A Ride Across America: A 4,000-Mile Adventure Through the Small Towns and Big Issues of the USA

On the eve of the 2024 election, a fascinating – and frequently funny – tale of one man cycling the breadth of America.

‘Finally, I emerged onto a sealed asphalt walkway, with twigs in my hair and blood streaming down my legs. Feeling like David Livingstone without a machete, I had tamed the impenetrable woodlands of Eastern Mississippi. Hurrah! But then my sense of adventure sobered suddenly, when a woman in yoga pants and flipflops wandered past, walking a Bichon Frisé.’

Frustrated by the shallow headlines focusing only on Trump, guns and divisions, award-winning travel writer Simon Parker decided that to better understand the USA he would have to travel across it, slowly. Did the America of his teenage dreams really exist? And was it really as fractured as the headlines suggest?

On his journey to find out, Simon cycled 4,373 miles through eleven states and numerous extreme weather events, via mountains and prairie lands, forests and freeways. Along the way he visited homes, schools, churches and rodeos, meeting hundreds of (extra)ordinary Americans behind the clickbait news posts to discover a nation whose portrayal has become vastly oversimplified.

‘Parker magnificently chronicles the America he encounters, a divided, disfranchised collection of states he fears for but comes to love for their generosity, community spirit and sense of hope.’

Ben East, Observer

 

‘An absolutely brilliant book! Our book of the week. And one of the best books I’ve read all year.’

Paul Ross, TalkSport

 

‘What sets Simon Parker’s book apart is his motivations, more specifically his desire to see whether the America he envisioned as a teen really exists. This makes it so much more than a merely observational book – he’s genuinely determined to take a deep dive into today’s USA. In doing so, he also provides a fascinating insight into the workings of tourism across the pond.’ *****

Independent

 

‘A fabulous book. Simon Parker’s cycling odyssey takes you to the heart of modern America.’

Daily Express

‘I am in awe of his achievement, and by that I do not mean the long, difficult days of riding … What truly amazed me was the breadth and diversity of the encounters he relates, often verbatim; the journalism that weaves in the voices of the unhoused, migrants and marginalised with whom he shares the road … What Parker has managed with this book is a journalistic and a physical feat: it is the book I wish I’d written.’

The Tablet

 

‘The most entertaining travel writing book I’ve read in quite a while, and an enthralling portrait of an enormously diverse country we routinely over-simplify.’

Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller

 

‘From overheated bras to over doctored coffee, America’s charming oddness summed up in a blast of entertainment and information. A wonderful companion to America, thoughtful, fun and always willing to be surprised by a nation of dizzying complexity.’

Justin Webb, BBC

Read an extract. Also available in ebook.