What's the best cycling book you've read

[Shaun]

I'm currently reading 'Put Me Back on my Bike - In Search of Tom Simpson' which is so far excellent.

Was just about to recommend this one too. Totally different in Tom's day - especially when you compare the money and lifestyle of the pros back then. Good read.

 

[Christopher]

I really enjoyed Paul Krabbe's book (the Racer?), 'One More Kilometre and we're in the showers' and some of Obree's autobiography - specifically where he talks about the rituals of a 70s/80s cycling club. My taste runs to the long-lost world of 50s club riding (odd as I was only born in 1966). YMMV.

 

[Hacienda71]

I liked The Secret Race. Also liked One Man and his Bike. Totally different perspectives on the world of cycling.

 

[User169]

I really enjoyed Paul Krabbe's book (the Racer?).

Tim Krabbe - the Rider!

Excellent book!

 

[smutchin]

Definitely Millar's book, and Tyler's book too. Both essential reading if you're interested in pro cycling.

I also very much enjoyed Daniel Friebe's biog of Merckx.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I enjoyed Millers book but think the whole drug bust bit does come across as a little bit self serving, although being his book I suppose that's only to be expected.

I really enjoyed Put me back on my bike, it is excellent.

Ned Boulting In search of the yellow jumper is an enjoyable read & ideal holiday book

In search of Robert Millar is well worth it too.

Last recommendation is a couple of Fotheringham books: Roule Britannia & Merckx half man half bike.

I wasn't keen on Slaying the badger, it is worth a read for the racing chapters and if you dip in and out of the incredibly longwinded and repetitive anecdote first half.

 

[Mile195]

I enjoyed 'You've gone too far this time, sir" - a travel book by a guy who decided to cycle from his school in Kingston to one in the middle of India. If you have a Kindle, it's free.

I just finished this one too - agreed. Well worth a try.

If we extend cycling to include motorcycling, Jupiters Travels by Ted Simon is brilliant. Along the same lines as the one above, except 30 years earlier and went round the entire world on a motorbike... long before the likes of Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor did it.

 

[smutchin]

I enjoyed Millers book but think the whole drug bust bit does come across as a little bit self serving, although being his book I suppose that's only to be expected.

Definitely, albeit a lot less than Tyler Hamilton, who really does over-play the victim card in his book.

Both fascinating characters though, with fascinating insights into the murkier depths of pro cycling, and I finished their respective books feeling a lot more sympathetic towards both than when I started them.

 

[sparkyman]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunder-Sun...60421&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=alister+humpphrys

Alaster Humphreys books about his travels are simply inspiring.

And I would also recomend this one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-Seat-T...F8&qid=1374160512&sr=1-1&keywords=take+a+seat

About a guy on a Tandem picking up stranger along his way down the Americas.

Sparkyman

 

[Yellow Fang]

Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride is my fave.

 

[MarkF]

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, more musings on life than cycling stories but an enjoyable read.

That is a very good, thought provoking read.

I also like:-

The Cyclist's Manifesto - Rob Hurst:- The Case for Riding on Two Wheels Instead of Four.
Take a Seat - Dominic Gill:- One man, one tandem and twenty thousand possibilities.
The Hungry Cyclist- Tom Davies:- Pedalling the Americas in search of the perfect meal.


I thought Ned Boulting's effort was p.poor, as badly written and as boring as football star's autobiography. It might be my age (50) but I thought both Mark Beaumont's books were excruciatingly b.o.r.i.n.g, all that logistical help behind him just switched me off, I didn't see his trips as an adventure or an achievement. I tend to like tales written by blokes who are skint and vulnerable. .

 

[TheDoctor]

French Revolutions is the one I go back to again and again.
As regards Not About The Bike - I think I said about 6 years ago on this very forum that Armstrong comes across as an arrogant self-centred prick in his autobiography.
Nothing has happened to change my opinion in this respect

 

[john59]

Obsessive Compulsive Cycling Disorder.

You can't help but relate to this book!

John

 

[andytheflyer]

The cycle chat bible Barring Mechanicals

+1.

Read it in one go - mental achievement - the ride, not my ability to read a book.........

 

[Venod]

Discovery Road - Andy Brown & Tim Garratt

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1545477.Discovery_Road

A good read