Neil Hanson Releases Pilgrim Wheels, a Reflective Memoir on Bicycling Across America

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - March 2, 2015 - PRLog -- Centennial, CO – Award-winning author and cycling enthusiast, Neil Hanson, announces the release of Pilgrim Wheels: Reflections of a Cyclist Crossing America (ISBN 978-0982639122), a travel memoir about the first half of his 2011 journey by bicycle across the United States. Hanson is the recipient of three 2010 EVVY Awards, including 1^st Place – Inspirational, 2^nd Place – Non-fiction, and 3^rd Place –Spirituality, from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for his first nonfiction book, Peace at the Edge of Uncertainty (ISBN 978-0982639108). Pilgrim Wheels has received a Runner Up designation in the General Non-Fiction category at the 2015 Great Southwest Book Festival and an Honorable Mention in the same category at the 2015 Los Angeles Book Festival.

In May, 2011, Neil Hanson announced to friends at a wedding reception in Colorado that after he left the dinner, he’d be climbing into a rental car, driving the car to Monterey in California, and riding his bicycle back through Colorado and then east 3,500 miles across the United States. His original intention was to make the trip as a kind of bucket list dream, a just-for-fun, once-in-a-lifetime escape for adventure and fun. What he discovered instead as he made his way across the U.S., is that this was not just a simple journey; he discovered himself as he pedaled across the remote and winding roads that traverse our magnificent country.

Pilgrim Wheels reveals an inspirational story of journey, discovery, and place, told from the saddle of a bicycle as one man pushes and pulls on the pedals, rolling down the highways of America.Hanson’s bicycle ride becomes a canvas for his incredible journey, a pilgrimage of wonder as he explores the people he meets along the path, the obstacles he faces, the pain he endures, and the boundless joy he achieves as he completes the first half of his travels in the humid farmland east of Medicine Lodge, Kansas. A beautifully written and reflective memoir, Pilgrim Wheels provides a glimpse into the sweetness of physical achievement, the inspired awe that comes from the sheer beauty of our country’s majestic back roads, and the warmth and love shared by the people who welcome Hanson into their lives along the way.

“I originally wanted to take a long bike ride, mainly because it sounded like a neat item to add to the checklist of fun and exciting things I’ve tried,” said Hanson. “But, as I planned my trip, the idea morphed, evolving into a two-wheeled adventure from the west coast to the east coast. By the time I sailed out onto the Great American Desert of the Southwest, I felt the journey becoming deeper, quieter, brighter. As I left Twentynine Palms in California, I was swept across a brightly burning Mojave Desert by a scorching desert wind. I knew then that this trip had bloomed into something unexpected, and that I was free-falling into a pilgrimage full of peace and discovery.”

An award-winning author and native of Kansas, Neil Hanson received his B.A. in Psychology from Kansas State University and has worked as a carpenter, mason, truck driver, waiter, cook, bartender, landscaper, furniture mover, salesman, ranch hand, draftsman, manager, and executive. At one time, he owned a trucking company and has held positions at the corporate level and as a consultant for financial services, logistics, and defense contracting firms. He is currently employed as project manager at Kaiser Permanente. An inveterate traveler, Hanson has visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Italy, Mexico, and Canada, and has traveled through all fifty U.S. states. Besides being avid cyclist, Hanson also enjoys walking, gardening, birding, hunting, fishing, and reading. Hanson is the recipient of three 2010 EVVY Awards from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for his first nonfiction book, Peace at the Edge of Uncertainty (ISBN 978-0982639108). He currently resides in Centennial, Colorado, which he now calls his permanent home.

For more information on Neil Hanson or Pilgrim Wheels, please visit: www.neilhanson.com or www.amazon.com. For additional information, please contact:

Paula Margulies Communications

8145 Borzoi Way

San Diego, CA 92129

858-538-2047

paula@paulamargulies.com

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