Overnight bike touring book for Washington state in the works

As more people use their bicycles for commuting, errand-running and recreation, we can only expect more cyclists to use their bicycles for overnight touring.

Cover for future bike touring guidebook.

Washington state is already on the map for many long-distance bike routes created by Adventure Cycling Association that begin or end here, as well as their 856-mile Washington Parks loop.

Otherwise, there’s a complete dearth of bicycle overnight touring guides for the state written in this millennium.

Portland author and bicyclist Ellee Thalheimer wants to rectify that.

Thalheimer and a small posse of bike explorers are taking to the back roads of Washington state this summer to create a guide book with 9 or 10 multi-day tours to be available in time for next year’s bike touring season.

The book will be named “Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington” and will be published by Thalheimer’s Into Action Publications. She’s hoping it follows the similar success of two earlier guide books: “Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Oregon” and “Hop in the Saddle: A Guide to Portland’s Craft Beer Scene, by Bike.”

Joining Thalheimer in this endeavor are four other bicyclists/authors: Katherine Widing (“Bicycle Touring Holland,” among others), Josh Cohen of The Bicycle Story blog, Martina Brimmer (founder and owner of pannier-maker Swift Industries) and Steve Krippner, who researched the John Wayne Pioneer Trail for his master’s thesis.

Kickstarter

To get the book rolling, Thalheimer launched a “Cycling Sojourner: Washington” Kickstarter campaign to raise money for printing and other essentials. Only 20 days remain to raise the needed $10,000. Last I checked, 144 backers had pledged $6,923 toward that goal.

Backers can score everything from autographed copies of the book to the opportunity of joining Thalheimer on a bicycling sojourn of Washington’s wine country.

The Bicycle Alliance of Washington is leading the fund-raising effort for the book. BAW will receive royalties from book sales to continue its policy work to encourage passage of bike-friendly laws.

See the Kickstarter fund-raising page and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington for complete information on the book.

The Cycling Sojourner website has info about the Oregon and Washington guidebooks.