Quotes from Peter Egan

continuing contributor to Cycle World and Road&Track Magazine. His book, Leanings, from which these gems are taken, is available at your friendly local bookseller for $25.95 US. Here are some samples:

"The odometer showed just over 11,000 miles, or 3000 more than I'd left with. I was burned-out, punch-drunk, and traveling in a senseless state of tunnel-vision from the long ride, but as I crossed the border I still managed to grin. My bike was running perfectly, I hadn't been issued a single traffic ticket, my bald rear tire was still holding air, I'd not meet even one unpleasant person on the entire trip, despite vague and shadowy warnings to the contrary, and there had been, incredibly, no rain in seven days on the road..."

* * * * *

"I asked if I could have the remains of yesterday's Milwaukee Journal , which lay on the bar, and then retired to the men's room. I stuffed the want-ad and comic sections, respectively, down the pantlegs that covered my left and right thighs; two more pages went up around my calves and tucked into my boots, and the entire front page was spread across my chest, tucked into my belt, and buttoned into my shirt. I emerged from the men's room and crinkled my way stiffly out of the bar, to the momentary distraction of a row of bored farmers who were watching the halftime show of a Texas football game...."

* * * * *

"For instance, if you jump out of an airplane and find your parachute doesn't open, you realize very quickly that your problem is much more basic than a malfunctioning silk canopy; the real problem is that you are 5,000 feet off the ground and falling through space. That is, you are in a place where you don't belong."