This rather eclectic collection of 27 stories contains some “Misadventures” as the book’s title intimates, but some of the stories are something rather closer to paeans to cycling. The quality is uneven, as you’d probably guess of a collection this size, but they are generally quite readable.

Most of the stories are first-person accounts of unusual cycling happenings. They range from the poignant—“The Shock and Numbness Are Starting to Set In” recounts two stories of death on the road—to the hysterical, such as Amy Nevala’s “Riding Tandem with Rodent.”

Somewhat different in tone is the historical piece, “Iron Riders,” that recounts the interesting historical footnote of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps. Built on one officer’s theory that moving troops by bicycle would be faster and more economical than by horse, the 25th drilled and rode for a couple years in the 1890s. The Army ultimately dismissed the idea, but it’s a facinating account nonetheless.