I’m off on holiday week after next and would like to top the Kindle up; Can anyone recommend some decent books on cycling?

I’ve read a few round the Lance Armstrong ‘thing’ and also one about a couple of guys who started off in their underpants at Lands End and ended up at John o Groats by bike. Not looking for something too techie or uber serious.

Preferably something that is quite a broad read – so a mix of training, riding, experiences etc, preferably with an easy reading style.

Thanks.

I enjoyed Dog in a hat, I also liked Ned Boultings how I won the yellow jumper

I’ll be watching this thread with interest, as I, too, need to load up the kindle. So keep the suggestions coming!

Dividing the Great:

kindle version

really enjoyed it

also Mark Beaumonts stuff is quite good too:

French Revolutions by Tim Moore is perfect.
A very funny book about Le Tour that also manages to be about France in general.

APF

One Man and His Bike by Mike Carter is brilliant stuff about a guy who cycled round Britain on a whim.

The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton is in my opinion the best of the books about Armstrong.

Mark Beaumont’s one about cycling round the world is good.

Graeme Obree’s autobiography is absolutely compelling, honest stuff.

There’s quite a decent more mountain bike focused one available for free download as PDF..the name escapes me though, but for free it’s probably worth a punt.

Geraint Thomas’ book is a good light-hearted look at the world of pro cycling, and cycling in general.

Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Dissorder, written by an STWer, is actually a really good read and a good look into the world of amateur/hobbyist cycling. Very light-hearted. Cheap too!

Mid-Life Cyclists is also similar.

And agree about the Mike Carter book. That was a good read.

Thanks so far guys.

I’ve read the Hamilton book and enjoyed it. Also read some of the Beaumont book and found it dull so didn’t finish it.

Down loaded some of the other suggestions on the thread.

all roadie stuff I’m sorry:

+1 for graeme obree
tim krabbe the rider
laurent Fignon’s autobiography is great. didn’t know much about him before i read it but really good prose and you get the sense he did not give a shit and a life lived.
Michael Barry’s book is good. again knew little about him but he’s a good writer and its as much about the weird life of a road rider than it is about him.
death of marco pantani by Matt Rendell
David millars first is good (avoid his second). He doesn’t seem to have especially liked wiggins.
rod ellingworths book on winning the rainbow jersey with Cav is good. Doesn’t seem to have especially liked wiggins. 😆

All Merckx biographies are all dull. he was just too good. theres no story arc.
Bjarne Riis’s book is pretty dull.

Ned Boultings books are great. French Revolution is good. Everyone tells me Geraint Thomas’s book is great, and Tyler Hamilton’s

I really liked Geoff Thomas’s “Riding Through the Storm”. Pro footballer, battles cancer, rides TdF route.

William Fotheringham’s book about Hinault is good. As is Fignion’s book.

Richard Moore’s Etape is good too. Each chapter is a stage of some Tour with a lot of interesting back story.

For some training and science type reading, Faster by Michael Hutchinson is good. The Science of the Tour is ok for a light holiday read too.

Mark cavendishes 2 books and chris Boardmans book, the 2 sky books are also good, as is bradley wiggins book, cant be bothered going into the study and wtriting the names down and then retyping them back here.and dont forget Ned Boultings 2 books.

Wide eyed and Legless is a cracker. The Hour by Michael Hutchinson. Obree’s biog is great. Lenond vs Hinault very very good

Oddly I didn’t enjoy French Revolutions because I didn’t think much of Tim Moore (the postcard story, the poor planning, the cutting out masses of the route and then shoving his wife into the role of broomwagon, no thanks)

The Hungry Cyclist. Two year odyssey through the Americas eating whatever the locals were eating. On kindle 😀

I enjoyed “My Time” by Wiggins and ” Along the Med on a bike called Reggie” by Andrew Sykes. They couldn’t be more different in style and content.

1 more kilometre and we’re in the showers by Tim Hilton is my fave cycling book and I’ve read most of the above. 50% cycling 50% autobiography. Lots of stuff about cycling history in GB. Time trials, touring etc. I cant make it sound good but it really is!

Enjoyed Fignon’s aswell.

Hamilton’s book is good.
David Millar’s “racing through the dark” is good
I thought Fignon’s book was a bit boring, or maybe written in such a way that it didn’t hold my attention. Didn’t finish it.
Think I once tried to read one of Wiggo’s books; didn’t get far
The Program by David Walsh is pretty good.
I’ve got a book about Fausto Coppi, aint read it yet but I reckon it’ll be good considering what he did.

I’m reading The Cyclist Who Went Out In The Cold by Tim Moore. So far it has been good.

+1 Obree
+1 Geraint Thomas
Also enjoyed Sean Conway Cycling the Earth last year

Paul Kimmage – Rough Ride
Bad Blood – Jeremy Whittle
Put Me Back On the Bike – Will Fotheringham
Fallen Angel -WF again
+1 for the Death of Marco Pantani and The Hour.

Richard Moore-Slaying The Badger
Jeff Connor-Wide Eyed and Legless
Jean Bobet-Tomorrow We Ride
John-Paul Vespini-The Tour is Won on the Alpe
Nicole Cooke-Breakaway
Graham Healey-The Shattered Peloton
Bernard Magnouloux-Travels With Rosinte

It’s all about the bike – Rob Penn

A good read, with a nice film made based on the book. Plus Rob is a good all round guy who just happens to be a mate 🙂

This thread reminds me to go back to this, got about half way and stopped for some reason, good book though. well first half of it!

Racing through the dark, David Millar is a cracker.

Okay, hope this isn’t too spammy. Had a clearout during the week and have this box of books ready for the charity shop. Anybody wants them, let me know. You make a donation to 29erKeith’s mate (stickied on the top of the bike forum) and I’ll stand the postage.

Just today got an awesome belated xmas prezzie from broski and SIL – ‘The Bicycle Book’ (DK) – more of a visual history of bikes but loads of great pics and info. Really looking fwd to reading it. Hahaha the first two random pages I flicked to both had a bike that I’ve owned at some point. Something wrong with scenario this I’m sure…

anyway, tiz a lovely thing for browsing.

Gironimo! is very entertaining.

I also liked Chris Froome’s book.

I found Wiggin’s book dull TBH. and while I read Tim Moore’s TDF I wouldn’t read another.

Hamilton’s was one of the best expose on the Armstrong era.

Also currently reading The Cyclist who went out in the cold. It’s a cycling adventure that in typical Tim Moore fashion is accessible to anyone but completely bonkers in how he goes about doing it – which in turn adds comedy to it. The line about showering a furious bison …

Geraint Thomas’ book was a good read: covers his training, racing and insightful/comedic stuff but also has some top tips that are quite motivational. Occasionally comments are aimed at the reader sufficiently to make one think: hmmm, maybe I should mtfu and go out in the rain.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/02/david-byrne-bicycles-diaries-review enjoyed this.

The Hour and Faster by Michael Hutchinson are both fantastic, brilliantly written, insightful and very funny. I also really enjoy how Richard Moore writes, so Slaying The Badger, Heroes Villains And Velodromes, and the one he wrote about Team Sky are also great.

The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton – the best little book I’ve ever read on road cycling because it explains the lore and traditions and the subtlety and finesse of road racing. It also has a tragic twist in the tail, which I won’t spoil by telling you. In the end a very poignant book, especially for a chap in his thirties or forties.

How I Won the Yellow Jumper by Ned Boulting is enjoyable and funny too.

Pretty much any of Ned Boultings books are good.
I really like Michael Hutchinson, Faster too, geeky but not too geeky. I think I’ve read it 3 times. The Hour isn’t bad either.
Geraint Thomas’s is OK, fairly light but not worse for that.
Domestique by Charles Wegelius is nicely written and offers some alternative perspectives on things. Less wins, more dirty work.
Don’t get Sean Yates’s book though, very average IMO.

Domestique by Charles Wegelius Is brilliant.

It’s all about the bike – Rob Penn

+1. Not very long and easy to read but if you like a bit of classic bike bling you will love it.

Commenting so i can find the post again when I finish my current book, cheers for the lists people

I really enjoyed ’Cyclogeography’.

More of an essay than an epic, but well worth the time to read and deliberate.

Alan Peiper’s book, A Peiper’s Tale, is another good insight into the life of a domestique – haven’t read Wegelius’s yet but that was very well reviewed.

Didn’t Stoner write something? I think I have it on my Kindle.