The First Big Ride: A Woman's Journey

by Eloise Hanner

Book Overview

The First Big Ride: A Woman's Journey, by Eloise Hanner, is the story of the first Big Ride across America from Seattle to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1998. This is not the story of an athletic event so much as it is an inspiration for everyone who sits at a desk and wonders if the time for adventure has passed them by.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581821441
• ISBN13: 9781581821444
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

True to Life, Fun and Funny

The First Big Ride is easy to read, easy to feel "with" the author, as she decides to do the ride and proceeds. Many humorous moments along the way. (And scary ones going over the snowy mountains!) Great book to stuff in your travel bag or to enjoy on a rainy afternoon. My family of 3 passed it around--everybody said, "good read"!

A Wonderful Story

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.

A Great True Story

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 trainng, 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.

Thorougly enjoyable ride (oops - "read")

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. Thorougly enjoyable and engrossing!