William Lewis Sachtleben

Born in Alton, Illinois, on March 29, 1866, he became known as an American journalist, lecturer, and pioneering long-distance cyclist. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, and just after graduation he set out with classmate Thomas Gaskell Allen Jr. on the bicycle journey that made him famous.

From 1890 to 1893, the two men traveled around the world by bicycle, covering about 15,000 miles and setting what was then a record for the longest continuous bicycle trip. The most celebrated part of that journey took them from Constantinople to Peking, and they later told the story in Across Asia on a Bicycle, a lively travel narrative that captures both the hardship and wonder of moving through unfamiliar landscapes under their own power.

He is also remembered for a later, more serious mission connected to fellow cyclist Frank Lenz, who disappeared while riding through the Ottoman Empire in the 1890s. That episode added another layer to a life already marked by endurance, curiosity, and a willingness to go far beyond the ordinary tourist route. He died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on December 13, 1953.