The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance
Search in google:
In the late 1880s, Frank Lenz of Pittsburgh, a renowned high-wheel racer and long-distance tourist, dreamed of cycling around the world. He finally got his chance by recasting himself as a champion of the downsized “safety-bicycle” with inflatable tires, the forerunner of the modern road bike that was about to become wildly popular. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out west to cover twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for Outing magazine. Two years later, after having survived countless near disasters and unimaginable hardships, he approached Europe for the final leg. He never made it. His mysterious disappearance in eastern Turkey sparked an international outcry and compelled Outing to send William Sachtleben, another larger-than-life cyclist, on Lenz’s trail. Bringing to light a wealth of information, Herlihy’s gripping narrative captures the soaring joys and constant dangers accompanying the bicycle adventurer in the days before paved roads and automobiles. This untold story culminates with Sachtleben’s heroic effort to bring Lenz’s accused murderers to justice, even as troubled Turkey teetered on the edge of collapse. The New York Times - Robert Sullivan …what's fascinating about this thoroughly researched story is the cluelessness, recklessness and luckiness—to a point, anyway—of American travelers in general and Americans in the overinflated world of early American biking in particular.
Prologue: Alton, Illinois, October 28, 1952 ixI On the Road1 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1887 32 Athens, Greece, January 4, 1891 253 Pittsburgh, August 9, 1891 494 Peking, China, November 3, 1892 715 Shanghai, China, December 15, 1892 956 Vancouver, Canada, December 20, 1892 1197 Kiukiang, China, January 27, 1893 1278 Ardmore, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1893 1409 Calcutta, India, September 17, 1893 147II The Search10 East Liverpool, Ohio, October 12, 1894 17311 Constantinople, Turkey, March 23, 1895 19412 Erzurum, Turkey, May 13, 1895 21013 Erzurum, September 9, 1895 23714 Erzurum, October 19, 1895 259III Epilogue15 Repercussions 27916 Reflections 293Notes on Sources 305Acknowledgments 310Photo Credits 314Index 316
