A gripping account of small-scale adventure and self-discovery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A universal story of healing, hope, grit, and determination. Alenka’s bike trip from Tahoe to Baja is a heroine’s journey that will hold you in its grip. But it’s also a love story—about knowing what matters most and finding your way back home.”
—Valerie Andrews, editor of Reinventing Home and author of A Passion for this Earth
“Alenka Vrecek invites us to sit side-saddle as she rides from Tahoe to the tip of Baja, battling headwinds and heartache, illness and injury, and others' ideas of who and how a fifty-four-year-old woman should be. Gripping, wise, and snort-coffee-out-your-nose funny, She Rides will make you want to drop everything, get good and lost, and find your way back home.”
—Brian Benson, author of Going Somewhere
“She Rides is heartfelt and riveting from the opening lines. So much more than a grueling bicycle adventure, Vrecek openly shares her feelings of longing for her home country, the fallout from the dissolution of her first marriage, and the prospect that she might not recover from cancer. Ultimately, through courage, fortitude, and sheer badass strength, she makes the most important discovery of all, that she can unflinchingly face any challenge and confront every obstacle head on. And that she’s just fine being who she is.”
—Michael Shapiro, author of A Sense of Place
“We all embark on journeys of discovery, whether in our own neighborhood or faraway lands, but few of us take on the rigors that Alenka Vrecek does in She Rides. The psychological and emotional challenges of this solo-cycling marathon from Lake Tahoe to southern Baja are as daunting as the physical ones, but she navigates them all, emerging from the experience having found what she was seeking: her place in the world.”
—Larry Habegger, Executive Editor of Travelers’ Tales Books
“In She Rides, Alenka Vrecek finds inner strength and a community that crosses both borders and boundaries as she travels by mountain bike alone on backroads from Lake Tahoe, California, to La Ventana, Baja. Her exciting story will be inspirational—and maybe even a comfort—to women across the globe.”
—Laura Read, journalist, photographer, and editor
“Daring herself with the fantasy of bicycling from Tahoe to Baja—right after a string of daunting medical challenges—Alenka Vercek proves that our only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves. Filled with scenic beauty and personal reflection, She Rides is a keenly observed account of Vercek’s odyssey through many worlds, inner and outer.”
—Jeff Greenwald, author of Snake Lake
“She Rides is a tale of the spunk, perseverance, and desire it took for Alenka to not only finish the ride but always live life to the fullest. It’s also funny, humble, and a touching tribute to the human spirit.”
—Tim Hauserman, author of Going it Alone: Ramblings and Reflections from the Trail
05/01/2023
There is a long lineage of women soloing on demanding adventures and writing books about their journeys. Vrecek joins in with her account of a cycling trip she took in the wake of rigorous cancer treatments and midlife self-doubt. Born in Slovenia, Vrecek enjoyed early good health and stamina before moving to the U.S., where she became an expert skier and sportswoman and a mother of three. A breast cancer diagnosis, however, hit her confidence hard. She found redemption in the challenge of a 2,524-mile bicycling trip from Lake Tahoe, CA, to La Ventana, Mexico. During her ride, she encounters the natural world in all its fierceness, as well as many supportive responses from the people she meets along the way. The author documents her trip via her frequent reports to her husband and friends, who tracked her progress on a GPS. VERDICT Vrecek's passion for her ride goes far toward offering a fresh take on traveling the difficult road to self-actualization.—Dorian Gossy
2023-02-12
Vrecek’s memoir recounts a solo bike ride from Lake Tahoe to Baja California.
The author, a Slovenian immigrant and skiing coach–turned–business owner, celebrates pushing oneself beyond what one thought possible in this debut. After surviving a bad marriage, multiple cancers, and her second husband’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, Vrecek embarked on a solo “bikepacking” journey in 2018from one home in Lake Tahoe to her other home in Baja California, carrying camping equipment (including a tent) with her on a mountain bike that she dubbed The Beast. Most of the book chronicles this ride, characterized by punishing heat, rugged terrain, long stretches of isolation, tough physical challenges, and the kindness of strangers, which continued to amaze Vrecek throughout her trip, especially after crossing the Mexican border. The book includes multiple accounts of setbacks (including digestive issues) that threaten to derail her trip but ultimately don’t. This kind of personal journey narrative can be clichéd, but Vrecek avoids this with earthy, ironic humor: “ ‘You goddamn idiot,’ I murmur. ‘You went on this trip to live, not to die!’ I wiggle my toes. I wiggle my fingers. I squeeze my butt cheeks. Strange energy surges through me.” The book is full of aphorisms that might be grating were they not so thoroughly justified in the context of the story, as when Vrecek describes her midtrip communications with her children, whom she was desperate not to let down: “Face adversity head-on, accept it, and keep moving forward.” Vrecek is refreshingly unsparing when recounting things that went wrong—including the consequences of eating an unripe pitaya dulce fruit. After a somewhat slow start in which Vrecek details her immigration and first marriage, her story gains momentum and remains engaging to the end.
A gripping account of small-scale adventure and self-discovery.