Kevin J. Hayes was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio where took his undergraduate degree at the University of Toledo in 1981. Upon graduation, he became a bike bum, working as a bicycle mechanic half the year and travelling the other half. His travels took him and Old Bessie (his custom-made ten speed) back and forth across North America several times and ultimately to Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia.

He entered the M.A. program at the University of Delaware in 1987 and completed his Ph.D. in 1991. Since then, he has taught at the University of Central Oklahoma where he is currently a professor. His books include Captain John Smith: A Reference Guide (G. K. Hall, 1991); Checklist of Melville Reviews (Northwestern University Press, 1991), with Hershel Parker; Critical Response to Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (Greenwood, 1994); Henry James: The Contemporary Reviews (Cambridge University Press, 1996); A Colonial Woman's Bookshelf (University of Tennessee Press, 1996), and An American Cycling Odyssey, 1887 (University of Nebraska Press, 2002)

Listen here to a podcast featuring an interview with Dr. Hayes about his book, An American Cycling Odyssey, 1887.