Tag bicycling

Three Books Top My Best List for 2022

Reg Spittle 1 Comment

I discovered a wealth of great reading last year and I reviewed the books I recommended on this website, Books and My Backpack (See List of Book Reviews in the menu).

Three stand out. If adventure is what you seek, North to Alaska is for you. Trevor Lund, a young Englishman, writes about his 16,276-mile bicycle journey from the southern tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. Going the opposite direction in a van, Mary Hollendoner weaves a compelling story of her family’s van journey through Central and South America in Monkeys on the Road.

Lund and Hollendoner endure challenges that would send most of us home and they bring home experiences that transformed their lives.

If you are weary of people who put happy faces on even the most difficult times, you will be drawn to my third choice, Toxic Positivity, by Whitney Goodman. This book more than lived up to the hype it attracted.

Click on the titles to read my review about each book.

What were your favorite books of 2022?

Englishman Spins an Unforgettable Adventure Story

Reg Spittle 2 Comments

Two wheels.

16,276 miles.

Sweat and courage.

120 flats, 23 bear sightings.

Never quit.

Trevor Lund, a young Englishman, turns out to be more than an astonishing adventurer. In North to Alaska, he writes a story that kept me up at night, unable to put it down so I could sleep.

He bicycles from the southern tip of South America to the northern tip of Alaska, skipping Colombia only because of the dangers posed by unrest there.

He rides most of the way alone, but generosity, friendship, extreme challenges, and danger follow him as he struggles to make his 10-year dream come true.

He transforms hardships into wisdom:

“I had run out of water crossing the driest desert in the world, dislocated my shoulder descending the Andes, been ‘rained’ on by an erupting volcano, been robbed by three desperate men in Quito and sung to bears to keep them at bay. And, oh my word, how wonderful that all those things happened to me.”

And words that many adventurers can relate to:

“I had many stories to tell but few people on this planet could begin to comprehend what I had been through.”

One bicycle.

Two continents.

Limitless endurance.

Trevor Lund, author and adventurer extraordinaire.