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a ride across america. simon parker. september publishing hardback.308pp illus. £19.99

though unintentional, the title of simon parker's excellent book is just a tad misdirectional. if i might, for a moment or two, reference the annual race across america (raam), the 2024 route left from oceanside, california (midway between san diego and long beach), on june 24, heading progressively north-east to finish in annapolis, maryland. it's a total distance of 3,038.5 miles (4922km); but whatever else it is, it's definitely what most of us would agree is across america.

mr parker's american journey was somewhat different.

"Cape Flattery and Key West were a whopping 4,000 miles apart [...] The journey would take me through roughly a dozen geographically and culturally diverse states."

for those who are as geographically challenged as yours truly, might i point out that cape flattery is the most north westerly point of the contiguous united states, while key west occupies its polar opposite as the most south easterly location. it therefore seems glaringly obvious to state that the author's journey was considerably more diagonally constituted than the raam parcours. starting in washington state, his lengthy bicycle journey took him through idaho, montana, wyoming, nebraska, kansas, oklahoma, arkansas, mississippi, alabama and ultimately, florida.

what possibly made this particular two-wheeled trip different to many similar bike rides (and not just across america), is the author's profession; that of a journalist. in fact, according to his bio on the rear inner flap of the jacket, simon parker is a "British travel writer, author, filmmaker, public speaker and broadcast journalist." and just to add to his palmares, this was not his first attempt at riding across america. commissioned by the bbc to make a documentary about 'human endurance', in 2016 he had joined the crew of a round the world yacht race, getting dropped off in seattle to continue the journey by bicycle to new york and re-join his yachting colleagues.

"Waiting for me at the marina was a plywood box. [...] Now I had to cycle across America."

as if that were insufficient time on the bike across the pond, in october 2018 "...I cooked up another hairbrained idea - to cycle 2,500 miles beside the US-Mexico border. The journey would allow me to ask border officials, Mexican migrants, Texan ranchers [...] what life was really like at this geopolitical flashpoint."

you may already have inferred that, despite the two above instances, mr parker was not yet finished with america by bicycle, opting once again to ride across the continent, one year before this year's november election, in the process, talking to as many individuals as became practical in an attempt to gauge the political landscape during the biden persidency, and in the knowledge that trump was once again bidding to reprise his previous time in office. thus was born the north-west to south-east american tour that forms the basis of the book under review. but in a slight change from previous american outings, the author opted to "...actually train for this journey." and in a further, perhaps more meaningful change, he was now a married man with a child on the way.

since this is a cycling blog, and one currently reviewing a book about a bike ride, it seems pertinent to describe, even if only briefly, the bicycle aboard which mr parker undertook his 4,000 mile trip. having arrived in seattle from where he intended to head to his departure point in cape flattery, he had first to unpack a custom-made, titanium touring bike, courtesy of netherlands-based manufacturer van nicholas. in common with many cycling expedition books, the most we learn about the bicycle is that it featured "handlebars, mudguards, bottle cages, wheels and kickstands" and that the wheels were shod with a sturdy pair of schwalbe touring tyres.

aside from the necessary clothing and niceties required to cycle great distances without regressing into stone-age times, the author also carried a laptop, cameras, audio recorders, microphones and even a drone, along with a wide array of storage cards and cables. "Part of me longed to just head off on an adventure without as much as a phone, but this was work as well as a jolly." it didn't take long for the author to begin the investigative portion of his trip, having been invited by the owner and executive chef of a seattle catering company. she conceded that "Seattle had changed considerably in the 14 years since she'd moved there." (from California). this meeting was one of the first that would presage a number of frequent connections, both curated and random, that lasted all the way to florida.

it was a persistent feature throughout the ride, that he would be continually advised to acquire a gun by those with concerns for his wellbeing. he was also advised, just prior to departing from cape flattery "There will be parts of thjis country where you're going to see lots of American flags [...] But then in others you'll hardly see any flags. That's a pretty strong indicator of the political leanings of that area." and finally, on asking which words were likely to be heard above all others, "God, Guns. And Country."

many of those met along the way were both supportive and simultaneously incredulous that anyone would opt to ride a bicycle over such an enormous distance. "A bike? Are you serious?" aside from gun-toting americans, warnings were also proffered against bears and dogs. the former proved not to be a specific problem, though essentially confined to the more northern states, but the latter became one that proved potentially more dangerous. "Two Staffie-like mongrels, one with a missing back leg, caught me off guard and in the wrong gear. I had no choice but to jump off the bike and use it as a shield."

in essence, cycling anywhere will almost certainly bring the problems faced by cyclists worldwide. the distance of this ride surely only exacerbated their likelihood; the author became drenched on several occasions, suffered punctures and destroyed rear tyres and ultimately a problem with the rear derailleur, sorted using a zip-tie. however to lighten the psychological burden, he was visited by his pregnant wife mid-journey and again as he rode those final few hundred miles into florida.

simon parker possesses more tenacity and chutzpah than most of us, augmented with an insatiable curiosity, sense of exploration and desire to assess the human condition. but perhaps his crowning achievement is the ability to retain a compulsive interest, at least for this reader, through a well-paced, easy to read narrative. though most of those buying and reading this book are also likely to be cyclists, many of us will fail to see the point; there must be far simpler and less exhaustive ways to gauge the social and political opinions of arguably the most powerful nation on the planet. but perhaps in failing to see the point, we might also be guilty of missing the point. mountaineers are happy to admit that they climb tall mountains 'because they're there."

simon parker has given us the same answer across 308 pages. he's right, we're wrong.

tuesday 30 july 2024