The Cyclist's Bucket List: A Celebration of 75 Quintessential Cycling Experiences

by Ian Dille

The smell of lavender at a roadside picnic, waiting for the Tour de France to race past. The Pacific Ocean view from the 10,000-foot summit of Hawaii's Haleakala volcanic crater (after 5 hours of uphill riding). A fresh Fat Tire ale hitting your lips at the new Belgium brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. These, and a wide-ranging variety of other experiences, all rooted to a specific location or event, comprise The Cyclist's Bucket List . The book definitively catalogs both the iconic and little known-the accessible and aspirational-sensory and emotional experiences that instill cyclists with a deep passion for the sport.

In this book, Ian Dille compiles and showcases the world's quintessential cycling experiences through extensive research and interviews with expert sources, vivid storytelling, stunning photography, and compelling design. The format includes lengthy in-depth descriptions as well as much shorter, easy to consume write-ups, ranging from locations such as Italy and Belgium to Nova Scotia and Texas.

The Cyclist's Bucket List will serve as an indispensible, lifelong guide for every cyclist.

Genres: Cycling, Travel, Reference, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2015

Reviews

[Tj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Contains very little useful information. Many other better sources out there, including the front page of a Google search. 0 maps. Hardly any pictures. Nothing interesting in this book. Would not spend any money on this book

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cycling, across six continents.

[John Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dille has done a wonderful job with this book. It is a collection of essays about amazing bike rides all over the world. Each stands alone as a great work of nonfiction. Although the writing is excellent, I think a few more photos would bring it to life for me. I found this to be an easy, enjoyable book to read. It would appeal to any cyclist and to some travelers looking for new adventures. Most of the rides described, however, are for serious, very skilled riders. I am a recreational rider and would never even consider most of these rides. I have no intention of ever riding through the badlands of North Dakota, and while I am sure Bolivia is a beautiful country to see, I would not even think about a ride down a mountain spotted with crosses where other riders have gone over the edge of a cliff and died. No thank you. There are a couple of rides in this book I do hope to try. RAGBRAI is something I've thought about for years, and I would love to ride the Natchez Trace. And the description Dille gave makes me want to see Cadillac Mountain and ride the Carriage Roads of Maine.

I would love it if Ian Dille's next project is a recreational rider's bucket list of beautiful, scenic rides for riders of all levels. I would read it and I believe I would probably visit a few of the rides.

[Gian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very little information provided. No maps and few photos. Some destinations only warranted a page with barely a paragraph of description. Very disappointing!

[Taylor Rebne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to reread when chosing a bikepack trip

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The inside of the dust jacket states that the book "catalogs both the iconic and little known-the accessible and aspirational-sensory and emotional experiences that instill cyclists with a deep passion for the sport."

Well, perhaps. The book is organized geographically, by continent (more or less). The number of "experiences" described per region varies considerably - Africa gets one (although it crosses the entire continent north-to-south) while North America gets 33.

The type of "cycling experiences" described range from truly iconic professional races such as Paris-Roubaix to identification of places that would be nice to ride, wuch as the San Juan Islands of Washington state or Moab of Utah. The length and quality of the descriptions also varies widely.

For a coffee table sort of book, there are, when you stop to think about it, remarkably few photographs. Several of the two or three page descriptions, such as of RAGBRAI, have no photographs at all. Other than a few photos of the Tour d'Afrique at the beginning (provided by the Tour's organization) the rest seem to be purchases from Getty Images or the like, not produced for this book, shot by different photographers. They all meet the requirements of typical Bicycling magazine "dramatic place bicycle photography."

There is some "get there" and other on-the-spot information that might be helpful to someone who chose to read about one of these rides with an interesting to actually doing one, but not much - this is in way (OK, perhaps in a slight way) a reference book for embarking on these rides.

A public library near you may have this book. Sure, check it out, look through it, return it. It won't disappoint in that case. But this is not a cycling book to own and return to again and again.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book details "75 quintessential cycling experiences". I entered the giveaway for this book so I could give it to my husband, an avid cyclist, but the pictures are so beautiful, I had to read it myself!! I found the book very readable, and especially enjoyed the descriptions of the rides through other countries. It's impossible to read this book and NOT say "oh, man, that sounds awesome!!" As for my husband, I can see him plotting trips now.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves cycling. It also makes a great gift!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift, and it's sat on the shelf for a few months... but once I started I found it to be more inspiring and thoughtful than expected. I thought it would be 'just another coffee table book' but it had real research about places that were genuinely different, real stories of real cyclists doing the riding, and a sense of adventure in each journey.
I came with scepticism as the last version of this kind of book could have been written by google, with zilch riding experience mentioned; an elaborate travel hoax kind of book.
There are actually rides in it that I would make time to go and do, having read about them.

[Michelle Carrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just an all around cool book! Can't wait to pass it on to my cycling family members!