Bike Books to recommend?

[acc]

I just started “Cycling,” by Greg Garrett. A novel published in 1993.
I also like thumbing through “Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac.”

[Dirt]

Bob Roll’s books… Bobke and Bobke II.

Amazing guy.

[Mark Blacknell]

Three recommendations for three different tastes in pro cycling (which is definitely not the only kind of cycling book):

1) The obligatory Lance book – Lance Armstrong’s War by Daniel Coyle. Written in 2005, it doesn’t condemn, but it doesn’t cover up. Probably the fairest book on him written up until that point. (I’m pretty sure the best Lance book has yet to be written).

2) Any collection of Sam Abt columns. Abt was a columnist/journalist writing about cycling for major papers since the early 70s. It lends *excellent* context to the issues we see in modern pro cycling.

3) The Giro D’Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy, by Dino Buzzati. A breathtaking book. You need not necessarily know the details of the story of Coppi (one of the greatest road riders ever) v. Bartali (perennial second to Coppi), but if you’ve some appreciation of the Giro, and *especially* if you can imagine what a devastated country Italy was in 1949, you will really enjoy this. The writing is just beautiful. I cannot recommend this enough to the right audience.

The first two books are in Arlington Central Library’s collection*, and Buzzati’s book can be special ordered. If the special order is backed up, I can lend a copy, but you have to be nice to it.

*I know Arlington has reciprocal privileges with DC. Not sure about other jurisdictions.

[PotomacCyclist]

I haven’t read them yet but “17 Hours to Glory” and “The Spring Classics – Cycling’s Greatest One-Day Races” might be worth a look.

“17 Hours” has a separate chapter on each of several important figures in the history of the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, from Julie Moss (whose struggle to finish the race as she fell out of 1st place became immortalized on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and gave triathlon its first memorable television moment) and champions like Mark Allen and Chrissie Wellington to human interest stories like Sister Madonna Buder (Kona finisher when she was in her mid 70s) and Sarah Reinertsen (who finished Kona as an above-the-knee amputee). The book is about the human side of the athletes, not so much about the technical side of training although it’s interesting to read that Julie Moss rode 340 miles on her bike the week leading into the Ironman championship. (Sport science and understanding of endurance training was obviously not very well developed at the time. Or at least Moss missed out on some of those lessons, but she still managed to place well among the women that day.)

“The Spring Classics” looks at the history and mystique of the famous one-day European spring races in the pro cycling calendar.

You can download and read the first chapter of both books from the publisher’s official website: http://velopress.com/cycling_history.php

[acc]

I just picked up David Byrne’s memoir, Bicycle Diaries, it is very good. This is the same David Byrne from the band, “Talking Heads.” I like it because he talks about the connection between cycling and creativity. It is interesting.

ann

[Seannmiller]

The giants of cycling by Jean Paul Ollivier

This book is a very inspiring overview of many of the past biking legends. It’s packed with photos and great content covering many of the greatest cyclyst whom have become popular over the past 100 years of so.

[jopamora]

Just finished It’s All About the Bike by Robert Penn. A good story with a fair amount of bicycling history.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I second It’s All About the Bike

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to Be the World’s Fastest Human Being

A great story. Unbelievable how fast they went back then. And now I know what a Scorcher is.

[MRH5028]

Even with everything going on, I still recommend It’s Not About The Bike by Lance Armstrong. A great story of recovery, and really worth a read if anybody in your life has dealt with cancer. Also a good amount of bike stuff in there too.

[culimerc]

The last one I finished was “Slaying the Badger” which was one the better ones I’ve read. another that should be checked out is;
“Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World – and Won” by Geoff Drake

[krazygl00]

On the lighter side of things, the BikeSnobNYC books are great. I’ve read Bike Snob and it was very good, although kind of a re-cap of his blog. I have not yet read The Enlightened Cyclist yet but plan to. I am a big BSNYC fan.

[KelOnWheels]

@krazygl00 29841 wrote:

On the lighter side of things, the BikeSnobNYC books are great. I’ve read Bike Snob and it was very good, although kind of a re-cap of his blog. I have not yet read The Enlightened Cyclist yet but plan to. I am a big BSNYC fan.

Those are both entertaining

Grant Petersen’s book is interesting, I also want to read Effective Cycling but the Kindle edition is $20.

I just started It’s All About the Bike (downloaded it at lunchtime).

[sjclaeys]

I greatly enjoyed the Bike Snob’s “Enlightened Cyclist” and have been meaning to ask the forum for anyone’s thoughts on his approach to bike commuting and commuting in general.

[KelOnWheels]

@sjclaeys 29843 wrote:

I greatly enjoyed the Bike Snob’s “Enlightened Cyclist” and have been meaning to ask the forum for anyone’s thoughts on his approach to bike commuting and commuting in general.

Now I will have to re-read it so that I can properly answer your question

[Author]

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