WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO BELONG is the story of a Missouri man who travels to the French Alps to climb the most famous mountain in professional cycling: L'Alpe d'Huez. Jim Ramirez's goal is to reach the summit on a road bike in less than an hour. He travels the fastest who travels alone. Jim lives by Kipling's proverb, not only on the mountain, but in the European cities he visits afterward, by way of reward. The memoir consists of four parts. Part One: Jim arrives in Amsterdam, and, with little more than a backpack and a Hunter Thompson novel in tow, makes his way by train and bus to the village of Alpe d'Huez to climb the mountain. Part Two: The French Riviera. Part Three: Avignon. Part Four: Barcelona-then back to America. In Part One, Jim's protagonist is the mountain. He then finds comfort on the Mediterranean Sea, and inspiration in the ancient cities of Avignon and Barcelona. But these pleasures are shot through with another adversary: loneliness. He grapples with language barriers, jellyfish, exchange rates, overamorous bartenders, and spats with Europeans and Americans alike over the foibles of the Bush administration. He survives an attempted robbery only to run out of money anyway. He stands in a field once painted by Van Gogh, crosses a timeless bridge, watches water burn, and memorializes a vibrant array of characters and small moments in his sketchbook. Flying solo, he finds much time to reflect on his life-choices he's made, other mountains he's tried to climb-and the isolation he has felt back home in Kansas City, as well. This is a grown man's coming-of-age story that also conveys the pleasures, humor, and difficulties of traveling in countries other than one's own. It will appeal to anyone familiar with wanderlust-as well as competitive people in general, cycling enthusiasts in particular; single fathers; loners; lovers of art, music, history, and wine...indeed, anyone facing a mountain, or who has also experienced loneliness as a melody that only one person can hear.