Dysentery, drunken soldiers, and corrupt officials provide the background for Neil Peart's physical and spiritual cycling journey through West Africa. The prolific drummer for the rock band Rush travels through African villages, both large and small, and relates his story through photographs, journal entries, and tales of adventure, while simultaneously addressing issues such as differences in culture, psychology, and labels. Literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and Van Gogh join Peart and his cycling companions, reminding the reader that this is not just another travel book--it is a story of both external and introspective discovery and adventure.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft's hugely entertaining and well researched history of the Tour de France is already established as the definitive account of cycling's greatest event. Since the book was last published in 2007, much has changed. Bradley Wiggins' historic victory in 2012 - the first Briton ever to secure the yellow jersey - brought him a knighthood and garnered more interest in the race than ever before. Yet the months after were dominated by an even bigger story, as Tour legend and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong was stripped of his titles and confessed on Oprah to doping in each of his victories. Suddenly, everything that we thought we knew had happened was no longer true. In this new and comprehensively revised edition of the book, Wheatcroft not only brings his story of the Tour fully up to date to mark the race's 100th running in 2013, he also reflects on the changes brought about by the scandals that have rocked the sport to its core. Yet for all the controversies of modern times, he vividly captures the essential glory and romance of the heroes who battle to conquer one of sport's greatest challenges.

Maybe you've been riding your bike for a while. You know what's what and are happy to be out for a good few hours. But what might it be like to ride a little bit further? And then a little bit further still? You've watched the Tour de France and daydreamed about riding over those mountains. You've seen people riding their bikes across a whole country or even around the entire globe and you weren't sure if they were just mad or inspirational. Cycling illustrator and writer Jo Burt will gently hold your hand as you venture out on longer rides, he's made the mistakes so you don't have to. Say you want to tackle your first century, do a group ride, cross a mountain range or traverse a continent, this book will point you in the right direction, which is all the way over there. Don't be afraid, just bring some money for snacks.

Ride lays bare the harrowing beginnings and the tough life lessons learned by superstar John Buultjens on his rise to BMX Glory, Against All the Odds. Raised by his poor family on Glasgow's Drumchapel estate, he slept rough to escape his violent father's beatings. Placed in a children's home by his mother, he was then adopted by a bi-racial couple. After conquering his own racism, his life turned around, and the blockbuster movie E.T. inspired a love of BMX. Although spurred by bitterness, John's emigration to Australia saw him take his sporting enthusiasm to new levels, becoming one of BMX's biggest names. Then came the call from California to lead the most famous BMX brand of them all, Haro. As their global brand manager, he now backs and sponsors riders across the globe. Hollywood has since turned his unbelievable journey into a movie, set for release in November 2017. Here, John reveals inner secrets including family murders, hatred, sexual abuse - and how his white-knuckle ride has taken him to the top against all the odds.

There are now over 2,000 cities with a bike share program. Bike Share examines all the major developments in the 50-year history of bike share. The book provides a detailed focus on contemporary bike share programs, including many of the most prominent systems, such as those in Paris, London, and New York, as well as the rapidly emerging dockless bike share sector. This book also addresses how rapid technological innovation, particularly in terms of mobile internet devices and electric assist bicycles may change the face of not just cycling, but urban mobility more generally. By the end of 2018 it was estimated that there are more than 20 million bicycles in the global bike share fleet, with most of these dockless, coming online only in the last three years. Consequently, research examining bike share has not kept pace with the rapid deployment of this new form of urban mobility. Bike Share addresses a number of key themes such as: The urban age, contextualising bike share within a wider urbanism movement and how it sits within the growing sharing economy. The impact of bike share, looking at systems in China, Europe, North America and Australia to see how these programs have changed travel patterns and consequent impact on car use, emissions, congestion, public health and safety. The bike share business model, including how ride sourcing services like Uber and Lyft are beginning to integrate their business with bike share service providers. Public reaction to bike share. Bike share gone wrong, looking at systems that have failed to achieve their ridership estimates. And the future of bike share including public transport smart card integration, mobile payments, and electric assist bicycles. The book provides scholars, city planners, transportation practitioners and students with a resource that captures the most pertinent scientific findings and practical lessons that have been from bike share programs around the world.

South East Mountain Biking - North and South Downs is the full second edition of the bestselling guide to some of the finest mountain biking in the South East of England. Published by leading guidebook producer Vertebrate Publishing, it covers the best mountain biking in the south-east, including the newly-formed South Downs National Park. Delve into the woodland singletrack of the North Downs or head out on to the big, rolling chalk hills that make up the South Downs National Park. Get out of the towns and cities and discover the dense network of bridleways and byways that criss-cross the countryside of the South East. This guide contains 24 routes between 16 and 35km in length, suitable for all levels of mountain bikers. All route information has been thoroughly checked for this new edition, to give the most up-to-date and comprehensive guidebook to the area. Written by Nick Cotton, author of over 50 cycling guidebooks, each route features clear and easy to use Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps, easy-to-follow directions, details of distance, timings and difficulty gradings, refreshment stops and local knowledge, and stunning photography. Also included are Top Ten descents, climbs and mountain bike playgrounds, an introduction to the fantastic Surrey Hills singletrack, and a detailed Appendix.

Part personal memoir, part history of cycling, part fascinating street-level tour of Amsterdam, "In the City of Bikes" is the story of a man who loves bikes in a city that loves bikes. When Pete's story begins, his goals for an upcoming semester abroad are clear: study how to make America's cities more bicycle friendly, and then return home to his new bride, Amy Joy. Once he sets foot in Amsterdam, however, Pete falls immediately in love with the city that already lives life on two wheels-and suddenly, he can't imagine ever leaving it. Just two weeks into their marriage, Amy Joy joins Pete in Amsterdam, but hardships quickly loom in their adopted homeland. As they skip from one illegal sublet to the next, success and stability are constantly out of reach, and work is impossible to find-but they do discover deep pleasures during their daily rides through the city. And as Pete digs deep into the cycling history of Amsterdam, Amy Joy, prompted by a fortuitous flat, finds her own new calling as a bicycle mechanic. Pete, meanwhile, discovers an untold history of cycling in Amsterdam, an activity so ingrained in the city's lifestyle that its story hasn't been properly told. From its beginnings as an elitist pastime in the 1890s, to the street-consuming craze of the 1920s, from the bicycle's role in a city-wide resistance to the Nazi occupation, to the legendary success of the White Bikes in the 1970s, a movement that never in fact succeeded, to the bike fisherman of today, Jordan painstakingly recreates the evolution of cycling over time, through fads, alongside great movements in history. As his love grows for his adopted city, the fates seem to align, inviting him to stay. Amy Joy takes up an apprenticeship with an aging bicycle mechanic who offers them a vacant apartment right above his shop. It's just in time too, as their first child is on the way. Then, even more incredibly, the mechanic retires-leaving the shop to Amy Joy. They'll be staying in Amsterdam, and Pete will have a city to share with his son.

The Cycling Bible by renowned cycling author and journalist Chris Sidwells is a comprehensive guide to help you get the most out of cycling, whether you go road cycling, gravel riding, mountain biking or enjoy any other kind of two-wheeled fun. Based on the author's extensive experience and research, this book collates the knowledge you will need to specifically train for the technical, physical and mental aspects of cycling training. It includes riding positions, strength and conditioning, endurance training, the psychological side of training, tailoring nutrition to your goals and bringing it all together to create your own training plan. It also deals with choosing the right bike for you, making essential safety checks and carrying out maintenance. Extensively illustrated and packed full of action photos, The Cycling Bible will help and motivate you to improve and develop as a cyclist and find even more joy in this fantastic sport.

22,000 Miles is the distance Richard Seipp has ridden with his 15-year-old son Tom over the past ten years. Starting out on their local trails in the Peak District when Tom was 5, they soon progressed to longer rides. As Tom grew, so did his ambitions - the Coast-to-Coast, the Strathpuffer 24-hour solo mountain bike race, multi-day bikepacking in the Scottish Highlands. Having ridden the 1955 route of the Tour de France during the summer holidays when Tom was 12, they continued to push their limits - Everesting the infamous Kemmelberg cobbles in Belgium and then heading to North America to ride the 2,745-mile Tour Divide, which runs the length of the North American Continental Divide along the spine of the Rocky Mountains from Banff in Canada south to the Mexican border at Antelope Wells. This book is their story in Rich's words alongside his atmospheric photographs of his and Tom's adventures. 22,000 Miles is the story of a father and son bonding over their combined love of adventure.

"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.

The story of an obsession. When cycling commentator Ned Boulting bought a length of Pathe news film featuring a stage of the Tour de France from 1923 he set about learning everything he could about it - taking him on an intriguing journey that encompasses travelogue, history and detective story. In the autumn of 2020 Ned Boulting (ITV head cycling commentator and Tour de France obsessive) bought a length of Pathe news film from a London auction house. All he knew was it was film from the Tour de France, a long time ago. Once restored it became clear it was a short sequence of shots from stage 4 of the 1923 Tour de France. No longer than 2.5 minutes long, it featured half a dozen sequences, including a lone rider crossing a bridge. Ned set about learning everything he could about the sequence - studying each frame, face and building - until he had squeezed the meaning from it. It sets him off in fascinating directions, encompassing travelogue, history, mystery story - to explain, to go deeper into this moment in time, captured on his little film. Join him as he explores the history of cycling and France just five years after WWI - meeting characters like Henri Pelissier, who won the Tour that year but who would within the decade be shot dead by his lover using the same pistol with which his wife had killed herself. And Theophile Beeckman - the lone rider on the bridge.

Fix Your Bike is a brilliantly straightforward, stylish and no-fuss guide to DIY bike maintenance and safety that does exactly what it says on the tin - teaching you the basics of bike maintenance so you can simply get on with riding your bike without encountering any further bumps in the road. Everyone's cycling nowdays. City streets are thronged with cyclists on the latest cool bikes, and more and more of us are cycling for fun at the weekends. You may love to cruise the streets and lanes with the wind in your hair, but would you be able to fix your bike if it let you down? Fix Your Bike is a brilliantly straightforward, stylish and no-fuss approach to getting you geared up and back on your bike in no time. It's a visually stunning, clear-cut and hands-on guide to DIY bike maintenance and safety that does exactly what it says on the tin. By teaching you the basics in plain terms and straightforward, step-by-step instructions you can simply just get on with riding your bike without encouraging any further bumps in the road. Speedy, easy and proficient, Fix Your Bike is full of shortcuts, tricks and techniques that all cyclists should know to help them get back (and remain) on the road. Smart and beautifully illustrated, this book will aid and encourage you in all areas of bike maintenance - from puncture repair to gear care, brake-tightening to chain-fixing - this brilliant roadside companion will help you bring out the best in your bike. Word count: 15,000 Other forthcoming titles in this series: Fix Your Home and Fix Your Garden.

Cycling in London is booming! Everywhere you look cyclists are zipping around the city; commuting to work, visiting friends or just riding for the pleasure of it. This book is written for anyone looking to ride new and interesting paths through the city. Detailing 50 beautiful rides that will charm and inspire you and indeed help you discover the city anew, "Where to Ride London" is the ultimate guide for recreational cyclists either native Londoners or riders visiting from abroad. There are 5 kids specific rides, great for youngsters and learners - and a further 21 tagged as 'kid friendly' for fledgling riders, helpful information for parents looking to get the family out and about on two wheels. Along with brilliant text from Nick Woodford, author and contributor to many other travel books like Rough Guides and Alistair Sawdays, there are around 180 evocative colour photos that capture the essence of life on two wheels in London. Crammed full of information on the history, culture, and people of London there is also loads of practical help on how to prepare and what to take with you.

Explore 52 of the best rail-trails and multiuse pathways across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island All across the country, unused railroad corridors have been converted to public multiuse trails. In this official guide, the experts from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy present the best of these rail-trails, as well as other multiuse pathways, in Southern New England. Explore two Hall of Fame Rail-Trails: the Minuteman Bikeway, with its historical connections to the American Revolution, and the East Bay Bike Path, with its quintessential New England waterfront views. Discover paths that traverse the quiet woodlands of Connecticut and the charming communities of Rhode Island. Learn about ambitious trail projects across Massachusetts, like the Border to Boston Trail. Whether you're on feet, wheels, or skis, you'll love the variety in this collection of multiuse trails-from beautiful waterways and scenic areas to the hustle and bustle of the states' urban centers! In this book, you'll find: Detailed maps for every rail-trail, plus driving directions to trailheads Icons indicating the activities each trail can accommodate Succinct descriptions written by rail-trail experts "You can now throw away all your self-help books on fighting depression, losing weight, toning muscles, finding something to do with your kids, and learning American history. Just use this guide, find a great trail-and enjoy!" -Peter Harnik, Director, Center for City Park Excellence, Trust for Public Land

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER What makes a man the greatest of all time? Eddy Merckx is to cycling what Muhammad Ali is to boxing or Pele to football: quite simply, the best there has ever been. Merckx was a machine. It wasn't just the number of victories (445); it was his remorseless domination that created the legend. He didn't just beat his opponents, he crushed them. But his triumphs only tell half a story that includes horrific injury, a doping controversy and tragedy. He was nicknamed 'The Cannibal' for his insatiable appetite for victory, but the moniker did scant justice to a man who was handsome, sensitive and surprisingly anxious. Britain's leading cycling writer, William Fotheringham, goes back to speak to those who were there at the time and those who knew Merckx best to find out what made Eddy Merckx so invincible. 'The full unvarnished of one man's heaven, and hell, on wheels' Independent

Explore 35 of the most notorious, gruelling cycling climbs the world has to offer, guided by the experts at Cyclist, the world's biggest road cycling magazine. Route maps, altitude charts, first-hand ride reports and incredible imagery from the finest cycling photographers combine in this tribute to the peaks, hills and ascents that every cyclist should try. Tracing the routes of the greatest rides across France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, this beautiful book also includes lesser-known climbs covering northern and eastern Europe and the USA - with every single ride tried, tested and conquered by the experts at Cyclist magazine. Climbs include: Monte Grappa, Italy Zoncolan, Italy Passo dello Stelvio, Italy Alto de l'Angliru, Spain Sa Calobra, Spain Koppenberg, Belgium Alpe d'Huez, France Col Agnel, France Croix de Fer, France The Trollstigen, Noway Mauna Kea, USA

Tour This Dream Road on Bicycle, Between North Carolina and Virginia. Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway are arguably the most quintessential scenic roads east of the Mississippi. Bicycling the Blue Ridge is the definitive guide to this ribbon of highway. It's just what you need to plan the perfect trip, whether you are out for the day, a weekend, or a month. You'll find detailed, mile-by-mile descriptions that provide information on lodging, restaurants, stores, and bike shops. Professionally designed maps and elevation profiles are also included, so you always know where you are, where you're going, and what to expect along the way. The 575-mile strip of continuous road flows between Front Royal, Virginia, and Cherokee, North Carolina. It traverses Shenandoah National Park and connects to Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains. In Bicycling the Blue Ridge, authors Elizabeth Skinner and Charlie Skinner cover the entire route. Whether your interest is recreational touring or racing, this is an indispensable tool for bicycling this incredible highway.

Of all the great cycling champions, Jacques Anquetil - the first man to win the Tour de France five times - remains the most mysterious. A prodigy, he burst upon the racing scene at the age of 18, defeating the world's best in the Grand Prix des Nations. From that moment on, insists Pierre Chany, 'he no longer belonged to himself'. Yet, perhaps more than any of cycling's legends, he managed to protect his private life from public gaze. Outwardly confident, and yet profoundly shy; rational and calculating, and yet superstitious and haunted by fear of death, Anquetil was an enigma. He defied the conventional picture of a racing cyclist: elegant on or off the bicycle, winning seemed to come too effortlessly; and he was too fond of the good life that his successes enabled him to enjoy. The French public did not really know what to make of him. 'His courage defied imagination, but nobody noticed because his style was so perfect,' said his manager, Raphael Geminiani. His domination of the 1961 Tour de France, which he led from first day to last, earned him the title 'Master Jacques', but was greeted by boos and whistles. It was only as he neared retirement that Anquetil finally received the acclaim his achievements deserved. In this, the first full-length English book about Jacques Anquetil, Richard Yates explores the enigma of this great French rider. Richard Yates is an English cycling historian who has lived for many years in France; he is the author of several books about French cycling.

Cycling in Sussex is the third title in Vertebrate Publishing's Off Road Trails and Quiet Lanes series of family and leisure cycling guidebooks. 20 rides, between 4km and 28km, explore the quiet lanes and off-road trails of one of the most beautiful counties in the UK. Written by local family cyclists, Deirdre Huston and Marina Bullivant, the rides are clearly described using step-by-step instructions and feature original maps, route profiles and local area information. The book is illustrated with inspirational and inviting photography of the rides and the local area. Together with information about local railway trails and seafront trails, the authors have also put together a selection of rides specifically designed for families based on their own personal experiences with their children.

This expert guide to competitive ultra-distance cycling is all riders need to cycle a very long way, fast. Ultra-distance events are among some of the greatest challenges a cyclist can face, with riders spending hundreds of miles in the saddle over a 24-hour period, battling the elements and overcoming both physical and mental hardships. What was once elite is now commonplace, and today thousands of dedicated riders cycle up to and over 100 miles on ultra-distance rides every week. To add to this, the increasing profile of major events such as Race Across of America (RAAM), Race Across the Alps (RATA) and Ultracycling Dolomitica means that many more riders are being drawn to the challenge of 'non-stop' endurance cycling. Ultra-Distance Cycling is the first mainstream book to offer practical, authoritative guidance to cyclists looking to step-up to long-distance endurance events, as well as expert advice to established competitors seeking a competitive advantage. Written by a leading sports scientist and a record-breaking ultra-distance cyclist, this unique book is both science and experience based, offering practical and performance-enhancing insights on a wide range of areas. These include physical training and mental preparation, guidance on your support network, advice on PR and sponsorship, as well as all-important sections on equipment, nutrition and the major ultra-distance cycling events. This definitive manual provides riders with everything they need to ride longer and faster, and to excel at ultra-distance cycling events.