Freedom rider is an adventure in extreme endurance sport, as well as an inquiry into the unique story of our fascinating country. When journalist Kevin Davie started riding his mountain bike in remote, wide-open South African spaces he found himself on a 10 000 km journey that tested his courage and determination through blizzards, lightning and hail storms as well as forty degree heat, forging new trails through rocky and mountainous terrain. On his journey, Kevin completed the Freedom Challenge, the Spine (the Drakensberg from end to end), the Ride to Rhodes and the Ganna (Beitbridge to Cape Town). This is riding minimalism, the rider carrying all his requirements without any back-up vehicle. Two of the longest rides, 5 000 kms in all, are ridden solo. This is his story - why athletes push themselves to rise to the challenge of extreme sport - as well as an account of the country and the incredible warmth and support from locals who reach out to help in so many ways.

In December 2012, Juliana Buhring became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by bicycle. With only a few months of training and little sponsorship, support or money she left from Naples on 23 July 2012 to cycle the world. Raised in a religious cult as a child, Juliana finally broke away as a young adult and found her soul mate - an explorer seeking the source of unmapped rivers in Africa. When he was killed by a crocodile, her world went dark. To escape her grief, she decided to set herself a challenge. Having never seriously ridden a bike, she set out to ride around the world. 18,000 miles, 152 days, 4 continents, 19 countries, 29 punctures, 6 big mountains, 1 desert and a cyclone later, she made it back just days before Christmas with a Guinness World Record. Empowering, inspiring, often humorous, This Road I Ride is testimony to the power of sheer will to overcome any obstacle. Discover a true story of adventure, blood, sweat and gears.

Rod Ismay has a passion (some would say obsession) for the Tour de France. If you think you know someone who is obsessed, think again, but fortunately Rod's issues found their natural home when his native Yorkshire became the host for the 2014 Grand Depart. Rod also has another passion - as well as cycling he is quite keen on bell-ringing, so why not combine the two? Why not get all the bells ringing along the Tour route, why not organise countless events, countless meetings, why not drag in churches far and wide, why not involve your employer, your friends, your family, why not photo-bomb five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault? Rod threw himself, his King of the Mountains jersey and his endless enthusiasm head first into making this Grand Depart about as good and memorable as it could be. Rod has written with passion about Yorkshire, its people, those two stages of the world's greatest cycle race and the churches, ringing their bells all along the race route. If you like cycling then you will love this book. If you know Yorkshire then you will read this book with pride. If you are thinking of marrying a Tour de France obsessive then you need to read this book first.

The SUNDAY TIMES bestselling memoir from the Tour de France cyclist who lifts the lid on his drug use and return to sport. By his eighteenth birthday David Millar was living and racing in France, sleeping in rented rooms, tipped to be the next English-speaking Tour winner. A year later he'd realised the dream and signed a professional contract. He perhaps lived the high life a little too enthusiastically - he broke his heel in a fall from a roof after too much drink, and before long the pressure to succeed had tipped over into doping. Here, in a full and frank autobiography, David Millar recounts the story from the inside: he doped because 'cycling's drug culture was like white noise', and because of peer pressure. 'I doped for money and glory in order to guarantee the continuation of my status.' Five years on from his arrest, Millar is clean and reflective, and holds nothing back in this account of his dark years.

n this beautifully illustrated guide to travelling across France by bike you will discover hidden lanes, stunning gorges, amazing places to eat and stay, plus the best of French cycling culture. This iconic journey of more than 1000 miles takes you through no fewer than 21 of France's regional departements and into some of the country's most striking and dramatic landscapes helping you to discover the true heart of rural France. Ride one section, follow a mini itinerary, or complete the entire challenge! Starting in St.Malo on the coast of Brittany the route winds its way through quiet lanes on the banks of rivers, through dramatic gorges and quintessentially French villages before reaching the dazzling glamour of Nice on the French Riviera. Beautifully illustrated maps, detailed directions and PDF downloads guide you along the route providing essential information and revealing the many hidden secrets of the area.

WINNER OF THE 2018 GIRO D'ITALIA! THREE TIME WINNER OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE. THE FIRST MAN SINCE BERNARD HINAULT TO HOLD THE MAGLIA ROSA, THE MAILLOT JAUNE AND THE MAILLOT ROJO AT THE SAME TIME. THIS IS CHRIS FROOME IN HIS OWN WORDS. 'Engaging, vividly evoked' Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year 'What Chris has done is phenomenal' Sir Chris Hoy Growing up in Kenya, biking down mile after mile of dusty road, and staying in a humble tin hut, he developed a fierce passion and determination to win. The road to Europe was long, gruelling and filled with setbacks - but it prepared him for teamwork as a domestique and then the leap to leader of Team Sky and a shot at winning the Tour de France. In The Climb, written with the renowned investigative reporter David Walsh, he vividly recounts the struggles, the rivalries, the battles, the comebacks. Finally he traces his path to triumph and his mission to help clean up cycling. Inspiring and exhilarating, it will leave you ready to face your own challenges in life, whatever they may be.

A wickedly funny and life-affirming coming-of-age roadtrip story - winner of France's biggest prize for teen and YA fiction Mireille, Astrid and Hakima have just been voted the three ugliest girls in school by their classmates on Facebook. But does that mean they're going to sit around crying about it?... Well, maybe a little, but not for long! Climbing onto their bikes, the friends set off on a summer roadtrip to Paris. The girls will find fame, friendship and happiness on their journey, and still have time to eat a mountain of food (and drink the odd glass of wine) along the way. But will they really be able to leave all their troubles behind? Piglettes is a hilarious, beautiful and uplifting story of three girls who are determined not to let online bullying get them down.

At the end of the nineteenth century, cycling's popularity surged in the Boston area, but by 1900, the trend faded. Within the next few decades, automobiles became commonplace and roads were refashioned to serve them. Lorenz J. Finison argues that bicycling witnessed a renaissance in the 1970s as concerns over physical and environmental health coalesced. Whether cyclists hit the roads on their way to work or to work out, went off-road in the mountains or to race via cyclocross and BMX, or took part in charity rides, biking was back in a major way. Finison traces the city's cycling history, chronicling the activities of environmental and social justice activists, stories of women breaking into male-dominated professions by becoming bike messengers and mechanics, and challenges faced by African American cyclists. Making use of newspaper archives, newly discovered records of local biking organizations, and interviews with Boston-area bicyclists and bike builders, Boston's Twentieth Century Bicycling Renaissance brings these voices and battles back to life.