Chris Santella - Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die: Biking Experts Share the Worlds Greatest Destinations by Chris Santella

Chris Santellaalong with top biking expedition leaders and journalistsexplores the world by bike. Every type of bikerfrom mountain enthusiasts to road warriors and everyone in betweenwill be introduced to trips ranging from the urban sprawl of New York City to trails along Texas Hill Country and coastal paths in Spain. The truly adventurous will find challenges in the Tour de Tuli, which begins in South Africa, and the Tour of Flanders, which winds through Belgium, while those seeking something a little calmer will find beautiful scenery in Vermonts Champlain Valley and the Danish Isles. Commentary and insider tips from biking experts make this a cant-miss guide, and Santella captures the special characteristics of these must-visit destinations.

This book is for my girls, Cassidy, Annabel, and Deidre.
I hope many more miles await us on our bikes.

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This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the expert cyclists who shared their time and experience to help bring these fifty great bicycling venues to life. To these men and women, I offer the most heartfelt thanks. I also wish to acknowledge the fine efforts of my agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan; my editors, Wesley Royce and Jennifer Levesque; designer Anna Christian; and copyeditor Ashley Benning, who all helped bring the book into being. Finally, I want to extend a special thanks to my wife, Deidre, and my daughters Cassidy and Annabel, whove humored my absence during seemingly endless deadlines, and to my parents, Tina and Andy Santella, who are not cyclists, but always encouraged me to pursue my passions.

Theres a revolutionary living under your roof. It doesnt chant slogans or engage in armed resistance, but its a power to be reckoned with all the same. It bunks down in the garage, hangs from the rafters, or waits patiently by the door. To some its disguised as a childs toy, a deceptively simple device for recreating on the weekends. In truth, bikes are lightning strikes in a top tube; a rebel with a cause just waiting to invigorate your life; Gandhi, Malcolm X, and The Clash in motion rolling down the road on some madcap adventure of freedom and discovery. Theyre Teddy Roosevelt and all of his damn Rough Riders running roughshod over sloth, the ordinary, and sedentary living. Theyre a symphony one day and an all-night rave the next. Pedal a bike and youll have all the proof you need of a balanced universe. The bicycle has saved drunks, junkies, and quietly discontented accountants alike. Its defibbed couch potatoes out of the coma of the mushy twilight of a TVs glow, and its turned back time for retirees who thought their best days were done. Quite simply, the bicycle is a time machine taking everyone who climbs on back to a ten-year-old self who believed in speed and the gorgeous savage inside. But like all time machines, its not just the when of the matter thats important, but also the where. Youll have an experience no matter where you roll, since the bicycle makes you a traveler rather than a tourist, but theres something to be said for hedging your bets. Thats where Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die takes over as a road map to peak experiences in the saddle. From pedaling wine country to rolling up to the largest baobab in the African bush, why to go where and when have been distilled for you. All thats left is to point your wheels, find your rhythm, and go as long and far as your desire will take you.

J OE M ETAL C OWBOY K URMASKIE

There are faster ways to get from point A to B than by bicycle. But as anyone whos spent any time on a bike knows, there are few more pleasurable ways to really appreciate a place while raising your heart rate!

I wrote Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die for those who value life in the slower lane, and the chance to make a closer connection to people and places along the open road.

What makes a destination a place you have to bike before you die? you might ask. The chance to take in sweeping mountain or coastal scenery? To sample fine wines and cuisine (with a little less guilt, as youll be riding the calories off)? The promise of interaction with people in remote places, whose cultures have changed little over hundreds of years? The answer would be yes to all of the above, and an abundance of other criteria. One thing I knew when I began this projectI was NOT the person to assemble this list. So I followed a recipe that served me well in my first eight Fifty Places booksto seek the advice of some professionals. To write Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die, I interviewed a host of people closely connected with the cycling world and asked them to share some of their favorite experiences. These experts range from well-known tour leaders (like Dan Austin, George Butterfield, and Lauren Hefferon) to equipment manufacturers (like Paul McKenzie) and journalists (like Joe Kurmaskie and Joe Parkin). Some spoke of venues that are near and dear to their hearts, places where theyve built their professional reputations; others spoke of places theyve only visited once, but that made a profound impression. People appreciate biking for many different reasons, and this range of attractions is evidenced here. (To give a sense of the breadth of the interviewees outdoor backgrounds, a bio of each individual is included after each essay.)

Biking means different things to different people. For some, it may mean grinding out 75 or 100 miles a day on a mountainous road, barely pausing to gobble an energy bar and down some water; for others, it may be a means to the end of tasting fine Pinot Noirs. Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die attempts to capture the spectrum of biking experiences. While the book collects fifty great biking experiences, it by no means attempts to rank the places discussed, or the quality of the experiences afforded there. Such ranking is, of course, largely subjective: The appeals of riding 310 miles without stopping may be anathema to someone whos more interested in a casual inn-to-inn ride in France, or merely commuting to work in Portland, Oregon.