Around the World on a Bicycle, Vol. 1

In 1884, a twenty-five-year-old Englishman named Thomas Stevens did something that had never been attempted: he set out to circle the globe on a bicycle. Not a modern bike with chains and gears, but a massive ordinary with a five-foot front wheel, a penny-farthing that demanded nerve just to mount. He pedaled out of San Francisco with no map, no sponsorship, and no idea if the road would simply end. This first volume traces his extraordinary route through the American West, across the Atlantic, and into the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where he winters in Tehran. He conquers mountain passes, survives sandstorms, bribes border guards, and journals every dusty, glorious mile. What emerges is not just a travelogue but a portrait of Victorian pluck at its most unapologetic: a man who refused to accept that anywhere was unreachable, so long as he had two wheels and stubbornness to spare. For anyone who has ever wondered what adventure looked like before it became comfortable, Stevens offers an answer in every spinning pedal stroke.