A Guide to Falling Down in Public

"The fifth book in the Metal Cowboy series of bicycle-touring tales hits the open road in high gear and never looks back. Whether he's outsprinting African elephants in Zimbabwe; reliving dangerous old cycling routes of his youth; debating the merits of living strong or living wrong or living without a rubber bracelet at all; riding up Mount Hood in a July snowstorm; savoring roadside treasures found along the way; extolling the wonder of boys on bikes; detailing a few skirmishes in the war between cars and bikes, debating the perils and delights of riding at night; and diagnosing whether the glorious addiction called cycling has taken over your life, he consistently rides down awful truths and celebrates beautiful wrecks--himself included. Joe Kurmaskie has mastered the painful art of falling down and the flat-out rush of getting back up again. This collection is a kaleidoscope of exuberant cycling adventure stories spanning four decades and thirty countries. It embraces the absurdity of living at any speed, the fragility in each of us the world over, and simple wonders waiting just up the road" --