Bicycling the Midwest

By Diana Milesko-Pytel

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809276089
• ISBN13: 9780809276080
• Release Date: June 1979
• Publisher: Contemporary Books
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Lovely bicycle book from the Bike Boom era.

The rides presented in this bike are largely still in tact. The 1970/80s saw a boom in bicycling in the USA, one that spurred the likes surely of Greg Lemond and others. I love reading some bicycling books from this era in that they are so instructive on basic cycling and I really don't think we see these kinds of books so much anymore. Now, so often it is narrowed down to be a science, wattage output, branched-chain amino acids, glycemic index and yes, these are important but so are these other books. I enjoy the organic feel that so much of the "bike boom" literature has. To read the authors descriptions of road biking trips in (in alphabetical order just like in the book) Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin is at times, late night reading or campfire reading fun, heck, it's not like being on the road but it gives you an idea. I knew there were some exciting rides in my neck of the woods, but the ones Milesko-Pytel enumerates on really raises one's awareness. The book contains historical tidbits which one would expect in a book like this as well as discussing the geographical features of each ride. I may never be able to ride the Shawnee National Forest Trip in Southern Illinois also invariably known as the "other Illinois", "little Egypt" (I believe that has to do with there being a "Cairo" "Kay-Ro" Illinois, more Southern than Richmond Va. the author also tells us) or the "Illinois Ozarks" as the author relates these terms to us is a typical example of her folksy entertaining writing style. Maybe not all three terms at once but in parts at least. While on this topic, the author is from Illinois herself, from the Chicago area and first got into touring by riding in the big city as a youngster. All of the states are covered in this form, though I think she has a much better knowledge on her home state and maybe Indiana and Michigan too than the others. Whenever I see vintage bike boom books, I grab them and they rarely dissapoint. If it is of concern that the routes contained in this book might be out of date, one is able to find updated information that is out there. Her comments on bicycles are likewise, instructive even if bicycles are a bit different today, the touring advice still pertains as well as the advice on bicycles, many of those bikes from back then are now classics and they'll do as well. Addendum: Some cycling blogs may be taking the place of what some of these books wrote back then though blogging can be much too casual at that....