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The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance Hardcover – June 18, 2010

by David Herlihy (Author)

66 customer reviews

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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.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (June 18, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0547195575
ISBN-13: 978-0547195575
Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #455 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Individual Sports > Cycling
- #1947 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Travelers & Explorers
- #3469 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States

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3 star		24%
2 star		5%
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

Fascinating and Thoroughly Enjoyable

By Daffy Du VINE VOICE on May 3, 2010

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

Full disclosure: I'm an avid bicyclist, with a small collection of bicycle-abilia, so this book had me from the title. But just because a subject is enticing doesn't always mean the book will be.

I'm pleased to report that The Lost Cyclist is a meticulously researched, fast-paced, supremely readable book that had me staying up later than I'd intended several nights in a row just so I could keep reading.

Focusing on what today is a mere footnote in cycling history, the book is really the story of two--even three--bicyclists whose exploits gripped the nation over a century ago, and only one of whom was actually lost. Frank Lenz, of the title, was an accountant and promising bicycle racer in the era of high-wheelers, but for a variety of reasons, never realized his potential. Inspired by the accounts of Thomas Stevens, who had traveled by bike on three continents and written about and sketched what he saw, Lenz aspired to cycle around the world too, only he would undertake his trip on a "safety bicycle," the new-fangled design that had two wheels of equal size and, in his case, inflatable tires. And he would travel with a camera, taking photographs of the sights.

Ambitious, entrepreneurial, intrepid and naive, Lenz successfully solicited the support of Outing magazine to underwrite his dream. He started in New York, then pedaled across the U.S. to San Francisco, where he hopped a ship to Japan and then to China. Embarking on the Asian portion of his itinerary, he encountered harsh conditions and xenophobia, particularly in China, but made his way to Burma, through India, Persia and finally to Turkey, which was experiencing considerable unrest on the eve of the Armenian massacres. And it was there that he disappeared.Read more ›

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119 of 126 people found the following review helpful

A Man's Reach Should Exceed His Grasp, Even on A Bicycle

By Leslie Reissner on May 29, 2010

Format: Hardcover

L.P. Hartley began a novel with the sentence: "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." And in his new book, "The Lost Cyclist," noted cycling historian David Herlihy introduces us to a most peculiar world, albeit with elements that we would still recognize. The book is actually two stories The first deals with Frank Lenz, a young bookkeeper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who became a noted high-wheel bicycle racer in the late 1880s before recognizing his chance for fame and fortune would really come with the advent of a new kind of bicycle, the "safety bicycle," with new-fangled pneumatic tires. Frank Lenz decided to take advantage of the new invention, then in its infancy, and using his skills as a cyclist, and as a passionate amateur photographer, his achievement would be the first around-the-world solo cycling trip on a safety bike. To this end, he sought out sponsorship and arranged with the editor of New York's "Outing" magazine to send back stories and photos of his trip, which was expected to last two years.

He began his formal launch of the around-the-world tour on May 15, 1892 from Pittsburgh, setting out with a 57 pound Overman bicycle, 13 pounds of camera gear and 25 pounds of other equipment. He headed eastwards and in New York met worked with the editor of Outing to garner maximum publicity before beginning the trip proper on June 4, heading west and crossing the United States in five months. He was 25 years old.

Although Frank Lenz may have been slight in stature, weighing 145 pounds, he was clearly, as one witness is quoted in the book as saying, "he was quite a novel person-one possessed of great pluck, energy and determination...Read more ›

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Three Stars

By Phyllis Inman on February 21, 2015

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Wheels within wheels.

By Dick Johnson VINE VOICE on May 13, 2010

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

I was not aware of the events portrayed in this book. Further, I haven't been on a bicycle in several decades. The former was set right by the reading of this book. The latter is something I hope continues.

Herlihy's writing of the dawn of bicycle racing and foreign treks via two-wheels was quite enlightening. The story of Frank Lenz's journey was spotty due to the limited communications from him due to his locations. And, of course, much of the story of his disappearance must be conjecture.

There are different styles of writing here. Much is reportorial and many times doesn't really capture the emotion of the people in the story. Herlihy lost several opportunities to draw us closer to the locations described.

The photographs are great and significantly add to the book. The few maps included, however, do far too little to graphically show not only the locations, but also the great distances and geographical challenges Lenz and the others faced. Since those challenges were a major part of the book, more graphic information would have really added to the story.

The epilogue is mainly too philosophical and of little help in closing the story. Hindsight is, proverbially, twenty-twenty and postmortems are of necessity full of speculation. These what-ifs did not really add to the book.

Another negative was the continued use of certain buzz words. Too often I felt I was reading a story by a sports writer. I love sports, but their overuse of the same descriptive words is legend. After so many instances of 'globe girdler' and similar by Herlihy, I was ready to scream. The four stars are for the story being told. The writing, though, wasn't up to that level.

This should be of interest to readers with an interest in many fields - bicycling, travel, history, etc. The negatives don't outweigh the reading this little known story.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Four Stars

exactly as billed great purchase

Published 6 months ago by Thomas A Wood

Five Stars

Great gift

Published 10 months ago by easyernie

One of the best books I have read

if you love history, mystery and adventure (and cycling, of course) this is the book. It is a great gift, too!

Published 14 months ago by Barbara

great read.

Fascinating story about early cycling. Wish there were more photos, but the ones presented were well done. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Michael Reeber

Good writing, could have used strong editing.

Really great historical information and two fascinating stories that end up intertwined ... but I feel like the book could have had a third trimmed out of it and it would have been... Read more

Published 18 months ago by David McCreath

Well done history/adventure

This is an interesting story that will appeal to bike riders, travelers, true mystery fans and history buffs as well. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Ida's girl

he Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His...

A good read on the earliest days of cycling, and the evolution of the earliest bikes, plus the author uses the story of then attempts by individual, or pairs of, bikers that... Read more

Published 20 months ago by clyde a cody

Wonderful

The re-discovery of a spelling binding tale. Opens a small window into the brave new world of cycling in the 1880's-1890's.

Published 20 months ago by SRJ

Good book, well worth the read!

What a neat story! These guys were truly adventurers. However, the book begs the question of whether explorers of the past were more or less in danger than someone following the... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Geove

Crazy story!

This is a fun book especially if you have an interest in cycling. First - you can't imagine how those people could ride so far on the old style bikes, fully loaded with the old... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Bookworm