‘Bicycling with Butterflies’ is the Colorado Mountain College Common Reader for 2025

“Bicycling with Butterflies” received the 2021 National Outdoor Book Award. Book copies are available for free at CMC campuses now.

Courtesy photo

Anyone who has followed the wandering flight of a butterfly and wondered where it was off to will be intrigued by Colorado Mountain College’s 2025 Common Reader book selection. “Bicycling with Butterflies’ by Sara Dykman is the real-life account of the author’s 10,201-mile bicycle trip following the monarch butterflies’ migration from Mexico through the U.S. to Canada and back.

Along the way, Dykman, a biologist and outdoor educator, recounts the people she meets, advocates for the urgency of saving monarch populations and invites the reader to come along on her extraordinary journey.

Winner of the 2021 National Outdoor Book Award, Dykman’s butterfly-inspired bike ride isn’t the only mega-trip she’s accomplished. She has founded a nonprofit organization called Beyond a Book, which links education to adventure. She and a team of friends have canoed thousands of miles, bicycled through every U.S. state but Hawaii and pedaled through Central and South America, all while bringing lessons to children and schools along the way. 

Now in its 19th year, the college’s Common Reader brings together students, faculty, staff and community members to read a selected book together and to participate in talks with the author. 

Sara Dykman, here with a monarch caterpillar, is the author of “Bicycling with Butterflies,” about her 10,000-mile-plus bike trip following the migration of monarch butterflies. Free copies of her book are available at CMC campuses now. She will visit eight CMC campuses this October during a series of author talks.250709-FP-CW-common-reader-sara-dykman

Community members are invited to pick up a free copy of “Bicycling with Butterflies” now, and attend a talk this fall when Dykman will visit eight CMC campuses in October: at CMC Vail Valley at Edwards on Oct. 20; at CMC Salida and CMC Leadville on Oct. 21; at CMC Breckenridge on Oct. 22; at CMC Steamboat Springs on Oct. 23; at CMC Rifle on Oct. 24; and at CMC Aspen and CMC Spring Valley on Oct. 27. A livestream option will be available at the CMC Breckenridge talk on Oct. 22. All talks will be at 6 p.m., except for the Salida and Aspen talks, which will be at noon. 

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Free books are available at libraries and CMC locations and are for sale at local bookstores.

For more information, visit coloradomtn.edu/common-reader or call 800-621-8559.