Peter Marsh finds a giant wooden mountain bike in a town square in Euskadi, 2013
My World on Wheels: By coincidence, 1962 was the year I discovered both bikes and boats and I have bounced between both sports/passions ever since. I have to admit it is a lot easier to practice cycling every day–for the last 14 years I have made a daily 5-mile commute along the Riverwalk in Astoria. And since 1997, I have made an international bike tour in the Americas and Europe every year. I have written for regional cycling papers since 1989, ridden across Oregon, Mexico, Patagonia and France. My latest discovery is riding beside canals. In 2012 I rode 300 miles along the Canal du Midi/ Lateral in S.W. France; in 2014, I rode over 900 miles on the rarely used Saint Lawrence River/ Lake Champlain/ Erie Canal route.
International and NW Bicycle Touring, Bike Racing & Book Reviews
I wrote all these stories on the list in 1989-2015 when I was a freelancer for two biking newspapers: Oregon Cycling based in Portland/Eugene and the Bike Paper in Seattle. They may get into the bike blog sometime, but I doubt I will ever bother to link the blog pages with this list.
Cancun-Celestun: a 300-mile bike ride across the Yucatan
La Rute de Cafe: a ride from the coast of Guatemala to the highest volcano in Central America
A Bike Tour Around the Big Island of Hawaii:
The Sea to the Stars: a bike ride up 13,700′ Mauna Kea, highpoint of Hawaii
Chile: Biking the fjords of the Pacific Southwest
Biking Across Patagonia
Biking on the Border: Touring Tijuana by Bike
A Canterbury Tale: a short tour around SE England
Patagonia–the Vast Wild Region of Southern Argentina: and how I traveled there by bus and bike
Northwest Bicycle Touring
A Bike Ride Across Oregon from the Snake River to the Wilamette
The Steens Rim in SE Oregon: my first serious bicycle ascent
Riding from remote Leslie Gulch to Jordan Valley
The First Mt Hood Bike & Ski: strange but true!
Rubber to the Road: my guidebook to bike rides around Portland, has been well received.
The first printing of 5,000 sold out. It is now in its second edition.
Bicycle Sports
Oregon Cycling magazine, where I was the editor in 1989-90
Merckx, Boardman, Longo and the Hour Record: chasing the unforgiving hour
Bikes, Lies & Videotape: truth and fiction on tape
Something to Aim At: a review of the video about the life of Tommy Simpson
Our Pal Greg Lemond: an evening with America’s first Tour de France winner
The Yellow Jersey: a review of a rather vulgar English bike-racing novel
“My Brilliant Career in Multisports”–
How I won a Medal in the Olympics in 2000
The First Willamette Paddle-Pedal a five-day journey down the Willamette by kayak, then back to the source by bike
The Duathlon: Double the Effort and the Satisfaction
The Big Hurt: the unofficial NW championship of adventure racing
The Subaru Gorge Games:The “Outdoor Olympics”
Interviews With Outspoken Riders
Meeting with Professor Iain Boal: an English academic who rides and studies bikes and bicyling
Going the Distance: How George Thomas, Oregon-based cyclist, overcame epilepsy and completed the Race Across America
Travel/Adventure Book Reviews
“Source to Sea:” Film of the first swim down the Columbia River
An Introduction to Kiteboarding for Sailing World
The Subaru Gorge Games: The “Outdoor Olympics” based in Hood River, Oregon
Rafting the Bruneau-Jarbidge Rivers (The Paddler-the national magazine for the sport)
Taking the Glacier Express:A sightseeing trip from Juneau (for the Chicago Tribune)
The Long Journey of the Gray Whale to the Lagoons of Baja
“Badlands” by Jonathan Raban – how the first farmers were convinced to settle on the dry prairies of the Great Basin