I’ve got a 6 1/2 hr train journey tomorrow and then same back on Thursday.

Not that I want to avoid talking to colleagues, but if I accidentally sat in the ‘wrong’ carriage with a book, what should that book be?

Thinking something like a Froome biography or similar.

Don’t particularly want a ‘riding round the world’ type story unless it doesn’t come with the usual air of arrogance that can accompany them!

More interested in reading about road riders than MTB too.

Oh, and I need to be able to pick it up in waterstones as its rather last minute!

Autobiographies can be hard work; there are lots by otherwise unremarkable retired pros.

The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton, one of the best books about road-riding obsession ever written. It explains a lot about cycling lore and traditions such as leg-shaving and has a shocking end. Non-fiction. But it will only take you 3-4 hours to read because it’s a small book and you’ll be enthralled so I would also recommend:

How I Won the Yellow Jumper by Ned Boulting. About the life of a TV journalist during the intense three weeks of the Tour de France. Hilarious, one anecdote about Chris Boardman had me giggling for 15 minutes.

Faster by Michael Hutchinson is great, just on my second read through.

It’s not about the bike/Every second counts

Graeme obree flying Scotsman is good. A lot more insight into his illness,depression and suicidal tendencies than u get in the film. Quite incredible really.

Great, I’ll note them down and go have a look at which ones are on the shelf.

Thanks very much. 😀

The Death of Marco Pantani

Land Of Second Chances is a good read,

The Breakaway Nicole Cooke

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-breakaway/nicole-cooke/9781471130359

Domestique by Charlie Wegelius is good and a bit different from the usual “and then I won this and then I won that” cycling bio. Similarly A Dog in a Hat is good.

And there’s The Racer by Tim Krabbe if you fancy fiction.

Etape by Richard Moore is also good for train journeys as each chapter is distinct so you can dip in and out of it easily.

A really interesting read on the rise and rise of Team GB from laughably amateurish also-rans to the force they are now

William Fotheringham
Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi

Brilliantly written and an amazing story. Cycling’s greatest imo.

Oh and The Rider by Tim Krabbe. Might only last one way but it’s so good you’d read it again.

Gironimo Tim Moore

Very funny and very interesting.

Nicole Cooke interview

Another vote for The Breakaway by Nicole Cooke and it’s the positively bargaintastic sum of £7.24 including postage from this link:

https://wordery.com/the-breakaway-nicole-cooke-9781471130359

What an eye opener to how the wimminz were treated and she does not mince her words!

Hoy’s biography is very good. So is Charlie Wegelius’s Domestique. The second is a little less rose-tinted. Pro Cycling om $10/day is also very entertaining.

Quite from Charly

…I was lying on my bed in the afternoon before the race. Axel had gone down the corridor for his massage and the phone rang. A man’s voice asked if Axel was there, and I said ‘No, he went for a massage.’ The voice replied, ‘Never mind, good luck for tomorrow-tell him his dad called.’ I said , ‘Yeah, no problem,’ and put the phone down before I suddenly realized: F##k me, that was Eddy Merckx!

##There is quite a lot of swearing in the book 😉

EDIT: And for some history (and one race per chapter), I would suggest The Monuments. especially at this time of year.

Faster by Michael Hutchinson is great, just on my second read through.

Seconded, great read, particularly if you have a geeky interest in numbers and performance.

+1 for Domestique or Faster if you can find them, both significantly better than the average bikey book.

Or The Secret Race if you haven’t read that yet.

It may have been your recommendation a month or so back Lunge, that put me onto Faster, ta! Starting to look for even geekier books on the subject now 😀