Roadie reading

[scblack]

A couple of months ago I bought a roadie to do some commuting with.

From that,a couple of workmates lent me Lance Armstrong's books: "It's Not About the Bike", and his second one "Every Second Counts". They are a great read, and give some insight into the roadie way of things.

A few of the things that I have really picked up on from him about riding a roadie are:

• longer time frames - DH can be trained in chunks of a minute or so (or less), but roadies ride for hours;
• wattage - power into the cranks;
• cadence - I thought this was a goal, but different people have different cadence, makes sense;
• personal stuff - his cancer approach, marriage issues, Foundation setup;
• Tour strategy - how a team operates.

What other reading is there? Roadie stuff.

Good racers? A Good read period? Riding skills/issues? Personalities? Motivational?

Not too technical please, I am not going to race, but want to learn more about the scene.

 

[thepotatokid]

try "the rider" by tim crabbe - not about training or anything like that, but is a fictional account of a road race from the experience of one of the riders. it's a great read, and he talks about his competitors, how his body is going during the race, other races, memories etc.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage.

It's an account of his short career as a pro-cyclist (including a couple of TDFs). It's quite good and certainly doesn't hold back when discussing drug abuse but unfortunately the author also comes across as a bit of a petulant whingebag at times...

 

[toby]

The best book on cycling and the Lance period is - From Lance to Landis. You can buy it from Amazon..
After you have read all the BS from Lance in his books you can read the real story on Lance.. eg how Lance was/is a dirty cheat, how he manipulated others, how he tested positive in '99, how he admitted using doping products before his cancer treatment..how his new approach to riding eg high cadence etc is really nothing new at all. Plus its interesteing to read the list of his teamates who have gone pos or been disgraced since eg all of them!

I love cycling and its good to hear someone who has been brought into the sport and is getting a taste for it...its an amazing lifestyle and racing has so much history.

 

[ScottD]

The death of Marco Pantani... By Matt Rendall
Sad story but is a great read. Amazing on how much money the bloke was getting paid. He was pulling 10 000 euro out of his cash account on a whim to buy coke.

I am waiting for a tell all book on Jan, worlds strongest cyclist.

 

[joemax]

The only "how to" book I've read is Bicycling Magazine's Complete Book of Road Cycling. This contains some good tips on sprinting, cornering and general training but it's the only "how to" book I've read on the subject so I can't really recommend it.

I've read the Flying Scotsman by Graeme Obree (far better than the film) and Put Me Back on my Bike by William Fotheringham about Tom Simpson. Both books are about people who push themselves far beyond normal limits. Obree's story is particularly dark. He had a difficult childhood and constantly thought of himself as worthless in spite of being a world champion and one hour record holder. He built his own bikes, to his own designs and lived for years on next to no income. His was an amazing achievement and the book digs deep into his depression and mental illness.

My favourite story from the Simpson book is how he spent more on drugs in a year than his domestiques were paid!

That said, by far the best cycling related thing I read recently is The Ride Journal. This is a series of short articles covering road, track and MTB. I notice they've just sold out of issue 1 but look out for issue 2.