Bicycling with Butterflies
My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration
April 13, 2021—Three countries, 10,000 miles, a pieced-together bicycle, and one incredible journey to save the monarchs—and the environment. This is the history-making trek outdoor educator and field researcher Sara Dykman daringly embarked upon in 2017, becoming the first person to ever bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration. Deftly combining travel memoir and popular science, BICYCLING WITH BUTTERFLIES (Timber Press, April 2021) recounts Dykman’s inspirational ride alongside the monarchs as she follows unmapped roads through Mexican mountains, searches the roadsides for milkweed-clinging caterpillars, and faced down thunderstorms, zombie corn fields, and more than a few flat tires.
As she encounters a cast of characters including eager schoolchildren, devoted citizen scientists, skeptical bar patrons, fellow bicyclists. climate deniers, and unimpressed border officials, Dykman passionately shares the urgent plight of the monarchs and the complex science underpinning their dwindling numbers. Filled with optimism, energy, and hope, BICYCLING WITH BUTTERFLIES is a compelling story, confirming the urgency of saving the threatened monarch migration—and the other threatened systems of nature that affect the survival of us all.
Sara Dykman is the founder of beyondabook.org, which fosters lifelong learners, boundary pushers, explorers, and stewards. She works in amphibian research and as an outdoor educator, guiding young people into nature so they can delight in its complicated brilliance. She hopes her own adventures—walking from Mexico to Canada, canoeing the Missouri River from source to sea, and cycling over 80,000 miles across North and South America (including the monarch migration trip)—will empower young and old to dream big.
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