Published: January 22, 2012
Eat, Sleep, Ride Book Review
By Patricia Wellingham-Jones
Eat, Sleep, Ride: How I Braved Bears, Badlands, and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide
Although Paul Howard has ridden the Tour de France route, he's never owned a mountain bike. In this account of his journey along America's Continental Divide, he stretches himself to his limits and beyond, experiences culture shock almost every day, and deals with his fear of bears (and snakes, though he's too focused on bears to worry overmuch about the crawlers). The world looks different when viewed from a bicycle on dirt tracks, and this traveler mixes awe, disbelief, and dry British wit in his tale.
Armed with a map of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and supplies he hopes will see him through, he sets off from Banff, Alberta, to pedal more than 2700 miles through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, ending at the Mexican border in Antelope Wells. Riders have to navigate and support themselves; outsiders can follow them via internet and GPS. Howard met, passed, and was passed by numerous riders, falling in with three others midway through, providing companions and assistance on occasion. He called his race a frivolous indulgence; but to this reader, it looked like grueling hard work fueled by a lot of strange meals.
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I'm not a cyclist and expected to skim the book, but found myself reading the entire thing. I enjoyed Howard's travels, the descriptions of land and people, the humorous asides on what he was seeing and how he coped with inevitable troubles. For the serious cyclist, there perhaps isn't enough detail on bikes themselves; but for an adventure or travel reader, the book is just right.
Eat, Sleep, Ride: How I Braved Bears, Badlands, and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide
Paul Howard Douglas & McIntyre (2011),
Paperback
ISBN: 1553658175
About the Reviewer
Patricia Wellingham-Jones is a former psychology researcher and writer/editor with an interest in healing writing and the benefits of writing and reading work together. Widely published, she writes for the review department of Recovering the Self: a journal of hope and healing and has ten chapbooks of poetry.
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