Eat, Sleep, Ride: How I Braved Bears, Badlands, and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide

by Paul Howard

Armed with wit and humour, an internationally acclaimed cycling writer tackles the longest mountain bike race in the world.

For Paul Howard, who has ridden the entire Tour de France route during the race itself--setting off at 4 am each day to avoid being caught by the pros--riding an adventure cycling race should hold little fear. Still, this isn't just any mountain-bike race. This is the Tour Divide.

The Tour Divide race follows a fixed course called the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, crossing the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and ending in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. The Great Divide route is more than 2,700 miles: 500 miles longer than the Tour de France and involves more than 200,000 feet of ascent--the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest seven times.

The other problem is that Howard has never owned a mountain bike--and how will training on the South Downs in southern England prepare him for sleeping rough in the Rockies? What's more, the efficient backup team that helped Howard in the Tour, his dad, will be absent. Undaunted, Howard swaps the smooth tarmac roads of France for the mud, snow, and ice of the Tour Divide, fending off grizzly bears, mountain lions, and moose. Buzzing roadside fans are replaced by buzzing mosquitoes. Worse is the unshakeable fear that he might have to earn his wild west stripes by drinking whiskey with a cowboy.

Entertaining and engaging, Eat, Sleep, Ride will appeal to avid cyclers, ultra cycling fans, and readers of adventure travel narratives with a humorous twist.

Genres: Cycling, Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Memoir, Sports, Bicycles

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Paul Howard is a journalist with The Irish Times on Saturday.
Howard is best known as the author of the paper's Ross O'Carroll-Kelly columns and has written a series of books based on the the character of Ross.

Howard is the former chief sportswriter for the Sunday Tribune, and a former Irish Sports Journalist of the Year. He has written several nonfiction books, including The Joy, an account of life in Mountjoy Prison, The Gaffers: Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the Team they Built, an account of the McCarthy–Keane clash during the run-up to the 2002 World Cup. He also co-authored Steve Collins' "autobiography", Celtic Warrior.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[thefourthvine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me almost a week to finish this book, and any time I read that slowly, you know it's not exactly a page-turner. This book is a perfectly standard example of travel writing (subgenre: biking), and nothing more, and although reading it was pleasant enough, there's a reason I kept nodding off after a few pages. It's. Well. Monotonous and not particularly gripping. Something like this needs a strong, compelling narrative voice to carry you through it, and Howard doesn't have that.

The one thing I did appreciate about this book -- it's a travel book written largely about the United States, by an outsider who has zero interest in learning about the country or culture. It's always a salubrious experience to get a taste of what other people experience with travel writing. Howard makes a bunch of mistakes, small and large, when discussing our culture (and has a tin ear for dialogue; how can you make every person who lives near the continental divide sound British?), and I appreciate that. It's a great reminder that travel writers are outside their bailiwicks and often don't have a clue.

So, all in all, a pleasant, undemanding, uninspired read. Recommended for people considering biking the continental divide, or who just deeply love to read about long bike trips.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Howard recounts a journey that surely qualifies as epic: the nearly 2,800 mile Tour Divide, a race from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico across North America's rugged spine, the Continental Divide. The book, aptly subtitled How I Braved Bears, Badlands and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide, offers a cyclist's eye view of 27 days spent pedaling--and sometimes pushing--from Canada to Mexico, climbing the equivalent of seven Mount Everests in the process. In this case, the eye is attached to a keenly observant and witty Brit, making for breezy reading, in contrast to the constant challenges the writer and his fellow racers face.

Two things are particularly prominent in Howard's narrative of cyclebound triumph and tribulation: the food and the camaraderie. First, food: did you know those salted nut rolls offer one of the best calorie-to-ounce ratios for those looking to gobble up maximum sugary energy? Did you know there is a town in New Mexico called Pie Town that offers an apple pie with chili pepper and piñon nuts? And did you know the British ask for their to-go food as "takeaway" and mean fries when they ask for "chips" with a burger, both of which can cause considerable translation difficulty for rural diner employees?

But beyond extolling the virtues of stuffing down tens of thousands of greasy calories to feed the raging furnace of a body pushed to its limits, the book resonates with a deep appreciation of the people with whom Howard undertakes this odyssey. After pedaling solo through miles upon miles of dense forest in Montana, which the author begins to see as a "green prison," he eventually finds the succor of companionship among the rolling cast of characters racing the 2009 version of Tour Divide. This loose-knit band of racers continues on, with some changes in membership, all the way to the race's southern terminus.

In addition to its focus on food and companionship, the book offers trenchant observations about the rural West, where small-town folk often eke out a meager existence as traditional industries like ranching and mining wane. Howard notes the curious and endearing way rural settlements nevertheless tend to "legitimize the tenuous present by celebrating fragments of a not particularly glorious history," as Lima, Montana does through a historical society housed in a dilapidated former stage wagon stop "on the verge of collapse." And although these folks are just barely making a living in many cases, their hospitality is as outsize as the big sky of Montana: Howard is bowled over on many occasions by the "North American penchant for spontaneous hospitality that can leave jaundiced Europeans choking on their cynicism."

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

so it is cold, wet and muddy, did I say it was cold? Eat as much as you can when you can, sing at the top of your voice through Bear Country, watch out for packs of mangy dogs, do not sleep in luxurious surroundings it makes you miss the comforts, sleep rough!!! and last but not least its bloomin' cold until you hit the hot part and then its hot! Great read if not a bit repetitive but it is Eat Sleep Ride....

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love biking, adventure stories, and exploring America, so I thought this book would be perfect for me. Instead, it was an overwritten book about a British guy being overwhelmed by America (This country is so big! People are so fat! Bears!) for 27 days of biking.

While I applaud his accomplishment of cycling the Great Divide, I do not recommend this book.

[Jessica Fellows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story. It was difficult to read at times because of the English being different than our English. Who would have thought, biker lingo would be easier to understand than simple English verbs in some cases. I will admit at times I wondered how he was managing to continue on in his journey. It was interesting to hear his take on what he found interesting history of the towns he traveled through. Pie Town I will some day visit!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a cyclist but this was highly entertaining to read.

[Martha☀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

After hearing and reading about the Tour Divide event, Paul Howard couldn't let go of the idea. In a sort of mid-life crisis, he left his family of four small children with his wife and headed to Banff, Canada to participate in this 2700 mile mountain bike adventure. Despite his lack of experience on a mountain bike and his absolute fear of outdoor wilderness, for 29 days he biked down the spine of the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. Each day, he cycled approximately 100 miles, sleeping and eating in the towns along the way.
For the first third of the book, Howard's dry English wit confounded me. I thought that his self-deprecating tone was serious and I wondered how he would be successful with such little self-confidence. But once I understood his style of humour, I laughed along with his misadventures and musings, enjoying his perspective of the people and attitudes that he experienced along the way.
Remarkably, Howard issues no complaints about the terrain, the course descriptions, the physical effort or the mechanical issues that he no doubt encountered during his adventure. Never does he talk about sore muscles, saddle discomfort or even the unseasonable weather patterns. He focuses on the facts and his observations each day, which is refreshing and surprising considering the mammoth task at hand.
A friend of mine is taking on the challenge of the Tour Divide this coming summer and I now have a slight understanding of what she may encounter. By no means is this a guide book for this adventure but instead it is a fun account of an amazing feat!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book became a bit repetitive near the end- "eat, sleep,ride" basically describes the content of each of the 31 chapters. However, the witty comments here and there and the descriptions of the scenery make it worth the read. I also think his attitude surrounding bears is quite funny.

Quotes from some parts I liked:

"Fortunately, a neighbourly couple explained the whole (check-in) process, and proffered some more bear advice. Given that he looked like a bear and she looked like she had just swallowed one whole, I felt inclined to believe them"

"I sang just to know I was alive. More significant, I sang to let the bears know I enjoyed being alive"

"...silvery twilight of a setting moon. Gradually, almost imperceptible, silver turned to golf as the influence of the moon succumbed to the power of the rising sun. Mesas n buttes, great erupions of rock from the surrounding plain, were first framed darkly against the horizon, then bathes in blazing light"

After being aattacked by dogs "They liked me so much they tried to eat me"

during a friend's crash "The front wheel migh have been intent on some off-loading; the rest of his bike and everything associated with it was still charging forwards. At some indefinable point in this instantaneous yet seemingly interminable battle, the back of the bike won."

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Howard conquers the Great Divide starting in Canada, all the way to Mexico. He braves the outdoors seeing bears, storms, and some of the strange locals of Western USA. Along the way intaking as much junk food that he can come across.

Sadly much of the book went over my head, but I love adventure tales especially when they're written in a good sense of humor. What I like about this book is that while the Tour Divide is a race that Paul was competing in, he created strong bonds with much of the racers. And there was only a few that actually finished.

A great book for those who read Bill Bryson's a Walk in the Woods. Very similar, except this is more of a bike through the wild frontier.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read about a Yorkshireman taking part in the Tour Divide, an unsupported 2,700-mile race down America's mountainous spine, from Banff in Canada to the Mexico border.

The snippets of history were interesting and the descriptions of the scenery were well done: it becomes clear from reading this account that the damage caused by mineral extraction to the lands of the US is quite breathtaking. Paul Howard doesn't harp on about it at all; he just describes the physical effects on the landscape.

Sometimes I found his prose a bit laboured, but overall I was deeply impressed by the effort involved in such an undertaking and interested to read about the lands and communities the riders encountered.

[Amy Anspach · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, the title just about describes it all: obligatory eating, insufficient sleeping, and excessive riding.

As much as I wanted to like a book about long-distance cycling, there was no compelling story. Turning the pages at times seemed nearly as laborious as the narrator describes his turning of the pedals.

I continued reading in hopes that a worthy story would emerge. However, it felt somewhat ironic at times: as the narrator contemplated what the point really was in attempting to make it all the way to the finish line, so did I.

Occasionally interesting but just not enough substance to justify this lengthy narrative.

[Chris Evenstar-ledoux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. As other reviewers have mentioned, Howard gives away the content of the book in the title. The book is compared to Bryson's Walk in the Woods...but Bryson weaves a lot into the narration: there is history, discussion of flora & fauna, and some all-around entertainment. Howard could have done a lot more with his story. I will take a moment to thank him, though, because I've added the Tour Divide to my own personal bucket list. We'll see what I can do with the story (when I sit down long enough to write it...)

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad, very slow start of book as author practices on the south downs UK, but pace picks up when he gets to Banff and proceeds to ride his mountain bike down the Rockies to Mexico. An interesting race in that the riders have to support themselves, no outside help allowed, and they have to navigate themselves (no small feat on mountain roads and trails), and audience can follow racers via GPS and internet.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about cycling can include different amounts of cycling specific detail that won't appeal to a broader audience. This book is quite light on the cycling, which is ok I suppose until you remember that it is about a bicycle race from Cananda to Mexico. I think a little more would have been good.

Generally it reads easily and the observations are interesting.

Photographs would have been nice to include.

[Alastair Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story of an amazing race, The Tour Divide, a mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico. A massive achievement and this is a no-frills and honest account of the trials and efforts involved. I would have liked to know a little bit more about the preparations and the kit, maybe with a few tips for anyone else considering it. But Howard is refreshingly honest about his feelings and frustrations, and there's plenty of interesting detail about the trail itself and the towns they visit.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this chronicle of Howard's ambitious effort to fulfill his son's wish that he not be last in the Tour Divide -- a trek by bike from Banff to the NM/Mexican border along the Continental Divide. It disappointed primarily because it is so overwritten. PH needed a better editor. It is worth a read in terms of getting a sense of the geography of the route and the impressive challenge of the race.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very easy and enjoyable read. The author seems to downplay his physical condition but he sometimes rides 135 miles in one day and does finish, a bit less self-deprecation would have been allowed. I enjoyed it most when he was interacting with his fellow riders. I did get a bit bored with his too frequent observations about the size of Americans. The author did come around eventually to the American tradition of the large breakfast.

[Lillsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The descriptions of the Tour Divide trail, as well as the food consumed, were inspiring. The point of view was also interesting, as the author is from the UK and cycles through remote western US landscapes and towns. However, it got a little tiring to be continually reminded how the author was an unprepared average bloke from Britain...who just happens to ride approximately 100 miles daily on a mountainbike throughout the race.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This couch potato thoroughly enjoyed this book about an amateur British cyclist who undertakes a mountain biking competition called the Tour Divide. With very little previous experience, he mountain bikes from Banff, Alberta to the Mexican border across the spine of the Rocky Mountains. It describes his adventures with shelter, food, weather, animals and of course fellow riders. Thanks, Hella ,for the recommendation.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up because my husband is a bike rider and does 300 mile + rides so I thought this would be interesting to read parts of to him. It was. The only thing is that I wish he would've included pictures. He does a good job of descriptions of places, but he talks a lot about the pictures he's taking, so I would've enjoyed actually seeing some of those pictures.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a well written travelouge type of book. this book moves along nicely, and has good humor. It was written by a Brit, and they thankfully kept it as such. They did not translate any terms for us Americans. It did take me a while to figure out what a quad bike was (a four wheeler), but it made it all the more fun to read!

[Jacqueline Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desperate for some excitement in his grey life, Howard decided to enter a 5,000km mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico. His cycling experience was limited. The book is a hilarious tale of his misadventures in a month long race. He did it – and his prize was simply the satisfaction of following a daydream.

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was prepared for a story of all the pain, determination, and adventures associated with the Tour...I didn't expect the description and history of the landscape that they passed along the way. Loved it!

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly not a book for everyone but a book that all of us cycling geeks can appreciate. This is a book heavy on repeating what went on in previous chapters but still I am glad that I read it. I no longer will complain about the minimal challenges I face when cycling.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this self deprecating account of an Englishman in north America on a bonkers bike race. A quick and easy read.

Don't read it when you are feeling hungry! The book concentrates mainly on the 'eat' part of the title. And boy, do these bike racer guys eat.

[Cynthia Frazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pleasant read, and as I startled/was startled by a bear on my last ride from Gunnison to Hutchkiss, his obcession with wildlife that might eat him in the country he was traveling through was understandable.

[Jeff Bartlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh throughout and inspired me to register for the 2014 Tour Divide. It's so rare for a book to actually succeed as a call to action, so I can't say much more about it.

If you are into adventure cycling, this is a must read.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to ride along, though I have no experience and no desire to ride a mountain bike. I appreciated the author's British wit and applaud his perserverance. Only one thing was missing... Pictures!

[Diane Macaluso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably would be enjoyed more by Chuck and Therese! But I did find it interesting and amazing that anyone would even try this ride!! I, for one, couldn't make it up the first "hill"!

[Michel B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. Merits 5 stars. My reasons for not giving 5 are a bit frivolous... If you enjoy cycling or travelling there's a good chance that you'll enjoy this easy read.