Momentum book club: A roundup of inspiring bike therapy books

“Life is like riding a bicycle,” said cycling enthusiast Albert Einstein. “To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Every kid knows that riding a bike is good for you, and adults have a vast library of medical research to back it up. Exercise is great for our bodies, of course, but the endorphins and blood flow also improve our moods. Plenty of riders refer to cycling as their “therapy,” and in many cases, it’s the literal truth.

Several authors have documented this transformative power in books; in each, a protagonist struggling with mental health finds comfort and conviction on regular rides. Some are travelers, others are racers, and each hits the road in his or her own way. The bike isn’t the only thing that helped them; human interaction and good advice went a long way, too. But the bicycle features prominently in these narratives. 

Here is our roundup of the best bike therapy books right now.

With You By Bike: One Couple’s Life-Changing Journey Around the World

The Rosens had grown apart, and their marriage teetered on divorce, when Katrina asked Mike to bike around the world with her. Katrina was a seasoned endurance athlete, but she had never bike-packed across entire countries before; Mike was an experienced traveler but knew little about cycling. Together, the couple put their professional lives on hold and rode a large section of their native Canada, then the U.S., then large swathes of Asia. Katrina Rosen chronicles their last-ditch effort to rebuild their relationship in bicycle saddles, as they weather frigid campgrounds, sweltering rainforest, remote riverboats, and at least one hotel burglary. With You By Bike balances travel story with sports saga and a healthy dose of couples’ therapy.

Riding Out: A Journey of Love, Loss and New Beginnings

Simon Parker is a British writer and television presenter who has traveled the globe and crossed entire continents by bicycle. You would think, from his articles and programs, that the man fears nothing. But when COVID-19 descended on the United Kingdom, Parker faced financial ruin, repressed anxieties, and several personal losses. Grounded and directionless, Parker embarked on a 5,500-kilometer bike ride around the isle of Britain. He rediscovered his own country and visited obscure towns and coastal regions for the first time. Riding Out is a travelog that touches on mental health, pandemic struggles, and the tensions of a post-Brexit Britain. Parker is happily on the road again and is working on his second book, Fractured States, but Riding Out is an enduring memorial to that soul-searching time.

This Road I Ride: Sometimes It Takes Losing Everything to Find Yourself

It’s hard to believe that Juliana Buhring, who had never been much of an athlete, rode a bicycle around the world in 152 days. She took this challenge seriously, carrying a GPS to track her movements and adhering to strict rules by the Guinness Book of World Records, including a prohibition on doubling-back, even when misdirected. Why push herself over 29,000 kilometers? Buhring grew up in a global Christian network called Children of God, which is widely regarded as a predatory cult. She documented her escape from Children of God in a co-authored 2007 memoir, Not Without My Sister. In an effort to rebuild her identity and sense of independence, Buhring set an impossible-sounding goal – to ride against the clock over four continents. Her book is a grueling account of the journey, which opened the door to a career in endurance racing.

Ten Points: A Memoir

Bill Strickland is best known in the cycling world as two-time editor-in-chief of Bicycling magazine, and he could easily have ended his bio there. But as he reveals in Ten Points, Strickland was the victim of unspeakable childhood abuse, and he buried this trauma for years before finding a treatment that worked: bike racing. Strickland’s young daughter sets proposed an unlikely athletic challenge for him – to earn 10 “points” in a single racing season – and the veteran road- and cyclocross racer picks up the gauntlet. As Strickland pushes himself to his physical limits, he also faces the ghosts of his past and the shortcomings of his personal life. 

A Midlife Cyclist: The Road Map for the +40 Rider Who Wants to Train Hard, Ride Fast and Stay Healthy

Phil Cavell faced an malady that will affect 100 percent of humans who live long enough: He was getting older. But Cavell noticed that middle-aged adults in the 21st Century weren’t necessarily resigning themselves to high cholesterol and sedentary office jobs, and he wanted to coach athletic forty-somethings into great physical shape. The Midlife Cyclist is a breezy road map for would-be cyclists who never imagined what life would be like past 39. He’s also the founder and CEO of Cyclefit, “Europe’s first centre devoted to modern bike-fitting and cycling-analysis.” Midlife is geared to readers interested in fitness and speed, but these chapters offer pointers for all kinds of riders.

The Memory of Running

When we meet Smithy, he is a self-loathing war veteran struggling with alcohol and mounting health problems. As personal tragedies pile up, Smithy must decide whether to keep going down his self-destructive path or… ride a bicycle from Rhode Island to California. Ron McLarty’s 2004 novel is a work of fiction, but it remains a beautiful character study of a newbie cyclist with 5,000 kilometers of open road and nothing left to lose. The book faced many rejections until it found a celebrity champion, Stephen King, and The Memory of Running became a New York Times bestseller. King ended up writing his own bicycle story, Stationary Bike, whose audiobook was narrated by none other than the late McLarty.