During my ride, emotions were pretty raw and on the surface. That’s when I write the best. It just comes out. I know if I cry or laugh while writing, it is usually pretty good. 

Alenka Vrecek – 13 June 2023

The Back Flap

At fifty-four, Alenka was running out of time to follow through on a dream she’d written down in her pocket-size Rumi book just after her first marriage crumbled. Years later, as she slowly rebuilt her life with her second husband, things started spiraling out of control. The only way she knew how to heal and connect all painful parts of her life was by riding her bike, and she didn’t want to have regrets. But was she brave enough to embark on an unknown path and risk losing everything . . . perhaps even her own life?

Determined to awaken her dying spirit and heal her battered body, Alenka loaded her mountain bike with 50 pounds’ worth of camping gear and set off on a 2,500-mile journey. Starting in Lake Tahoe California, she hoped to ride along the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to the tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, following remote mountain trails. Alone.

What followed was an irrevocably transformational journey of love, hope, courage, and resilience—and here, Alenka tells that story in a voice stripped of self-pity and infused with a good dose of humor. She Rides is a galvanizing wake-up call for anyone who wants to unearth and follow their own deeply buried dreams—and reclaim their life.

About the book

What is the book about?

She Rides is a deeply personal memoir of my 2,500-mile solo bikepacking pilgrimage along the spine of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada and into the hostile desert mountains and plains of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. At fifty-four, my life was spiraling out of control, and I was running out of time to follow through on a long forgotten dream. This is a story about crossing emotional, physical, and cultural boundaries, told in a voice stripped of self-pity and infused with a good dose of humor. It is a galvanizing wake-up call for anyone who wants to unearth and follow their own deeply buried dreams—and reclaim their life.

When did you start writing the book?

I started writing my first winter I spent in Baja, Mexico, recovering from cancer treatments. It wasn’t about cancer. I wrote about one of the most difficult periods of my life, which was the time leading to my divorce and all the emotional trauma during the uncoupling period. I realized I never took the time to look deeply at that period of my life and deal with it. I wrote one paragraph. It was still too difficult to think or to write about what really happened and still is. I realized that if I wanted to write a book, I needed to do something more interesting to connect all the events of my life. The long bike ride gave me time to reflect, and writing about my experience allowed me to heal. I learned I could still achieve something bigger than myself and following my dream gave me new confidence I was searching for.

How long did it take you to write it?

It took over four years of writing daily. Since English is not my first language, and I don’t have any writing background, it took a lot of hard, yet rewarding work. As an athlete and a coach, I knew I needed to be coachable so I could learn from other great writers, teachers and editors. I surrounded myself with mentors to learn from the best.

Where did you get the idea from?

I’ve always enjoyed reading adventure books, stories written by people pushing the limits, memoirs written by explorers of the new frontiers. Growing up climbing in the Alps, the books written by mountain climbers have always lined the bookshelves in our home. Since I was very young, I hoped to write about my own adventure someday.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I struggled most when I wrote about my failed marriage. Some terrible things happened I could not put in the book, so skipped the most painful events of my life to protect my children. I believe it is the weakest part in the book, because it was so difficult to write.

What came easily?

During my ride, emotions were pretty raw and on the surface. That’s when I write the best. It just comes out. I know if I cry or laugh while writing, it is usually pretty good. It just needs some editing, rewriting and more editing, but the main idea is down on the paper or in the notes of my iPhone from the beginning.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

She Rides is a memoir. All characters are real people.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

I like to read the classics across the board like Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, … I love short stories by Jack London, and everything Hemingway, Steinbeck and Twain ever wrote. My favorite genre are adventure and historical novels. I read many of the classics in my native language in high school because we had to, but later I read them all over again in English, because I wanted to. That was not always easy, but I was learning English language at the same time. It was rather painful, and it took a long time to get through War and Peace with the dictionary always by my side. I also read every night with my three kids since they were babies. Now, that’s a great way to learn the language. My kids are all avid readers.

Do you have a target reader?

I do not think of a target reader because I write about what comes deep from my heart, what I can relate to, and what I am interested in, or am knowledgeable about. I hope people will have the same emotional response to my writing as I experienced when I wrote it. If I cry or laugh or contemplate the meaning of life, I hope the reader will come along on the journey and relate.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

I write best when I am moving. I go on long walks through the woods or long bike rides, or when I glide across the ocean propelled by the wind because when I am in motion, my mind is free. Then I just have to remember my thoughts long enough to write them down in my notepad or into my iPhone. Sometimes they evaporate into thin air. If the ideas were important enough, they will return in some shape or form in a different moment somewhere down the road. Hopefully, they will materialize when I finally sit down to write. When words flow effortlessly, I know the writing will usually be good.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I am a terrible planner, so I do not outline. I write and It just happens, but I think about what I want to write about on my walks, runs, bike rides, or at night when I cannot sleep. That’s when I create a general picture. Often, I write the ideas down, then expand on them later. Unfortunately, I am too lazy to get up in the middle of the night. A lot of first drafts are unreadable, but ideas are there. Then the writing really begins by rewriting.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I edit mostly after I finish an essay or a chapter. I will go back in the mornings to what I wrote the previous day. My mind is rested and I have a fresh perspective. Sometimes I walk away from my pages for days and let things simmer. I also use an app (VoiceDream) on my phone, which reads back to me what I wrote. I listen to it on my walks.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Absolutely yes. I had three developmental editors. They each had different perspective, different ideas and it was good to have a mix of male and female editors. I also had to be careful and trust my own voice, and I did not always agree with the comments. After the final manuscript was written, it went through the editing process again by a professional editor I hired and then deep proofreading process by She Writes Press. Still, plenty of mistakes were found in the ARC.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

I do not listen to music. It distracts me. I have to hear myself think and create my own rhythm and melody.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

Over and over. Submitting during COVID time was not going too well. I was excited when I received any kind of reply at all, even if it was “Thank you, not for us.”

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher?

I met with a mentor at a Travel Writing Conference who recommended I submit the manuscript to SWP (She Writes Press). He knew that publishing a memoir by the unknown author by any major publishing house was probably not going to happen. He was right.

Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I kept querying agents and publishing houses, but after a year or two, I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere and was very discouraged. I took a plunge and spent all of my savings and signed the contract with SWP and hired a publicity agency.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

SWP took care of all of that and they did a great job. They take great pride in creating beautiful, award-winning book covers. I had a professional photographer who took a cover photo for me though.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I hired Sparks Press publicity company. They know what they are doing and after all I have invested into writing the book, I want to make sure it gets out into the world.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Believe in yourself and go for it.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a small town at the foot of the Alps in Slovenia, which used to be a part of former Yugoslavia. Near to my home, I could climb a mountain where I stood with one foot in Austria, the other in Italy and I could plant my hands in my native Slovenia.

Where do you live now?

I live in Lake Tahoe, California and Baja, Mexico.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I will continue searching for what is true and good in the world until the day my breath leaves my body, and I return to this earth as a golden retriever chasing tennis balls, making someone else happy. I hope my kids and grandkids do the same.

What are you working on now?

The book I am working on is historical fiction novel. I am still in the research phase, and I only wrote a few chapters to see where the story takes me, but I follow a life of a family from the small country of Slovenia fleeing to Austria to avoid prosecution during the Yugoslav civil war, and then to South America after World War Two. During the rise of Nazi Germany, the father, an aspiring filmmaker and photographer, is swept up by the mass hysteria of Hitler’s ideology. He, like millions of Germans, believes that life with Hitler at the helm will be good and prosperous. The family has no choice but to follow the ambitious father, who ends up working as a filmmaker for Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda machine. He tells his young wife and his four young daughters, that working for the Nazi regime, is their only ticket out of poverty into the world of fame and fortune. Instead, exile, misfortune, financial ruin, and death follow the family for generations to come. We live in peculiar times and we have to remember the past, or we are condemned to relive it.

End of Interview:

For more from Alenka Brecek visit her website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Get your copy of She Rides from Amazon US or Amazon UK.