[ARETE] Rudd, Pedal Pushers

[Duncan Jamieson]

All,
Please find below and attached my review of Marianne Rudd, *Pedal Pushers:
Coast-to-Coast*.
Thanks,
Duncan

Rudd, Marianne Worth. *Pedal Pushers Coast-to-Coast:  A cross-country bike
tour fueled by kindness*.  Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2019. XII + 341
pp.  Illustrations, Reflection Questions. $20.99, paper.

Reviewed by Duncan R. Jamieson, Ashland University

                In 1885 Thomas Stevens became the first person to ride a
bicycle across North America, leaving San Francisco and arriving in Boston
fourteen weeks later.  He wrote an account of the journey, which
undoubtedly encouraged others to follow in his wheel tracks.  Since then
tens of thousands have bicycled across the continent, from one ocean to the
other, with hundreds of them publishing accounts of their adventure.  The
books appear from major publishers, boutique houses, publishers who
specialize in sport and adventure or more specifically cycling, and vanity
and self-publishing endeavors.  A few are classics, many are good, and some
should never have seen the light of day.  Marianne Worth Rudd’s *Pedal
Pushers* describes the culmination of her thirty-two-year dream of cycling
across the continent, camping along the way, visiting and staying with
friends and family, or if the weather did not cooperate staying in
motels.  With
her husband Terry in tow—it was not his dream, but he clearly supported
hers--they spent eleven weeks riding from Astoria, Oregon to Plymouth,
Massachusetts.  It will never be a classic, but it does fall in the good
category, largely because of its theme: she was repeatedly surprised and
overwhelmed by the kind, helpful and generous people they met along the way
who opened their hearts and their homes to two early 60s cyclists.  This
thoughtfulness and caring extended to complete strangers energized Marianne
in heart, mind, body and soul.

                With little preparation and limited experience in long
distance bicycle travel they set out from Astoria, Oregon on May 18, 2012
on loaded touring bicycles bound for the Atlantic.  When I rode from Los
Angeles to Boston in 1991 we had no rain during the forty-seven day
crossing. Marianne and Terry faced rain, snow, sleet, and the bane of all
cyclists, headwinds.  They had built their route to see as many friends as
they could.  Central to the plan was visiting their son, who was working as
a counselor at Skogfjorden, a Norwegian language camp near Bemidji,
Minnesota.  They wanted to arrive before 9:30 a. m., July 8 to surprise
their son at Allsang, a traditional musical event which encouraged audience
participation.  They stopped at a motel less than ten miles from the
language camp to reach the camp before the morning musical
festivities.  Shortly
after leaving the motel and only several miles from their destination a
driver sideswiped Terry, knocking him and his panniers off the bicycle.  His
arm hurt, but he did not think it bad enough to keep him from riding, so
they continued on to the camp and their son before going to an Urgent Care
for treatment. X-Rays showed an arm broken in two places, which indicated
the journey was over, at least temporarily.  They returned to the west
coast where Terry recovered.  To complete Marinanne’s dream he bought a
recumbent bicycle which he found much more to his liking.  They returned to
Bemidji and set out again, only now it was October.  Weather, which had
been exceptionally unpleasant on the first part of the journey continued to
be an issue as winter was approaching.  Added to the mix was Superstorm
Sandy, which caused a change in plans keeping them from New Jersey’s
Atlantic coast, forcing them to cross New York State inland along the route
of the Erie Canal.  Their plan, always somewhat flexible, was to cycle to
Portland, Maine, or perhaps Cape Cod.  Once they reached Plymouth,
Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims had landed four hundred years earlier,
they determined that to be a fitting conclusion.

                As with all cyclists, whenever they reached a photo
opportunity, they asked anyone nearby to take their photograph.  Standing
near Plymouth Rock, Marianne and Terry approached a small group of people,
explained what they had accomplished and asked if someone would take their
photo to memorialize their crossing.  Readily agreeing the strangers
introduced themselves, one being Shelia Ray Charles, daughter of the singer.
She and her manager were in town where Shelia had a speaking engagement
about her surviving child abuse, drug addiction and three incarcerations in
federal prison.  Now clean she wanted to encourage and support others, and
invited Marianne and Terry to her talk at a local church.  The cyclists
felt a closeness to Shelia’s message as they had, themselves, overcome many
obstacles to reach their goal, hoping that their presence might lend
further support to Shelia’s message.

                There are multiple similarities with the adventures of
others who choose to bicycle along the slow lane.  Marianne and Terry
reminded me of Cynthia and Adolphus Jeringham, characters created by Mrs.
Edward (Mary Eliza) Kennard (1850-1936), English huntswoman and prolific
novelist, long since forgotten. In *The Golf Lunatic and His Cycling Wife*
(New York: Brentano’s, 1902), Cynthia, undoubtedly modeled on Mary Eliza’s
experiences, is an avid cyclist who convinces her husband to take a cycling
holiday in Europe.  Like Marianne she revels in the beauty and joy of
cycling while her husband, much like Terry, remains a good sport but not
one overly excited about the whole endeavor.  Both Marianne and Cynthia
repeatedly emphasize the beauty of the scenery, thanking God for its
creation and for their ability to enjoy it.  Both recognized the kindness
of total strangers to wayfaring cyclists, due in large part to the
vulnerability and openness of cycling.  In the years between the world
wars, Bernard Newman (1899-1968), cycle traveling’s most prolific author
spent his summers cycling through every country in Europe at least
once.  Newman
made clear the bicycle, as opposed to the automobile, eliminated any
potential threat or distance between the cyclist and the local people.  With
the exception of Newman and a few others, notably Barbara Savage, in her
classic *Miles From Nowhere *(Seattle: Mountaineers Books, 1983), most
authors fail to acknowledge both this bonding and the privilege the cyclist
enjoys that makes the journey possible in the first place.  To be able to
take long periods of time off from work and the day to day obligations of
modern life is not something many people can afford.  Marianne Rudd
repeatedly reminds the reader how blessed she was to have this opportunity
to connect with friends, family and total strangers on a beautiful and
challenging journey from Pacific to Atlantic.

                If you are a cyclist, casual or committed, or if you’re an
armchair traveler, my advice is to take a ride with Marianne and Terry.



Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past

Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.
Professor of History
Book Review Editor
*AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature*
Ashland University
Ashland, OH  44805
USA
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