Customer Reviews

Momentum Is Your Friend: The Metal Cowboy and His Pint-Sized Posse Take on America

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I read 30-40 books a year, mostly non-fiction. This is easily one of my favorites in a very long time. If you like Bill Bryson's travel stories, you'll love Joe Kurmaskie's style of self-deprecating humor coupled with his observations about people and places along one hell of an adventure. I first saw the story when it was an article in Men's Journal in 2005, half-convinced that no one in their right mind would do something this hard. I'm sure my reaction was pretty much right in line with countless others; when I read, or should I say devoured, the book over a year later, I couldn't help but think that Joe knows something that most of us forget or perhaps never learn, that life is meant to be experienced fully, as opposed to taking it in small nibbles when it's convenient. We all underestimate our potential. Quinn and Enzo are the heroes who teach the real lessons in this story - they will totally amuse and challenge your imagination of what can be accomplished at any age. Joe gave me a fresh set of ideas on being a father, and it certainly made me think about my own dreams in new ways. Now where did I put that light saber...?

I am a big fan of the "Metal Cowboy," his books, website, and his postings to Touring@Phred. This book is his best as far as I am concerned, and it has my 9 year old son hooked, too. We have done some overnight tandem trips, but as we read about Joe, Quinn and Enzo on their adventure, Evan is warming to the idea that we need our own adventure. Hopefully we will be setting out for Grandma's house (500 miles) this June. Not quite the cross country adventure the Kurmaskies undertook, but if we have half the fun they had, or half the fun we have had reading about their fun, it will be a grand time.
Thanks, Joe, (and Posse) for helping inspire Evan, and me, to take the next step and extend our range. I hope others read it, enjoy it , and benefit as much as we have.

This is my favorite Metal Cowboy book because here we get to see the real Joe. He takes his boys on a bike ride across the US and does a lot more peddling than he ever thought. While the narrative about this feat is hysterical, it's the experiences that he shares with his family that makes this special. His boys become his audience and he theirs. It works becuase he's an entertaining writer and character. Let's face it. How could anyone who quotes from "Say Anything" and creates his own What Would Lloyd Dobler Do (WWLDD) T-Shirt for the trip not be great?

Any man with the testicular fortitude to ride coast-to-coast is worthy of note. But to strap on all the equipment necessary to make the trip with a five- and seven-year-old in tow? It smacks of outright insanity, even if the boys are your sons. Joe Kurmaskie does it with style and grace (well, most of the time) while giving us view of America most of us would see as a blur through a windshield. His family outing illustrates the joys that are still out there waiting for the dedicated wanderer. Make no mistake, this is every bit a father's adventure with his sons as it is an account of the open shoulder (of the road.)

The Metal Cowboy's story has kept me sane through a deployment in Kuwait and inspired me to make my own trans-american journey. I can only hope my trip will be as forfilling as his.

My friend Joe "Metal Cowboy" Kurmaski writes wonderful books that are both funny and wise. His latest book, Momentum Is Your Friend, is the story of Joe bicycling from Portland Oregon to Washington DC with this two sons, second-grader Quinn and five-year-old Enzo, literally in tow. Joe has a reporter's eye for detail, a poet's way with words and a genuine interest in the people he and the boys meet along the road. Over the course of a few thousand miles and a few hundred pages, Joe and the boys take the reader on the ride of a lifetime. I really felt like I'd met the watermelon whiz-kid, the grumpy and grizzled bicycling vet, the midwestern cheerleader in the mysteriously empty town and all the other people too real to be called characters.

But of all the real people in this book, the one we get to know the best is the one telling us this story. This is not a mid-life crisis book but it is a good story, well told, by a man in the midst of his life. With his kids in tow, his wife in grad school and the ashes of his father in a Tupperware bowl tucked somewhere in a pannier, Joe wonders about the things we all wonder about. Am I being a good dad? A good husband? A good son? And can I make it up this hill with this 250 pound contraption? OK, maybe not everyone wonders about that last one.

B. and Roy, a kind-hearted couple in a huge RV voice the concerns of many about Joe and his cute kids, "you wouldn't want anything to happen to them." But Joe explains that this isn't categorically true.

"I want all sorts of things to happen to my children. I want them to smack line drives during clutch moments of baseball games, smell the sweet bite of creosote bubushes in the Arizona desert after and August monsoon, eat a pile of messy short ribs dripping in Kansas City's best BBQ sause then sleep off their food comas under the whispery shade of a willow tree. I want them to stick up for themselves when it really matters, and someday slow dance with that girl, the one that makes them uncool and cotton-mouthed, at the junior high school mixer. I want them to find themselves at a loss for words from the beauty of the world, and make up fantastical names for constellations under the open sky this summer."

"What I don't want is something horrible happening to them. That's what he really means. It's a small distinction, but, when magnafied through the video black magic of Madison Ave. and filtered by the unfounded fears of parents fueled by the nightly news, it's what cheats us all of so much."

Joe and Quinn and Enzo not only survive, they thrive. They remind us all that life is for living and adventure is everywhere if we are not afraid to roll out the door and see what's around the next corner. If momentum is my friend, then I guess that inertia is my enemy. Thanks, Joe for wonderful book that's a kick out the door. I'll see you on the road.

This is a quick, humorous read.I found it hard to put down. Joe is his usual crazy self - even with 250 pounds of 'back fat'(as he calls the boys and their gear) in tow. If you grew up in the 70's it will stretch your memory with all of the music lyric references in the book.

The book covers about every 3rd day of their self contained cycling trip from Portland to DC. I wish it were a fatter book that covered every day.

Joe K plays with words like a kid plays with Lego blocks, no matter what he builds, it's always interesting. And what a great way to bond with your kids, wish I'd have been able to do that when my kids were that age. It's a great read, you will sweat with him as he hauls his family across the country by pedal power.

Jim Foreman

"Momentum is Your Friend: The Metal Cowboy and his Pint-sized Posse Take on America" recounts a cross-country bike trip he took with his two sons in tow. Yes, that's right, "in tow!" Joe rode with his 7-year-old Quinn on a tagalong bike attached to his dad's, and 5-year-old Enzo rode in a bike trailer behind his older brother. Oh, and did I say Joe also had to carry gear for the whole crew. We're talking pedaling a bike for 4,000-miles with hundreds of pounds of precious cargo. You might say 'crazy' and I'd be the first to agree with you. But at the same time, I couldn't think of a grander adventure to take a family on.

So, the trip is on a scale not seen in normal bike touring circles. Does he get the story across? How's the writing?

If they gave the Nobel Peace Prize for humor, I'd nominate Joe in a second. Better yet, he should have a 'The Surgeon General has determined that this book will cause a person to grin, smile, giggle, and get cramps rolling on the floor laughing till they cry" warning label on the book spine. Joe starts on the caffeine induced roller coaster of humor from page one and it keeps on going, going, going. But this isn't fiction, he recounts life on the road with two boys who could probably solve most of the worlds problems through the innocence of youth. This is a touching story of a father and that special connection with two other human beings who share his wonder of the world and the folks they meet along that path. Ship a few of these books to the UN and maybe those world leaders might remember that there is still a lot of good in the world, especially when seen through the eyes of a child. That's Enzo & Quinn, not Joe [laugh]. This book is a 'must read' for everyone.

Reading "Momentum is Your Friend" helped restore my faith in humanity. The characters come to life, and I felt like I had met them myself; visualizing their mannerisms and expressions as I read. Joe is able to relate to people and find the good in them. People seem to recognize his sincere disposition and trust him, at times revealing things they have never before spoken of. His witty ability to unravel the adventures of riding a bicycle from Oregon to Washington DC with his 2 kids in tow makes for an interesting and humorous story. It has inspired me as a cyclist, a husband, and a dad. One could only hope to have the sort of relationship that Joe has with his boys, Quinn and Enzo. Joe is the kind of dad that can set off on a 4,000 mile bicycle ride while pulling 250 pounds of bike, children, and equipment, yet still have the frame of mind to stop and play in the lake, take pictures, go on a hike, or have battles with the light sabers they carted with them. "This is exactly what it takes for an epic adventure like this to work" according to Joe. He also had to accomplish this heroic journey within a certain time frame, and dealt with some last minute changes that would have sent the average person throwing their hands up in the air in defeat. Joe took these additional challenges in stride, and came out the other side victorious. Joe is able to accomplish all of this while riding an average of 80 miles a day, often setting up a tent and camping in the evenings! Truly remarkable! I highly recommend this book.

Young father pedals across America with his two sons. It sounds grueling. It was, but the way Joe writes, we get to experience both the exhaustion and the pleasures of the ride. With his 250 pounds of "dead weight" in back, he goes up and over mountains, and battles winds and storms, and manages to keep his sense of humor.

His parenting from the front of the caravan (Joe pedaling in front, kid sort of pedaling behind him, kid riding in trailer) makes me wish I'd read this much earlier in my life.

He's a great writer with a fascinating topic.