Armed with wit and humour, an internationally acclaimed cycling writer tackles the longest mountain bike race in the world.

For Paul Howard, who has ridden the entire Tour de France route during the race itself—setting off at 4 am each day to avoid being caught by the pros—riding an adventure cycling race should hold little fear. 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.

Paul Howard's first book, Riding High: Shadow Cycling the Tour de France, was shortlisted for the National Sporting Club's Best New Sports Writer prize, while his Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape, an account of the first five-time Tour de France winner Jacques Anquetil, was shortlisted in the Biography of the Year category at the British Sports Book Awards.

Paul Howard's profile page

Unlike a lot of the more inspirational sports books, this one truly inspires to get one off the couch. Howard has a lot of fun on the way down, and shows that people really can participate in major sporting events; it's not the goal that counts but the journey there. Or simply that you get off the couch and on the trail. This is an incredible book, and definitely should find itself on the reading list of every potential athlete, especially those that want to participate but just can't find what inspires them; this book will inspire them. —Portland Book Review

Howard comes across as a nice guy and a passionate cyclist. Be warned—that passion is contagious. You may just end up as a grizzly bear aperitif en route to Antelope Hills. —National Post

Howard has a rather dry sense of humor and his perspective on American customs and society is fun to read. Eat, Sleep, Ride is very well written and a joy to read. —All Season Cyclist

Tongue in cheek, [Paul Howard] endures the nastiest of weather and the loneliest of trails. He braves bears, mountain lions, moose, wolves, coyotes, all manner of insects and snakes, and the occasional whiskey drinking cowboy, all without losing his sense of humor. The narrative chronicles his twenty-eight day ride to the finish line and reads like a Monty Python script with its descriptions of places like Togwotee Pass, Swatch Range, and the infamous badlands of El Malpais. No, Howard doesn't win the race. But, he lives to tell us about it. —Sacramento Book Review

The story of a lengthy and sometimes grueling race told with humor and insight, this book is highly recommended for all cyclists, and it will delight armchair adventurers. —Library Journal