“No matter what or how you ride, read this book and remind yourself just how enjoyable cycling can and should be.”—Eben Weiss, author of The Enlightened Cyclist Just Ride is a revelation. Forget the ultralight, uncomfortable bikes, flashy jerseys, clunky shoes that clip onto tiny pedals, the grinding out of endless miles. Instead, ride like you did when you were a kid—just get on your bike and discover the pure joy of riding it. A reformed racer who’s commuted by bike every day since 1980, whose writings and opinions appear in major bicycling and outdoor magazines, and whose company, Rivendell Bicycle Works, makes bikes for riders ready to opt out of a culture overrun by racing, Grant Petersen shares a lifetime of unexpected facts, controversial opinions, expert techniques, and his own maverick philosophy. In 87 short, two-to-three page chapters, it covers: Riding: Count Days, Not Miles; Corner Like Jackie Robinson; Steer with Your Hips, Shift with Your Legs Suiting Up: The Shoes Ruse; Ponchos—the Ultimate Unracer’s Garment Safety: #1 Rule—Be Seen; Helmets Aren’t All They’re Cracked Up to Be Health and Fitness: Why Riding Is Lousy All-Around Exercise; Saddles Don’t Cause Impotence; Drink When You’re Thirsty—Not Before Also includes chapters on Accessories, Upkeep, and Technicalities, and a final chapter titled “Velosophy” that includes the essential, memorable thought: Your Bike Is a Toy—Have Fun with It. Winner Silver Medal 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards

As you head into the wind with five unique bikers, you will find yourself privy to their innermost thoughts as they set out on their next ride. Discover what urges each one further down the road in five short stories which make up this enlightening anthology. A Sissy Barr Book

This is a collection of Blake Parkers songs. Blake was a spoken word artist, performance poet, writer, lecturer, graphic designer, multi media artist and collaborator, known for his improvisation and evocative voice. As a teenager in the 50s, Blake was strongly influenced by the Beat poets who came before him. His lively, experimental spoken word projects reflect a mature yet quirky genre that is one of the predecessors of todays rap and hip hop. As part of the populist spoken word movement, his work aspires to an integration of high art & low entertainment. Blake worked with many musicians using his words and voice as instrument. At home, Blake played guitar, mostly the blues, constantly making up songs which were rarely part of his performance poetry. There were many variations and improvisations, the music was fluid and only some had more fixed ideas with chords. During the last years with a terminal diagnosis, Blake started to collate the songs, in hopes that other musicians and singers would keep them in the world. Blake Parkers blues, country and gospel songs are a mixture of profound, inspiring, and humorous lyrics ready to be put to music and sung. Check his website www.blakeparker.ca

This is your brain on Grant Petersen: Every comfortable assumption you have about a subject is turned upside down, and by the time you finish reading you feel challenged, energized, and smarter. In Just Ride—“the bible for bicycle riders” (Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review)—Petersen debunked the bicycle racing– industrial complex and led readers back to the simple joys of getting on a bike. In Eat Bacon, Don’t Jog, Petersen upends the last 30 years of conventional health wisdom to offer a clear path to weight loss and fitness. In more than 100 short, compelling directives, Eat Bacon, Don’t Jog shows why we should drop the carbs, embrace fat, and hang up our running shoes, with the latest science to back up its claims. Diet and Exercise make up the bulk of the book, with food addressed in essays such as “Carbohydrate Primer”—and why it’s okay to eat less kale—and “You’ll Eat Less Often If You Eat More Fat.” The exercise chapters begin with “Don’t Jog” (it just makes you hungry and trains muscle to tolerate more jogging while raising stressors like cortisol) and lead to a series of interval-training exercises and a suite of kettlebell lifts that greatly enhance strength and endurance. The balance of the book explains the science of nutrition and includes more than a dozen simple and delicious carb-free recipes. Thirty years ago Grant Petersen was an oat-bran-, egg-white-, lean-meat-eating exercise fanatic who wasn’t in great shape despite all that. Today, at sixty, he is in the best shape of his life with the blood panel to prove it.