"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Book Recommendation...Two Types

Hi All,

Yes, it's mid-winter...it's cold, it gets dark early...my wood stove puts me to sleep earlier than I'd like to admit....and I'm looking for new cycling books to bide my time with.

I own and love Lance Armstrong's Private War & The Rider (Krabbe) already. I'm looking for two different types of books now.

First a book on beginning racing tactics & training....yes, I'm inching towards racing....Bethel Spring Series is about 6 weeks away.

Second, give me some general books on cycling, it's history and personalities......something interesting and inspiring and hopefully something I won't finish in 3 or 4 nights.

Thanks !

J. :)

First a book on beginning racing tactics & training....yes, I'm inching towards racing....Bethel Spring Series is about 6 weeks away.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=380788 - post 23

I see that you've already read what I'm going to recommend, but it's winter, it's boring, and this is a question that's been asked TOO MANY times.

Therefore, from my file:

i implore you to use the search engine.

i.e. -

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225636

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=274952

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225155

if that's too much work for you, then i'll cut to the chase.

The Rider (http://www.amazon.com/Rider-Tim-Krabbe/dp/1582342903/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200928542&sr=8-1') by Time Krabbe is the best book you're ever going to read about what it's like to race.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n12/n62001.jpg

Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252665/) is the best fictional account you're currently going to see about the good, the bad, and the ugly of euro bike racing.

http://www.laprise.org/IMG/jpg/Ghislain_Lambert_affiche.jpg

A Sunday in Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_in_Hell) is the BEST film you're ever going to see of a bike race.

http://www.bagear.com.au/images/D/DV021EV.jpg

anybody know where you can get (or if you can get) Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert in an NTSC format. Amazon has it in PAL.

anybody know where you can get (or if you can get) Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert in an NTSC format. Amazon has it in PAL.

not really an answer, but these days plenty of dvd players are multi-system, otherwise, you can watch it on your computer.

....
Second, give me some general books on cycling, it's history and personalities......something interesting and inspiring and hopefully something I won't finish in 3 or 4 nights.

Thanks !

J. :)

I paged thru this book last weekend and was pretty darn impressed. Yes, there's alot of pics, but they're excellent (much better than the Graham Watson type stuff). So you'll probably end up going thru the whole thing in less than 3 or 4 nights. But there's also alot of stories behind the years in which the race stood out and some of its more exceptional riders and characters:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j203/TeteDeCourse/pr.jpg

http://www.velopress.com/cycling_history.php?id=248

EDIT -- cool exerpt here : http://www.velogear.com/sample/sample_PRB.pdf

Then there's this book that many of us are waiting for:http://www.velopress.com/cycling.php?id=256

+1 to journey through hell.

not too much substance but man, is it awesome

Thanks Botto !

Have you ever done any of the Bethel races ?

CarpeDiemRacing/SprinterDellaCasa has about 14 videos on Youtube that have really stoked my interest.

http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=SprinterDellaCasa&p=r


I see that you've already read what I'm going to recommend, but it's winter, it's boring, and this is a question that's been asked TOO MANY times.

Therefore, from my file:

i implore you to use the search engine.

i.e. -

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225636

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=274952

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225155

Uphill Battle by Abt.

Need for the Bike by Fournel (sic).

Both books have soul.

up the road - abt
in high gear - abt
tour de france - abt
champion - abt

up the road - abt
in high gear - abt
tour de france - abt
champion - abt

I have and am currently re-reading Up the Road by Abt. It's an uneven collection of short essays dealing with cycling from the Lemond era through the Lance era.

I just ordered Bike Racing 101 last night and I've been spending lots of time on CarpeDiemRacing's website:

http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/

He's really got alot of useful information and his helmet cam race videos are the best !!!

I have and am currently re-reading Up the Road by Abt. It's an uneven collection of short essays dealing with cycling from the Lemond era through the Lance era.

I just ordered Bike Racing 101 last night and I've been spending lots of time on CarpeDiemRacing's website:

ht tp://sprinterde llacasa.blogspot.com/

He's really got alot of useful information and his helmet cam race videos are the best !!!

unless he's changed his modus operendai, abt's books are collections of his articles for the IHT.

generally i've found that it doesn't work very well when its spread out over a period of time longer than a grand tour (i.e. Lance Armstrong's Comeback from Cancer).

unless he's changed his modus operendai, abt's books are collections of his articles for the IHT.

generally i've found that it doesn't work very well when its spread out over a period of time longer than a grand tour (i.e. Lance Armstrong's Comeback from Cancer).


same MO in all the books. i just like his writing. light, quick interesting reading; works great when you want to get into some reading but not delve too deeply because you're turning out the lights in a few

Hearts of Lions (http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Lions-American-Bicycle-Racing/dp/0393305767/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201486239&sr=8-1) is a history of bike racing in the US from Major Taylor to LeMond. Pretty interesting History.

Racing/Training:
Bike Racing 101 (http://www.amazon.com/Bike-Racing-101-Kendra-Wenzel/dp/0736044744/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201486435&sr=8-1) and Racing Tactics For Cyclists (http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Tactics-Cyclists-Thomas-Prehn/dp/1931382301/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201486435&sr=8-2). I highly recommend both.

Bike Racing 101

Should be arriving any day now.......

Now I need a nice general book.....

I really enjoyed Lances' book "It's Not About the Bike".....I found it interesting, and didn't want to put it down.

+1 on A Sunday In Hell

TOTALLY PISSED OFF.

I ordered this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1845963989/ref=ox_ya_oh_product)recently. Looks like the greatest read in the history of cycling books and Amazon sent an email saying it is delayed. Crap!

Also ordered this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0224083082/ref=ox_ya_oh_product). My father loaned his copy to someone in about 1967 and never got it back. I wasn't paying $100 for an original edition, he can have the reprint. :)

TOTALLY PISSED OFF.

I ordered this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1845963989/ref=ox_ya_oh_product)recently. Looks like the greatest read in the history of cycling books and Amazon sent an email saying it is delayed. Crap!

Also ordered this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0224083082/ref=ox_ya_oh_product). My father loaned his copy to someone in about 1967 and never got it back. I wasn't paying $100 for an original edition, he can have the reprint. :)

sounds great, although rendell didn't really impress me with the pantani book.

sounds great, although rendell didn't really impress me with the pantani book.

Haven't read that one. I've got his one on Colombian cycling though, Kings of the Mountain. It's ok, dull in a few places, very good in parts. Pablo Escobar - huge cycling fan.

Some of the pommie cycling writers are excellent IMO, Wheatcroft, Fotheringham, Whittle etc.

sounds great, although rendell didn't really impress me with the pantani book.

I'm re-reading that now. His prose truly sucks in this one. I'm not sure who his editor was, but it's really, truly, horrible. It goes pretty much like this:

In July Fabio Fartinelli- the small village from which he was born which sits on the Adriatic next to Martinelli's, the former Director of Amica Chips and Pantani's personal therapist , then decided to send Panatani (there are mixed opinions on the truthfullness of this; both Luigi - who is not Italian but rather holds citizenship from Vatican City- and the prior doctor for ZImbalt Industries, Malecci who is Tuscan- both dispute this) via Romaggo, a 16th century cathedral city, in September to the Vuelta.

I've got to read some of those tortured sentences 3 times before I figure out what the heck he's driving at.

Botto, you're an idiot.

Haven't read that one. I've got his one on Colombian cycling though, Kings of the Mountain. It's ok, dull in a few places, very good in parts. Pablo Escobar - huge cycling fan.

Some of the pommie cycling writers are excellent IMO, Wheatcroft, Fotheringham, Whittle etc.

richard moore isn't bad either.


I'm re-reading that now. His prose truly sucks in this one. I'm not sure who his editor was, but it's really, truly, horrible. It goes pretty much like this:

In July Fabio Fartinelli- the small village from which he was born which sits on the Adriatic next to Martinelli's, the former Director of Amica Chips and Pantani's personal therapist , then decided to send Panatani (there are mixed opinions on the truthfullness of this; both Luigi - who is not Italian but rather holds citizenship from Vatican City- and the prior doctor for ZImbalt Industries, Malecci who is Tuscan- both dispute this) via Romaggo, a 16th century cathedral city, in September to the Vuelta.

I've got to read some of those tortured sentences 3 times before I figure out what the heck he's driving at.

that was bad, but when he went all csi with doping, the book went off the reservation.


Botto, you're an idiot.

thanks for yet another meaningful contribution to the road bike racing forum. :thumb:

I see that you've already read what I'm going to recommend, but it's winter, it's boring, and this is a question that's been asked TOO MANY times.

Therefore, from my file:

i implore you to use the search engine.

i.e. -

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225636

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=274952

http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225155

if that's too much work for you, then i'll cut to the chase.

The Rider (http://www.amazon.com/Rider-Tim-Krabbe/dp/1582342903/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200928542&sr=8-1') by Time Krabbe is the best book you're ever going to read about what it's like to race.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n12/n62001.jpg

Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252665/) is the best fictional account you're currently going to see about the good, the bad, and the ugly of euro bike racing.

http://www.laprise.org/IMG/jpg/Ghislain_Lambert_affiche.jpg

A Sunday in Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_in_Hell) is the BEST film you're ever going to see of a bike race.

http://www.bagear.com.au/images/D/DV021EV.jpg

+1 on all the tips! :D

I'm re-reading that now. His prose truly sucks in this one. I'm not sure who his editor was, but it's really, truly, horrible. It goes pretty much like this:

In July Fabio Fartinelli- the small village from which he was born which sits on the Adriatic next to Martinelli's, the former Director of Amica Chips and Pantani's personal therapist , then decided to send Panatani (there are mixed opinions on the truthfullness of this; both Luigi - who is not Italian but rather holds citizenship from Vatican City- and the prior doctor for ZImbalt Industries, Malecci who is Tuscan- both dispute this) via Romaggo, a 16th century cathedral city, in September to the Vuelta.

I've got to read some of those tortured sentences 3 times before I figure out what the heck he's driving at.

Sounds like his editor was Google Language Tools

I read A Dog In A Hat and It's Not About the Bike a couple weeks ago. Both were great books. I finished A Dog In A Hat in one sitting, couldn't put it down.

Picked up The Cyclist's Training Bible the other day, about 90 pages into that. So far it is great.

+1 on "Dog in a Hat."
Just finished Jean Bobet's "Tomorrow, we ride". Nice sketch of pro cycling in the 50s, although it left me wanting more.