Riding The Big One: In The Wake of My Ancestors

by Ian Owens

Two heroes—one ancient, one modern—cast off their mundane existences for respective adventures on the high seas and high ways. Whether by Viking longship or tandem bicycle, Riding the Big One is a humorous and poignant tale of discovery, ancestry and transformation. Eyvind Haakonson is a twenty-year-old fisherman in ninth century Norway. On a bleak winter's day he decides that Valhalla is better than dying of boredom and goes Viking, boarding the next ship headed for Britain. He brings his sword, his fearless wife Hild, and an unwanted ghost. Ian Owens is a thirty-five year old software sales engineer born eleven centuries after Eyvind. Faced with the tedium and minutiae that claim so many in his profession, he makes a choice similar to his distant ancestor's. Wielding a handheld computer rather than a sword, cycling across the USA instead of plundering Europe's coastlines, he and Jane, his plucky wife-to-be, meet with modern versions of Eyvind and Hild's Dark Age perils, and both men wonder if Riding The Big One can alter their inherited destinies.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2019

Reviews

[Roberta Lerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riding The Big One, Author Ian Owen’s debut story is an inspiring delight. Part memoir, part fiction, this unique tale chronicles the journey of this authors coast to coast bicycle trip with his then girlfriend, now wife on a tandem bike interspersed with fascinating imagined vignettes of his Viking ancestor’s adventures to find new and warmer lands.

With a strong, faced paced story thread, this is a near perfect balance of description, action, personal narrative and humor that kept me turning the pages from the first to the last as writer Ian Owens shares his find/discover yourself ride in this honest, heartwarming and beyond funny story. His cross-country saga will motivate you to not only step out of your comfort zone and take a risk, but realize success is often not about how big your house is or how much money you make, but rather about the importance following your heart. Not to mention restoring your faith in the people that populate this country. I highly recommend. Riding the Big One is a don’t miss read!

[Jim DeFilippi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this era of cookie-cut, mass-produced best sellers, that endless assembly line of dopplegängers, it is a pleasure to stumble upon something with a unique structure and execution.
THE BIG ONE combines sections of reality (a chronicle of the author’s coast-to-coast bicycle trip) with fiction (his conjecture of the adventures of his Viking forbears). He accomplished the trip on a tandem bike with his then girlfriend, now wife, peddling from the back seat. (Spoiler alert: they didn’t end up killing each other).
The two tales often bleed into one another. A biking-world bout with a stomach bug mirrors a Viking-world sword wound. An intrusive mother haunts both narratives.
Yet this is mostly a book of opposites, conflicts, and choices: a sedentary life vs. adventure, stability vs. excitement, life vs. death, man vs. woman, married vs. single, East vs. West, German vs. English, Canada vs the U.S., even coffee vs tea.
The pages are filled with miles of grit, sprinkles of glory, and the author’s self-depreciating wit and humor. His writing style is as cool and refreshing as snow-melt flowing down from the Continental Divide.
An exhilarating read.

[Betsy Ellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The unexpected blend of fiction and memoir, Viking and biking kept me turning pages. I love a road trip story, but I've never read one about riding a tandem bike across the US. This epic journey contemplating life, career, and relationships and having adventures on the way is the perfect balance of humorous and sage. That story would have been excellent on its own. But Owens goes further, interplaying his real-life journey with a fictional account of a Viking voyage, creating an opportunity to contemplate ancestry and adventure.

[Susan Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a super memoir and description of a period of transformation - through the rigors of a bike trip - in the author's life. It's adventuresome, imaginative, humorous, thoughtful, and human. The authenticity and vulnerability of Owens's narrative makes it both fully relatable and inspiring.

[Michael Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. An enjoyable ride that takes to the road with purpose, dry humor, and Vikings.