More tdf, giro, racer biog’s etc rather than nice routes and stuff,
anything worth picking up?

Lances stuff, its not about the bike, etc. etc.

plenty depending exactly on your needs..

The Rider by Tim Krabbe – just a good book, believe me;

French Revolutions by Tim Moore – funny, possibly too frivilous for some tastes but i liked it and laughed out loud alot;

The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton – classic equivalent of Fever Pitch but better cos its about riding;

Put me back on my bike by William Fotheringham – biog of Tom Simpson. well worth it.

Breaking the chain by Willy Voet – inside story og 1990s roadie drugs by the man that supplied the Festina team.

Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage – another side of the story. a bit boring IMO but probably worth reading.

One more KM and we’re in the showers by Tim Hilton – a recall of life as a club rider through the post war era. Quite interesting, lots of background on the socialist roots of cycling, a fair amount of stuff on famous riders through the years.

A Colombian in USOstal wrote a good book or life with Lance that had some nice insights and anecdotes. Penna may have been his name?

Any book by Armstrong is $hite and if you are like me will make you hate the man for being the arrogant cheating git he undoubtedly is.

The Rider by Tim Krabbe is awesome

Bad Blood by Jeremy Whittle is a good read.

Pantani book by Rendall is quite sad.

Armstrong books are tosh.

Hutchinson’s hour attempt is quite funny

I was thinking of getting Lauren Fignons book – anyone read that?

A dog in a hat is good as is bad blood

the sweat of the gods is worth a read, its about how all parties concerned in cycling (riders teams and press) benefit from stories of heroism etc, and it debunks quite a few legends of cycling, as well as being a pretty good history of cycling from 1900ish.

Put me back on my bike is good, but fallen angel, the Fausto Coppi bio by the same author is a great read.

+1 for the rider and the escape artist

I read Greg LeMonds books years ago and enjoyed

Recomend Marco Pantani’s book about him,well worth a read

I’ve just read The Hour by Michael Hutchinson and enjoyed it a lot

A race for madmen by Chris Sidwells – probably the best TDF book I’ve read, explains a lot of it’s history in an engaging manner.

Wow, some great reads here!

hh45: Inside the Postal bus is the book you referred to, by Michael Barry. About USPS’s tour campaign. It’s ok, but not as good as others mentioned here imho. Matt Rendell’s book on Pantani is very good – tragic story, but good. Both of Joe Park’s books are excellent A dog in a hat and Come and Gone – good accessible writing (he rode for the US xc team in his time, Atlanta Olympics, I think). He writes a good raodie blog as well. Not a fan of Lance’s books – I find them written for the wider community which is fine of course, but to me there a bit on the preaching and motivational side, his is an amazing story though.

The two ‘doping’ books – Kimmage’s book and Breaking the Chain by Voet are good reads, disturbing in their matter of fact stories of doping, pretty grim what riders were doing just to get round, let alone win anything. Michael Hutchinson book on the hour is funny to me, but then I didn’t find Tim Park’s book funny at all. I’m also interested in the Fignon book. I think Jan Ullrich’s book would be a good read as well – not sure it’s been published in English tho. It’s called Der Fall Jan Ullrich: … unser Fall?, not sure my German is up to reading the original.

edit: don’t know I managed to forget Richard Moore’s book on Robert Millar: In Search of Robert Millar, it’s a very good read and will mean a lot to those of a certain age, who watched his amazing exploits, done with very little support. It’s an intriguing story well told by Richard, who has a journalist nose for researching and telling a story. In the postscript he publishes an email exchange he had with the elusive Millar.

Currently reading Laurent Fignon’s book. Very god read so far. A complex, intelligent character.

For something a little bit different, I recently read “Bad to the Bone” by James Waddington. Fiction based around cycling and doping. Really enjoyed it.

Dog in a hat by Joe Parkin is great, Come and gone is not nearly as good. Matt Rendell’s Blazing saddles: The Cruel and Unusual History of the Tour De France is good read as well.

Just the job! I’ll have a scan of Amazon over lunch. Thanks all.

Others not mentioned above (and I heartily recommend many, except for Bad Blood which was a very weak book – more a poorly considered magazine article expanded to a book to fill a market need):

Need for the Bike, Paul Fournel
The Eagle of the Canavese, Herbie Sykes
Tour de France, Graeme Fife
Tomorrow We Ride, Jean Bobet
In Search of Robert Millar, Richard Moore
Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape, Paul Howard
Le Metier, Michael Barry

Agree with ourmaninthenorth r.e. Bad Blood. Found it more of a bitter diatribe (Not suggesting that the content isn’t true) that could have made a reasonable interesting mag article.

french revolutions – good, funny, good for non-cyclists

dog in a hat – my 13 year old writes better, and then and then and then

death of marco pantani – first half inspiring, second half depressing and conclusive

Search of Miller – very good, confirms Millar as a great

Johnny Green – “Push yourself just a little bit more” – Back stage at the TdF

Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Johnny was the former road manager for the Clash – you get a bit of a different rock and roll perspective as he tries to rub up against Super Marios thighs in the crowd to absorb some of the great mans Ju-Ju…. amongst other things – a different, irreverent and engaging read – part way through it right now.

A Peiper’s Tale, by Allan Peiper.
Champion on Two Wheels, Hugh Porter.
Cycling is My Life , Tom Simpson.
Two Wheels to the Top, by Reg Harris,
Watching the Wheels Go Round, by Barry Hoban.
Bernard Hinault , Memories of the Peloton.
Kelly : A Biography of Sean Kelly by David Walsh.
The Agony and the Ecstasy: Stephen Roche.

Wide Eyed and Legless, Jeff Connor.

The Rider by Tim Krabbe, if you race its as good as it gets, if you dont still fatstaic.

‘Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me.’
Tim Krabbe.

Just finished reading Laurent Fignon’s book: We were young and carefree – great read. Now reading Fallen Angel, The Passion of Fausto Coppi and really enjoying that too.

Other recent ones I’ve read are Put me back on my bike, in search of Tom Simpson and In pursuit of glory: Bradley Wiggins, would recommendt them both.

Another one for The Rider by Tim Krabbe

Lots of good books recommended but imo the best cycling book I have ever read is In Pusuit of Stardom – Les Nomades du Velo Anglais by Tony Hewson

A Piepers Tale is also good along with Sean Kelly’s biography

The Flying Scotsman – Graham Obree’s autobiog

Personally, I enjoyed Lance’s books.

http://www.bicyclebooks.co.uk/search.asp?types=Cycle+Racing

I quite enjoyed ‘Le Tour’ by Geoffrey Wheatcroft.
French Revolutions, I couldn’t finish due to having no empathy whatsoever with the author.

I really enjoyed Fignon’s biog and O’Bree’s as well.

Both seemed written by the men themselves rather than being obviously ghostwritten like the Armstrong books.

Both give a good insight into their desires, motivations etc as well as containing some good descriptions of life as an elite cyclist.

French Revolutions is pure quality. I bring a tear to my eye simply thinking about his episode on Mt Ventoux:)

The big coffee table one about Paris Rubaix. Ace

+1 For Dog in a Hat, Pantani & Bad Blood