A comprehensive guide to preparing for and hiking the Appalachian Trail

    As the Vietnam war took more and more of his friends, and many of those who returned sank further into drugs and despair, Stan looked for meaning and found nothing. His life's purpose lay thirty-three hundred miles northwest, deep in the Tozitna River Valley in the heart of Alaska's frozen interior. Deadly cold, famine, grizzly bears, and one unruly sled dog with a grudge kept Stan on the knife's edge between survival and death. Humbled by the power of nature, the Boston greaser who was destined for prison found a new life in the wild, where one mistake can prove fatal. This is the true story of Stan Zuray's incredible journey; the reformation of a man's heart and mind in the forbidding darkness of Alaska's endless winter.

    Hiking the trail also meant a dramatic shift in perspective, a strengthening of love and friendship, and a redefining of the journey.This is the story of the couple's 3,000 mile walk on the Continental Divide Trail, through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Both Optimist and Stopwatch play a role in narrating the story, revealing how differently they both think and act in the face of challenges but also how well they work together to complement each other.Few people know about the Continental Divide Trail and even fewer have hiked the entire length of it, creating an air of mystery surrounding the trail. Optimist and Stopwatch explore the many layers of the trail life on the Continental Divide Trail as they make their way over desolate terrain, eventually finding solace in the very aspects of the trail that made them question their desire to ever take on such a challenge.

    Behind Bradley Wiggins, there was Sean Yates. One of only five Britons to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, Sean Yates burst onto the cycling scene as the rawest pure talent this country has ever seen. After turning professional at the age of 22, he soon became known as a die-hard domestique, putting his body on the line for his teammates. Devastatingly fast, powerful, and a fearless competitor, Yates won a stage of the Tour, as well as the Vuelta a España, in 1988, and went on to don the coveted maillot jaune six years later. Having put British cycling on the map as a rider, Yates was soon in demand as a directeur sportif, using his tactical knowledge to inspire a new generation of cyclists to success. And after Team Sky came calling, Yates was the man to design the brilliant plan that saw Sky demolish the opposition in 2012, and for Bradley Wiggins to become the first cyclist from these shores to win the Tour. Straight-talking, entertaining, and revelatory, It's All About the Bike is the story of a remarkable career told from the unique perspective of a man who is immersed in the history of the sport he loves.

    For five months I hiked through the California desert, the snows of the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. My goal was to succeed in an epic challenge: to hike 2,650 miles and reach Canada before the October snows. It was an unforgettable summer of sunrises, river crossings, and high mountain passes; of physical and mental challenges and peaceful wilderness camps under the stars. In the fall colors of September I reached the border of Canada.This is the story of my thru-hike.

    She is daunted by busy dangerous roads, wild animals and the possibility of getting lost. And yet in 2013, completely unprepared and unsure if she can make it to London 60 miles away, she sets off around-the-world with her bicycle, Percy, and her mother's ashes.Unchained is a deeply personal travelogue about an around-the-world bicycle tour and the journey within. The story gradually unfolds as she crosses beautiful but unfamiliar lands with a fully loaded bicycle whilst struggling with the recent loss of her mother and her feelings of love.Ruby's journey, that takes her cycling across 5 continents, is a story about the ups and downs of the road, the highs and lows of life, trusts and betrayals, the loving kindness of nameless strangers, and a slow realisation of our deep connection with nature and the oneness of humanity. But above all, it is a tale of love.

    Once I felt comfortable, I radioed down to Stu.'I'm just gonna unclip quickly,' I said.My walkie-talkie crackled straight away. Stu sounded pretty stressed. 'Dude, keep the rope on!'I edged forward, my hands and feet scoping out the summit for any loose rock. The ridge pinnacle was still only a meter wide, if that, but I felt pretty stable.'This bit's fine,' I said. 'The rope makes it harder for me...'Danny MacAskill lives on the edge.The cyclist is legendary for his YouTube viral videos like The Ridge, Cascadia and Imaginate: nerve-racking montages of stunts which scale everything from mountain peaks, rooftops, ghost towns and movie sets. His life is one of thrills, bloody spills and millions of online hits.It hasn't been an easy ride. Doubt, stress and the 'what if?' factor circle every trailblazing trick, which require imagination, fearlessness, groundbreaking techniques and an eye for a good camera angle. He has spent his life pushing the extremes; somehow, he's still around to tell the tale.In this unflinching memoir of mayhem, Danny shares his anarchic childhood on the Isle of Skye and early days as a street trials rider, takes us behind the scenes of his training and videos, shares never-seen-before sketches from his personal notebook, and reveals what it takes to go the next level - both mentally and physically.Join Danny for a nerve-shredding ride. Just be sure to bring a crash helmet.

    When the challenge of hiking the entire 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine called out to him, he knew he had to show his scouts and others he had the perseverance to accomplish a dream. On a cold January morning, he set off alone from Georgia and started his nearly 5 month adventure to Maine. The challenges and tragedies he faced before and during his hike tested his resolve and changed his life. In Walking to Maine, readers join Glenn on the Appalachian Trail as he battles the mountains and the weather through 14 states seeking to push himself out of his comfort zone and to learn more about himself. He will meet interesting people from all walks of life and discover the goodness that stills exists in the hearts of total strangers. Along the way he will encounter brutal conditions and personal tragedy. Through it all he will follow the same lessons he taught his scouts and keep pushing north towards his goal. He will learn that the trail provides those who hike it everything they need and he will learn to enjoy the simple pleasures that we all take for granted in our daily lives.

    In this big-hearted collection of stories, Joe -- dubbed the "Metal Cowboy" by a blind rancher he encountered one icy morning in Idaho -- tells of his whimsical, wild adventures through the American landscape.

    So when he meets and falls for Rachel, he's ready to go wherever she'll take him. In a whirlwind of new love, they embark on a bicycle trip from northern Wisconsin to western Oregon. As the pair progress through stunning landscapes, they contend with merciless winds, vivid characters, broken bikes and bodies, and the looming question of what comes next. Funny, reflective, and candid, Going Somewhere invites bike enthusiasts, twenty-somethings, and armchair travelers alike to join Brian as he learns, mile by mile, how to move forward.

    Still, this isn't just any mountain-bike race. This is the Tour Divide.The Tour Divide race follows a fixed course called the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, crossing the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and ending in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. The Great Divide route is more than 2,700 miles: 500 miles longer than the Tour de France and involves more than 200,000 feet of ascent--the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest seven times.The other problem is that Howard has never owned a mountain bike--and how will training on the South Downs in southern England prepare him for sleeping rough in the Rockies? What's more, the efficient backup team that helped Howard in the Tour, his dad, will be absent. Undaunted, Howard swaps the smooth tarmac roads of France for the mud, snow, and ice of the Tour Divide, fending off grizzly bears, mountain lions, and moose. Buzzing roadside fans are replaced by buzzing mosquitoes. Worse is the unshakeable fear that he might have to earn his wild west stripes by drinking whiskey with a cowboy.Entertaining and engaging, Eat, Sleep, Ride will appeal to avid cyclers, ultra cycling fans, and readers of adventure travel narratives with a humorous twist.

    Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Crew Member goes below the waterline to explore the cramped, dirty, and dimly lit crew areas on a revealing tour of the ship's underworld. Go where no passenger has gone before and learn what the crew eats, where they sleep, how they party, and finally understand why all of the officers on a cruise ship are Italian.Climb aboard an adventure on the high seas and witness the wonderful side of ship life where crew members have whirlwind escapades while traveling the world aboard a massive sailing city.Drawing from his experiences working as a musician aboard cruise ships for more than five years, Joshua tells the laugh-out-loud funny and also beautifully poignant story of what cruise ship crew members experience from the minute they first step onto a ship to the day they walk down that gangway for the last time.

    There's a reason for that: Racing is not only incredibly difficult, it's downright excruciating, with the possibility for public humiliation never more than one pedal away. So when Natalie, Bill Strickland's preschool-aged daughter, asked him if he could win ten points during one racing season -- the bicycling equivalent of taking an at-bat against Randy Johnson or going one-on-one with Lebron James -- a sensible man wouldve just said no and moved on. Instead, Strickland decided to try.In the process, he discovered that he was racing toward the loving home life he cherished and, at the same time, trying to get away from something far worse -- his legacy of horrific childhood abuse. Strickland's memoir is filled with lyrical insights on training and dedication, racing scenes packed with nail-biting suspense, and powerful reflections on the meaning of family. Because for Strickland, it's definitely not about the bike.

    

    At 32 years old, he desperately needed to find direction and meaningful purpose in his life. With no physical training, he decided his answers were waiting for him somewhere along the historic 490-mile pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago in Spain. From the physical high of crossing the Pyrenees Mountains to the mind numbing rhythm of walking through the endless wheat fields of the Meseta, the route was filled with many challenges. Accompanied by his “guru” wife Amy, Schirm faces setbacks like bed bugs and tendinitis, all in the pursuit of elusive answers. The lessons came from the serendipitous experiences and conversations with fellow pilgrims from all over the world. Sunrises to Santiago chronicles a wondrous journey of personal growth, physical pain, and outdoor adventure while teaching us all to enjoy life’s incredible journey.