The Official Tour de France Bike Maintenance Book goes exclusively behind the scenes with the finest professional cycling mechanics during the most gruelling and high-pressure bike race in the world. Working at the cutting edge of bicycle technology, Tour mechanics expertly maintain high performance race bikes every day throughout the Tour. The highlight, for many fans, is watching the bikes being prepared before a stage and serviced after it. The reader is put in the fans' shoes, with exclusive insights and images from the life of a Tour mechanic, with in-race stories and technical advice. Practical sections in each chapter show the home mechanic how to perform essential maintenance tasks and personalise their own bicycles to Tour de France standards. Even if bikes are serviced by shop mechanics, vital checks and regular adjustments are covered in these pages and, to make a bike stand out, there are professional tricks of the trade as well as the small but telling detailing jobs to enhance the bike's looks. Another feature of The Official Tour de France Bike Maintenance Book focuses on the growing interest in classic racing machines, which are collected, ridden and displayed in 'Eroica' festivals, events celebrating the heroic age of cycling. These, of course, include Tour de France bikes from the past 75 years and there are features on these classic bikes, with maintenance tips using traditional tools and techniques.

Who is The Secret Cyclist and why all the secrecy? "Every public aspect of our lives is so tightly controlled that being truly honest is all but impossible in a newspaper interview, never mind a whole book. You try write a warts-and-all blog about your office. Question how the business is run, make sure you remember to call your boss a moron, and then tell me how it goes." He's ridden for World Tour teams for ten years. He's achieved top ten finishes in Grand Tours. He likes coffee. These are just a few details about the professional rider who wants you to know what the view looks like from the centre of the peloton. What do the riders really make of Team Sky? How does the pay structure work? Why should you never trust a kit endorsement from a professional? Is doping still an issue? The Secret Cyclist tackles the big questions head-on, revealing a side to cycling that fans have never seen before.

Why do road cyclists go to the mountains? Many books tell you where the mountains are, or how long and how high. None of them ask 'Why?' After all, cycling up a mountain is hard - so hard that, to many non-cyclists, it can seem absurd. But, for some, climbing a mountain gracefully (and beating your competitors up the slope) represents the pinnacle of cycling achievement. The mountains are where legends are forged and cycling's greats make their names. Why are Europe's mountain ranges professional cycling's Wembley Stadium or its Colosseum? Why do amateurs also make a pilgrimage to these high, remote roads and what do we see and feel when we do? Why are the roads there in the first place? Higher Calling explores the central place of mountains in the folklore of road cycling. Blending adventure and travel writing with the rich narrative of pro racing, Max Leonard takes the reader from the battles that created the Alpine roads to the shepherds tending their flocks on the peaks, and to a Grand Tour climax on the 'highest road in Europe'. And he tells stories of courage and sacrifice, war and love, obsession and elephants along the way.