author
George B. (George Burton) Thayer
1853–1928
Best remembered for a lively cross-country cycling memoir, this Connecticut writer turned long-distance travel into vivid, practical storytelling. His work captures the excitement of late 19th-century bicycle touring and the everyday America he met along the way.
1 Audiobook
Pedal and Path: Across the Continent Awheel and Afoot
by George B. (George Burton) Thayer
About the author
Born in 1853 and dying in 1928, George B. Thayer — George Burton Thayer — is chiefly known today for Pedal and Path: Across the Continent Awheel and Afoot. The book recounts an ambitious journey of more than 11,000 miles across the United States by bicycle, on foot, and with other stretches of travel, giving modern readers a firsthand look at an early era of long-distance cycling.
Thayer appears to have been part travel writer, part local historian, and part memoirist. In addition to Pedal and Path, bibliographic records connect him with a family history, Ancestors of Adelbert P. Thayer, Florine Thayer McCray and Geo. Burton Thayer, and with History of Company K, First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Spanish-American War, which he compiled.
What makes his writing stand out is its sense of motion and curiosity. Even now, his best-known book feels close to the road: observant, energetic, and full of the kind of practical detail that turns a long trip into a real adventure.