Short, simple, amusing, wistful and at times leaving you with the urge to jump on your bike, the Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac is exactly what one might expect from a little bound book with the photo of a vintage bicycle on the front. Published by the non-profit company Wolverine Publishing out of Fort Collins, Colorado (yup, our home town) Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac issue 42-500 was just released last month. Not having read the previous edition, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first opened up the little book. I did have a particular interest in this publication though since Rick and Paola Malpezzi Price, (my parents and founders of ExperiencePlus!) along with 23 other writers, poets, artists and bicyclists are both contributing authors.
The content in this little almanac includes musings and tales of bicycle rides in Spain and Russia, commuting route suggestions in San Francisco, poems and illustrations of interesting bicycles or bicycling related ventures, and advice on what to do and what not to do on a bicycle as a sampling. Of course, true to its Almanac title there is also a full moon ride schedule (watch out, July could be wet). Although I don’t have a favorite chapter, one intriguing article discusses the dangers of cycling and warns against excessive “wheeling” as one can develop what medical researchers called Bicycle Face. This article was reprinted from an 1895 September issue of Literary Digest. Rick Price’s contribution was a short story about a six year old bicycle thief; a personal story which was recounted once in our very own Rambler newsletter. Paola Malpezzi Price’s article examines the increase of women’s images combined with bicycles on vintage posters.
The pieces in this almanac are as varied as bicycles and bicyclists; each turn of the page from one chapter to the next was like starting a new story or book. I never knew what I was going to find, and I was always pleasantly surprised. The editors did a tremendous job of compiling just the right pieces to make a well balanced, thoughtful and insightful almanac for any bicycle enthusiast.
For more information on the Boneshaker, please visit. www.wolverinefarmpublishing.org