The Coyotes Bicycle: The Untold Story of 7000 Bicycles and the Rise of a Borderland Empire

A fascinating look at the story behind the many abandoned bicycles in the area around Tijuana, The Coyote's Bicycle is filled with a cast of unforgettable characters and fresh insights into the history of border crossings. Recommended By Mary Jo S., Powells.com

It wasn’t surprising when the first abandoned bicycles were found along the dirt roads and farmland just across the border from Tijuana — the area’s residents were accustomed to all kinds of refuse and detritus — but the bikes kept coming: mountain bikes, touring bikes, BMXs, and beach cruisers, all piling up, day after day. They went from curiosity, to nuisance, to phenomenon. But until they caught the eye of journalist Kimball Taylor, only a small cadre of human smugglers — coyotes — and migrants could say how or why they’d gotten there. This is the true story of 7,000 bikes that made an incredible journey and one young man from Oaxaca who arrived at the border with nothing but the clothes on his back, built a small empire, and then vanished. Taylor follows the trail of the border bikes as they make their way through a surprisingly diverse spectrum of society’s most powerful institutions, and, with the help of an unlikely source, he reconstructs the rise of one of Tijuana’s most innovative coyotes.

Touching on issues of immigration and globalization, as well as the history of the US/Mexico border, The Coyote’s Bicycle is at once an immersive investigation of an outrageous occurrence and a true-crime, rags-to-riches, coming-of-age story.

"What an improbable, richly peopled saga! Kimball Taylor follows his hunch so deep into the world of polleros and the borderlands where they do their human smuggling that you’ll forget you’re reading non-fiction. El Indio, his clients, the authorities, and the harsh country they all do battle with — not to mention all the merry, ubiquitous bicycles rolling through the story — this completely original concoction reads like Latin American magical realism, except it’s reported-out and grounded in fact. Wonderful stuff." William Finnegan, author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life and Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country

For readers of Jon Krakauer and Susan Orlean, brings to life a never-before-told phenomenon at our southern border, and the human drama of those that would cross.

Kimball Taylor is the author of Return by Water: Surf Stories and Adventures, as well as, Drive Fast and Take Chances: Fair Warning from Surfers. He's a long-time contributor to Surfer Magazine. Taylor has co-authored history books on Pipeline and Jeffrey's Bay. Taylor holds a BA in Journalism and a MFA in Creative Writing. He has taught writing courses at San Diego State University and is an alumnus of The Squaw Valley Community of Writers.