Episode 135: Felicity Cloake

Coast to Coast Across the US in Search of Real American Cuisine

Have you ever wanted to plan out a cycle touring route based around the cuisine of a country? Well that is exactly what guest Felicity Cloake has done and she told us all about it during this episode of Seek Travel Ride.

Best known for her Guardian column How to Make the Perfect… she is also an award winning author and has found a way to combine both of her passions and has taken three food based long distance cycle tours – through France, the UK and more recently the US.

So how did she get into bike travel in the first place? Well her first cycle tour was a trip taken with a group of friends, which came just as she was getting over a break-up. She was hesitant at first but went in with an open mind and hasn’t looked back since. Felicity has since cycled across France in search of the best croissants, all over the UK to seek out the best British Breakfast and in 2024, rode from West to East across the US on a tour based around learning as much as possible about American Cuisine.

Felicity plotted her US touring routes based on the dishes she wanted to try, regions with strong culinary identities, and cultural mashups you’ll only find in places like San Antonio or Columbus, Ohio. While she had some great route mapping fails, involving her walking her bike through a river, food as always remained her compass on these routes and I really enjoyed learning about this side of her tour.

We also got into her reflections on traveling solo as a woman, her experience of using US Trains while travelling with a bike, navigating twister season in the Midwest, and a hilarious day discovering the Big Duck just as her huge tour was coming to a close.

Felicity’s latest book is called Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of Real American Cuisine and is available for purchase here in the UK and here for those based in the Rest of the World.

Be sure to follow her via her instagram account – @FelicityCloake

The Seek Travel Ride podcast