Road books - anyone ever get their hands on one?

FransJacques
FransJacques Posts: 2,148
edited July 2012 in Pro race
Anyone ever seen or flipped through one of these infamous 'road books' from the Tour, Giro or other race?

If hard bound with heavyweight paper they might make a nice coffee table book.

Has anyone ever seen one, for example, of eBay?

Thanks
When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.

Comments

  • alan_a
    alan_a Posts: 1,587
    Online versions available to download http://www.scribd.com/doc/98721405/Tour ... -routebook
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  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Thread for this yrs Giro...

    http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12851484&p=17592003&hilit=Giro+roadbook#p17592003
  • alanp23
    alanp23 Posts: 696
    I saw one at the Tour this year. It was sitting in the passenger seat of a car and was extremely well thumbed. i am not sure if it is spiral bound, but it is soft cover. Think of something like a spiral bound mapbook and treated with the same respect.

    I guess there may be some that exist in mint condition.... But your guess is as good as mine.

    (The owner used it to tell me where the team buses were all parked up.)
    Top Ten finisher - PTP Tour of Britain 2016
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Friend of mine salvaged one from a bin in Milan at the end of the Giro one year! :D

    Interesting to look through the online Tour one, how far some of the team's hotels are from the stage starts and finishes. Guess they are a bit limited on which hotels they can use, a city centre one won't be so great for the mechanics.
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,440
    The tour of Britain one is online a week or so before the race, it's pretty brief though stage profile & map, estimated times and a diagram of the run in. Useful for finding the feed zones though so you can go bottle hunting :)
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  • Crankbrother
    Crankbrother Posts: 1,695
    Pro Cycling were giving Tour ones away with subscriptions at one point ... Imthink it was the year Floyd won that I had ... Very comprehensive but ultimately useless ... If you started a collection of retro Giro ones it might be quite nice ...
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Crankbrother wrote:
    ...but ultimately useless...

    Err, not if your going to see the race.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I have one from the TOB I worked on. That was hard work but enjoyable.
    A lot of detail in the book - its quite impressive.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    Crankbrother wrote:
    ...but ultimately useless...

    Err, not if your going to see the race.
    Depends if you love the countryside the riders ride in or merely pro racing itself. I guess what you're saying is that there are some cyclists who love the pro scene but as far as riding their bike is concerned think that Scunthorpe or Richmond Park is the end all and be all?

    Don't think that's true for most of us - seeing the stunning countryside France or Italy or Spain is 30-40% of the draw of watching cycing on TV. For me, I've done a stage from most Tours since 1997 and am always looking for more ideas where you can have a cycling challenge as well as see somewhere new. I travel independently, without a tour company, so thought that the road book would be helpful for that.

    Thanks to Alan A and others for posting links.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    I have a need for next years and the year after for a crazy scheme I'm planning... It's heartening to know that they end up online!

    Didn't pro-cycling give away properly bound replicas of the 2004 one as a subscription gift?
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent

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