An inspiring and thought-provoking new book that explains the power of applying reverse-engineering to all areas of your life, from a cycling champion who has proven its success. Dan Bigham is the captain of an amateur British track cycling team who rose from obscurity to beat professional, multi-million-pound teams at the highest level. Alongside hard work and dedication, Dan credits his success to one thing: reverse-engineering the result. In Start at the End, Dan uses his own story as well as wider examples and case studies from the worlds of business, personal development and other sports to demonstrate how this approach can help you succeed in any walk of life. Following each stage of the process, from setting goals and assessing your tools to developing the plan and delivering optimum performance, this book will fully explain how to set out and enact the system. A revolutionary new look at a powerful age-old wisdom, Start at the End is a fascinating exploration of how we can achieve success and proof that no goal is impossible. *** 'Start at the End isn't just a great story, but a really nice reminder of how to approach performance forensically, intelligently and purposefully – and that these lessons don't just belong in cycling but in all areas of high performance' Dr Josie Perry 'Phenomenal ... Absolutely fascinating ... Incredible stuff, really clever' Stephen Dixon, Sky News

'hilarious' - Cycling Weekly A delightful celebration of cycling from renowned cartoonist and multiple-bike owner Dave Walker. With over 100 full-page cartoons that give an affectionate take on cycling in all its different forms, featuring cartoons about road cycling, mountain biking and bike ownership, via sportives and commuting - celebrating the simple pleasure of getting from A to B on two wheels.

The fascinating and unknown story of the Tour de France's ever-changing relationship with money and power - and the enigmatic family behind it all. It started with a cash drop by an English spy in occupied Paris in 1944. Reserved for Resistance groups during the war, the money reached Emilien Amaury, an advertising executive, who was tasked to help France return to a free press once liberated. He soon launched a newspaper empire that - unbeknown to him - would own the rights to run what would become one of the greatest sporting events in history. Le Tour, once a struggling commercial phenomenon, began to rise in popularity across much of western Europe in the glum years after the Second World War, lifting the mood of the hungry and despondent French. But with the increased interest in the event, exacerbated by the creation of television and the internet, came several cultural threats to national heritage. Multiple attempts to wrest power and profits from the latest generation of the Amaury family - who still own the race and take tens of millions of euros home in dividends - have followed, but not without a fight. Fast-paced and fastidiously researched, Le Fric illustrates how moments off the bike at the Tour de France are every bit as gripping as the battle for the yellow jersey.

American cycling has a long tradition of riding and racing on a shoestring and a prayer. Jamie Smith explores the domestic side of the world's biggest amateur sport in American Pro: The True Story of Bike Racing in America. American Pro rips away the thin veneer of professionalism among domestic racing teams to lay bare the heart and soul of a struggling sport. Smith traces the arc of one team's racing career to discover colorful personalities, scrappy racing action, humor and heartbreak. American Pro shows what the sport demands: the scramble for contracts, the dynamics of team chemistry, the unending travel, the Herculean struggle to realize the dream-all for the love of bike racing. With sharp humor and insight, Smith uncovers what's wrong-and what's right-with America's broken bike racing system. American Pro will transform how you think of domestic pro racing through a five-season expose of the sport we love.

A laugh-out-loud funny true story of a loving relationship, a grand adventure, and a promise kept. It was only a few years after the starry-eyed young couple got married when scary news threatened to take the wind out of their sails. But Sean Dietrich's wife, Jamie, wouldn't let it. She dared to hope for and plan for a great big adventure, and she made him promise to do it with her. For love and the promise of biscuits along the way, Sean--who was never an athlete of any kind--undertook the bike ride of a lifetime and lived to talk about it. In this true-life tale, master storyteller Sean Dietrich--also known as the beloved columnist and creator of the blog and podcast "Sean of the South"--shares their hilarious, touching, and sometimes terrifying story of the long bike ride to conquer The Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath trail. As you laugh out loud through every hard-won mile and lose yourself in his signature poignancy, you'll experience a great adventure that, in the end, will remind you of what's most important in life, the value of keeping your promises, and the importance of connection in your most treasured relationships. A feel-good read you won't be able to put down, You Are My Sunshine dares you to hope for an adventure of your own.

Modern roller derby has been theorised as a gendered leisure context, offering women opportunities for empowerment and growth, and enabling them to carve a space for themselves in sport. No longer a women-only sport, roller derby is now played by all genders and has been heralded as a model of inclusivity within sport. Identity, Belonging, and Community in Men's Roller Derby offers an insight into how men's roller derby culture is created and maintained, how members forge an identity for themselves and their team, and how they create feelings of belonging and inclusivity. Through in-depth ethnographic study of a specific, localised roller derby community, this book examines how practices of skills capital intersect with different configurations of masculinity in a continual struggle between traditional and inclusive models of sport. An interrogation of the ways a DIY sport can be seen to be achieved, experienced, and understood in everyday practice, this book will appeal to scholars of men, masculinities, and sport. Additionally, the methodological discussions will be of value to ethnographers and researchers who have had to deal with a disruptive presence.

Big Rides: Great Britain & Ireland is an inspirational guide to the most iconic, epic and popular long-distance cycle trails in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, including two excursions from mainland Britain to Northern France. The twenty-five featured routes showcase the best of Britain on two wheels. For those who prefer to pedal on-road, the routes take you along the historic Way of the Roses trail through Lancaster and York, as well as across Scotland's Atlantic perimeter on the Hebridean Way. The trails head off-road to Northern England's hills on the Sea to Sea (C2C) and past iconic monuments in Southern England on King Alfred's Way. Mountain bike enthusiasts will find plenty to challenge them in the Sarn Helen and through the Scottish Highlands on the renowned Highland Trail 550. The routes then head offshore, to Ireland's coast on the Wild Atlantic Way and from Devon and Dorset's Jurassic Coast to Normandy's alabaster cliffs on the Tour de Manche. Vertebrate Publishing's Big Rides books are designed to inspire big adventures. Rather than being carried along the route, this guide provides everything you need to plan and explore further, including a general overview of the trails, specific technical information, overview mapping, key information and stunning photography. As well as this, each route specifies approximate timings which allows for you to plan your adventure at your own pace. Whether you're completing routes at a leisurely speed or racing towards the finish, let Big Rides: Great Britain & Ireland be your guide.

Cycling is more popular than ever before: it's healthy, it's cheap and it's better for the environment.

People are dusting off their bicycles both for convenience and exercise, or investing in new models. But what do you do if things go wrong with your bike? Most bike problems don't require a visit to a specialist - you can fix it yourself with the right set of a spanners and a little know-how.

The Bike Repair Book is your one-stop shop for fixing all bike-related issues, from punctured tyres, brake and gear problems, to broken chains. Illustrated with clear graphics and step-by-step instructions, you'll save money and time by repairing your bicycle yourself.

'Pure joy. Happy, generous, funny, kind, wise and full of fresh air. An absolutely wonderful book.' - Jeremy Vine 'Engaging, entertaining and enlightening' - Chris Boardman 'A glorious celebration of the wonder and absurdity of cycling' - Ned Boulting 'Hilarious' - Cycling Weekly More joyful cycling cartoons from the renowned Cycling Cartoonist. Inside you'll find over 100 full-page cartoons that cast an affectionate eye over the delights and challenges of cycling: from everyday commuting to cycling adventures, and everything in between. This cartoon manifesto for pedal-powered transport is a mixture of comedic insights and actually useful information, for everyone from beginners to seasoned cycling campaigners. These are funny, thoughtful and powerful cartoons from best-selling cartoonist Dave Walker, celebrating the simple pleasure of getting from A to B on two wheels. Topics addressed include: - Motivational sentiments for riding up hills - Ways to keep your saddle dry in the rain - Things you could carry on a cargo bike - A traffic report for the National Cycle Network

In ETAPE, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore will take readers on a virtual Tour de France, with each chapter focusing on a single rider in a single stage that came to define the Tour's history. In Etape, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore tells the stories behind some of the defining stages in the Tour de France's history through the eyes of the protagonists: the heroes and villains, stars and journeymen. Featuring exclusive new interviews with Mark Cavendish, Lance Armstrong, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, David Millar, Chris Boardman and many other Tour riders past and present, Etape spans six decades in conveying the mystery, beauty and madness of the world's greatest bike race. The book includes Boardman's famous debut in 1994, Cavendish's best and worst stages, an emotionally charged win for Armstrong in Limoges in 1995 and his dramatic, drug-fuelled victory eight years later at Luz Ardiden, as well as iconic stages featuring giants of the sport: Merckx's toughest Tour, Hinault's journey through hell, LeMond's return from near-death, and the tragic Marco Pantani's domination of the most controversial race in Tour history, among others. From the Alps to the Pyrenees, the sun-soaked plains of the midi to the rain-lashed cobbles of the north, Etape takes the reader on a virtual Tour. Along the way, in shedding new light on familiar events, unravelling mysteries and exploring untold stories, it confirms the Tour de France as unrivalled in its creation of myths and legends, and as a stage for courage, scandal, skill, and drama.

The story of the Giro d'Italia - Italy's equivalent of the Tour de France, and its superior in the eyes of many - is as dramatic and full of extraordinary characters as the story of Italy itself. Heroism, suffering, feuds and betrayals, tradition under threat from modernity all play out against a timeless landscape. The iconic riders, mythical stories and career defining exploits are conveyed in rich, vibrant prose.

If, as Wallace Stegner said, the national park is "the best idea we ever had," the rail-trail is certainly a close runner-up. Part transportation corridor, part park, the rail-trail has revolutionized the way America creates high-quality, car-free pathways for bicyclists, runners, walkers, equestrians, and more. It was only a few decades after railroad barons had run roughshod over America's economy and politics that they began to shed nearly one hundred thousand miles of unneeded railroad corridor. At the same time, bicyclists were being so thoroughly pushed off ever-more-intimidating roadways they came close to extinction. Through political organizing and lawyerly grit, an unlikely, formerly marginalized advocacy arose, seized on seemingly worthless strips of land, and created a resource that is treasured by millions of Americans today for recreation, purposeful travel, tourism, conservation, and historical interpretation. From Rails to Trails is the fascinating tale of the rails-to-trails movement as well as a consideration of what the continued creation of rail-trails means for the future of Americans' health, nonmotorized transportation networks, and communities across the country.

Now in its 23rd year of publication, The Bike Book continues to be a bestseller. Compiled by a new author, this seventh edition is a major update to include all new developments in the cycling world along with a thorough check and revision of all existing material. New photography together with a refreshed page design offer the reader a user-friendly and contemporary manual - but still with the clear step-by-step approach for which Haynes is famous.

15 day walks, 3 multi-stage treks and 5 cycle routes are described covering the north, central and southern areas of Germany's Black Forest. The walks and cycle routes are evenly distributed across all three areas and comprise both long distance routes and day walks, although each stage of every long distance walk can also be done as individual day tour. The chosen routes include the main Black Forest destinations, such as Feldberg, Belchen Schauinsland, Hornisgrinde and Mummelsee, as well as Allerheiligen Abbey and waterfalls and the source of the Danube, to name but a few. Two of the three long distance routes are certified quality trails: Schluchtensteig (120km), which means gorge trail traverses the Wutachschlucht, one of the last untamed river systems in Germany, and Zweitalersteig (108km) a highly diverse circular route which leads through some of the most beautiful and contrasting parts of the Central Black Forest. Seensteig (71km) partially follows the central ridge of the Black Forest mountain range, offering unsurpassed views along the way. The cycle routes (4 day rides, and the 242km Southern Black Forest Cycle Route) are mostly easy and scenic, and utilise the extensive and well-maintained bicycle trail system that criss-crosses the entire region. The walks and rides are described in detail and basic maps are provided for orientation.

"If Alpe d'Huez was a rigorous climb, with its mathematical progression of tight corners and steep inclines, the Izoard is far more awesome, a rocky wilderness at 7,743 feet, which needs only a few bleached skulls at the roadside to complete its sense of desolation." Geoffrey Nicholson's The Great Bike Race is universally revered by modern cycling critics as the benchmark English-language volume of the sport and has risen to mythical status. It was the first book in English to tell the entire story of a full tour and truly captivates the reader from start to finish. Nicholson's classic, vivid descriptions of the racing, the personalities, tactics and intrigues of the 1976 race are rotated with insightful thematic chapters where he lifts the lid on the broader culture and lengthy traditions of cycling's most famous race and the greatest annual sports event in the world.

At the age of 20, Dennis Horn won his first English Rose - the emblem of a National track champion. Throughout the 1930s he rapidly graduated from the rough and tumble of makeshift grass track racing at country fairs and gala sports days in provincial towns to assail the heights of British track cycling on the great urban cycling bastions of the time - the hard-surfaced stadiums of London's Herne Hill and Manchester's Fallowfield - and become the star of British track racing. Every year from 1931 to 1938 he was awarded the season-long Meredith Trophy to add to those legendary gold and silver cups he'd won in fiercely contested track battles in front of crowds of tens of thousands. It was a cycling scene entirely unique to Britain in the years before World War II. But this is more than a simple tale of a strapping rural lad who took on and beat the streetwise metropolitan champions of his era. Dennis Horn, son of a Fenland blacksmith, proved himself to be as astute as any of his urban contemporaries at treading the fine line between amateurism and professionalism as defined by the puritanical British cycling establishment of their day.

Bicycling Through Paradise is a collection of twenty historically themed cycling tours broken into 10-mile segments centered around Cincinnati, Ohio. Written by two longtime cyclists-one a professor of history and one an architect-the book is an affectionate, intimate, and provocative reading of the local landscape and history from the perspectives of cycling and Cincinnati enthusiasts. Tours, navigated by Smythe and Hanlon, take cyclers past Native American sites, early settler homesteads, and locations made know through recent Ohio change-makers as navigated by the authors. With extensive details on routes and sites along the way, tours between 20 and 80 miles in length are designed for all levels of cyclists, and even the armchair explorer. Riders and readers will visit towns called Edenton, Loveland, Felicity, and Utopia. Along the journey, they'll encounter an abandoned Shaker village near the Whitewater Forest and a tiny dairy house called "Harmony Hill," the oldest standing structure in Clermont County, Ohio. They'll also take in the view from the top of a 2,000-year-old, 75-foot tall, conical Indian mound at Miamisburg. Riders can follow the Little Miami Scenic Trail and take a detour to a castle on the banks of the Little Miami River. Other sights include a full-scale replica of the tomb of Jesus in Northern Kentucky and the small pleasures of public parks, covered bridges, tree-lined streets, riverside travel, and one-room schoolhouses. And if all this isn't exactly Paradise, well, it's pretty close.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022* 'How doping killed cycling's 'golden boy'. A shocking, clear-sighted and sympathetic account of a talent destroyed by drugs.' The Times 'Sensitive yet compelling.' The Observer They called him God. For his grace on a bicycle, for his divine talent, for his heavenly looks. Frank Vandenbroucke had it all, and in the late nineties he raced with dazzling speed and lived even faster. The Belgian won most of cycling's most prestigious races, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Nice, enthralling a generation of cycling fans. Off the bike, he only had one enemy - himself. His rise to prominence coincided with a rampant period of doping and Vandenbroucke had a wayward streak. He regularly fell out with team managers and had all-night party sessions mixing sleeping pills and alcohol. A drugs scandal started a long fall from grace, leading to addiction, car crashes, court appearances, marital problems and suicide bids, punctuated by sporting comebacks. His life was like a soap opera and its premature ending shocked many. In October 2009, aged thirty-four, Vandenbroucke was found dead in a Senegalese hotel room - in mysterious circumstances. Led by candid contributions from his closest family, friends and associates, William Hill award-winning author Andy McGrath lays bare Vandenbroucke's turbulent life story. God is Dead is the compelling biography of this mercurial cycling prodigy. - 'With his talent, Frank is the Johan Cruyff of cycling. He could win anything.' Eddy Merckx, FIVE TIMES WINNER OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE 'Captures the charisma and chaos of Vandenbroucke's short life perfectly.' Cyclist 'A cautionary tale. Gripping yet harrowing.' Bikeradar

'If you read just one sports book this year, this is the one' Express on SundayLance Armstrong was one of the most precocious talents the world of cycling had ever seen. Within a year of turning professional in 1992 he was World Champion. In 1994 he won two stages of the Tour de France and in 1996 consolidated his position amongst cycling's elite by winning ten consecutive races. By this time, however, and unknown to him, he was battling against cancer as well as 200 fellow competitors. In early October he was diagnosed with testicular cancer so advanced he had to be operated on the very next day. And when lesions appeared on his brain and in his lungs he was given a 40% chance of survival. While he was in hospital undergoing a three month course in chemotherapy his team Codifis, who had promised to stand by him, cancelled his contract. However, by February 1997 he was out of hospital, training again and setting himself targets. He wanted to complete the 1998 Tour de France. Not only did he achieve this but he went on to win the 1999 Tour in spectacular style, in the fastest ever time, and was the first winner to take four stages in the race in 15 years. This is an extraordinary and inspirational story. 'So darn riveting that it simply cannot be put down-warmly recommended' Time Out

In July 2014 the greatest cycle race in the world visited God's Own County of Yorkshire. The 101st edition of the Tour De France started in Leeds and spent two days cycling over 240 miles through the county. Inspired by Yorkshire's wonderful landscape and history A Bicycle Ride in Yorkshire is an illustrated guide to the route of Le Tour Yorkshire, by cyclist, writer and artist Heather Dawe. It is a guide to riding the route, to the sights and landscape seen along the way and to the rich cycling heritage found on Yorkshire's roads. Beautifully illustrated with Heather's paintings, the route is brought to life. On the first day Le Tour departed from Leeds into the rolling scenery of the Yorkshire Dales, past the breweries of Masham to finish in the spa town of Harrogate. Day two began in the historic city of York, from where it explored the industrial valleys of the South Pennines, skirting the Peak District before finishing in the steel city of Sheffield. A Bicycle Ride in Yorkshire is an essential read for any cycling, Tour de France or Yorkshire aficionado.