Cycling's Greatest Misadventures

By Erich Schweikher and Paul Diamond

"Cycling's Greatest Misadventures" presents twenty-seven true stories which cross the spectrum from terrifying to comical to downright bizarre. In these pages both everyday riders and pros tell their stories of freak accidents, animal attacks, sabotage, idiotic decisions, eerie or unexplained incidents, and other jaw dropping, adrenalin-pumping calamities. These stories bring to life the strange things possibilities that await, once we step on the pedals of our road, mountain, or commuter bikes. A sampling of misadventures in this collection includes the stories of: the mountain biker who follows a bull and then gets gored by it; the twenty African Americans who pioneered cycle touring by completing a Transamerica ride in 1897, but wait - this story gets strange...; the large rat that leapt on top of a woman's bike and slapped her repeatedly with its tail; an inside-the-head narration by a professional racer as he rides a brutal race, and then gets humiliated in changing room afterwards; the recreational cyclist who accidentally rides deep into a prison yard; the computer programmer who crashes a stationary bike during his first spin class; the bike messenger who can't call it quits even after getting hit by eight cars; and, the man who carefully spreads out tacks on the route of an all female race in an attempt to get a date. These stories will make you wonder, drop you to the floor laughing and leave you shaking your head with disbelief.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976951622
• ISBN13: 9780976951629
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Wilderness Press
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Engrossing read

I laughed, I cried. What more can you expect from a book about the sport you love?

Great laughs

This book had me laughing so hard by the second story, that I thought I would cry. Many of the stories are very funny, a few are a little weird, and some are downright scary. A true treasure trove for someone who reads and rides. However, I also agree with the earlier review that the photo of the fatal attempt to jump the Great Wall should not be included in the book, or at least addressed in a different fashion.

Cycling's Greatest Misadventures

I was skeptical to purchasing this book as the title alone does not say much. However, being the bike geek that I am, I took the chance and this was by far one of the best book buys of 2007. Think of it like that movie you never heard anything about and then buy a ticket, only to have it turn out to be one of the best films ever. In all honestly, I am not yet finished with the book yet (saving it for an upcoming long flight) but so far, it has had me laughing out load on several occasions... And I don't laugh out load.

Great Variety

I got a chance to read this while on vacation recently. This collection of stories is chock full of variety. I laughed out loud at the image of the cyclist screaming along with a giant rat that hitched a ride. I imagined the strangeness of being confronted by a wild bull while delirious and dehydrated in the Great Basin of Canada, and found cause for reflection of life's fragility in the heartbreaking story of the ride instructor who lost two companions to inattentive drivers. This book may very well make you laugh, cry, and hurl. Highly recommended to the cycling enthusiast.

DC Rat Ride

My favorite story in this great collection is by Amy Nevala. Her urban misadventure made me cringe and laugh at the same time.