''Off The Map'' -- This Book Chronicles First Bike Trek Across Siberia

Wyoming author Mark Jenkins was among the first group to cross the Soviet Union by bicycle. This weekend, he will be in town promoting a book that chronicles the 1989 trip that included two Seattle cyclists.

In "Off the Map, Bicycling Across Siberia," Jenkins relates the adventures of the Soviet-American group that became the first to bicycle across the massive country, and to tell the stories of the people they met along the way.

Readers who can get past some quirky punctuation and stream-of-consciousness passages may enjoy the 254-page hardback (Morrow, $22). The trip seemed geographically overwhelming and politically impossible until 1989, when a U.S. filmmaker cleared the way for a joint U.S.-Soviet transcontinental trek.

The book concerns the team's travails across 800 miles of Siberian swamplands, leaving camera crews and KGB agents far behind.

Seattle's Tom Freisem and Torie Scott joined Jenkins and Russian rider/translator Tanya Kirova when they rode into the Baltic 169 days after dipping their tires in the Sea of Japan.

They arrived ahead of the three Soviets who had split from the group. "The Soviets were there simply to get a record," Jenkins said. "We were there to get under the skin of Siberia and really understand the country."

Jenkins will be at Tower Books in Bellevue tomorrow from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and at Elliott Bay Book Co. Saturday from 4:30 to 6 p.m.