The Cycling Adventures of Coconut Head: A North American Odyssey

Peter Martin is the founding publisher of the Canadian Book Review
Annual.

In 1992 and 1993, Ted Schredd rode his bike from Vancouver to Key West,
and from Key West to Ottawa, “an 8,000-mile cycling adventure to
promote cycling and alternate [sic] forms of transportation.” This
book is his account of that trip.

He’s a relaxed, entertaining writer, and his witty marginal drawings
are a delight. As a person, he’s at once naive and cunning. He set off
knowing nothing about bicycles; his machine, depicted in the cover
photo, is a city hybrid, not a touring bike. He cadged money without
scruple. He repeatedly paid for meals and motels with “maxed-out”
credit cards. He started off with one female, ditched her penniless in
San Diego, and carried on with a new true love (Deanna, who’s his wife
at the end of the book). He billed his excursion as “The EnviroRide”
and did radio, TV, and press interviews along the way to promote the
cause (and hustle money).

On the last page, we learn that “Ted and Dee are departing on a
Round-the-World Bicycle Tour.” Watch out, world! But the truth is, I
couldn’t put this book down once I got into it.