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Books like Rough Ride

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  • 24-07-2011 12:48pm
    #1
    nitrogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 698 ✭✭✭


    Can anyone recommend other well written, first person accounts of cycling?

    Thanks


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    #2
    Captain Havoc
    Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 11,391 Mod ✭✭✭✭Captain Havoc


    We were young and carefree- Laurent Fignon.

    https://ormondelanguagetours.com

    Walking Tours of Kilkenny in English, French or German.



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    #3
    ajk24
    Registered Users Posts: 238 ✭✭ajk24


    Tomorrow We Ride - Jean Bobet


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    #4
    Wicklowrider
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,029 ✭✭✭Wicklowrider


    http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Hat-American-Betrayal-Belgium/dp/1934030260

    Read this straight through cover to cover.Dog in a hat is brilliantly written and a frank account of an american's life as a pro in Belgium. He addresses the highs and lows, backstabbing, drug taking selling and buying races - everything. I love his likening the grand tours to the great operas where he says the Belgian Kermesses are "Punk Rock".
    The title is (apparently) a reference to a Belgian D.S saying when warning riders to be alert for attacks.....


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    #5
    Gingaling
    Registered Users Posts: 23 ✭Gingaling


    I just finished Racing Through The Dark by David Millar. Haven't fully made up my mind on Millar yet - but it was definitely an interesting read, chronicling his journey from an idealistic young pro to a doper and then an anti-doping advocate.

    It's also just been published so the references are all very contemporary - and consequently its hard to brush over the drug use as reflecting a 'different era'.


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    #6
    alexanderomahon
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭alexanderomahon


    Read Paul kimmage's rough ride. Ending up not liking him very much, but enjoyed the book.


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    #7
    nitrogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 698 ✭✭✭nitrogen


    alexanderomahon wrote: »
    Read Paul kimmage's rough ride. Ending up not liking him very much, but enjoyed the book.

    Why was that?


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    #8
    alexanderomahon
    Registered Users Posts: 601 ✭✭✭alexanderomahon


    nitrogen wrote: »
    Why was that?

    Don't get me wrong, i thought this was a good thing. I think he was open about the type of person he was and how he felt about things. It gave an insight into the sport and the man.


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    #9
    furiousox
    Registered Users Posts: 6,930 ✭✭✭furiousox


    Breaking The Chain by Willy Voet
    From Lance To Landis by David Walsh
    Boy Racer by Mark Cavendish
    Lance Armstrong:Tour De Force by Daniel Coyle
    On Tour by Bradley Wiggins
    Slaying The Badger by Richard Moore
    Sky's The Limit by Richard Moore
    Racing Through The Dark by David Millar
    Bad Blood by Jeremy Whittle

    Loads more suggestions here

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72924359

    CPL 593H



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    #10
    nitrogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 698 ✭✭✭nitrogen


    Thanks to Wicklowrider for recommending Dog in a Hat. Just finished it – brilliant read. It was just the sort of book I was after, and definitely in the same genre, not to mention the same era, as Rough Ride.

    I love true life tails (Not just about cycling) from the small man, the people we never hear about, and this was very good.


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    #11
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    Wicklowrider wrote: »
    http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Hat-American-Betrayal-Belgium/dp/1934030260

    Read this straight through cover to cover.Dog in a hat is brilliantly written and a frank account of an american's life as a pro in Belgium. He addresses the highs and lows, backstabbing, drug taking selling and buying races - everything. I love his likening the grand tours to the great operas where he says the Belgian Kermesses are "Punk Rock".
    The title is (apparently) a reference to a Belgian D.S saying when warning riders to be alert for attacks.....

    Loved the book

    But dog in a Hat is a Flemish saying for something which looks out of place. In this case an American in Flanders !

    By far the best cycling book I've read (and I'm a cycling nerd who's pretty much read them all :o)


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    #12
    furiousox
    Registered Users Posts: 6,930 ✭✭✭furiousox


    Has anyone read 'Le Metier' by Michael Barry?
    Any good?

    CPL 593H



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    #13
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,034 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    nitrogen wrote: »
    Dog in a Hat...I love true life tails

    I see what you did there.


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    #14
    nitrogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 698 ✭✭✭nitrogen


    Lumen wrote: »
    I see what you did there.

    Honestly, pun unintended.


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    #15
    nitrogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 698 ✭✭✭nitrogen


    RobFowl: What would be some of your other favourites?


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    #16
    The physio
    Registered Users Posts: 6 ✭The physio


    The 2 lance armstrong books are a must read,truely remarkable man!


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    #17
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,331 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    The physio wrote: »
    The 2 lance armstrong books are a must read,truely remarkable man!

    Please elaborate.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #18
    neris
    Registered Users Posts: 20,046 ✭✭✭✭neris


    we were young and carefree is a good read. Book you could read in a day or two. Currently reading fallen angel, the passion of fausto coppi. Good so far and interesting to read about racing in post war 40s & 50s.


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    #19
    Wicklowrider
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,029 ✭✭✭Wicklowrider


    Gingaling wrote: »
    I just finished Racing Through The Dark by David Millar. Haven't fully made up my mind on Millar yet - but it was definitely an interesting read, chronicling his journey from an idealistic young pro to a doper and then an anti-doping advocate.

    It's also just been published so the references are all very contemporary - and consequently its hard to brush over the drug use as reflecting a 'different era'.

    Got it on you recommendation. It was reduced to €10.95 in a book shop in stillorgan sc. Have to agree its one of the best written sports books I've read.Thought I was well informed before reading the book but he really puts a lot of stuff into perspective. I'd like to believe what he says but I'm jaundiced after being caught by Landis and his book. Millar definitely isn't your average man on a bike, like that or not it still gives a different view.


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    #20
    on_the_nickel
    Registered Users Posts: 1,063 ✭✭✭on_the_nickel


    2/3rds of the way through Millar's book, It is a good read, honest and entertaining in so many ways but so far, any references to Armstrong have been hero-worshipping bull**** and that's annoying me greatly.

    Also, BBC interview wilth Millar here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00jll4q/Hardtalk_24_08_2011/


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    #21
    buffalo
    Registered Users Posts: 8,065 ✭✭✭buffalo


    I finished Millar's book last week. As a story, it's a great read - the arc of fall and rise makes for a perfect tale.

    That aside, it felt like he was making advance excuses for his doping in the first few chapters. Obviously he's faced the music on it, but that part put me off a bit. Recommend giving it a read though. The insights into the doping world, as well as professional cycling itself, are worth it.


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    #22
    Malari
    Registered Users Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    on_the_nickel wrote: »
    2/3rds of the way through Millar's book, It is a good read, honest and entertaining in so many ways but so far, any references to Armstrong have been hero-worshipping bull**** and that's annoying me greatly.

    Also, BBC interview wilth Millar here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00jll4q/Hardtalk_24_08_2011/

    Read the rest of it! He does not get on with Armstrong now at all!


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    #23
    100Suns
    Registered Users Posts: 415 ✭✭100Suns


    Malari wrote: »
    Read the rest of it! He does not get on with Armstrong now at all!

    Agreed. The references to LA in early part of the book reflect the naive neopro/vulnerable doper and are put firmly in perspective by a passage toward the end of the book which IMO, reading between the lines, is as close as he can come to saying what he now believes and feels for the man as he can without taking out a lifetime mortgage to defend against Lance's army of litigators.

    I had lumped Millar in with Vino etc. as a doper, black and white, but have changed my view on the 90's and 00's since reading the boo. I'm still sceptical but honestly don't think Brailsford would have put his neck on the line the way he has, or written the Foreword, if there was a shadow of a doubt in his mind.


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