Best Cycling Books of ALL TIME

BikeRadarAdmin

Hi All,

BikeRadar are looking to do a list of the best cycling books of all time and we need your help.

Either simply your favourite, or your top three cycling books.

They can be biographies, touring guides, training tips or collections of the best cycling photographs.

Thanks in advance!

gethinceri

It's Not About The Bike. L Armstrong & S Jenkins.

graeme_s-2

The Hour by Michael Hutchinson
Gives you an entertaining story about an hour record attempt along with the history of the record. I've leant it to people with barely a passing interest in cycling who've thoroughly enjoyed it

rick_chasey

The rider, Tim Krabbé

Bobbinogs

For me, top three in no particualr order:

I like Mike Carden's The Full English. He is like Bill Bryson on a bike and this book, by far his best, is a charming account of someone, without a racing bone in his body, getting out on a bike .

Next up, Charlie Weglius, The Domestique. Brutal and yet informative, tells it how it is.

Finally, Michael Hutchinson, Faster. A great insight into the science of riding a bike fast and covers off whether a great racer is, to a large degree, born. It can get a little too focused in places (probably not surprising given Hutch's nature) particularly on the biology of blood, etc., but one can always just skip the odd sentence.

3 very different books, all enjoyable.

BikeRadarAdmin

From a personal view:

Lance Armstrong - It's Not About The Bike if it wasn't for this book I wouldn't have got into the sport and be here today!

Wheelmen - Vanessa O'Connell and Reed Albergotti deconstructed my opinion of my (ex) hero

Yoga for Cyclists - Lexie Williamson keeps me injury and pain free!

random man

Mike Carter - One Man and His Bike - highly entertaining account of a novice cyclist's tour round the British coastline

Tyler Hamilton - The Secret Race - matter-of-fact tale of doping with Lance

Tim Moore - Gironimo! - story of how to ride the 1913 Giro on a period bike, hilarious

crescent

It's all about the bike - Rob Penn
In search of Robert Millar - Richard Moore
Shadows on the road - Michael Barry

The first one made me want to build my own bike. Second one is all about my schoolboy hero. Third one is just an excellent read from a top pro who many may not have heard off but rode with Armstrong and Sky.

harry-s

Dog In A Hat, - Joe Parkin.
"A Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium".
How can that not be good?

+1 for The Rider

andcp

The Death of Marco Pantani - Matt Randell
Remarkable book.

In search of Robert Millar - Richard Moore
Not quite as remarkable, but very good.

napoleond

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19744444#p19744444]Rick Chasey[/url] wrote:

The rider, Tim Krabbé

This one.

mamba80

The Death of Marco Pantani
The Rider
Slaying the Badger

JackPozzi

The Rider, Krabbe
The flying scotsman, Obree
The Hour, Hutchinson

crispybug2

Tour de France, The History, The Legend, The Riders - Graeme Fife

French Revolutions - Tim Moore

The Secret Race - Tyler Hamilton

motdoc

The Rider

Gironimo

Yellow Jumper

joelsim

The Secret Race
Seven Deadly Sins
Breaking The Chain

vimfuego

Racing Through The Dark - David Millar
The Domestique - Charly Wegelius
The Racer - David Millar

He may polarise opinion to some extent, but Millar's books are bl**dy good and very insightful.

Honourable mention to the Zinn and the art of... maintenance guides too. Kept me on the straight & narrow with mechanical issues - gives you all the info you need without patronising you and treating you like an imbecile or blinding you with technical info.

veronese68

Gironimo or French Revolutions. Tales of an ordinary bloke doing something extraordinary, well written and very funny. More relevant to the likes of me than books by pro's. Read a couple of books by pro's but don't have the same connection. Haven't read Yellow Jumper yet, really should.

CiB

French revolutions by Tim Moore. The only cycling book I've read more than once.

Honorary mentions to these two as well. Both brilliant.
It's all about the bike - Rob Penn
In search of Robert Millar - Richard Moore

pdstsp

Tony Hewson : In pursuit of stardom, Les Nomades du Velo Anglais
Tim Moore - French Revolutions
Tim Krabbe - The Rider

rick_chasey

The rider is the only one with any kind of literary credential.

Pity the cycling reader who hasn't read it. No excuses - it was translated in 2001.

Krabbé also wrote lots of columns about his amateur races which have been compiled into a book but that won't be translated.

Garry H

In Pursuit of Stardom - Tony Hewson
Domestique - Charlie Wegelius
A Peiper's Tale - Allan Peiper

Find books by or about the superstars of cycling invariably disappointing, with the exception of The Death of Marco Pantani.

feltkuota

In no particular order:

The Secret Race Tyler Hamilton
Breaking the Chain Willy Voet
It's all about the bike Sean Yates

captain_oakley

Rough Ride - Paul Kimmage (cannot believe no has mentioned it before - the original and still the best!)
Heroes, villains & Velodromes - Richard Moore
Slaying the Badger - Richard Moore

The autobiographies of Coppi & Merckx are excellent as well.

Surprised to see so many picking Armstrong's fine work of FICTION!


'...time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana....'

priory

Any of the books by Josie Dew are entertaining accounts of cycle tours
mark beaumont , the man who cycled the world

But every cyclist really should read these:

Dervla Murphy wind in my wheels was a real treat. Not many of us have to whip out a revolver to stop a pack of wild dogs these days.And she always said she never mended a pucture , there was always a bloke nearby to do it for her.

thomas Stevens Around the world on a bicycle is the real hard stuff, and you can download it free I think.
Cycle tourists are soft these days. I always thought he was american , but now I find he was born in England , so that's ok .

mcstumpy

Slaying the Badger
L'Etape
Rough Rider

andyrr

For me definitely the Allan Peiper book - think it's the only cycling book, and rare for any book, for me to reread.
I think as he retired a few years ago now and was not seen as a big name his book has passed many by.

Robert Millar book also was one I found interesting, more than most of the others that I have felt that, having read them I'd be quite happy to pass it on to someone else and not have any inclination to ever pick it up again.

mr_goo

+1 for The Death of Marco Pantani

confused@BR

Wide Eyed & Legless, a tale of Brits (mostly) abroad in the TdF. Funny and harrowing in turn, the sequel is good too.

The Moore book about Robert Millar is well written and utterly absorbing, another world.

eric_draven

A Clean Break by Christophe Bassons
Death of Marco Pantani by Matt Rendell
Riding Through The Storm By Geoff Thomas

As for It's Not About The Bike,I did enjoy reading it,having lost my father to cancer not that long before reading it,I have to say I was quite captivated by his bloody minded battle with the disease,same as i was for reading Riding Through the Storm a few years later

Frank the tank

In no particular order:

Seven deadly sins (David Walsh)
Gironimo (Tim Moore)
The Hour (Michael Hutchinson)