Meaghan Marie Hackinen’s follow-up to her award-nominated debut South Away charts her unforgettable, twenty-five-day journey on the Trans Am Bike Race: a coast-to-coast ride across the entire North American continent from Oregon to Virginia. Without the aid of a support crew, Hackinen must rely entirely on her wits, ingenuity and sheer determination to finish this extremely challenging feat. A sports story with a unique theme, Hackinen writes about the Trans Am Bike Race as a cultural whole, as she encounters consequences and unforeseen repercussions of an underground, unregulated athletic endeavour. Shifting Gears is another expertly-delivered travelogue and a thrilling glimpse into a world of athletes driven to impossible lengths.

Meaghan Marie Hackinen is a Kelowna-based ultra-cyclist and writer whose two-wheeled adventures have taken her from Haida Gwaii to Mexico’s high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa along some of Europe’s highest paved roads. She competes both locally and internationally, with strong finishes in events like the Transcontinental Race, Trans Am Bike Race, NorthCape4000, and Paris-Brest-Paris brevet. Meaghan is the 2024 Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race winner and course record holder at the World 24-Hour Time Trial Championships and several bikepacking races, including The Big Lonely, BC Epic 1000, Silver State 508, and Log Driver’s Waltz. She has an MFA in Writing from the University of Saskatchewan and explores relationships, experiences on the road, and encounters with wild places in her creative non-fiction and prose.

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