experience this form of adventure and self-discovery. Are you with me?
Cycling Across America: A Journey of Hope and Awareness
Where to Buy: Paperback
After his friend Roy Gross passed away in 2012, Marty Perlmutter decided to honor him with a bicycle ride from Florida to Maine. The two had wanted to go coast to coast, but it never materialized.
But during the ride up the East Coast, Perlmutter befriended Alicia O’Neill from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and put in her mind the idea of a bicycle fundraiser across the country. In 2017, it happened as seven men departed Manhattan Beach in California, heading to Connecticut on a 3,411-mile tour. This is their story about the people they met, their experiences, and how they discovered it was never about riding a bicycle across America.