Biography & Autobiography Sports
Shifting Gears
Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race
- Publisher
- NeWest Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2023
- Category
- Sports, Personal Memoirs, Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781774390801
- Publish Date
- Oct 2023
- List Price
- $23.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781774390818
- Publish Date
- Oct 2023
- List Price
- $11.99
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Description
Meaghan Marie Hackinen’s follow-up to her award-nominated debut South Away charts her unforgettable, twenty-five-day journey on the Trans Am Bike Race: a coast-to-coast ride across the entire North American continent from Oregon to Virginia. Without the aid of a support crew, Hackinen must rely entirely on her wits, ingenuity and sheer determination to finish this extremely challenging feat. A sports story with a unique theme, Hackinen writes about the Trans Am Bike Race as a cultural whole, as she encounters consequences and unforeseen repercussions of an underground, unregulated athletic endeavour. Shifting Gears is another expertly-delivered travelogue and a thrilling glimpse into a world of athletes driven to impossible lengths.
About the author
Meaghan Marie Hackinen is a Kelowna-based ultra-cyclist and writer whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico’s high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe’s highest paved roads. She competes both locally and internationally, with strong finishes in events like the Transcontinental Race, Trans Am Bike Race, NorthCape4000, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet. Meaghan is the 2024 Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race winner and course record holder at the World 24-Hour Time Trial Championships and several bikepacking races, including The Big Lonely, BC Epic 1000, Silver State 508, and Log Driver’s Waltz. She has an MFA in Writing from the University of Saskatchewan and explores relationships, experiences on the road, and encounters with wild places in her creative non-fiction and prose.
Excerpt: Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race (by (author) Meaghan Marie Hackinen)
Prologue
JUNE 7, 2018
FRANKFURT AIRPORT, GERMANY
Condor Flight 2455 touches the tarmac at 12:45 p.m., Central European Summer Time. The abrupt deceleration causes the aircraft to shutter violently, mimicking the turbulence of my own anticipatory state. Though vibrations smooth as we taxi across the landing strip, my heart thrums faster. After ten hours in the air—and several months of planning—I’ve finally arrived in Frankfurt, Germany.
A canned message issued in both German and English reminds passengers to remain seated; cellular devices may now be used. I flex my legs, eager to move. To get started in this new chapter of my life. A much anticipated ding indicates we can unfasten our seatbelts and collect overhead bags. On the tarmac, a shuttle waits to transport us to the main terminal. I twist my head back toward the plane as we file onto the bus, keen to spot my baggage—in particular, my bicycle box. For a second, my thoughts whirl in panic as I imagine scenarios preventing my precious cargo from following me across the Atlantic. Luckily, I spy it—a rectangular cardboard box scrawled with the word Fragile in Sharpie marker—my anxiety instantly replaced by glee.
