Just bought a Kindle for my holiday. Lots of very long train journeys means lots of time to read so what's good in the world of cycling books? I've read the David Millar autobiography and the Ned Boulting book and enjoyed both of those. Any other recommendations are welcome.
Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh.
If available, the Cycling Anthology series are very good.
The Tyler Hamilton book is very good, and I say that having refused to read it for a long time and being determined to hate it (on the grounds that he seemed an unapologetic doper making money from his transgressions).
I would also recommend the Laurent Fignon autobiography and, for a bit of history, try the Fausto Coppi biography.
For a fun read, try Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder.
For a better response, try posting this IN THE RIGHT FORUM!
(anything by Dave Barter but I'd recommend Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder)
Faster by Michael Hutchinson is really good as is The Hour.
Currently enjoying Will Fotheringhams "Racing Hard". A collection of his articles over the last 20 years with a bit of hindsight added.
Matt SEaton - The escape artist.
A wonderful read on cycling, love and loss.
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[url] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Wheels-Wagon-Bicycle-Adventure/dp/1845965612/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51sO6GbUcxL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=DFC8JC7VH0W36KERMP10 [/url]
[url= https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1CQ&doc_id=6213&v=1f ]Journey to the Centre of the Earth[/url].
sex lies and handlebar tape, Merckx Half man half bike and fallen angel are all very good
The World of Cycling According to G by Geraint Thomas is a very entertaining read. The Race to Truth by Emma O'Reilly is an interesting insight into the life of a soigneur and the Armstrong scandal.
"The lost cyclist!"
A story of a couple of lads that went to ride around the world in 1896 and disappeared and the writer that went cycling to find after them to find out where they went.
Definitely read Tyler Hamilton's book if you enjoyed David Miller's. It goes so much further into the world of doping and makes for fascinating, if not slightly shocking reading.
If you like Novels. The Rider, by Tim Krabke(?)
+1 for For Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder. Easy read. Easy to relate to too. Just a good light hearted book about amateur/hobbyist cycling.
Mid Life Cyclists is similar too.
And Gerraint Thomas' book.
Those have been some of my favourites.
The Rules,
Chris Boardmans new book,
Gerian thomas book,
at Speed Mark Cavenish,
Inside team Sky,
Bradley wiggins My Time
AA highway code for cyclists
David Millars second book
Ned Boultons 2 books,
Tomorrow, we ride...... by Jean Bobet is probably the best book on pro cycling I've read. David Millars books are superb too. Road to Valour is a fascinating story if not the best written book ever. And Slaying the Badger makes for a gripping tale, even if you know the outcome. Jens has just published a book too. I've not read it yet but Jens being Jens I'm sure it's good.
G's book out last year is a great read. Not exactly a work of literature but interesting and funny in places. Neds Tour books are very funny and French Revolutions made me laugh out loud.
The hungry cyclist
Anything by Marc Beaumont
Away from biographies etc, Bella Bathurst's The Bicycle Book is really good. I'm a fan of hers anyway, but enjoyed it a lot.
THE best cycling author is Michael Hutchinson, The Hour and Faster (and Hello Sailor in a non-cycling context) are all supremely ace. Richard Moore is the next most fantastic, his Robert Millar, LeMonde/Hinault, British Cycling track and Team Sky road race books are great. Will Foth is a bit wet in comparison.
Cheers all, plenty to think about here. Has anyone read the Graeme Obree autobiography? He always seems like an interesting chap.
Books not to read:
Will Fotheringham Roule Britannia. Lazily updated series of profiles, so you've got "X, the most successful British cyclist" appearing in earlier chapters before Wiggins.
Road to Hell about someone riding the Roubaix Sportif. Except he tries to spin it that he's doing the race. And shoe horns in some emotional investment in suggesting he's doing it for his dying gran. Offensively badly written and can only have been published because he's already in the industry, and someone owes him a favour.
The Coppi book referred to was even more interesting than I thought, also serves as a history of the Italian state.
Tim Moore stuff is always funny, though his latest, Gironimo, is probably his weakest.
Charlie Wegelius' autobiography gives a refreshing standpoint of the domestique, rather than the usual winner's story.
One more kilometer and we're in the shower by Tim Hilton is my fave. Bit leftfield, an autobiography of someone who loves cycling.
Obree's autobiography is very good. Not slick, but very honest. The film adaption does not do it justice.
I second The Rider by Tim Krabbe (author of creepy Euro thriller The Vanishing). He is fantastic at getting inside the head of a racer.
Books about long distance touring are ten a penny these days but a couple of classics are Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy and Around the World on a Bicycle by Thomas Stevens (in 1884, by Penny Farthing!)
Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore, about the Hinault Lemond rivalry, is a great read. I would avoid Bradley Wiggins My Time, a really poor book about someone who would make a fantastic subject.
Currently enjoying Ventoux, by Bert Wagendorp. It's not a cycling book per se, but the story revolves around middle aged men and cycling, so it might appeal to one or two readers of STW...
If you can find a copy, Freddy Maertens' autobiography is an interesting read. He wrote frankly about the drugs and skulduggery of pro cycling many years ago. He won 8 stages in a single Tour de France, and claims he would have had a ninth if he hadn't sold the race to another rider!
Obree's autobiography is very good. Not slick, but very honest.
It's really dark in places! Not the usual light-hearted success story. An interesting read, for sure.
A Clean Break - Christophe Bassons. Good book from the guy who was told to F*#k off by Lance Armstrong
Freddy Maertens' autobiography is an interesting read
There's a good section on Freddy in Etape, another good one by Richard Moore...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Etape-untold-stories-Frances-defining/dp/0007500130/
Another one by Richard Moore, not about cycling but very good, about the '88 Olympic 100m final...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirtiest-Race-History-Johnson-Olympic/dp/1408158760
It's all about the Bike, By Rob Penn
Nice, easy read, and informative to boot.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-All-About-Bike-Happiness-x/dp/0141043792
Dervla Murphy