oddtanlines

I just received a gift card from B & N and naturally thought of a cycling book. Any suggestions? I especially enjoy long distance adventure stories from people who write well. Thanks in advance.

CraigB

Based on your tastes, I'd suggest the late Barbara Savage's Miles from Nowhere. But in general, the ones I've enjoyed the most are Tales from the Bike Shop by Maynard Hershon, followed by Davis Phinney's The Happiness of Pursuit. Then maybe the history of the 7-Eleven team, the actual title and authors of which escape me at the moment.

etw

Try Cycling Home from Siberia

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cycl...=9781451607864

I just got it for Christmas and look forward to starting it

A review is here:

https://allseasonscyclist.com/2012/10...y-rob-lilwall/

fietsbob

Anything by Dervla Murphy..
'Murphy is best known for her 1965 book Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervla_Murphy

ka0use

the unknown tour de france by les woodland

dogs chasing riders, howling lunatic villagers on foot brandishing pitchforks 'n' torches chucking rocks/sticks chasing riders, innovative cheating, politics, drunkenness, the riders in wwI, a bear, howling motorcyclists chasing riders chucking rocks/sticks, howling car/truckloads of loonies chasing riders and chucking rocks/sticks, and whips 'n' chains a-plenty! sounds kinda kinky.

pure adventure. we need those days back again, excluding wwI. shoot, for the indiana- jones- in -a -bike- race type adventure i'd sign up! i'd lose a lot of weight, but probably have a heart attack and croak. but what a way to go!

recounts the early days of tdf.

b_twill

Got this from the library a while ago. Really enjoyed it!
https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Sleep-Ride.../dp/1553658175

hodag

Two of the books I was going to suggest are already mentioned above, 7-11 and Siberia.
How about The Lost Cyclist by David Herlihy?
And thanks to your post I will look for a copy of The Unknown Tour de France!
Cheers!

ahsposo 

If you could add 'competitive' in what you're looking for The Rider by Tim Krabbe is excellent.

brianogilvie 

Dervla Murphy's Full Tilt is fun but out of print and hard to find. You might enjoy Neil Peart's The Masked Cyclist, about a tour in Cameroon. Robert Penn, It's All about the Bike, isn't about a trip, but about his quest to build his dream bike, by going to the places where the frame and components were made.

That said, it's hard to beat Barbara Savage's Miles from Nowhere, which has already been mentioned. I listened to it once on a cross-country drive, and it planted a bike touring seed which has partially blossomed in the intervening years.

brianogilvie 

The Lost Cyclist is a decent book, but as a professional historian, I was irritated by the author's casual assumption of his sources' dismissive attitudes toward many of the non-Western people his protagonists encountered. I know he was trying to hew closely to his sources, but it sometimes seemed to me as if he was endorsing their prejudices.

oddtanlines

Just ordered Cycling Home from Siberia". Thanks etw.

Flying Merkel

Read it last month. An excellent book about early cycling that will give you huge respect for the athletes on high-wheel bikes. An amazing story. Can't speak to dismissive attitudes, but it's a book worth reading.

Artkansas 

I got The Lost Cyclist as a gift. The first part was very interesting, but it slowly sputtered to a halt. I gave it to the library.

Closed Office

The Park tool book of bicycle repair. I'm not much into drama or learning about life. Do enough of that already, but I enjoy the mechanics.

xenologer

Goldenboy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Boy_(manga)

Well, he's basically on an extended bike tour....yeah



hmmmh, might be fun someday to try and replicate his bike in real life... looks like an 80s rockhopper or somesuch....

Ken G

I've always found the bike travels of Anne Mustoe very captive, her books include

• A Bike Ride: 12,000 Miles Around the World (1991)
• Cleopatra's Needle: Two Wheels by the Water to Cairo (2003)
• Lone Traveller: One Woman, Two Wheels and the World (1998)
• Che Guevara and the Mountain of Silver: By Bicycle and Train Through South America (2007)
• Two Wheels in the Dust: From Kathmandu to Kandy (2001)
• Amber, Furs and Cockleshells: Bike Rides with Pilgrims and Merchants (2005)
• Escaping the Winter (1993)

I found her books hard to put down,another favourite of mine is Josie Dew.

ka0use

i read an article a few years ago about the first cyclist to cross (most of) america.

dude.

this poor um...illegitimate child.. road from either s.f. or l.a. to chicago. i think he carried it more than rode- crossing creeks/rivers, up canyons, chased/harrassed by indians (drunk and otherwise), chased/harrassed by cowboys (drunk and otherwise), chased by dogs (feral and otherwise), chased/harrassed by townsfolk (drunk and otherwise)....

and that was just getting through the first COUNTY!


thomas stevens in 1884. probably a penny farthing or boneshaker.

urban rider

I could not put the book Miles to Nowhere down.

cyccommute 

Odd, I could only slog through about half of it. Too whiny.

Some better reads:


Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling.

The Wheels of Chance: a Bicycling Idyll by H.G. Wheels

Major Taylor: The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer by Andrew Ritchie

Bicycles in War by Martin Caidin

The Dancing Chain: History and Development of the Derailleur Bicycle by Frank Berto

The wonderful ride: Being the true journal of Mr. George T. Loher who in 1895 cycled from coast to coast on his Yellow Fellow wheel

And if you really want to geek out, get Bicycling Science by David Gordon Wilson. If you really want to know what and how and why we do what we do on a bicycle, this explains it all.

bhchdh 

Here is a large list of bicycle tours in printed form.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...c_id=6668&v=FA

oddtanlines

Great reference piece for future reading from crazy guy on a bike. That's a lot of touring books! Is it on the Touring thread?

Myosmith

I don't know if I would call it my favorite, but I just finished Roll Around Heaven All Day by Stan Purdum. It's a good read about a middle age cyclist following a childhood dream to ride across America. His journey is in three sections, the first with his brother and the second with his teenage daughter. It is well written and very down to earth. He talks a lot about the road, the towns, and the people along the way.

https://www.amazon.com/Roll-Around-He.../dp/0930921119

ka0use

ok, my library has bicycles of war and i found another interesting title i put on hold-

the american bicycle by jay pridmore. has a schwinn (i think) 50s cruiser on the cover. black phantom?
stay tuned...

edit january 10: o-tay, the american bicycle has a schwinn dx on the cover. most of the images come from a bike museum in chicago. being a baby boomer i wish he'd focused more on the bikes of the 40s to mid 60s. there are a couple of pics of the lemon peeler and manta ray, but nothing of the sting ray or the rest of the krates. mattel's stallion wasn't even mentioned and i lusted for a friend's. made to haul 2 kids. guess it depends on your main area of interest. coffee table book.

got bicycles in war and the lost cyclist today, too. gonna be a great, snowy weekend! a cat and books.

stevebiker

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig. This classic from the 1970s is a bit heavy for those not of a philosophical bent, but it's full of rewards for anyone who reads it through. Some of my favorite lines:

"Are you teaching quality today?"

"The professor will expound."

Those in the know will agree with me.

SnowJob

Yeah, that was pretty annoying. Only made it to the thieving Chinamen before I had to give up.

I recommend "A Dog in a Hat" by Joe Parkin. It's an American cyclists story of racing in Belgium back in the '80s. It's fascinating and well written. Even if you are not into competitive cycling, his stories of racing hard, pedaling and running out of gas will resonate with anyone who likes to try and go fast once in a while only to hit that wall. (only imagine that your livelihood hangs on that wall not stopping you).