After Laura Everett's car died on the highway one rainy night, she made the utterly practical decision to start riding her bicycle to work through the streets of Boston. Seven years later, she'
After Laura Everett's car died on the highway one rainy night, she made the utterly practical decision to start riding her bicycle to work through the streets of Boston. Seven years later, she's never looked back.
Holy Spokes tells the story of Everett's unlikely conversion to urban cycling. As she pedaled her way into a new way of life, Everett discovered that her year-round bicycle commuting wasn't just benefiting her body, her wallet, and her environment. It was enriching her soul.
Ride along with Everett through Holy Spokes as she explores the history of cycling, makes friends with a diverse and joyful community of fellow cyclists, gets up close and personal with the city she loves—and begins to develop a deep, robust, and distinctly urban spirituality.
Amy Butler
— The Riverside Church
"Simultaneously revelatory and brilliantly accessible, Laura Everett's Holy Spokes winds and weaves its way with grace through the little mysteries and miracles of daily life. In this beautiful book she shows us how a single activity—biking through Boston—properly observed, reveals the world. And when we begin to see what we already know, we recall that a generous attention and an open heart can transform even the most mundane tasks into a spiritual practice, occasions to encounter the divine."
Elly Blue
— author of Bikenomics
"An enlightening spiritual introduction to the art of bicycling. . . . Everett reflects on her bicycling life using a spiritual frame—how to stay true, steer a steady course, find the right gear, know when to pedal, when to brake, and when to rest."
Max Grinnell
— The Urbanologist
"In Holy Spokes Laura Everett offers us the world as viewed from the handlebars of her bike as she navigates Boston's urban landscape, complete with sharrows, greenways, and contemplative aspects of cycling culture. She offers cadence and communion with the world around her as a way of being in a chaotic world. This book is a delight."
Debbie Blue
— author of Consider the Birds
"Even if you don't trade your car for a bike (which you might), reading this book will help you cultivate an awareness that the presence of God is among us—not just in the bright shiny moments but on the pavement, in the mundane, the gritty and the fragile. This intelligent, witty, and thoroughly engaging book will help you remember to practice seeing. Everett is a wise teacher. This is a wonderful book."
William H. Lamar IV
— Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, DC
"For anyone who has longed to look at the beating heart of their city through the lens of faith, Laura Everett provides a winsome two-wheeled tour. She brings us on an urban immersion experience, helping us pay attention to neighbors as well as neighborhoods, person by person and street by street. What she understands about building community is valuable to faith and community leaders alike."
Amy Butler
"Simultaneously revelatory and brilliantly accessible, Laura Everett's Holy Spokes winds and weaves its way with grace through the little mysteries and miracles of daily life."
Elly Blue
"An enlightening spiritual introduction to the art of bicycling."
Max Grinnell"Everett offers cadence and communion with the world around her as a way of being in a chaotic world. This book is a delight."
Debbie Blue
"Intelligent, witty, and thoroughly engaging."
William H. Lamar IV
"For anyone who has longed to look at the beating heart of their city through the lens of faith, Laura Everett provides a winsome two-wheeled tour."
Publishers Weekly
"Fresh and delightful. . . . With a window into cycling culture, Everett never loses her focus on her belief that commuting by bicycle can be a cosmic and soul-enriching good."
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Laura Everett is a dedicated urbanist, a pastor in the United Church of Christ, and a four-season bicycle commuter in her adopted city of Boston. She serves as the executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
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