I had no previous knowledge of the extreme sport, and for someone like me who’s into bikes, I was blown away. I can agree with one thing: this was a fascinating look at the world of long distance riding. But it often derailed into some strange- nearly obsessive- retelling of the author's encounters with the incomparable John Ryan. When the informative details were there, this book was great. In seeking to understand why people strive so mightily to reach a goal with no reward other than having gotten there, Pierson gives us an intimate glimpse of a singularly independent yet supportive community and a revealing portrait of its most daring member. But why? Melissa Holbrook Pierson, herself a longtime motorcyclist, chronicles the gratifications of long-distance riding as well as the challenges and solitude that accompany it. Perhaps the most determined of them is John Ryan, a diabetic and a man who even in late middle age loves nothing better than riding impossible distances at no small risk to himself. These men and women push the limits of human endurance, often in rides of more than one thousand miles a day. Here are the pleasures and perils of compulsive long-distance motorcycling-and one man's mission to outride everyone else.įor the 50,000 members of the Iron Butt Association-also known as the "World's Toughest Motorcyclists"-long-distance motorcycling is not a pastime but an obsession.
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