Lost Cyclist

<p>In the late 1880s Frank Lenz of Pittsburgh a renowned high-wheel racer and long-distance tourist dreamed of cycling around the world. He finally got his chance by recasting himself as a champion of the downsized safety-bicycle with inflatable tires the forerunner of the modern road bike that was about to become wildly popular. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out west to cover twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for <em>Outing</em> magazine. Two years later after having survived countless near disasters and unimaginable hardships he approached Europe for the final leg. </p><p><br></p><p>He never made it. His mysterious disappearance in eastern Turkey sparked an international outcry and compelled <em>Outing</em> to send William Sachtleben another larger-than-life cyclist on Lenz's trail. Bringing to light a wealth of information Herlihy's gripping narrative captures the soaring joys and constant dangers accompanying the bicycle adventurer in the days before paved roads and automobiles. This untold story culminates with Sachtleben's heroic effort to bring Lenz's accused murderers to justice even as troubled Turkey teetered on the edge of collapse. </p><p><br></p>