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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading > Cycling
Back in 1987, longing to get away from her domestic routine as a wife and mother but living uncomfortably close to the breadline, Fran Adams scrimped and saved until she had scraped together just enough cash to take her teenage sons on a cycling tour of Brittany. They found themselves having to deal with torrential rain and furious gales, frequent punctures and mechanical hitches and encounters with eccentrics from both sides of the English Channel, but in the end their tight budget did not stop them having the holiday of a lifetime and collecting some never-to-be-forgotten memories, so much so that the following year they went back for more. Travels on the Breadline is Fran's memoir of two simple but happy holidays with her boys.
'They're all scared. Everybody's afraid' - Eddy Merckx 'Nothing compares to the Ventoux' - Lance Armstrong 'Heart-stirring and jaw-dropping in equal measure' - Tim Moore The French call Ventoux 'the killer mountain' and in 1967 it claimed its most famous victim, as former world champion Tom Simpson died near the summit during that year's Tour de France. The terrible ascent of Ventoux's south side encapsulates both the brutality and beauty of this cruel sport, but also highlights cycling's ongoing battle to distance itself from its demons. Yet it was the legendary and extreme climb of Mont Ventoux that first inspired award-winning author Jeremy Whittle's love of cycling, so much so that he bought a house in its shadows. Ventoux is his memoir to the Giant of Provence in which he reveals the little-known history of the Ventoux, and tells the story of a monstrous climb that has driven riders to near-hysteria and also to wild extremes of doping. It has provided the spectacular backdrop to some of cycling's most titanic contests, exposing the true character of those who take on the challenge. Through a series of revealing conversations with Lance Armstrong, Dave Brailsford, Alastair Campbell, Nicole Cooke, Tyler Hamilton, Eddy Merckx, Simpson's daughter, Joanne, and many others, Whittle details the poignancy of bitter memories, flawed obsessions and ruthless ambition that have made the Ventoux so feared and so infamous. 'Highly recommend Jeremy Whittle's Ventoux - a fascinating and expert insight into the mountain and into the current state of pro racing' Peter Cossins
Fully updated to include the extraordinary scenes at London 2012, where Hoy won two more gold medals to bring his total to six and overtake Sir Steve Redgrave, this is the story of Britain's greatest ever Olympian. Chris Hoy has been instrumental in British track cycling's remarkable transformation from also-rans to world superpower. Now, having rewritten the record books as Olympic champion in four different cycling disciplines, and with six gold medals, Hoy has become a household name and established himself in the pantheon of sporting greats. This is a fly-on-the-wall account of Hoy and his team as he prepared for the Beijing Olympics, where he became the first Briton in a century to win three gold medals in a single Games, and it has now been fully updated to include the extraordinary scenes at London 2012, where Hoy won two more gold medals, to bring his total to six and overtake Sir Steve Redgrave as Britain's greatest ever Olympian. The story begins with Hoy's introduction to cycling as a BMX racer and his progression to Olympic champion, and explains the origins and evolution of Britain's world-beating team. It includes a bizarre visit to the world's highest velodrome in Bolivia and a spellbinding journey from the razzmatazz of the European six-day circuit to the craziness of the Japanese keirin races. Award-winning writer Richard Moore tracks Hoy throughout a season in the saddle, explores his motivations and mentors from a young age, and provides an unblemished insight into the mind of a champion and the largely unknown world of track cycling. It's a story that is fully updated with the remarkable events in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, two successive Olympic Games that were dominated by Hoy and the British track cycling team.
'Beautiful, an instant classic, a poignant voyage through Barry's love for cycling and the turmoil he lived through because of it.' DAVID MILLAR In Shadows on the Road, Michael Barry explores the dreams and passions of cycling in this moving and controversial account of life at the heart of the Peloton, from the one day classics to the Tour de France, from US Postal to Team Sky. In 2012, veteran cyclist Michael Barry announced his retirement from the sport after fourteen years. Weeks later he testified against his former teammate Lance Armstrong, as part of the USADA investigation. In Shadows on the Road, Barry recounts what it was like to ride for US Postal and Team Sky alongside Lance Armstrong, Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, and how his early idealistic dreams and passions were compromised by a sport in crisis. Offering a dramatic insight into the life and mind of a professional sportsman - the pressures, sacrifices, fears, crashes, injuries and neuroses - Shadows on the Road is a must-read for all cycling and sports fans alike.
The Northeast provides some of the most exciting cycling in the United States: sweeping vistas, seaside towns, fall colors, and more. With this comprehensive guide, New Hampshire local David Sobel offers up rides in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. No matter the state, there's a ride here for everyone, with a range of mileage and difficulty level so both beginner and experienced cyclists can enjoy. Take in the scenery and stop for surf and turf on a moderate 17-mile trip through Mystic, Connecticut. Challenge yourself on hilly vistas and cool off in Cold River while biking Walpole, New Hampshire. Or take it easy while travelling back in time through Concord, Massachusetts. In addition to detailed directions, each route features annotated maps, charming photography, elevation profiles, and suggestions for entertainment and dining along the way. This is a must-have guide to discovering New England's hidden gems on two wheels.
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.
Founded in 1955, the Rough-Stuff Fellowship is the world's oldest off-road cycling club. Its archive contains thousands of stunning images, hand-drawn maps and documents - an unexpected treasure trove of incredible value and beauty that is now being brought to a wider public by Isola Press. The photos are evocative of a bygone age and a bygone style - a time when you might set off on a bike ride wearing a shirt and tie or a bobble hat, and no ride was complete without a stop to brew up some tea and smoke a pipe. They are also a record of intrepid adventures. RSF riders explored the Lake District, the Cairngorms, the Alps and further afield, and their exploits were beautifully documented by amateur and professional photographers. In their own very British way, these men and women were pioneers, pedalling and carrying their bikes where angels feared to tread. Mountain bikes, gravel bikes, adventure bikes all owe them a debt. This book celebrates their style and their spirit. It is a stunning visual resource of cycling heritage that will inspire new adventures.
A fascinating, mind-boggling account of young athletes in their
prime destroyed in the hell of war. A mesmerizing view of cycling
in its golden age, and the darkness that followed.
The Triathlete Guide to Sprint and Olympic Triathlon Racing will help you discover the speed, thrill, and challenge of triathlon's most popular race distances. Not everyone has time to train for long-course triathlons. By pursuing triathlon's shorter distances, you can enjoy all the total body fitness benefits of the swim-bike-run sport and discover the unique challenges of short-course racing-all while enjoying a life outside of training. This complete guide from former pro triathletes Chris Foster and coach Ryan Bolton shares all the know-how you need to find speed and enjoy successful racing in sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons. Foster, now the Senior Editor of Triathlete magazine, shares his pro advice for how to set a smart race strategy, how to master triathlon pacing, how to execute fast transitions, how to train to improve your weakness and race to your strengths. Bolton offers smart, effective sprint and Olympic triathlon training plans so you can get started right away, no matter your background. Sprint and Olympic triathlons are triathlon's most popular distances for good reasons. Experienced triathletes returning to the short course will enjoy a break from long, slow hours of training and rediscover the joy of speed. Active people looking for a new challenge can jump right into triathlon's most beginner-friendly distances. The Triathlete Guide to Sprint and Olympic Triathlon Racing makes it simple to get back up to speed in the world's most rewarding endurance sport.
'The latest book from the inestimable and seemingly irrepressible Simon Warren.' thewashingmachinepost From the Gavia Pass to Mount Etna, from The Stelvio to The Zoncalan, these climbs are legends in Italy and the building blocks of the Giro d'Italia. Technology may advance, training and diet may evolve, but these world-famous mountains are a constant. They have witnessed triumph and despair, courage and heartache, they are where champions are made and where dreams are shattered. And yes, the greatest arenas of Italy's greatest race are open 365 days of the year for any of us to ride. So take up the challenge, emulate your heroes and make your mark on the hundred greatest cycling climbs of Italy.
Over 100,000 miles to cover, one man, one bike and one hungry stomach. Having created his alter-ego, the Hungry Cyclist and with thousands of pedal-powered miles before him, Tom Kevill-Davies pushed off from New York City on one of the most ambitious gastronomic adventures ever undertaken. A ballsy travel memoir The Hungry Cyclist follows Tom's adventure into the hearts and minds of the people he meets. Revealing the diverse cultures of the Americas, Tom's journey from over the Rockies to Baja California, through Central America down all the way to Brazil via Colombia, gives the real flavour of this truly extraordinary landmass. This is a tale of death-battles with squadrons of mosquitoes, malodorous public toilets, of galloping dysentery one day, to drowning your sorrows with cowboys and dining with beauty queens the next. But above all it is an ambitious story of getting to where you want to be - even if you have to endure cactus-induced punctures, unforgiving desert heat, uphill struggles through never-ending cocaine plantations, or artfully dodge hungry bears, neurotic RV-driving Americans, angry rabid dogs and run-ins with local law authorities in the process. An amazing tale of what can happen when you get on your bike and go.
Best Easy Bike Rides Gettysburg is for tourists who want to explore the Gettysburg battlefield and some other point of interest around Gettysburg on bike. These are easy bike rides of 5 to 15 miles for beginning cyclists. There are many ways to see Gettysburg but one of the best ways it to do it by bike. Biking through the battlefield will allow you to cover miles of roads at a relaxing pace and make it easy to stop anywhere along the way without worrying where to park the car. Best Easy Bike Rides Gettysburg offers a diverse array of scenic tours in and around the Gettysburg battlefield and the surrounding area. Besides the battlefield, this book also has rides showing some of the interesting sites in the nearby towns including a restored Civil war train station, pretzel factory, and a basilica. The rides are in the 5 to 15 mile range, allowing for a great afternoon outings or family adventures. The book features 15 rides with color photos, maps, point-by-point miles and directions. No matter how many times you have visited this area, exploring it by bike will give you a new appreciation of the great historic significations and beauty of this area. Look inside for: One-hour rides to half-day adventures Rides for everyone, including families Mile-by-mile directions and clear trail maps Trail Finder for best rides for foliage, waterfalls, and great views GPS coordinates
Raging Love is about athlete Jimmie D. King's rise to fame as an angry, chronically injured powerlifting champion to a happy, healthy cyclist and bodybuilder. The reader will witness a man who learns to be at ease with himself through mentoring and coaching others to become a better version of themselves. It gives us a glimpse at the life and athletic career of Powerlifting National Champion Jimmie D. King. With stunning candor, King shares his intimate and deeply personal perspective-including his challenges and struggles with bullies, physical limitations, childhood abuse, disappointments, oppression, and racism-and how he evolved and adapted over seven decades all while learning to serve and develop the talents of others. Far more than a sports memoir, Raging Love is a gripping tale of perseverance and purpose and a reminder that finding one's path is, above all, an evolution from psychological discipline and mental toughness to forgiveness, spiritual peace, self-knowledge, and self-love. This is a must-read that will inspire sports fans of all ages. The reader will cheer for King as he wrestles his rage, learns to forgive, and turns his focus to love and service of others.
Subways and yellow taxis may be the icons of New York transportation, but it is the bicycle that has the longest claim to New York's streets: two hundred years and counting. Never has it taken to the streets without controversy: 1819 was the year of the city's first bicycle and also its first bicycle ban. Debates around the bicycle's place in city life have been so persistent not just because of its many uses-recreation, sport, transportation, business-but because of changing conceptions of who cyclists are. In On Bicycles, Evan Friss traces the colorful and fraught history of cycling in New York City. He uncovers the bicycle's place in the city over time, showing how it has served as a mirror of the city's changing social, economic, infrastructural, and cultural politics since it first appeared. It has been central, as when horse-drawn carriages shared the road with bicycle lanes in the 1890s; peripheral, when Robert Moses's car-centric vision made room for bicycles only as recreation; and aggressively marginalized, when Ed Koch's battle against bike messengers culminated in the short-lived 1987 Midtown Bike Ban. On Bicycles illuminates how the city as we know it today-veined with over a thousand miles of bicycle lanes-reflects a fitful journey powered, and opposed, by New York City's people and its politics.
'A master psychologist - cycling's answer to Brian Clough.' MARK CAVENDISH The inside story of Mark Cavendish's Rainbow Jersey Winning World Title of 2011 Twenty five years ago, British road cycling was in the doldrums: today it is at the top of the world thanks to Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and the sprinter who has bridged all their careers - the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish. British cycling has become that rare beast, a story of sporting success built from the bottom up. Project Rainbow is the story of this sport's meteoric rise, told by one of its key figures, culminating in Cavendish's world road race title in 2011. As GB Elite Road Coach and former Team Sky Performance Manager, Rod Ellingworth was one of the most important men behind this incredible rise. Here, one of the chief architects of this amazing journey, tells the inside story of both teams' advance to the top. With an introduction by Mark Cavendish.
Whether your idea of fun is riding your ten-speed around the neighbourhood or facing the challenges of off-road racing, A Basic Guide to Cycling offers savvy tips for safety and enjoyment. This book provides practical suggestions for buying a bicycle, caring for your bike, and getting and keeping fit. You'll also find up-to-date advice on how to join the community of cyclists, wherever you live. In simple, non-technical language, A Basic Guide to Cycling explains the three disciplines of Olympic cycling -- Road Racing, Track Racing, and Mountain Bike Racing. Special features include: Results of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia; Profiles of leading US Olympic cyclists; Advice on selecting and purchasing a bike; Accessories: what to wear, what to bring with you; Getting started in racing and competitive cycling; Coverage of road, track, and off-road events.
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.
By winning the 2019 Tour de France, Egan Bernal became the race's youngest champion in 110 years, and the first from the South American nation of Colombia. His victory brought decades of national yearning to fruition. Colombia has long been the only developing nation contending at cycling's highest level. Yet its cycling sons are not the products of a rigorous sports system that spots them in childhood and nurtures them through the ranks to the pinnacle of globalised sport. They come from harder backgrounds, that surprise, shock - even, at times, enchant. Colombia Es Pasion! explores the lives and dreams of each of the nation's leading cyclists. Theirs are inspiring stories of overcoming poverty and violence, sickness and corruption, and achieving global sporting glory. 'Takes you into the heart of both a sport and a country. The journey is well worth the effort' Sunday Times 'Wonderful' Observer 'Remarkable, a masterpiece' Never Strays Far podcast
This practical and highly accessible guide, written by British Cycling’s Lead Psychologist, will explore the importance of psychology in achieving peak cycling performance. The book will transfer the sport psychology strategies used to win Olympic gold and equip individuals with the psychological skills to pursue performance excellence in cycling and in daily life. For the last three Olympic Games the Great Britain Cycling Team has dominated the Velodrome events and is regarded as one of the most successful elite sporting set-ups in Olympic history. The emergence of sport psychology as a critical aspect of the Great Britain Cycling Team’s success has sparked wide interest in the psychological skills required to perform. This book will transfer the sport psychology strategies used to assist elite cyclists to win Olympic gold to individuals seeking to improve their own performance and psychological wellbeing on and off the bike. The Cycling Mind will take the reader through the key stages of an athlete’s pathway, from training through to competition, and provide guidelines to developing the psychological skills to compete at their best. In addition the strategies explored in the book can be applied across all high-pressure performance environments, including business and daily life.
Meet Gary Fisher. The maverick kid bike racer who cycled straight into the Acid Test scene and lit up the Grateful Dead gigs, the relentless tinkerer who transformed an industry and sold mountain biking to the world and the visionary who's still working flat-out every day to prove that bikes are the answer to a healthier, happier future for everyone. A collaboration with cycling writer Guy Kesteven, Being Gary Fisher and the Bicycle Revolution is an autobiography of sorts. It's also a mind-blowing trip of ingenious innovation, dogged determination and boundless energy. Get caught up in Gary's crazy tales and his lifelong mission to invite everyone to the greatest dance on earth.
Where do you turn when you want to ride in the mountains, to follow in the wheeltracks of professional racers by climbing the famous passes of the Tour de France? There are several books and websites that highlight these renowned ascents, detailing their location, length and every little change in gradient. But how do you go about finding a route that links these passes together, that describes not only where they are and what they're like to ride, but highlights which is the best side to tackle them from and which roads to avoid? Award-winning author Peter Cossins's new series of guides to riding in the Western Europe's high mountains will provide these details - and much more. Inspired by Alfred Wainwright's walking guides to the Lake District, they are intended as the bible for any cyclist riding in Europe's most stunning terrain. The first in the series is The Roads, Cols and Passes of the Pyrenees, which is due for publication by Great Northern Books in June 2020. Featuring 120 routes, 400 Pyrenean climbs and more than 12,000 kilometres of riding, it will detail the best road cycling routes on both the French and Spanish sides of the 600km-long Pyrenean chain, as well as in Andorra. The routes will range from 50-kilometre loops passing some of the most extraordinary of France's Cathar Castles perched on almost impregnable pinnacles to 200-kilometre Tour de France-like epics over several passes. It will not only include illustrious Tour ascents such as the Col du Tourmalet, the Col d'Aubisque and Plateau de Beille, but also draw attention to other climbs and regions that also merit exploration on two wheels, highlighting points of historical significance and the best the roads on which to access them, always aiming to make the riding experience as pleasurable as possible. The book is aimed at anyone who wants to ride in the Pyrenees, from newcomers to road riding who want to take their first tentative steps in the high mountains right through to very experienced cyclists who want to push themselves and explore new terrain at the same time. There will be something for everyone, in every part of the Pyrenees. |
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