recommended TdF books?

berksbadger

Hi,

Can anyone recommend any good books about Le Tour for holiday reading?
Two weeks in France!

Many thanks
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thexvw

French Revolutions a great holiday read

http://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Revoluti ... 0099433826

berksbadger

Thanks for this, xvw. Sounds like it fits the bill.

rick_chasey

Love that book.

dave milne

dan coyle tour de force

FransJacques

Moore's book is a great premise for a non-challenging, funny read I bought it hoping it would be hilarious. But he turns out to be such a beginner/fool it's painful to watch him coming up his incredibly slow learning curve and eventaully I grew to despise him and the hackneyed un-funny jokes newbies "discover" about the sport (not wearing undies under your shorts, shaving legs, saddle sores, numb bits etc). Remind me a lot of this forum. I only read the first 1/3. If you're the kind of patient person who can stand to give your kids driving lessons in your brand new Audi with the really grabby clutch and laugh when they kerb it, stall it, and scratch the bumper - you'll love this book.

northernneil

FransJacques wrote:

Moore's book is a great premise for a non-challenging, funny read I bought it hoping it would be hilarious. But he turns out to be such a beginner/fool it's painful to watch him coming up his incredibly slow learning curve and eventaully I grew to despise him and the hackneyed un-funny jokes newbies "discover" about the sport (not wearing undies under your shorts, shaving legs, saddle sores, numb bits etc). Remind me a lot of this forum. I only read the first 1/3. If you're the kind of patient person who can stand to give your kids driving lessons in your brand new Audi with the really grabby clutch and laugh when they kerb it, stall it, and scratch the bumper - you'll love this book.

rubbish, its very good

oscarbudgie

Obviously Frans came into the world as a fully formed uber cyclist. For everyone else French Revolutions is a great LIGHTHEARTED exploration of the TdeF. Provided you don't have a very large stick up your ar5e you'll love it.

ballspondroad

And French Revolutions does contain the funniest line ever addressed to an adult by a child.

Bronzie

ballspondroad wrote:

And French Revolutions does contain the funniest line ever addressed to an adult by a child.

Remind me

PS Moore's follow up re-createing his grandfather's arctic explorations (Frost on my Moustache) is also quite a good read.

berksbadger

Great responses everyone - some stong views coming through, fantastic!

Anyone read "In search of Robert Millar"? - any good?

Any other book recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks in avance.

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afx237vi

Does it have to be about the Tour de France? "A Dog in a Hat" by Joe Parkin would be a good holiday read. It's about a young American rider who goes to race in Belgium.

dulldave

Laurent Fignon's autobiography is pretty good.

Monty Zoncolan

I'm reading French Revolutions just now and it is pretty good. Imagine Bill Bryson trying to ride the Tour.

Also worth a mention is Matt Rendell's 'Blazing Saddles' - it's a history of the race year by year but crams in lots of interesting anecdote with the stats.

takethehighroad

ballspondroad wrote:

And French Revolutions does contain the funniest line ever addressed to an adult by a child.

Is it the one where he says "I don't want you to go cycling today Daddy.......It's really boring" ?

Love this book, it's accessible to both cyclists and non-cyclists in equal measure and asks good questions about what the Tour means to the people of the towns it visits

FransJacques

Hey I'm no great cyclist and I make a lot of school-boy mistakes, but put it this way, I'd rather read about Bode Miller or Alberto Tomba than Eddie the eagle Edwards.

The Dan Coyle book is OK as well but not memorable. It's a book on my bookshelf but I can't remember even turning a page. I read it when it came out in 2006. Only memorable line was "Keep. Lance. Informed." This advice works well at my current job.

Most old Lance books would seem dated post recent history Astana/Shack/Landis etc.

Since you're in France you have the benefit of the countryside to enjoy - why not get something part about the race, part travelogue? Do you read french?

cajun_cyclist

FransJacques wrote:

Moore's book is a great premise for a non-challenging, funny read I bought it hoping it would be hilarious. But he turns out to be such a beginner/fool it's painful to watch him coming up his incredibly slow learning curve and eventaully I grew to despise him and the hackneyed un-funny jokes newbies "discover" about the sport (not wearing undies under your shorts, shaving legs, saddle sores, numb bits etc). Remind me a lot of this forum. I only read the first 1/3. If you're the kind of patient person who can stand to give your kids driving lessons in your brand new Audi with the really grabby clutch and laugh when they kerb it, stall it, and scratch the bumper - you'll love this book.

I just have to add in, I'd find the book "French Revolutions" a "split decision", more of a funny travelogue book but not a bad introduction, once you read 'French revolutions', then you feel more in the mood to read more grittier books that tell you what has happened in the long history of the tour de France and with that, I greatly appreciate "Ascent" by Richard Yeats http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascent-Mountain ... 61-7365721 but it is more like one of those oversized picture books, good history but considering, I got mine out of the library, good read . It has to be said 'French Revolutions' is far from being your history-of-the-tour type of book.

Roscobob

berksbadger wrote:

Great responses everyone - some stong views coming through, fantastic!

Anyone read "In search of Robert Millar"? - any good?
Any other book recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks in avance.

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Brilliant.

Pigeons in flight

Moore's book is a great premise for a non-challenging, funny read I bought it hoping it would be hilarious. But he turns out to be such a beginner/fool it's painful to watch him coming up his incredibly slow learning curve and eventaully I grew to despise him and the hackneyed un-funny jokes newbies "discover" about the sport (not wearing undies under your shorts, shaving legs, saddle sores, numb bits etc). Remind me a lot of this forum. I only read the first 1/3. If you're the kind of patient person who can stand to give your kids driving lessons in your brand new Audi with the really grabby clutch and laugh when they kerb it, stall it, and scratch the bumper - you'll love this book.

What a bizarre opinion on what I found to be a hilarious account. I heartily recommend French revolutions.

I am currently reading In Search of Robert Millar. I think it's fair to say it's more for the pro race enthusiast than the above book. It is however a fascinating account of both how the early English speaking riders made the step over to continental pro tour teams and the complex personality of Robert Millar.

berksbadger

FransJacques
Hi
Thanks for your comments. I don't read French beyond O grade - many moons ago.
However, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Merci et bientot

Monty Dog

Olympic Gangster by Matt Rendell - Biography of Jose Beyeart, if you think modern cyclists are tough...this man was nails. He did ride the Tour in 1950.

dave milne

rough ride is a great book (imo)

cajun_cyclist

Can anyone recommend any good books about Le Tour for holiday reading?

French Revolutions:

Light and often humourous reading, proper introduction to the Tour, probably ideal for holiday reading, it's a good length, not too short, not too long to get encumbered with, easy to read on a train or on the beach.

So, yes, I read French Revolutions, the novel idea of a more or less average person riding the same route that the Tour takes.

After reading this book, there are probably some dozen books on the tour from a historic perspective which is also exciting but you'll come across many names so before diving into that, FR as a light intro is fun.

northernneil

similar to french revolutions in a way but obviously with much MUCH darker undertones, i picked this up for £2 at a garden centre out of curiosity and actually its not at all bad:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Riding-Through- ... 822&sr=8-2

cajun_cyclist

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-More-Kilome ... =1-1-fkmr0

'One kilometre and we're in the showers' by Tim Hilton, stumbled upon this book, it sounds interesting and a bit lengthy, wonder why I hadn't known of this one before.

---

Listed above, the Geoff Thomas book I think would move way up in my list of reading. The Matt Rendell book sounds interesting too, I know I've heard of him...why? because he wrote one of the books on Pantani.

neilo23

Tour de France - The history, the legend, the riders

and

Inside the Peloton: Riding, winning and losing the tour de France.

Two great TdF books, both by Graham Fife. Aimed at people who already know about cycling. You can almost feel the dust on your face as you read about Coppi, Armstrong, Bartoli and co. More "literary" than many sport books, but nothing too heavy. Well written page turners, in my opinion.

ms_tree

We had a similar thread a month ago and I suggested one with a title that includes 'Blue glasses' but I can't find it at the moment to give you the correct title! Also there's 'Push yourself a little bit further' by Johnny Green which is good too.
They are probably out of print so please go and borrow them from your library.

RichN95.

Ms Tree wrote:

We had a similar thread a month ago and I suggested one with a title that includes 'Blue glasses' but I can't find it at the moment to give you the correct title! Also there's 'Push yourself a little bit further' by Johnny Green which is good too.
They are probably out of print so please go and borrow them from your library.

"A moustache, poison and blue glasses" is the title you seek. Not read it myself.

berksbadger

Thanks to everybody for all your contributions.

I now have a list of great books to check-out. Perfect for the winter evenings.

Cheers

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bam49

cajun_cyclist wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/One-More-Kilometre-Were-Showers/dp/0006532284/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1281274597&sr=1-1-fkmr0

'One kilometre and we're in the showers' by Tim Hilton, stumbled upon this book, it sounds interesting and a bit lengthy, wonder why I hadn't known of this one before.

+ 1 for One More Kilometre ... although not all about the Tour only it is a great read about history of the sport and English cycling through the years , I really enjoyed it...

One that I enjoyed but I never see mentioned on threads such as this is ; Golden Stages of the Tour de France , compilation of pieces by various writers , I thought it was v good..

Geoffrey Wheatcroft ( think thats correct - he writes for the Guardian sometimes..) did a very good one ; History of the Tour de France , which is v comprehensive about the origins of the Tour...