Your Mileage May Vary

48 days.

3,254 miles.

730 Cyclists.

One woman's story.

"Discover the frontier within yourself."

"Fulfill your promise."

Who could resist such bold commands blasting out of a full two-page spread in the newspaper?

Kristine Goad couldn’t. Despite the fact that she was an overweight twenty-eight year-old with asthma who did not own a bike, the giant ad convinced her to sign up for the GTE Big Ride Across America—a 3,254-mile bicycle journey from Seattle to Washington, D.C. to benefit the American Lung Association.

Nine months later, Kristine was among the 730 cyclists amassed at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle to embark on the journey of a lifetime and the largest cross-country bike event in U.S. history. Your Mileage May Vary is this novice cyclist’s account of a summer spent crossing a continent—sometimes on a bike, sometimes on foot, and sometimes in a support vehicle—in search of an experience that would teach her something valuable about herself, her purpose, and her path forward. Filled with details of the towns, prairies, and mountain ridges these cyclists encountered, Your Mileage May Vary is more than just a travelogue. It is an honest, humorous, and sometimes frustrating meditation on the struggle for self-definition and the pursuit of a meaningful life.

Thank you for purchasing this book--100% of the author royalties from the sale of this book are donated to the education, advocacy, and support services programs of the American Lung Association. Learn more about this important work here. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Kristine Goad does not travel in straight lines. With a B.S. in Psychology as a Natural Science from the University of Michigan and a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California, she has worked as an editor and writer for an air cargo trade magazine; a fundraising director for a non-profit environmental organization; a literacy specialist for at-risk elementary students; a Beach and Forest Ranger for the City of Edmonds, Washington; a creativity facilitator for children and adults; and an artist and publisher representative, managing an independent press. Kristine’s poetry, short stories, and articles have appeared in several literary journals and newspapers. She blogs at http://kristinegoad.wordpress.com and remains an unlikely athlete, participating in weekend cycling events and sprint triathlons in the hopes of one day learning what it feels like to actually sprint.