Meet the Author

After my first bike trip in Maine as a teenager, I took a bike touring vacation each of the next couple summers—one year in Alaska and the next from Seattle to San Francisco. I was hooked on bike touring as the perfect way to explore and get to know an area and its people.

During college, I spent my junior year abroad in Germany.  There I saw the potential of using bikes for transportation, and I started to dream.   An internship with the League of American Bicyclists led me to a career in bike advocacy.  Cycling became a lifestyle for me.  Wherever I went, I wanted it to be by bike.  My bike has traveled with me on trains and planes throughout the world, and my bike tours frequently begin and end at airports or train stations.

Before I accepted an offer from the Peace Corps to serve as a volunteer in the tiny southern African country of Lesotho, I called and asked to make sure I could bring my bike.  After completing my volunteer service, I stayed in southern Africa to travel.  The story of this trip, which began with a riding partner I met in person only when our plane landed in Malawi and ended months later alone, is my memoir I Never Intended to be Brave—A Woman’s Bicycle Journey Through Southern Africa.

My more recent bike tours have included the Black Hills of South Dakota and Morehead City, NC to Kiawah Island, SC.  The more of the world I explore by bicycle, the more I’m reminded how much there still is to see.