The Rider by Tim Krabbe....

johnnyhotdog

...is an excellent book!

i've just read it and found it immensely enjoyable.

pdstsp

+1

robbie the roadie

Yep, great stuff.

andyp

It's easily the best book about bike racing ever written. Apparently there is a cyclosportive based on the course called the Ronde van Tim Krabbe.

iainf72

You might find thisinteresting

TheGreatGatsby

agreed.

Gats

jpembroke

I was leant this book by a mate and it sat on a pile for ages. Then one day I idly picked it up. 2-3 hours later I put it down, finished. It is quite possibly the best sports book I've ever read. Awesome.

BMCCbry

Yes, absolutely brilliant!

And who has read 'The Escape Artist' by Matt Seaton? Highly recommended!

vermooten

yes a great book, why aren't there more like this?

proto

'Tis indeed an excellent read.

I hadn't realised that Tim Krabbe had written The Vanishing. I haven't read the book, but the film (Dutch/French) based upon it is seriously disturbing. Good but very nasty.

Bronzie

Been meaning to order this for ages - now on it's way from Amazon thanks to your recommendations! 8)

scapaslow

Only one problem with this book - it's too short :!:

Great read, much much better than all those "How i rode the TdF route" type books, which are all a bit similar(IMHO).

I'd read over half of it in one sitting when i realised it was going to end too soon, so i spaced the rest out over a period of days.

DaveyL

It's brilliant. Krabbe is also a very accomplished chess player and author:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=29553

He even defeated former world champion Anatoly Kaprov once, albeit in a simultaneous display Karpov was giving.

flattythehurdler

Try "Feet in the Clouds" if you liked "The Rider". Different sport, similar standard.

Pirahna

BMCCbry wrote:

:

And who has read 'The Escape Artist' by Matt Seaton? Highly recommended!

Me, I read it on holiday last year. A nice way to relax after a days riding with a a cold beer and view across to Ventoux.

Mike59

BMCCbry wrote:

Yes, absolutely brilliant!

And who has read 'The Escape Artist' by Matt Seaton? Highly recommended!

Yes, read it twice and really enjoyed it both times.

Reading 'The Beautiful Machine' by Graeme Fife now.

jpembroke

flattythehurdler wrote:

Try "Feet in the Clouds" if you liked "The Rider". Different sport, similar standard.

'Feet in the Clouds' is a great book. Ahhhh, fell running: sport stripped down to its absolute basics; poetry in motion, etc etc. I'm recovering from a bad ankle sprain at the moment and haven't run in 3 weeks. Can't wait to get back in the hills again.

Back to the wobble board.

Bronzie

Bronzie wrote:

Been meaning to order this for ages - now on it's way from Amazon thanks to your recommendations! 8)

See what all the fuss is about now - great read. That book IS bike racing.

robmanic1

Bit of a different theme but "Discovery Road" is just being read for the third time. It's falling apart but thanks to it's absorbing writing style (and my truly poor memory), definitely a book I'd reccomend, albeit more of a travellers book than a racers.