<div dir="ltr"><div>All, <br></div><div>Please find below and attached my review of Marianne Rudd, <i>Pedal Pushers: Coast-to-Coast</i>.</div><div>Thanks,</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Rudd, Marianne Worth. <i>Pedal
Pushers Coast-to-Coast:<span> </span>A cross-country
bike tour fueled by kindness</i>.<span>
</span>Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2019. XII + 341 pp.<span> </span>Illustrations, Reflection Questions. $20.99,
paper.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Reviewed by Duncan R. Jamieson,
Ashland University<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>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.<span> </span>He wrote an account of the journey, which
undoubtedly encouraged others to follow in his wheel tracks.<span> </span>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.<span>
</span>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.<span> </span>A few are
classics, many are good, and some should never have seen the light of day.<span> </span>Marianne Worth Rudd’s <i>Pedal Pushers</i> 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.<span>
</span>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.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>This
thoughtfulness and caring extended to complete strangers energized Marianne in
heart, mind, body and soul. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>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.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>They had built their route to
see as many friends as they could.<span>
</span>Central to the plan was visiting their son, who was working as a
counselor at Skogfjorden, a Norwegian language camp near Bemidji, Minnesota.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>They
stopped at a motel less than ten miles from the language camp to reach the camp
before the morning musical festivities.<span>
</span>Shortly after leaving the motel and only several miles from their destination
a driver sideswiped Terry, knocking him and his panniers off the bicycle.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>They returned to the west coast where Terry
recovered.<span> </span>To complete Marinanne’s dream
he bought a recumbent bicycle which he found much more to his liking.<span> </span>They returned to Bemidji and set out again,
only now it was October.<span> </span>Weather, which
had been exceptionally unpleasant on the first part of the journey continued to
be an issue as winter was approaching.<span>
</span>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.<span>
</span>Their plan, always somewhat flexible, was to cycle to Portland, Maine,
or perhaps Cape Cod.<span> </span>Once they reached
Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims had landed four hundred years
earlier, they determined that to be a fitting conclusion.<span> </span><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>As
with all cyclists, whenever they reached a photo opportunity, they asked anyone
nearby to take their photograph.<span>
</span>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.<span>
</span>Readily agreeing the strangers introduced themselves, one being Shelia
Ray Charles, daughter of the singer.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>Now clean she wanted to
encourage and support others, and invited Marianne and Terry to her talk at a
local church. <span> </span>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.<span> </span><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>There
are multiple similarities with the adventures of others who choose to bicycle along
the slow lane.<span> </span>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 <i>The Golf Lunatic and His Cycling Wife</i>
(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.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>Both Marianne and Cynthia repeatedly
emphasize the beauty of the scenery, thanking God for its creation and for their
ability to enjoy it. <span> </span>Both recognized the
kindness of total strangers to wayfaring cyclists, due in large part to the vulnerability
and openness of cycling.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>Newman made clear the bicycle, as
opposed to the automobile, eliminated any potential threat or distance between
the cyclist and the local people.<span> </span>With
the exception of Newman and a few others, notably Barbara Savage, in her
classic <i>Miles From Nowhere </i>(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.<span>
</span>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.<span> </span>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.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>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.<span> </span><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
</div><div><div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div></div>