On the Pony Express Trail: One Man's Bikepacking Journey to Discover History from a Different Kind of...

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Scott Alumbaugh

On the Pony Express Trail

One Man's Bikepacking Journey to Discover History from a Different Kind of Saddle

Scott Alumbaugh

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English

TwoDot Books
01 June 2023

History of the Americas; Transport: general interest; Local history; Cycling; Travel & holiday guides

The Pony Express has a hold on the American imagination wildly out of proportion to its actual contribution to the history and development of the West. It lasted less than eighteen months—about the amount of time it took author Scott Alumbaugh to plan and ride the route—and utterly failed by every measure of success attributed to it. The only reason it did not fade out of public consciousness, as did the far more successful Butterfield mail, is publicity. In the Pony’s case, a thirty-year campaign of publicity mounted by Buffalo Bill Cody, who mislead the public by claiming to have been a Pony Express rider, and lied outright by claiming to have made the longest Pony Express run. More than anyone, Buffalo Bill kept the legend alive by including a Pony Express segment throughout the run of his Wild West show.

But while the Pony Express may be among the least significant developments of its era, it is the most iconic. One can’t really understand the Pony Express—what it stood for, what it accomplished, why it came about at all—without understanding the far more interesting historical milieu from which it grew: Three wars (Mexican, Utah, and Paiute); two gold rushes (California and Pike’s Peak); the overland emigration of hundreds of thousands to Oregon and California; the exodus of tens of thousands of Mormons to Utah.

On the Pony Express Trail: One Man's Bikepacking Journey to Discover History from a Different Kind of Saddle recounts the author’s experience bikepacking the Pony Express Trail over five weeks during June and July 2021, and uses the trail as a prism through which to survey a wide spectrum of mid-1800s historical events. Sixty-two-year-old Alumbaugh rode the Pony Express Bikepacking Route from St. Joseph, MO to Salt Lake City, UT, over 1,400 miles, mostly off-road, sometimes through very remote territory. The narrative follows his day-to-day experiences and impressions: the challenges, the sites he visited, the country he rode through, and interactions with the people he met.

By: Scott Alumbaugh
Imprint: TwoDot Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 224mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 413g
ISBN: 9781493068692
ISBN 10: 1493068695
Pages: 314
Publication Date: 01 June 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Scott Alumbaugh is author of Will Kill for Food a novella set in Los Angeles’ Koreatown during the 1992 Rodney King Riots. His short fiction has been published in StoryQuarterly, Kestrel, Hunger Mountain Review (Runner up, 2017 Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, (Matt Bell, judge), Black Fork Review, and Meat for Tea. Currently, Scott runs Sea Dog Designs, a web, print, and graphic design business he founded in 1999, and occasionally still teaches sailing in San Francisco Bay. Before starting Sea Dog Designs, Scott worked as an attorney, taught legal writing, was a sailing instructor, radio producer and host, theater manager, stage crew for a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company, ESL instructor in Japan, and a number of other jobs not worth mentioning. He lives with his partner, Lisa Ikemoto in Davis, California.

Reviews for On the Pony Express Trail: One Man's Bikepacking Journey to Discover History from a Different Kind of Saddle

"""If you're looking for some added context about the history of the route, I suggest picking up a copy, both if you're planning a ride along the trail, or if you're interested in learning more about the Pony Express and reading about someone else's experience while on the trail""."