This is the remarkable story of The Maindy Flyers, a cycling club in Cardiff which has nurtured a string of elite riders such as Elinor Barker, Luke Rowe, Owain Doull, and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, and has produced more Olympic gold medallists since 2008 than France. In the early 1990s, when no cycling club for children existed in Wales, The Maindy Flyers was established with the sole aim of providing a fun and safe environment for young cyclists and to utilise a once derelict track in the city. Despite minimal funding and equipment, the club's talented and passionate coaches quickly created an unbeatable team spirit that attracted children from across Cardiff who just loved riding bikes and enjoyed making friends. Producing elite cyclists was not the intention. Of interest to all followers of cycling, particularly coaches and leaders of junior cycling clubs everywhere, the key characters who created The Maindy Flyers share their experiences and provide a step-by-step guide to establishing a cycling club. Written by Cardiff-based cycling enthusiast Juan Dickinson and published with the full co-operation and support of the club, The Maindy Flyers - with over 100 photographs, many previously unseen - reveals the struggles and difficulties to set up and maintain the club, and explains how it overcame many challenges, internal and external, to became the world's most successful cycling club.

There's little that can beat the perfect simplicity of a bike ride.

There are many reasons why cycling has such enduring appeal. For some, it is the relaxation and freedom that biking offers – what could be better than pedalling away and leaving our troubles behind? For others, cycling is the perfect means of building strength and fitness. Indeed, it can be one of the most challenging sports on the planet – from amateurs testing themselves to the limit to professionals competing in some of the toughest races in the world.

Packed full of wise, witty and inspirational quotes, The Little Book of Cycling is the perfect gift for cyclists of all levels. From the simple exhilaration of freewheeling downhill to the arduous challenges faced by the endurance cyclist, this is the ultimate ode to the love of two wheels.

This classic, once hard-to-find travelogue recalls one of the very first around-the-world bicycle treks. Filled with rarely matched feats of endurance and determination, Around the World on a Bicycle tells of a young cyclist's ever-changing and maturing worldview as he ventures through forty countries on the eve of World War II. It is an exuberant, youthful account, harking back to a time when the exploits of Richard Byrd, Amelia Earhart, and other adventurers stirred the popular imagination. In 1935 Fred A. Birchmore left the small American town of Athens, Georgia, to continue his college studies in Europe. In his spare time, Birchmore toured the continent on a one-speed bike he called Bucephalus (after the name of Alexander the Great's horse). A born wanderer, Birchmore broadened his travels to include the British Isles and even the Mediterranean. After a lengthy, unplanned detour in Egypt, Birchmore put his studies on hold, pointed Bucephalus eastward, and just kept going. From desert valleys to frozen peaks, from palace promenades to muddy jungle trails, Birchmore saw it all on his eighteen-month, twenty-five-thousand-mile odyssey. Some of the people he encountered had never seen a bike - or, for that matter, an Anglo-European. As a good travel experience should, Birchmore's trip changed his outlook on strangers. Always daring, outgoing, and energetic, he now saw an innate goodness in people. In between bone-breaking spills, wild animal attacks, and privation of all kinds, Birchmore learned that he had little to fear from human encounters. That he traveled through a world on the brink of global war makes this lesson even more remarkable - and timeless.

"Shows that sport has been for us moderns the ultimate "tabula rasa" into which we pour our hopes, fears, prejudices and self-interest."--Robert A. Nye, author of "Crime, Madness, & Politics in Modern France" and "Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France"
"Chris Thompson has written an engaging, nicely-paced account of France's world-famous cycle race: his writing is lively and full of detail and excitement. But he has done much more than simply narrate the story of the Tour. His book sets the race--its history, its participants and its meaning--firmly in its shifting national and cultural contexts. The sections dealing with professional cycling as a form of labor and with the Tour's place in France's troubled twentieth century are absolutely first-rate: insightful and original. This is the best history of the Tour that we have and are likely to have for many years, a work of scholarship that deserves to find a broad general readership."--Tony Judt, author of "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945"

The original autobiography of Bradley Wiggins, the first British rider to have won the Tour de France and a record-equalling seven-time Olympic medallist. 'The autobiography of one of British cycling's true greats is an authentic account of hard knocks, tough times and a surprising amount of alcohol' TIME OUT Bradley Wiggins is a British sporting legend. Not only has he won seven World Track Championships and a record-equalling seven Olympic medals, including double-gold in Beijing in 2008 and gold in the time trial in London in 2012, he is the first Briton to have won cycling's ultimate prize, the Tour de France. He is an immensely talented and dedicated endurance athlete with a gritty, down-to-earth persona - cool, outspoken, respected, inspiring - and he has helped to bring track and road cycling to a new audience in the UK. With new material by Brendan Gallagher, co-author of the original edition, this is the story of a boy with bikes in his blood, of a son abandoned by his father and of the journey from council estate to the very pinnacle of the sport. IN PURSUIT OF GLORY is a compelling, no-holds-barred account of Wiggins' rise to global success and an extraordinary insight into the world of cycling.

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

Curves is the ultimate high-quality journeyman's magazine. Produced with love and aimed at all who drive, bike or cycle with passion, it encapsulates the joy of the open road. It is a magazine for those who see planning a journey as an act of celebration: people who are prepared to shake off their shackles and live their dreams. It is designed for the devotees and dreamers who experience the drive in their mind's eye before even embarking on the real-life adventure. This volume focuses on Scotland: its meandering roads, its hilly heights, the breathtaking bleakness of its countryside. Text in English and German.

In 2008, Mark Beaumont smashed the world record for cycling around the world, by an astonishing 81 days. His race against the clock took him through the toughest terrain and the most demanding of conditions. In 2009, Mark set out on his second ultra-endurance challenge. And this one would involve some very big mountains. The Man Who Cycled the Americas tells the story of a 15,000 mile expedition that once again broke the barriers of human achievement. To pedal the longest mountain range on the planet, solo and unsupported, presented its own unique difficulties. But no man had ever previously summited the continents' two highest peaks, Mt McKinley in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina, in the same climbing season, let alone cycling between them. Oh, and Mark had never even been up Ben Nevis before. Full of his trademark charm, warmth and fascination with seeing the world at the pace of a bicycle, Mark Beaumont's second book is a testament to his love of adventure, his joy of taking on tough mental and physical feats, and offers a thrilling trip through the diverse cultures of the Americas.

"The holy grail for disillusioned cycling fans . . . The book's power is in the collective details, all strung together in a story that is told with such clear-eyed conviction that you never doubt its veracity. . . . "The Secret Race" isn't just a game changer for the Lance Armstrong myth. It's the game ender."--"Outside"
"NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
"The Secret Race" is the book that rocked the world of professional cycling--and exposed, at long last, the doping culture surrounding the sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong. Former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world's top-ranked cyclists--and a member of Lance Armstrong's inner circle. Over the course of two years, "New York Times" bestselling author Daniel Coyle conducted more than two hundred hours of interviews with Hamilton and spoke with numerous teammates, rivals, and friends. The result is an explosive page-turner of a book that takes us deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to win that they would do almost anything to gain an edge. For the first time, Hamilton recounts his own battle with depression and tells the story of his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong. This edition features a new Afterword, in which the authors reflect on the developments within the sport, and involving Armstrong, over the past year. "The Secret Race" is a courageous, groundbreaking act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France.
With a new Afterword by the authors
"Loaded with bombshells and revelations."--VeloNews
" An] often harrowing story . . . the broadest, most accessible look at cycling's drug problems to date."--"The New York Times"
" 'If I cheated, how did I get away with it?' That question, posed to "SI" by Lance Armstrong five years ago, has never been answered more definitively than it is in Tyler Hamilton's new book."--"Sports Illustrated"
"Explosive.""--The Daily Telegraph "(London)

Explore 50 of the greatest, most thrilling road cycling routes the world has to offer, guided by the experts at the world's biggest road cycling magazine. Route maps, first-hand ride reports and truly breathtaking photography from the finest cycling photographers come together in this celebration of the world on two wheels. Covering the very best of Europe, from the twisting trails of northern Norway to the winding coast of southern Spain, this beautiful book also includes rides from as far afield as Vietnam, Ethiopia and Lebanon, as well as the USA.

The must-have encyclopedia for all Tour de France fans. Celebrating the centenary of cycling's most iconic award, The Official Encyclopedia of the Yellow Jersey is a visually stunning and comprehensive look at all the wearers of the 'maillot jaune'. In this book, acclaimed L'Equipe journalists Philippe Bouvet and Frederique Galametz bring to life the 100-year history of spectacular sporting achievement, covering incredible stories from the 'Hall of Fame' including five-time winner Miguel Indurain, and statistics on the yellow jersey, the 266 race leaders who have worn it and much more. This book includes: - A preface from 11-time Grand Tour winner, Eddy Merckx - A look at the rise of the British reign since 2012, with Wiggins, Froome and Thomas - All the official statistics established by L'Equipe (the no.1 French sports newspaper) and used by the Tour de France, from the yellow jersey winners by country, to the 'National Firsts' - the first riders from each nation to wear the yellow jersey - Photographs and biographies of all the successive yellow jersey wearers over the past 100 years, from the first wearer, Eugene Christophe, to the 2018 Tour de France and yellow jersey winner, Geraint Thomas The perfect guide for all those with a passion for sport.

How much power does your human engine have? How much power do you need for cycling in different conditions? How can you optimize your training and racing performance? How can you use power meters to improve your results? What are the ultimate limits of human performance? The Secret of Cycling answers all of these questions. All factors determining the performance in cycling are explained step by step: training, nutrition, body weight, bike weight, wheels, frame, aerobars, power meters, wind, hills, temperature, the world hour record and much more. Many graphs, tables and examples from practice make it very easy to understand for the reader. Get 20% fitter, healthier and faster! This title also contains brand new insights on how the balance of the power of your human engine and the power requirement for cycling in different conditions determines your performance. It shows how power meters can be used to optimize your training and your race result..Already a bestseller in the Netherlands and Belgium, The Secret of Cycling can be considered the ultimate textbook for all serious cyclists and their coaches.

The Tour de France is a race like no other, so perhaps it's no surprise that it attracts racers like no other. The winner of the second Tour actually came fifth - but the four racers before him were disqualified for cheating. The 1932 champion credits his win with saving him from capture by the Nazis, as the soldiers recognised him from the podium. One of Britain's best cyclists of the modern era only got into European racing by forging an email. Tour de France Champions is a journey to the summit of cycling, looking at those who have taken on the roads and mountains of France to prevail above all others and win cycling's greatest prize. Giles Belbin presents the stories of all those who have claimed the original and greatest Grand Tour, the one race that still transcends the sport of cycling: the Tour de France.

The Time-Crunched Cyclist reveals the fastest way to get fit for road racing, century rides, gravel grinders, cyclocross, Gran Fondos, and mountain bike events. With elite cycling coach Chris Carmichael's innovative, time-saving approach, busy cyclists will develop fitness, speed, and power in just 6 hours a week. Now powered by Strava, this updated third edition of The Time-Crunched Cyclist training program taps into the most popular cycling social network to help cyclists get fired up to crush their workouts, one segment at a time. Through his popular endurance coaching service, Carmichael noticed that many busy cyclists are unable to make performance gains using conventional training methods; they simply don't have enough time to train. So CTS developed a new approach-the Time-Crunched Training Program-to help cyclists achieve competitive fitness and power without the impossible time demands of traditional training methods. The Time-Crunched Cyclist shows cyclists how to build fitness on a realistic schedule by tapping the power of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Cyclists learn the science behind this alternative approach to training before performing the CTS field tests to get a baseline reading of their fitness. Nine comprehensive training plans include effective time-crunched workouts, nutrition guidelines, and strength training to develop the speed and endurance for a wide variety of cycling races and events. The new Time-Crunched Training Plans cover: * New and Experienced plans for criteriums, road races, and cyclocross * New, Experienced, and Competitive plans for century rides and Gran Fondos * Gravel racing and ultraendurance mountain biking plans * Intermediate and Advanced plans for commuters This new, third edition integrates Strava, the popular ride tracking and analysis program. Powered by Strava, the Time-Crunched program becomes interactive, social, highly motivating-and focuses riders on the training data that matters most. It also adds the Time-Crunched Diet, a sports nutrition approach designed to help riders optimize their power-to-weight ratio with new guidelines on eating behaviors and delicious recipes from chefs Michael Chiarello and Matt Accarrino. A new chapter on hydration and managing heat stress will show athletes simple ways to avoid overheating that lead to better performance. The Time-Crunched Cyclist can help you capture your best performance-all in the time you have right now.

Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2022 WINNER OF THE TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 A TIMES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2022 A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2022 A WATERSTONES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2022 A DAILY MAIL SPORTS BOOK OF 2022 Cyclist Beryl Burton - also known as BB - dominated her sport much as her male contemporary Eddy Merckx, but with a longevity that surpasses even sporting legends like Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams and Sir Steve Redgrave. She was practically invincible in time trials, finishing as Best All-Rounder for 25 consecutive years and setting a world record in 1967 for the distance covered in 12 hours that beat the men. She won multiple world titles, even when the distances didn't play to her strengths. But her achievements were limited by discrimination from the cycling authorities, and by her strictly amateur status against state-sponsored rivals from Eastern Bloc nations. Yet she carried on winning, beating men and - infamously - competing against her own daughter, while working on a farm and running a household. Her motivation, sparked by appalling childhood illness, is as fascinating as her achievements are stunning. With access to previously unseen correspondence and photographs, and through extensive interviews with family, friends, rivals and fellow giants from across sport, acclaimed journalist Jeremy Wilson peels back the layers to reveal one of the most complex, enigmatic and compelling characters in cycling history. For the first time, he also provides the jaw-dropping answer to how fast she would still be on modern cycling technology. Long ignored by sporting history, Burton's life story - recently told by Maxine Peake in a stage and radio play - is finally getting the recognition she deserves.

The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. The designs in this book were developed by cities for cities, since unique urban streets require innovative solutions. To create the Guide, the authors conducted an extensive worldwide literature search from design guidelines and real-life experience. They worked closely with a panel of urban cycleway planning professionals from NACTO member cities and from numerous other cities worldwide, as well as traffic engineers, planners, and academics with deep experience in urban cycleway applications. The Guide offers substantive guidance for cities seeking to improve bicycle transportation in places where competing demands for the use of the right of way present unique challenges. Each of the treatments addressed in the Guide offers three levels of guidance: Required: elements for which there is a strong consensus that the treatment cannot be implemented without; Recommended: elements for which there is a strong consensus of added value; and, Optional: elements that vary across cities and may add value depending on the situation. First and foremost, the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Second Edition will help practitioners make good decisions about urban cycleway design. The treatments outlined in the Guide are based on real-life experience in the world's most bicycle friendly cities and have been selected because of their utility in helping cities meet their goals related to bicycle transportation. The Guide is an indispensable tool every planner must have for their daily transportation design work.

In 2012, Joe Barr almost died from altitude sickness on the infamous 11,000-ft Wolf Creek Pass in a Race Across America attempt. The infamous 3,200-mile race is non-stop, ultra-cycling at its most extreme. In 2014, Joe returned and received the coveted Finisher's medal, and in 2019, at the age of 60, he went back again and won his category. This story of extreme perseverance begins on a yellow Raleigh Chopper on the streets of Co. Derry, where Joe, trying to escape the harsh everyday reality of the Troubles as a young Catholic boy in an all-Protestant school, went on long bicycle rides into the countryside, dreaming of one day taking part in cycling's grand tours. When his baby son was diagnosed with cancer, Joe got on the bike with a different purpose and won his first endurance race, the 1,300-mile, non-stop Race Around Ireland. Since then, Joe has won major World Cup races all over the world. This is a story of unimaginable grit, and of what it takes to keep going despite countless obstacles and to persevere when failure seems inevitable.

Plump, grumpy, slumped on the couch, and going nowhere fast at age 16, Phil Gaimon began riding a bicycle with the grand ambition of shedding a few pounds before going off to college. He soon fell into racing and discovered he was a natural, riding his way into a pro contract after just one season despite utter ignorance of a century of cycling etiquette. Now, in his book "Pro Cycling on $10 a Day," Phil brings the full powers of his wit to tell his story.

Presented here as a guide and a warning to aspiring racers who dream of joining the professional racing circus, Phil s adventures in road rash serve as a hilarious and cautionary tale of frustrating team directors and broken promises. Phil s education in the ways of the peloton, his discouraging negotiations for a better contract, his endless miles crisscrossing America in pursuit of race wins, and his conviction that somewhere just around the corner lies the ticket to the big time fuel this tale of hope and ambition from one of cycling s best story-tellers.

"Pro Cycling on $10 a Day" chronicles the racer s daily lot of blood-soaked bandages, sleazy motels, cheap food, and overflowing toilets. But it also celebrates the true beauty of the sport and the worth of the journey, proving in the end that even among the narrow ranks of world-class professional cycling, there will always be room for a hard-working outsider. "

There are things he does alone, and things that he alone does.

Jacques Anquetil was a cyclist with an aristocratic demeanor and a relaxed attitude to rules and morals. His womanising and frank admissions of doping appalled 1960s French society, even as his five Tour de France wins enthralled it.

Paul Fournel was besotted with him from the start ("Too young to understand, I was nevertheless old enough to admire") and followed Anquetil's career with the passion of a fan and the eye of a poet.

In this stunningly original biography of a complex and divisive character, Fournel - author of the seminal Vélo (or Need for the Bike)- blends the story of Anquetil's life with scenes from his own, to create a classic of cycling literature.

The fixed gear bicycle is the simplest of human powered machines, and legions of riders have discovered the joy of the "fixie." To those in the know, 42 x 12 is a gear ratio, and a demanding one at that, but this isn't a book about equipment, rather an attempt to get under the skin of riders risking life and limb in pursuit of their passion. 42 x12 - The Cult of the Fixed examines the global repercussions of fixed-gear and single-speed bicycle culture. Through contemporary observation and the collaboration of those on the inside from Taiwan to New York, London to Tokyo, 42 x12 gives a unique insight into what's going on at ground level. Features within 42 x 12 include: The Tweed Run, as distinguished gents bring style and sophistication to the streets of London; messenger and alley cat racing, requiring the need for more than just speed in an urban environment; indoor and keirin racing, eyeballs out at 150 Revolutions per minute.