"Abbott and Rushforth have a knack for entertaining readers." —BOOKLIST Two university professors set out to repeatedly bike the Great Western Trail, observing and writing about its variations with every season. The accounts of their adventures, however, refuse to be limited to flora and fauna. In Wild Rides and Wildflowers, Abbott and Rushforth share their deeply personal explorations of the male psyche, true friendship, biking, and botany. SCOTT ABBOTT is the author of a book about Freemasonry and the German novel, and of two books about travel and literature (with Zarko Radakovic): Repetitions and Vampires and A Reasonable Dictionary. He was the jazz critic for the Salt Lake Observer and has translated several works by Austrian writer Peter Handke. He is professor of integrated studies, philosophy, and humanities at Utah Valley University. SAM RUSHFORTH is former dean of the College of Science and Health at Utah Valley University. Under his watch, the university has grown to thirty–three thousand students. He studies aquatic botany and wetland ecology and has published more than one hundred papers and books. He has mentored nearly forty graduate students, who are now working all over the world. He lives in Orem, Utah.