The Lost Cyclist

by David V. Herlihy

In the late 1880s, Frank Lenz of Pittsburgh, a renowned high-wheel racer and long-distance tourist, dreamed of cycling around the world. He finally got his chance by recasting himself as a champion of the downsized â safety-bicycleâ with inflatable tires, the forerunner of the modern road bike that was about to become wildly popular. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out west to cover twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for Outing magazine. Two years later, after having survived countless near disasters and unimaginable hardships, he approached Europe for the final leg.

He never made it. His mysterious disappearance in eastern Turkey sparked an international outcry and compelled Outing to send William Sachtleben, another larger-than-life cyclist, on Lenzâ s trail. Bringing to light a wealth of information, Herlihyâ s gripping narrative captures the soaring joys and constant dangers accompanying the bicycle adventurer in the days before paved roads and automobiles. This untold story culminates with Sachtlebenâ s heroic effort to bring Lenzâ s accused murderers to justice, even as troubled Turkey teetered on the edge of collapse.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel, Adventure, Cycling, Biography, Sports

326 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

David V. Herlihy (born July 30, 1958) is an author and historian. He is notable for writing Bicycle: The History, published by Yale University Press, and Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance. He has also presented at the International Cycling History Conference and has published an opinion piece on cycling in The New York Times. He graduated from Harvard University in 1980 and is an alumnus of the Harvard Cycling Club. He is the son of noted historians David and Patricia Herlihy.