Recommend me books or DVD's

sy1975

As a novice road cyclist (8 months in) I am slowly learning more about this great sport all the time

I watched "a sunday in hell" (Paris - Roubaix 1976) over the weekend - a fantastic documentary. Also checked out you tube for other pices about the golden age of cycling (eddie merckx ect) - italian giro 1974 is also superb.

Can you recommend me further DVD's and books that cover this era and suggested places to buy them? I have been on bromley video site but the dvd's seem very expensive??

Any help advice would be appreciated

patchy

May I be the first to suggest 'The Rider' by Tim Krabbe. Best written evocation of a race ever.

rick_chasey

French revolutions by Tim Moore is good fun - a journo with no prep but a bit of enthusiasm decides to ride the Tour route on his own.

FJS

patchy wrote:

May I be the first to suggest 'The Rider' by Tim Krabbe. Best written evocation of a race ever.

+1 - and with plenty of references to 1970s-and-earlier pro racing

Le Commentateur

Photographic history of the great climbs of the Tour de France:
http://www.amazon.fr/Cols-mythiques-Du- ... pd_sim_b_2
Beautifully produced book, many photographs for the 'Equip archive, but captions and text in French (still, good for the photos, including a great km by km sequence of the duel between Poulidor and Anquetil up the Puy de Dome).

Also similar ones for Paris-Roubaix (Paris-Roubaix : Une journée en Enfer – which may also be available in English with a different cover design) and the classics (Belles d'un jour: Histoire des grandes classiques).

For the Giro, it's harder to find stuff without going to Italy to browse bookshops, but I did manage to acquire this approximately A3 sized photo-book online:
http://libreriarizzoli.corriere.it/Un-s ... EpU3MfmqGA
Text in Italian, but lots of photos.

Greggyr

For 'behind the scenes' action, look at these...

Overcoming
The Quest1
The Quest2
Hell on Wheels.

sy1975

great - thanks for these suggestions.

what are the thoughts on best places/websites to pick some of these up?

Kléber

Lots on amazon and ebay but look up Bromley Video, a specialist seller with good prices.

Monty Dog

I'm surprised Kleber isn't pitching in for "The Rider"?

Tusher

"The death of Marco Pantani" by Matt Rendell. He also write "Blazing Saddles-the cruel and unusual history of the Tour de France" which I keep dipping back into.

"Rough Ride" by Paul Kimmage

"In search of Robert Millar" by Richard Moore is superb.


and, of course, last but by no means least- there's the literary masterpiece

Boy Racer by M.Cavendish


The DVD of Chasing Legends is excellent.

And before Ms Tree and I whip your naked buttocks, please remember to try your local library first.

thomasmc

The Tour de France: A Cultural History by Christopher S. Thompson is one not mentioned to often. Looks at the role the tour has played in the history of France and how it was used to unify the country after both wars. V good

MrTapir

'Death on the Mountain' is good, about Tom Simpson. I know its before the era you were after but its quite moving and a really good picture of how far racers pushed themselves. It seems to be repeated on BBC3 or 4 quite a bit.

Kléber

Monty Dog wrote:

I'm surprised Kleber isn't pitching in for "The Rider"?

Usernames aside, I'd actually recommend readers go elsewhere and start with something different. Learn the basics about aerodynamics and drafting, then read up about tactics. Next watch a couple of films of races past and dabble in the history a bit. Then read The Rider. It is a good book but ideally, try it once you've got the hang of things.

rick_chasey

thomasmc wrote:

The Tour de France: A Cultural History by Christopher S. Thompson is one not mentioned to often. Looks at the role the tour has played in the history of France and how it was used to unify the country after both wars. V good

It massively overplays the significance of the Tour and is pretty teleological....

peterst6906

+1 for The Rider. Really good read.

Other books:

The Sweat of the Gods
Sex, Lies & Handlebar Tape
Fignon

The first is a really good history of cycling racing in relation to the TdF, the second is a biography of Antiquel and the third is self explanatory.

All three of those are worth reading.

Regards,

Peter

ratsbeyfus

...and a few more to savour once the bug bites:

Fallen Angel - The Passion of Fausto Coppi - William Fotheringham
The Escape Artist - Matt Seaton
Roule Britannia - William Fotheringham
From Lance to Landis - David Walsh

The Amazon reviews describe them all better then I could.

Monty Dog

Olympic Gangster by Matt Rendell is a great yarn - particularly if you like your cyclists a bit raw-edged - most of the book is of Beyaert's post-cycling 'career'

Dog in a Hat by Joe Parkin - a journeyman's tale of the hard school of Belgian Kermis racing

donrhummy

I HIGHLY recommend "Lance Amrstrong's War," by Dan Coyle. The best written/researched non-fiction book on cycling. And also, if you believe Carmichael is Lance's coach/trainer and not Ferrari, you will be shocked.

http://www.amazon.com/Lance-Armstrongs- ... 0060734973

cajun_cyclist

http://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Mountains- ... 149&sr=1-1

Ascent by Londoner Richard Yates is excellent, though it states it's about the climbs, the Mountains of the Tour, it's a cracking and revealing full history of the tour up until what the author calls the end of the Classic Era which is around '78-'80. Packed with photos though there exists a good # of general histories of the tour, because Yeats must have researched the archives of French newspapers, somehow it feels like a real first person witnessing the race itself. There are a number of general histories of the Tour, some I've read but this one really does the trick. Amazon UK actually had some uncharitable reviews while Amazon.com is very positive.

The Tour de France: A Cultural History by Christopher S. Thompson is one not mentioned to often. Looks at the role the tour has played in the history of France and how it was used to unify the country after both wars. V good

I think it is very good too, read after the above mentioned "Ascent" and it collaborates the information well,

It massively overplays the significance of the Tour and is pretty teleological....

Teleological I take means the book explains the "social malaise" of the time or similar, perhaps but not sure about "massively overplays the significance" part. This book you can sink your teeth in.

For example, I first found out from Yates' book that in some of the old races, they'd start some stages at midnight or pretty much they started in the dark of night and it seemed odd but this book would confirm such. Excellent resource without being your big coffee table picture book of the Tour.

rick_chasey

cajun_cyclist wrote:

It massively overplays the significance of the Tour and is pretty teleological....

Teleological I take means the book explains the "social malaise" of the time or similar, perhaps but not sure about "massively overplays the significance" part. This book you can sink your teeth in.

I mean the argument is teleological - in that the argument appears to come first, and the evidence and argument shifted to fit it. It's usually a pre-requesit for an argument that strongly overplays the significance of a particular factor.

I was very very close to writing my dissertation on the social impact or not of the Tour, since I didn't think any of the more highbrow book did a very good job, but practicality took over and, since I don't read French very well and most of the sources are based in France, I chose something else.

TheYorkshireMan

Rick Chasey wrote:

the argument is teleological - in that the argument appears to come first, and the evidence and argument shifted to fit it...I was very very close to writing my dissertation on the social impact or not of the Tour... since I don't read French very well and most of the sources are based in France, I chose something else.

So if you haven't actually read the sources, how do you know that the conclusions in Thompson's book did not arise from them and instead were 'teleological'?

Anyhow, the OP did ask about the 70's So perhaps a mention should go to the book about Freddy Maerten's 'Fall from grace', the one where he is 'stabbed in the back' every 10 pages.

To go back a little, In Pursuit of Stardom: Les Nomades du Velo Anglais is a cracking read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Stardom ... =8-1-fkmr0

Again not 70's related, but any follower of the sport who wants to really know about the sport has to read Kimmage's 'Rough Ride', Willy Voet's 'Breaking the Chain' and 'From Lance to Landis'.

For pure unadulterated 70's nostalgia, browse E-bay for copies of the Kennedy Brother's publications reviewing each year's Giro, Tour, as well as the profiles they published of the star riders. Also look for copies of International Cycle Sport by the same publishers.

http://www.internationalcyclesport.com/ ... azine.html

rick_chasey

TheYorkshireMan wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

the argument is teleological - in that the argument appears to come first, and the evidence and argument shifted to fit it...I was very very close to writing my dissertation on the social impact or not of the Tour... since I don't read French very well and most of the sources are based in France, I chose something else.

So if you haven't actually read the sources, how do you know that the conclusions in Thompson's book did not arise from them and instead were 'teleological'?

Because I know/read enough about France in the early-to-mid 1900s generally to get a good idea.

Ultimately, it's just a sporting event. It's not politics, and it doesn't actually impact many people's lives.

TheYorkshireMan

Rick Chasey wrote:

I know/read enough about France in the early-to-mid 1900s generally to get a good idea.

"And no amount of further evidence, even all that written by the French themselves / in French that have never have / never will read could ever change my mind."

Anyhow, a fictional film, but a superb take on 70's cycling: Le vélo de Ghislain Lambert.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252665/

rick_chasey

TheYorkshireMan wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I know/read enough about France in the early-to-mid 1900s generally to get a good idea.

"And no amount of further evidence, even all that written by the French themselves / in French that have never have / never will read could ever change my mind."

Pfft, I've got a qualification that say's I'm a pretty good historian. I'll take that as enough. :P

TheYorkshireMan

Rick Chasey wrote:

Pfft, I've got a qualification that say's I'm a pretty good historian. I'll take that as enough. :P

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=credentialism

rick_chasey

TheYorkshireMan wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Pfft, I've got a qualification that say's I'm a pretty good historian. I'll take that as enough. :P

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=credentialism

*shrugs*. It was more succinct way to say I spent a few years full time doing and studying history, so I've given it a fair bit of time, effort and thought.

Anyway, (since I'm not one to back down from an argument) it's all very well you saying i don't have any authority, but I don't see any compelling argument to suggest I'm wrong re my conclusion of the book. All you've done is just question whether i can "know" my own conclusion, which is largely opinion informed by a bit of historical understanding and conjecture.

It's entirely legitimate to criticise a piece of historical writing even if you haven't interrogated the sources yourself, because you can critcise the interpretation, evaluation of the evidence, and the resulting argument presented by the author.

So nerr.

---

But yeah. I wouldn't recommend the book - it's not that historically exciting, and it's too dry to get away with it.

Tusher

I gather you're higher than a humble Honours grad historian then?

ynyswen24

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien.

cajun_cyclist

Brian Robinson, 1st Brit to finish in the Tour. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brian-Robinson- ... 1874739579 His bio. I think there are a few books like this of lesser known cyclists. Some here sound like they have real cycling libraries. I'd like to read this one at some point.

"One more Kilometre and we hit the showers", Tim Hilton is another.

Ron Stuart

Two great reads from Sheffielder Tony Hewson former champion cyclist who won the 1955 Tour of Britain and represented his country in the Warsaw-Berlin-Prague and the Tour de France.

"In Pursuit of Stardom" tells of how he and his companions faced handicap and privation in their struggle to earn a living on the European continent in the 1950's.

"A Racing Cyclist's Worst Nightmare" gathers together autobiography, biography, discourse and fiction.

Although I steal the cover discriptions I found the they don't actually do the books full credit.

Both books are published by Mousehold Press.

Le Commentateur

Just in from the printers:
http://rouleur.cc/maglia-rosa