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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am a senior citizen and not a bicyclist, so I wondered if I would find it interesting, but I found every page to have something new that held my interest. I enjoyed the descriptions of training, the sights across the country and the friendships that developed. I felt like I had gone on the ride myself. I can recommend it for any reader, young or old, bicyclist or non-bicyclist.

Reviewer: Fred Singleton from San Diego, CA AA

Ms. Hanner has written a great story about her bicycle trip across the country.in seven weeks. At the age of 48 she was a business woman who had never done serious cycling. A superb description of her months of training, getting the right bike and equipment, including sleeping bag and tent and a thousand items required for the trip. Her battles with weather from the cold and snow of the Rocky Mountains to the heat and humidity of the Midwestern states. This book is an inspiration to ordinary people with a yen to do the impossible. Difficult to put down.

Reviewer: A reader from CA

Written in a diary-like format, it seemed like the writer was talking directly to me. I identified with her uncertainty in being able to accomplish this feat and was inspired by her willingness to take on the challenge---and to succeed on her own terms! Great detail in each step of the journey which made it an easy, enjoyable read---tangible and believable. It is evident that through such personal challenges one gets really close to living life to its fullest.

Reviewer: A reader from Cross Plains, WI

The reader is drawn into the journey and experience of an incredible challenge. From a non-cycler point of view one cannot help but wonder "why" but with each new chapter an understanding begins to surface. It is more than a travelogue, more than the chronicle of an experience, it is a mid-life examination we all have or must go through with a search for very basic answers to the nagging questions of life. Thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing!

Reviewer: A reader from Seattle, WA

This is the most favorable review this book will receive. I was on the Big Ride in 1998, so I can tell you that Eloise Hanner's personal accounts of her reactions to riding a bicycle across the U.S. ring true and let me relive much of the trip. This is in spite of the fact that I am a male (A Woman's Journey?) I might have suggested "One Woman's Journey." Her accounts of personal experiences with the emotional and physical challenges of the journey are compelling reading. Her realization that she was one of the lucky ones at MacDonald Pass was great. Weather kept more than 600 people from even riding that day. I wasn't one of the lucky ones who got to ride. She let me experience a part of the ride that I was looking forward to as much as the ride into DC itself. Thank you Eloise. As a first time writer, her prose style is well suited to reflect the wonder and awe of a powerful new experience.

However, when reading this book you must understand that Eloise Hanner is not a reporter. Her description of events she "heard" about and some sweeping generalizations about how all the riders felt this way or that, are way off base. One incident she "reports" on is simply a list of egregious errors in fact and uneducated supposition - the crash of a recumbent and two other cyclists.

I was the rider of the recumbent bicycle. There were two other cyclists involved. That is about the only thing she gets right. She goes on to state that recumbent bicycles are dangerous and gives a medical opinion about muscular/skeletal effects of riding a recumbent bike. This is from a person who is new to cycling, who had never seen a recumbent (let along ridden one) and makes no claim to any background in medicine. She completely forgot to mention that a standard bike went down breaking the leg of its rider. Bicycling, no matter the kind of machine you are on, is potentially dangerous.

However, for riding on roads, recumbents are the safest, fastest, and most comfortable pedal powered vehicle available. If anyone - including the author - is interested in the facts (like the fact that at least 3 "normal" bicycles were thrown away during the ride because the bikes were hurting the riders) please feel free to contact me at

rlg@cnw.com

So there you have it. I can think of no higher praise than when the villain of the book likes it and recommends that you read it.