Touring - Background Reading for a Tour?

Anyone do background reading for a tour? I don't mean Adventure Cycling maps or Fodor guidebooks, but books on the history and culture of the region? For my tours from Pittsburgh to DC I read a couple of books on the C & O Canal and railroads, plus books on the trails by Mike High and Bill Metzger. For my Christmas tour last winter to Bethlehem, PA, I relied on material I'd used in an article I published a few years ago.

Anyone care to share examples of their 'background' reading?

I believe it is essential.

Reading Willa Cather's "My Antonia" allows you to experience Nebraska in a deeper more meaning way when you bicycle along the straight section lines only to come upon a slight curve. Cycling along the Mississippi demands a leisurely reread of "Huck Finn". Riding the mountains of western Virginia on the TransAm is made magical by Lee Smith's "Fair and Tender Ladies".

I began last winter's Deep South trip by reading Cornelia Walker Bailey's "God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man" about Gullah-Geetchie culture on the Sea Islands. Galveston would not have been complete without Eric Lawson's "Isaac's Storm".

I am a historian and histories are important in their own right; however, literature offers a more nuanced window through which to experience a new place.

Very good point and yes, I do like to read something of the area if possible. Jamawani beat me to it but next summer we plan to head down along the Mississippi River and re-reading Tom, Huck and Becky was to be essential. Also, if Spinnaker's tour out east works for me, I'll be digging into my father's old books (he was a major Civil War buff) concerning Harpers Ferry and Antietam.

Very good point and yes, I do like to read something of the area if possible. Jamawani beat me to it but next summer we plan to head down along the Mississippi River and re-reading Tom, Huck and Becky was to be essential. Also, if Spinnaker's tour out east works for me, I'll be digging into my father's old books (he was a major Civil War buff) concerning Harpers Ferry and Antietam.

While you are at it, consider The Grand Idea: George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West.
It's a popular history of westward expansion, the C & O Canal, and the railroads. The author ends his book with an extended meditation on the canal, the Potomac, and how we use, and abuse, them today.

Anyone do background reading for a tour? I don't mean Adventure Cycling maps or Fodor guidebooks, but books on the history and culture of the region? For my tours from Pittsburgh to DC I read a couple of books on the C & O Canal and railroads, plus books on the trails by Mike High and Bill Metzger. For my Christmas tour last winter to Bethlehem, PA, I relied on material I'd used in an article I published a few years ago.

Anyone care to share examples of their 'background' reading?

My only example of background reading happened by chance. While on a cross country tour in 1977, I came upon a novel at the Grand Canyon, The Monkey Wrench Gang, about eco-saboteurs inthe Southwest. We then rode through Arizona to Four Corner, through the very region that was the setting of the novel.

It's a nice idea, but I rarely have the time to sit and read books of my own choosing anymore ... it's all textbooks and books for class projects. And in the summer, I'm working two jobs and cycling as much as I possibly can.

If I do read for enjoyment, I pick a light fiction or a Bill Bryson travel book (one of the few authors I've ever read who has had me laughing out loud in an airport) to get a break from slogging through my University material.

However, I do watch a lot of travel shows on TV. Rick Steves' shows are some of my favorite.
http://www.ricksteves.com/

He's got some good tips on travelling light, travelling inexpensively, and has given me some great ideas for places to go and things to do the next time I'm in Europe.
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/tips_menu.htm
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/switz/swissrailjourn.htm

I believe it is essential.

Reading Willa Cather's "My Antonia" allows you to experience Nebraska in a deeper more meaning way when you bicycle along the straight section lines only to come upon a slight curve. Cycling along the Mississippi demands a leisurely reread of "Huck Finn". Riding the mountains of western Virginia on the TransAm is made magical by Lee Smith's "Fair and Tender Ladies".

I began last winter's Deep South trip by reading Cornelia Walker Bailey's "God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man" about Gullah-Geetchie culture on the Sea Islands. Galveston would not have been complete without Eric Lawson's "Isaac's Storm".

I am a historian and histories are important in their own right; however, literature offers a more nuanced window through which to experience a new place.

Your comments remind me of Barbara Tuchman's essay in which she describes taking details from literature for her historical writing. I don't have Practicing History at hand right now, but I recall her using details of behavior described by novelists during, say, the Dreyfus Affair, and using them in her book The Proud Tower.

I definitely research areas to cycle to. I discovered a tourist's map book series that covers all of Sweden. They even have a version that comes in it's own plastic sleeves for traveling and it shows the whole of the Sverigeleden (Sweden's 5,900+ mile cycle route). There are markers on it for almost every nature reserve and cultural/historical site. Then I can generally find out more about it with a Google search. My first half century ride, I rode to a castle I found with the maps.

The maps leave me kind of torn though. I'd love to ride the Sverigeleden, but the books show a bunch of things everywhere else that catches my attention too. :p

I have to add though, that most of the things in the immediate area that are listed on the book, I had already discovered.. and a couple of nice places that aren't in the book. :)

This summer, I did a loop in the Columbia and West Kootenay region of British Columbia. I knew a bit of the history and along the way, I stopped and talked with some of the residents to understand a little more about the past and the present. Some of the towns and villages in this area have preserved many of their old buildings which serves to create a unique ambiance.

I've also ridden part of the old Kettle Valley Railway line. I've learned some of the history of this railway through my work. Riding my bike where the trains once traveled is a connection with the past. The various trestles and bridges amaze me since they are engineering marvels which were built without a lot of the heavy equipment available to us today.

A friend of mine is a local history enthusiast. When I've talked about my bike tours with him, he's mentioned the connections those places have to my own community. In the future, I may talk with him about a loop before I ride it.

I quite like reading books about an area while I'm there; also, if I know the language I try to read something in the local language even if all I can manage is a comic book. Research beforehand is usually limited to travel guides and whatever is on wikipedia. Sometimes I go into more depth but by no means is that the rule.

I do some online research of an area, but don't really read up on an area I plan to tour. If it is an AC route, I am likely to not even read the details provided until I am using that map or the one before. When I was on map 3 of the Trans America I might have been looking at the info on map 4 and probably hadn't more than glanced at 5-12. I read a lot though so I have likely read a book or two about any of the places that I tour, but not specifically because of an upcoming tour.

As far as books read on tour they are unlikely to be specifically about the area and are also unlikely to be travelogues.

The other side of the coin is more true for me. I am likely to pick a route because I have already read about the route or the area it passes through and found it interesting. I also am likely to later read about areas I have already toured.

Let me add one more example - recently a poster here visited Sleepy Hollow, NY, while on tour. Beforehand he read Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading on Lewis and Clark in preparation for this summer's tour. I also bought the Ken Burns DVD.

Before leaving home it is sometimes difficult to determine which aspects of a place will be interesting. Here's how we do it:

We start with guidebooks, usually Lonely Planet and Footprint guides. These always include a section of basic history, culture, language, cuisine and other general information. I especially like these because they assume you know nothing, which, more often than not, is true.

With this good foundation it becomes easier to guess which aspects will be interesting when on the ground. In Vietnam the war history and French colonization were fascinating. In South Africa it was race relations, apartheid, Aids and the African economy. The guidebooks always provide an additional reading section with Fiction and Non-Fiction titles. I might pick up a few from the library before leaving. Rarely do I make it through one of these cover to cover but rather poke around at whatever happens to be interesting.

When on the road we rely on the book exchange shelves in hostels/hotels/campgrounds. These can be particularly fruitful in capital cities where guests are leaving by plane and offloading all of their extra weight. Some of our best finds have been books we would never have picked up if not for the serendipitous book exchange and nothing else to read.

Another on-the-road option is the internet. On this last trip I would hook up to wifi and download anything interesting about a particular place, subject, religion, culture, food, historical figure, ...whatever, save it to the computer and read it in the evening.

Living and riding in Northern Virginia, just about any average history of the Civil War is good prep for riding in this area. I'd like to read up a little bit more on the Shenandoah Valley campaigns though.

One of the reasons I like fiction is because I enjoy the local color. Classic crime fiction, for example, is usually set in a specific time and place and cast full of characters the author thinks typical of the time and place. The problem is it's remarkably difficult to find the detective stories set in the less prominent places; I mean, there's a lot of stuff set in LA, from Raymond Chandler to Michael Connelly, and the list of NYC fiction is endless, but... Pittsburgh? I'm sure there's something, but how do you find it?

One of the reasons I like fiction is because I enjoy the local color. Classic crime fiction, for example, is usually set in a specific time and place and cast full of characters the author thinks typical of the time and place. The problem is it's remarkably difficult to find the detective stories set in the less prominent places; I mean, there's a lot of stuff set in LA, from Raymond Chandler to Michael Connelly, and the list of NYC fiction is endless, but... Pittsburgh? I'm sure there's something, but how do you find it?

Offhand, I know of two fictional tales set in the Steel City. The short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather is one, and then there's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon.

One of the reasons I like fiction is because I enjoy the local color. Classic crime fiction, for example, is usually set in a specific time and place and cast full of characters the author thinks typical of the time and place. The problem is it's remarkably difficult to find the detective stories set in the less prominent places; I mean, there's a lot of stuff set in LA, from Raymond Chandler to Michael Connelly, and the list of NYC fiction is endless, but... Pittsburgh? I'm sure there's something, but how do you find it?
Can't help you with Pittsburgh but there is crime fiction set in other locales.

Tony Hillerman wrote a series of novels set in the Navajo reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. Laurence Gough has stories showing a gritty side of Vancouver, B.C. Scott Young (the father of musician Neil Young) wrote a couple of novels based in and around Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada. Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller have written numerous crime novels set in San Francisco. Steve Hamilton has his novels set in northern Michigan.

Moving away from the crime fiction genre, Greg Iles has set most of his novels in Mississippi, James Grippando has stories set in Florida and John Grisham's earlier novels are set in Mississippi and Memphis, Tenn.

Those are just a few that come to mind right now. There are plenty more.