Melissa’s New Book!

You may remember our blog entry on Melissa Pierson’s newest book, The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing, and our earlier blog entry on her first motorcycle book, The Perfect Vehicle.  That first book was perfect itself…a magnificent read that captured the essence of what it means to ride.   That’s why I was so excited about Melissa’s newest book. I ordered an advance copy even before it was available.  

A couple of weeks ago, I learned with great pleasure that The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing was going to ship a few weeks earlier than planned (how perfect is that!) and that Melissa would be in southern California for a book signing!  You can bet I’m going to be there!

The book signing I’ll be attending is at JC Motors on 16591 Noyes Avenue in Irvine, California (it’s on 2 October from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.), but if you can’t make this one, there are a whole bunch more book signings planned (you can see the list at the bottom of this blog entry).  

I’ve included Melissa’s press release here in its entirety so you can learn a bit more about the new book and see where some of the other signings are going to be.

My advice?  Buy this newest book from Melissa, and while you’re at it, pick up a copy of The Perfect Vehicle, too.  It’s that good!

The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing

Long-Distance Motorcycling’s Endless Road

By Melissa Holbrook Pierson

“Eloquent and probing. . . . A beautiful story of passion and reclamation for anyone who has ever lost the way.”

—Susan Richards, author of the best-selling Chosen by a Horse

“Pierson’s marvelously engaging account of her resumption of long-distance motorcycling after years of hiatus proves pure pleasure for the aficionado. . . . Her stately, lyrical prose, profound respect for the machinery, and sympathy for the extreme adventurers will transport even the most unlikely readers.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With a lively style and plenty of insight, Pierson produces a must-read for both hands-on and armchair cyclists.”

—Booklist

For the 50,000 members of the Iron Butt Association—also known as the “World’s Toughest Motorcycle Riders”—long-distance motorcycle trips are not a pastime but a way of life. These men and women push the limits of human endurance, often in rides of more than one thousand miles a day, and form a cult within the motorcycling community. Now Melissa Holbrook Pierson, veteran rider and author of the acclaimed chronicle The Perfect Vehicle, portrays with wit, insight, and quirkily perfect turns of phrase an insider’s view of this curious group and one of its most remarkable members, John Ryan. THE MAN WHO WOULD STOP AT NOTHING: LONG-DISTANCE MOTORCYCLING’S ENDLESS ROAD [W. W. Norton & Company; October 3, 2011; $24.95 hardcover] describes those for whom long-distance riding is not an interest but an obsession—in order to understand obsession itself. Pierson gives readers an intimate glimpse (from the seat of her BMW bike) of a singularly independent yet supportive community of people who strive to reach a goal for the simple reward of having done it.

After a decade away from motorcycling, Pierson was in the throes of a divorce.  She downloaded the sound of her former motorcycle and cried with joy. She knew it was calling her as it does the men and women of the Iron Butt Association. Theirs is a fixation to get on a motorcycle and not get off until it is impossible to stay on any longer. Devout and determined, these riders persist through every discomfort to break a record: they sleep on the roadside; eat and drink on the bike; go long hours without rest; and power through rain, heat, and blizzards. They cross forty-eight contiguous states in fewer than ten days, or ride around the Great Lakes in under fifty hours. The initiation into the association is the “SaddleSore” (the completion of 1000 miles within 24 hours) with the goal being the “Iron Butt Rally” (11,000 miles in 11 days). As Pierson explains, one of the greatest challenges and virtues of long-distance motorcycling is the long hours of solitude while biking. And yet Iron Butt motorcyclists have formed a close, intimate, and supportive group, despite the members’ vastly different backgrounds.

Perhaps the most striking of these remarkable riders is a motorcyclist whom Pierson describes as “determination in the form of a man”: John Ryan, a thirty-year veteran of the road who has broken almost every long-distance record imaginable. Comparing him to a Charles Lindbergh or George Mallory, Pierson explains that Ryan pursues adventure for its own sake: he thinks he might someday like to average 550 miles every day of the year on a bike, including holidays. Having done stints as a basketball player, painting contractor, nightclub bouncer, and postman, he gave up alternative pursuits almost as soon as he discovered the world of long-distance riding. He has no other career, no wife, no house of his own, and—despite being diabetic—no health insurance. In the few hours he is not on the road, he modifies his famous bike for upcoming challenges or posts to his blog entitled “There’s Absolutely No Excuse for the Way I’m About to Act.” Shy but willful, Ryan embodies the spirit of long-distance riding and the pursuit of a singular passion.

Pierson’s close friendship with Ryan provides the backbone of The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing; as Pierson explains, Ryan contacted her in 2008 to encourage her to return to motorcycling after an eleven-year hiatus during which she married, had children, and pursued a literary career. In the wake of her divorce, Pierson hesitatingly renews her interest in the open road. Soon, feeling the warmth and encouragement of Ryan and his fellow riders, she finds in motorcycling the means of healing. In frank, lucid prose, Pierson describes her own long road from heartbreak to freedom and a sort of contentment. Both the solitude and the camaraderie that Pierson finds within the biking world allow her to conquer old sorrows and embrace new possibilities for adventure and achievement. THE MAN WHO WOULD STOP AT NOTHING is not just a description but a testament to long-distance motorcycling’s power to open people to themselves and others.

Pierson confronts the sorrows and longings we all have and moves through them to expose a world of roads and new possibilities for living. This is a book about nothing so much as life and how we choose to live it, and it is sure to fascinate all readers interested in living with a passion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Melissa Holbrook Pierson is the author of The Perfect Vehicle, The Place You Love Is Gone, and Dark Horses and Black Beauties. She lives near Woodstock, New York.

TITLE: THE MAN WHO WOULD STOP AT NOTHING: LONG-DISTANCE MOTORCYCLING’S ENDLESS ROAD

AUTHOR: Melissa Holbrook Pierson

PUBLICATION DATE: October 3, 2011

PRICE: $24.95 hardcover

ISBN: 978-0-393-07904-3

TOUR

October 3:  Los Angeles, CA – Yellow Devil Gear Exchange

October 8:  Chatham, NY – Columbia County ArtsWalk, 5pm

October 15:  Fredericksburg, VA – Morton’s BMW Oktoberfest, 9am-4pm

October 23:  Woodstock, NY – Golden Notebook (at Kleinert/James Arts Center), 3pm

October 27:  Brooklyn, NY – Word Bookstore (at Brooklyn Moto), 7pm