Cycling America

My well-travelled 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado turned 50 in 2022, shortly after I turned 70. With more than 100,000 miles under her wheels, the old Eldorado has traversed Labrador, visited the Arctic Circle in the Yukon, and explored most of the isolated roads in northern Ontario and northern Quebec. Along the way there have been one or two roadside mishaps—some amusing, some annoying—but she has always managed to get me home. How would she fare on another epic journey? Somehow, an early season ride to photograph some of Quebec's covered bridges turned into a marathon.

In the late 1880s, Frank Lenz of Pittsburgh, a renowned high-wheel racer and long-distance tourist, dreamed of cycling around the world. He finally got his chance by recasting himself as a champion of the downsized "safety-bicycle" with inflatable tires, the forerunner of the modern road bike that was about to become wildly popular. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out west to cover 20,000 miles over three continents as a correspondent for Outing magazine. Two years later, after having survived countless near disasters and unimaginable hardships, he approached Europe for the final leg. He never made it....

Have you ever thought about the words that show up in the imaginary bubble over your head when you look in the mirror, or the mixed feelings of both horror and humor that come with the aging process? Life Cycling will take you on a spirited ride as Alayne shares her stories of motherhood, menopause, family, cancer, grief, and all of the moving parts that make up a woman’s life. With her distinctive and refreshingly forthright style, Alayne’s take on life coming at us will have you feeling like you are enjoying a glass of wine with her on the front porch on a sunny afternoon.

هذه اليوميات التي كتبها غيفارا خلال رحلة في أرجاء أميركا اللاتينية سنة 1952 قطع خلالها مع صديقه ألبرتو غرانادو على دراجة نارية 4500 كليومتر، كانت البوابة التي ولج منها الطبيب الأرجنتيني الشاب غيفارا إلى فضاء أميركا اللاتينية، وصولاً إلى "سرة العالم"، عاصمة الأنكا، ليعود من هناك بالشعلة التي صهرت روحه النقية ومزجتها بآلام شعوب القارة المنهوبة، بدءاً من تاريخ الإبادات الجماعية التي ارتكبتها غزوات الرجل الأبيض، وانتهاء بالأمل الإنساني المعذب.

In 1887 a 21-year-old newspaperman named George Nellis (1865-1948) rode a bicycle from Herkimer, New York, to San Francisco in 72 days, surpassing the transcontinental bicycle record by several weeks. He averaged 50 miles a day pedaling a 52-inch, high-wheeled Columbia Expert "ordinary" bicycle with a tubular steel frame and hard rubber tires, and he lost 23 pounds in the process.