The Cycling Books Thread - Discussion, Reviews, Recommendations Etc.

furiousox · 14-04-2014 5:15pm #1

Thought I'd kick off a cycling books thread.
Just hope I won't be the only one posting here!

I've just finished Cycle Of Lies by Juliet Macur.
Very good read, possibly the definitive account of the Armstrong affair.
There's quite a bit of info here that hasn't been widely circulated before.
Armstrong is even worse than you imagined (and still completely unrepentant) and Landis comes across as being insane.

RobertFoster · 14-04-2014 6:07pm

I read Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy last year, and found it very interesting. It's her journal from the early sixties when she made the trip, and she talks about the travelling conditions as well as the hospitality of the locals. I don't know if you could make the same trip today through Iran and Afghanistan, but the book would make you want to try.

brownian · 14-04-2014 8:08pm

By Tim Moore. A truly funny book about cycling the TdF route; lots of good TdF history too. Sorry, no pic. But well worth a read.

Doc07 · 14-04-2014 11:30pm

The Death of Marco Pantani : Matt Rendell

Racing through the Dark : David Millar

Put me back on my bike : ? Authors name, biography of Tom Simpson

Mr. Grieves · 14-04-2014 11:36pm

The Rider by Tim Krabbé.

Amazing novel which covers the duration of a single race. A must read.

Wishbone Ash · 14-04-2014 11:40pm

Doc07 wrote: »

.....Put me back on my bike : ? Authors name..

William Fotheringham

furiousox · 17-04-2014 10:08pm

Michael Barry's book out on April 29th.

Konkers · 17-04-2014 10:39pm

"The secret race' (I think....) by Tyler Hamilton.

First hand account of doping during the Armstrong years. I don't think he ever apologised for his doping but I detected shame.

Wishbone Ash · 17-04-2014 10:52pm

Doc07 wrote: »

...Racing through the Dark : David Millar....

Reading it at the moment while on holiday. Got through half of it on the flight this morning!

(Looks like I'll be moving on to "Pigs might fly-The inside story of Pink Floyd" quicker than I thought!)

Doc07 · 17-04-2014 11:39pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Reading it at the moment while on holiday. Got through half of it on the flight this morning!

(Looks like I'll be moving on to "Pigs might fly-The inside story of Pink Floyd" quicker than I thought!)

Love him or hate him, it's a great read. Think I read it in 2 days on holiday. Going to re-read it. Bjarne Riis ( stages of light and dark) is also worth a read as it details some interesting tours late 80's to late 90's but I don't think he comes anywhere close to Millar's honesty.

Slaying the Badger ( Lemond v Hinault 1986 TdF) also a great book for a poolside read.

laraghrider · 18-04-2014 9:23am

Racing through the dark I rank as ok-ish. It was alright but a little too much of I didn't want to dope, I'm a good clean guy but aw crap I did!

Two books stand out for me:

The Secret Race - Tyler Hamilton (a lot better than expected)

Bad Blood - Jeremy Whittle

Konkers · 18-04-2014 11:17am

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

(Looks like I'll be moving on to "Pigs might fly-The inside story of Pink Floyd" quicker than I thought!)

Now that's a good read.

dastardly00 · 18-04-2014 4:32pm

Kelly: A Biography of Sean Kelly by David Walsh (published in 1986/87)

dastardly00 · 18-04-2014 4:34pm

Nice thread idea btw Furiousox!

Wishbone Ash · 19-04-2014 12:05am

Doc07 wrote: »

Slaying the Badger ( Lemond v Hinault 1986 TdF) also a great book for a poolside read.

My favourite cycling book. It's in tatters as I usually bring it on holidays and re-read it,

furiousox · 19-04-2014 10:42am

Check out the cover of Bassons' book!

Out on July 3rd.

Scrappy600 · 19-04-2014 3:45pm

Finished the secret race a while back, surprised no one has mentioned Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride yet, enjoyed that. Working on wheelmen at the moment but its a bit harder to get into. I am, as I type this, watching the Armstrong Lie on the tv though and finding it quite good.

Fr D Maugire · 19-04-2014 8:59pm

Probably hard to track down nowadays but probably my favourite cycling book is Wide Eyed and Legless. The story of the British ANC-Halfords team who took part in the 87 Tour. Great story about a team of complete outsiders making the Tour de France and then finding out that they are completely out of their depth.

A more recent sequel looking at what happened to those ridere was released in the last few years but nowhere near the original, though it does give some backgroud info and shows how amateurish things were in the 80s compared to nowadays.

nolinejudge · 20-04-2014 2:42pm

Loved wide eyed and legless, also enjoyed How I won the yellow Jumper by Ned Boulting. as well as most of the above. Currently Reading Inside team sky. Enjoying it but get the feeling its a PR piece.

furiousox · 20-04-2014 2:55pm

'Domestique' by Charly Wegelius is a fantastic read.
Gives a great insight to a pro's life and career.

Inquitus · 23-04-2014 8:21pm

Bad Blood - Jeremy Whittle
The Secret Race - Tyler Hamilton
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage
Racing through the dark - David Millar

All excellent books

Currently reading Cycle of Lies, and I can't help but get the feeling she has an agenda to paint Armstrong in the worst light possible. We all know he's an unpleasant human being, but I am 1/3 of the way through the book now and he doesn't seem to have done one good thing in his life, or have one redeeming feature. It paints all his charitable activities as being completely motivated by self agrandisement, which may well be true.

The only good deed he has done to date is arrange for his own cancer doctor to meet a guy who called in to a radio show he was on, this yielded a good outcome for the cancer victim and helped perpetrate his "Cancer Jesus" reputation. Anyways I will revisit this thread when I finish the book, but I am surprised Armstrong is even more repugnant than I thought, at least according to this book, and my opinion of him has always been bottom of the barrel.

Fr D Maugire · 23-04-2014 9:13pm

Inquitus wrote: »

Bad Blood - Jeremy Whittle
The Secret Race - Tyler Hamilton
Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage
Racing through the dark - David Millar

All excellent books

Currently reading Cycle of Lies, and I can't help but get the feeling she has an agenda to paint Armstrong in the worst light possible. We all know he's an unpleasant human being, but I am 1/3 of the way through the book now and he doesn't seem to have done one good thing in his life, or have one redeeming feature. It paints all his charitable activities as being completely motivated by self agrandisement, which may well be true.

The only good deed he has done to date is arrange for his own cancer doctor to meet a guy who called in to a radio show he was on, this yielded a good outcome for the cancer victim and helped perpetrate his "Cancer Jesus" reputation. Anyways I will revisit this thread when I finish the book, but I am surprised Armstrong is even more repugnant than I thought, at least according to this book, and my opinion of him has always been bottom of the barrel.

I have to admit, even I was surprised at how he was potrayed as such a lowlife in Cycle of Lies and I would have been termed an Armstrong hater; I never disliked him becasue he doped, it was more the whole cancer shield thing and the bullying.

I do remember when he first turned pro, Armstrong was often described as brash and arrogant. That was usually be his own team-mates and people who were backing him so imagine what most other people thought of him?? He must have been a proper Grade A- A**hole. I thought he gained a bit of gravitas after the cancer scare but maybe not and instead maybe got worse.

Anyway, another book I really liked was A dog in a hat by Joe Parkin, the story of a US rider trying the Belgian scene in the late 80s/90s. I admit I really enjoy books from that period as it was when I got into cycling. I also like the grittier, more realistic books like this rather than the this is how we won books.

thebouldwhacker · 23-04-2014 9:59pm

I find 'rough ride' a rough read, in my unqualified view I found the negativity of the book was just too much for me. I see it as a very important book but for example when he gives out about the Irish jersey he first got to wear not being washed right and how it made him feel I nearly put down the book.

ROK ON · 23-04-2014 10:36pm

furiousox wrote: »

'Domestique' by Charly Wegelius is a fantastic read.
Gives a great insight to a pro's life and career.

I bought Domestique yesterday and finished just five minutes ago.
An excellent read that any teenager aspiring to be a professional athlete should be forces to read, just so that understand what it is that they are getting into.
Pro cycling is such a pathetic excuse for an existent that I can only assume that the aspirants are very very damaged individuals.

dastardly00 · 23-04-2014 11:00pm

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I find 'rough ride' a rough read, in my unqualified view I found the negativity of the book was just too much for me. I see it as a very important book but for example when he gives out about the Irish jersey he first got to wear not being washed right and how it made him feel I nearly put down the book.

Yeah they are my thoughts exactly.
I know it is one of the most significant cycling books ever written, but the whole negativity from start to finish really got to me.

Konkers · 25-04-2014 10:49pm

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

I find 'rough ride' a rough read, in my unqualified view I found the negativity of the book was just too much for me. I see it as a very important book but for example when he gives out about the Irish jersey he first got to wear not being washed right and how it made him feel I nearly put down the book.

dastardly00 wrote: »

Yeah they are my thoughts exactly.
I know it is one of the most significant cycling books ever written, but the whole negativity from start to finish really got to me.

Agreed also. But I have come to understand him (Kimmage) more and why the book came accross that way more since he wrote it.

furiousox · 27-04-2014 9:02pm

George Hincapie's book out on July 27th.
The "Loyal" Lieutenant.

George+HIncapie+book+cover.jpg

drogdub · 27-04-2014 11:29pm

Reading Peter Cossins The Monuments. Only about 50 pages in really enjoying it.

Domestique is one of the best sports books I have ever read.

Slaying the Badger also excellent

Macy0161 · 28-04-2014 10:07am

Another vote for Slaying The Badger. Also another Richard Moore book - In Search of Robert Millar. The Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell is a great book for those that grew up with that era. Put Me Back on the Bike by William Fotheringham is another good read. Racing Through The Dark was very good too. I thought David Millars was bit meh, tbh, as was Roche's (Born To Ride). I really enjoyed Domestique, but didn't really like the total ignoring of doping that must have been going on around him in the peleton at that time. Some great accounts in it though.

Next on my list is Hunger, and I've been putting off one of the recent merckx ones (mainly because I'm indecisive about which one to go for!).

Green&Red · 28-04-2014 10:34am

The flying scotsman is a terribly written book but a great story about Greame Obree

Inquitus · 28-04-2014 10:49am

Green&Red wrote: »

The flying scotsman is a terribly written book but a great story about Greame Obree

I found it really hard work, his depression impacts almost every facet of his life from a young lad through to today, and personally I found it hard to read because of that.

The Cycling Books Thread - Discussion, Reviews, Recommendations Etc.

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