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Doping Education / Good Reads

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    #32
    neris
    Registered Users Posts: 20,046 ✭✭✭✭neris


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    has anyone seen this? not specifically about cycling, though there are a few shots of cyclists used in the trailer:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoRdSTrR-4

    Not seen it, on my to watch list on Netflix but it's very good reviews from what I've seen online


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    #33
    bazermc
    Registered Users Posts: 3,116 ✭✭✭bazermc


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    has anyone seen this? not specifically about cycling, though there are a few shots of cyclists used in the trailer:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoRdSTrR-4

    Yes and it's fantastic. Well worth the watch.


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    #34
    loudymacloud
    Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭loudymacloud


    watched it the other day, very good viewing. well worth a watch.


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    #35
    dastardly00
    Registered Users Posts: 13,331 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00


    Another +1 for Icarus

    I've recently read Thomas Dekker's autobiography The Descent.
    Plastik's comments below from earlier in the thread sum up my own thoughts.
    Plastik wrote: »
    Bought Thomas Dekker's book, The Descent, yesterday and got through it in an evening. Quite short, only a little over 200 pages. It's ghost written fairly well and manages to convey how out of control he was in all aspects of his life. More or less straight into all the shenanigans you want to read about after a couple of chapters instead of an endless biographical monologue. Seemed to be a few sly barbs in there towards some of the modern riders, though maybe that was just my own reading of it rather than something that he deliberately tried to convey.


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    #36
    Macy0161
    Registered Users Posts: 9,322 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Macy0161 wrote: »
    Currently reading the Indurain biog, "Relentless" by Aladair Fotheringham. At the point Reynolds "invested" in a trip to Italy, but says they'll be more on that later...
    There really wasn't anything on any doping or even dot joining. It was alright on his career and personality, but nothing really of interest to suggest or disprove any suspicions (probably due to his personality tbh). Well interesting to me who really got into cycling in the 90's anyway.

    Currently reading "The End of the Road - The Festina Affair and the Tour that Almost Wrecked Cycling" also by Alasdair Fotheringham. Much better so far of the two.


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    #37
    Macy0161
    Registered Users Posts: 9,322 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Not sure which book thread to resurrect... but just going to go with a plug for The Ascent. It is brilliant, which I guess everyone would assume given it's getting sports books of the year shortlists! But it really is that good. Just so it's on topic, it does cover the positive tests/ allegations. Roche definitely rates himself and his influence on others anyway!

    I though the "End of the Road" was good, and would recommend.

    Also read Boardman's biography this year - more interesting for the way his obsession affected his family tbh.

    Just started "The Rás: The Story of Ireland's Unique Bike Race" - I've had it for a while, but spurred on by the The Ascent and finding out more about the politics (hopefully).


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    #38
    transylman
    Registered Users Posts: 599 ✭✭✭transylman


    Cycle of Lies by Juliet Macur was very good. Also enjoyed Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton.

    In movies, the Armstrong Lie is an enjoyable summary of Armstrong.

    For general discussion of doping in sports Victor Conte on Joe Rogan was very good (spoiler: pro sports is infested with dopers).


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    #39
    Sinbad_NI
    Registered Users Posts: 1,059 ✭✭✭Sinbad_NI


    Just read an older one. "Breaking the chain" by Willy Voet. Great read. Frightening what was going on back then... Probably best not knowing what they're at now :-(

    Another vote as well for "the ascent". Great read.


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    #40
    Plastik
    Registered Users Posts: 2,969 ✭✭✭Plastik


    Another recommendation of The Ascent from me. I actually bought it for someone else as a present and they passed it back when read. I left it to one side for a while, and approached with a fair degree of cynicism in terms of "another cycling book". I've pretty much been at saturation point and balls of tripe like Kellys Hunger tipped me over the edge for a while.

    But The Ascent is absolutely brilliant. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good book on a broad overview of Irish professional cycling in the 80's, and it's the first book I've read that begins to deal with the dodgy history of Roche and Kelly.


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    #41
    pelevin
    Registered Users Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭pelevin


    On the other side of the coin regarding books about doping, it's good to see how you can win the biggest races doing it clean. "Inside Team Sky" by David Walsh shows how Sky were able to dominate particularly the Tour de France with previously mediocre cyclists like Chris Froome, and they did this by not eating Nutella and using special pillow cases.


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    #42
    Macy0161
    Registered Users Posts: 9,322 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Plastik wrote: »
    I've pretty much been at saturation point and balls of tripe like Kellys Hunger tipped me over the edge for a while.
    I didn't think Hunger was too bad, bar the obvious ignorance of anything doping - I don't necessarily expect people to hang themselves. The only ones that ever have, have had nothing left to lose. The Ascent is a different class though.


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    #43
    loudymacloud
    Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭loudymacloud


    pelevin wrote: »
    On the other side of the coin regarding books about doping, it's good to see how you can win the biggest races doing it clean. "Inside Team Sky" by David Walsh shows how Sky were able to dominate particularly the Tour de France with previously mediocre cyclists like Chris Froome, and they did this by not eating Nutella and using special pillow cases.



    :-)


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    #44
    Exiled1
    Registered Users Posts: 334 ✭✭Exiled1


    The Ascent is superb. It interweaves the main personalities on the bike, Kelly, Roche, P. McQuaid, Kimmage, Early with the politics of Irish cycling and the shenanigans of competitive cycling in the seventies-nineties era. Certainly doesn't seem to pull punches on anybody.
    As sports books go, it is up there with the best I have read.
    It may not have made international headlines because of its Irish focus. However, that does not prevent it from being a great read.
    I have read all of the Irish short listed sports books for 2017 and it is better than any of them (including a good Philly McMahon autobiography).


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    #45
    Macy0161
    Registered Users Posts: 9,322 ✭✭✭Macy0161


    Just finished the Shay Elliott book (Shay Elliott: The Life and Death of Ireland's First Yellow Jersey) - probably just scrapes in for a few drug references! Definitely interesting, as although I was aware he was good, I really didn't appreciate how good to be honest. So much un-luck.

    Just to follow up from an earlier post, I did finish "The Rás: The Story of Ireland's Unique Bike Race". A bit like Shay Elliott, I was aware of issues, but while I wouldn't consider myself to have a bad knowledge of international racing history, I was fairly clueless about the history of the politics of Irish cycling until the Ascent.

    Have "The Ronde" on order with the LBS (Local Book Shop this time). Just started Jeremy Whittles Ventoux, which will definitely qualify for this thread if it is to be restricted to doping!


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