This story has two of the most unlikely characters you could ever think of in the same breath with the words bicycle adventure. The Van Fleets had really no experience at all as cyclists, when they hatched a quixotic scheme to cross the continent of America by bicycle. To make matters worse they were retirement bound and had collectively picked up the troublesome add-ons of injured backs and knees, high blood pressure and gout, and were overweight and under-exercised to boot! But sequences got the better of them: they discovered recumbent bikes (allowing Sheryl to ride), stumbled upon riding Bike New York (which hooked them on cycling), and then somehow managed to ride across the state of Oregon (which conned them into thinking they might survive trying to cross the entire country). They never once were convinced they would complete the journey, which adds to the Everymanas Adventure quality of this tale "The Recumbent and the Upright,"