Cross Country Bike Trip Revisited in Gripping New Memoir Uphill and Into the Wind

    SAN DIEGO, CA, December 08, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When he wrote Uphill and Into the Wind, author David W. Reed didn't mean to tap into a national trend. He just wanted to share the story of biking across the United States with two friends in 1974. As it turns out, the year 2020 has seen an "explosion in cycling" in the United States, according to the World Cycling Center.

What's more: the organization reports that 2020 will be the biggest year for cycling among Americans since 1973. More people are buying all types of bicycles and using them for both transportation and recreation. "There is a real biking boom," says Reed. This may be the reason the new memoir has soared to the #2 spot of Amazon Kindle's New Release in Adventure and Explorer Biographies. Some say Reed's vivid characterization of the seventies, an era that mirrors our own political climate, is an equally compelling element of the book.

The year 1974 was also a time when the nation was divided by the Vietnam War and the White House was in turmoil. Like many young people today, twentysomething David Reed wanted to escape the negativity and explore the country. Along with two new friends in New Jersey, Reed put film in his camera, packed his folded maps, hopped on his ten-speed bike and began pedaling west to -- as Simon and Garfunkel sang just years earlier -- look for America.

Recently released, Uphill and Into the Wind, a 1970s bike and hike odyssey from the Garden State to the Golden Gate covers 5,420 miles, eleven crossings of the Continental Divide and two months hiking in the great national parks. Reed, along with new friends Rusty and Susie, gets more than he bargains for, with menacing animals, extreme weather, and astonishing encounters.

Brimming with adventure, the book chronicles the sudden and surprising glories of nature, the raw beauty of the land, and the ferocious grandeur of the American landscape.

Reed is donating a portion of the sales of his book to the Environmental Defense Fund to help combat the impacts of climate change.

PRAISE FOR UPHILL AND INTO THE WIND

"David Reed's fine book reminds us of what was unique and often forgotten about the generation that came of age in the '60s and '70s. The freedom, the love of country, a kind of patriotism rare today; the romanticism, the saying 'yes' to life; and most of all, the hope. David's book reminds us of the America we went looking for, and, with courage and faith, might once again seek."

- Richard Louv, bestselling author of Last Child in the Woods and Our Wild Calling

# # #