Wobbly Wheels : A Bicycle Adventure

A true tale of a bicycle odyssey. Three unprepared individuals, an ex-sailor and world traveler, his younger brother, and an old college roommate, take a cross-country trip in 1976, enduring a simpler time made more complicated by a lack of modern conveniences we take for granted today, like GPS, cell phones, ATMs, and satellite radios. Riding 10-speeds, they ride east to west, uphill and against the wind. No spandex, no sag wagon, no helmets, no sense. A humorous, engaging, fun story that takes the reader through the Wild West as well as the '50s, '60s, and '70s, with many surprises along the way. Historic, interesting odd events, and near-death experiences, dot the challenging terrain of this epic journey. Beginning in Ohio, the trio make their way through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and California. They battle headwinds ("maybe we'd get lucky and the earth would rotate in the other direction for a while") rain, snow and blazing hot sun. Traveling through the beautiful rolling hills of farm country, then into the Great Plains, then the grueling climbs over mountain passes, there is plenty of time to recall humorous stories of summer vacations in the 1950s and 60s with the family, covering much of the same territory. The author's grandmother also passed through the same territory in 1886 in a horse-drawn covered wagon, from Michigan to Nebraska, and lived long enough to see Neil Armstrong land on the moon. This memoir has many references to college days in the 1970s, and cultural references spanning several decades. Important information is given about the science of the incredible gear and chain-driven piece of machinery, that is a bicycle. "A bicycle is not a toy." The mechanics of a bike are important to truly understand the problems and pitfalls that the trio encountered on this 3,500-mile odyssey. Beautiful descriptions of the Badlands, the Black Hills, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Lake Tahoe and many other scenic areas are interspersed with humorous encounters and dangerous situations.Not just a travelogue, but a literary narrative that tells a story of friendship, adventure, family dynamics, growing pains, self-realization, and life-changing revelations.

• | Author: Greg Pond
• | Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• | Publication Date: Oct 20, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 196 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1725556014
• | ISBN-13: 9781725556010