Cycling Books - any recommendations?

tarquin_foxglove

I've got a £20 Waterstones voucher burning a hole in my pocket, any recommendations for cycling books to own rather than get out of the library?

Recommendations so far:

Design & Engineering:
Bicycle Design by Mike Burrows (£9.99)

Maintenance:
ZInn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance £17.99
Road Bike Maintenance by Guy Andrews £16.99

Biography/Non fiction
Flying Scotsman: The Graeme Obree Story (Library)
Riding Through the Storm: by Geoff Thomas (Library)
Rough ride behind the wheel with a pro cyclist by Paul Kimmage (Library)
Heroes, villains & velodromes by Richard Moore (Library)
The death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell (Library)
Tour climbs: the complete guide to every the TdeF (Library)
Sex, lies and handlebar tape by Paul Howard (Library)
One more kilometre and we're in the showers by Tim Hilton (Library)
In Search of Robert Millar by Richard Moore (Library)
Dancing Uphill: The Cycling Adventures of Charles Holland (£12.99)
The Hour by Michael Hutchinson (£7.99)
Inside the Peloton; riding, winning & losing the Tour de France by Graeme Fife (Library)
Tomorrow, We Ride by Jean Bobet and Adam Berry (£12.95)
Need for the Bike by Paul Fournel (£5.35)
Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi by William Fotheringham (£10.87)
Boy Racer by Mark Cavendish (£10.99)
Personal Best: The Autobiography Of Beryl Burton by Beryl Burton (£19.95)
Man on the Run: The Life and Death of Marco Pantani by Manuela Ronchi (£12.99)

Fiction
The rider by Tim Krabbe (Library)

Travelogue
French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour De France by Tim Moore (Library)
Journey to the centre of the earth by Richard Crane (Library)
Why Don't You Fly?: Back Door to Beijing - By Bicyle by Christopher J.A. Smith £9.99
Discovery Road by T. Garratt, A. Brown, Sir Ranulph Fiennes £9.99
Long Ride for a Pie by Tim Mulliner £9.99
Massif: Guide to the Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees by Graeme Fife £40.00
Long cloud ride; a cycling adventure across New Zealand by Josie Dew (Library)
Saddled at sea; a 15,000-mile journey to New Zealand by Russian freighter by Josie Dew (Library)
Slow coast home; a 5000-mile journey around the shores of England and Wales by Josie Dew (Library)
The sun in my eyes; two-wheeling east by Josie Dew (Library)
Travels in a strange state; cycling across the USA by Josie Dew (Library)
The wind in my wheels by Josie Dew (Library)
The Hungry Cyclist: Pedalling the Americas in Search of the Perfect Meal by Tom Kevill Davies (£5.59)

Expose
Bad Blood: The Secret Life of the Tour De France by Jeremy Whittle (Library)
Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling by William Fotheringham, Willy Voet (£7.99)
A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium by Bob Roll and Joe Parkin (£12.99)

fever pitch style:
The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle by Matt Seaton £6.99

Airienteer

ZInn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. If you want a book for the mechanical side of things you can't do better.

antfly

I`ve got one called "road bike maintenance" by Guy Andrews.I`ts OK lots of pics.

bigal.

The Flying Scotsman by Graeme Obree. Great story.

Special K

I can recommend "Why don't you just fly?: Back door to Beijing"

Some chap gets on his bike in the Midlands, cycles across the world, with a little loop around the whole of India.

Very thoughtful book, very well reviewed on Amazon, and thoroughly recommended. It was the first cycle touring book I read, and expected all others to meet that standard and generally they don't

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Dont-Back-Door-Beijing/dp/190520325X

Mog Uk

French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour De France - Had me laughing out loud around the the pool on holiday last year...

The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle - Really enjoyed this.

robmanic1

[urlhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Discovery-Road-T-Garratt/dp/0953057534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236251797&sr=1-1[/url]

The best cycling travel book I've ever read - bar none! So good I've read it around 4 times, everyone I've leant it to has raved about it, highly recommended.

iain_j

I can recommend French Revolutions too, and also Long Ride For A Pie by Tim Mulliner. New Zealander living in London gets homesick (he misses the pies) and decides to cycle back, in a 14 month trek across Europe, Iran, India, the Chinese desert, SE Asia and across the Australian outback. It's possibly the best, most awe-inspiring book I've ever read.

matthewbradford

My favourites reads are:

French Revolutions - Tim Moore (for Humour)
Riding throughthe Storm- Geoff Thomas (for Inspiration)
Bad Blood - Jeremy Whittle (for wondering why we bother with pro cycling)


A good reference/coffee table book is Tour Climbs by ? Sidwells

Happy Shopping

FSR_XC

The Flying Scotsman is quite an emotional read.

One minute I was horrified by his childhood, then elated at his abilities. It frustrated me at times, yet at others I wanted to tell him to just get on with it.

Some great stories of achievement, freedom and determination, yet very much overshadowed at times by depression.

Having read the book, I would very much like to meet the man.

Mark Alexander

Heroes, Villains and Velodromes

stjohnswell

jswba

Second on Krabbe and Matt Rendell's amazing Pantani bio, but if you've 20 quid I'd say go with Zinn.

APIII

French revolutions gets my vote. Read it 3 or 4 times now, and it still makes me laugh.

takethehighroad

matthewbradford wrote:

My favourites reads are:

French Revolutions - Tim Moore (for Humour)
Riding throughthe Storm- Geoff Thomas (for Inspiration)
Bad Blood - Jeremy Whittle (for wondering why we bother with pro cycling)


A good reference/coffee table book is Tour Climbs by ? Sidwells

Happy Shopping

+1 for French Revolutions and Bad Blood. Not read the Geoff Thomas one though. Avoid the Graeme Fife one. I really didn't like it.

Frank the tank

French Revolutions is a very funny read indeed.

Dancing uphill, the biography of Charles Holland (first Brit to ride TdF) is quite good aswell.

8673sharp

Sporting Immortality the hard way by Michael Hutchinson is probly one of the best cycling books Ive read, really funny as well.

crankycrank

A Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage. Of course!!

GJA

+ 1 for French Revolutions.

Sex, Lies & Handlebar Tape - The Jacques Anquetil story. A very interesting read which proves that fact is stranger than fiction.

graeme_s-2

I think the best cycling book I've read is The Hour by Michael Hutchinson

It's about his attempt at the hour record, but in amongst that he weaves in the history of the hour record as well. It's a really fantastic book

alfablue

Graeme_S wrote:

I think the best cycling book I've read is The Hour by Michael Hutchinson

It's about his attempt at the hour record, but in amongst that he weaves in the history of the hour record as well. It's a really fantastic book

Yes, it was good, fairly humorous too.

iain_j

+1 for The Hour. Brilliant

pottssteve

I really liked The Rider by Tim Krabbe, as mentioned above.

pneumatic

+1 for The Rider
+1 for Tour Climbs (and any other lavishly illustrated books about climbing, they are inspirational)
One More Kilometre and We're in the Showers is a time-trial through the history of road riding in the UK and in places really compelling
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by the Kranes is a good book about extreme touring

Coyote

In search of Robert Miller by Richard Moore gets my vote.

nickwill

The Rider by Tim Krabbe, The Flying Scotsman by Graham Obree, and In Search of Robert Millar. I know these have all been mentioned but for me they are the best!
'Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees' by Graeme Fyffe, published by Rapha is inspirational but rather expensive.

Cycling Dave

I reckon the maintenance one would be best. If you want the others the library will oonly charge you 20p to get it in and you can read them for free.

tarquin_foxglove

tarquin_foxglove wrote:

I've got a £20 Waterstones voucher burning a hole in my pocket, any recommendations for cycling books to own rather than get out of the library?

Thank you for all your responses, I really appreciate it. Almost wish it was winter so I could stay in and read them all.

The majority of the recommendations are available at my library (I joined at the weekend & checked), which leaves this lot...

Maintenance:
ZInn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance £17.99
Road Bike Maintenance by Guy Andrews £16.99

Biography/Non fiction
Dancing Uphill: The Cycling Adventures of Charles Holland (£12.99)
The Hour by Michael Hutchinson (£7.99)

Travelogue
Why Don't You Fly?: Back Door to Beijing - By Bicyle by Christopher J.A. Smith £9.99
Discovery Road by T. Garratt, A. Brown, Sir Ranulph Fiennes £9.99
Long Ride for a Pie by Tim Mulliner £9.99

fever pitch style:
The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle by Matt Seaton £6.99

I'm tempted by Zinn but as I already have the Haynes manual, is it worth having Zinn as well?

If not, I'd probably go for The Hour & Discovery Road.

SCR Pedro

Another vote for the Flying Scotsman. A wonderful insight into an exceptional, but troubled athlete.

That whole defrauding the insurance company thing was just idiotic though.

Pedro

DaSy

I'd add

Breaking the Chain - Willy Voet. - makes you realise there are many more ways to cheat than just doping in pro cycling!

Dog in a Hat - Joe Parkin - a very different perspective of a career cyclist to that of Paul Kimmage. I loved this book.

Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees - Graham Fyfe - awesome photography and good detail. This is a coffee table book rather than an engrosing read.

As mentioned many times, The Rider by Tim Krabbe is about as good as a cycling book gets in my view.

thomasmc

French Revolutions is my favourite. I liked the Rider but I have to say I did not particularly like Geoff Thomas's book