This is not a book about gear ratios or race results. It's about the human spirit, tracing the strange and beautiful lineage of the bicycle through thirty-three unforgettable lives. People who rode to think, and explore, and defy logic, and challenge convention. You'll meet riders like:

Anthony Pizzo, who rode across the United States handcuffed to his bicycle to encourage new recruits for the Navy.
Tommy Godwin, who rode two hundred miles a day through blackouts and blizzards to set a record that stood for seventy-five years.
José Meiffret, who had a skull and crossbones woven onto his jersey before riding 200 km/h on a German autobahn.
Freddie Mercury, who never rode a bicycle, but watched the Tour de France from his hotel window and wrote an anthem that still rings in the ears of riders everywhere.
Nelson Vails, who pedaled out of Harlem traffic and into the velodrome, the first Black American cyclist to win an Olympic medal.
Vedangi Kulkarni, who rode around the world twice before her 27th birthday, chased by wild dogs, magpies, and her own unrelenting will.

Blending meticulous research with literary storytelling, Thirty-Three Cyclists is a love letter to motion, memory, and the insatiable human desire to go further. This book is a celebration of the outsiders, visionaries, record-setters and rule-breakers who remind us what's possible on a bicycle.