Books

Review: Coppi – Inside the Legend of the Campionissimo

Coppi Sykes book

Herbie Sykes promised never to write about Fausto Coppi. Visitors to Italy will find even village tobacconists sell magazines and books and these include often many cycling books, especially biographies of past Italian riders from the region. A resident of the Piemonte, the home of Coppi, Sykes had seen too many books about the man, a palimpsest of texts had obscured the past. But this is different.

This is a collection of photos accompanied by short accounts from 21 riders who were contemporaries of Coppi. The photography is excellent and surpasses the normal sports clichés. If there are one or two podium photos, there’s not one image of a victory salute.

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Book Review: The Cycling Professor

Marco Pinotti professor

 “To give an idea of how hard a race that lasts more than twenty days feels, try to remember where you were or what you were doing three weeks ago.”

This simple explanation of how hard a grand tour can be is a good example of the book’s tone. Written by Pinotti himself, there’s no florid prose nor hyperbole. Marco Pinotti is not just a professional cyclist but a northern Italian and a graduate engineer and be brings a concise analytical take to the sport.

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Book Review: The Cycling Anthology

Cycling Anthology Review

The Cycling Anthology is a collection of essays writing by many well-known English language writers. The first edition is 272 pages with fifteen essays plus a Toto cartoon.

This is original writing, no pieces are lifted from past newspaper columns or old magazines and they often come with a more personal take and deeper insight than you’d normally get in a shorter piece cropped for a website. It’s a great read and even fits in a cycling jersey.

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Book Review: Rough Ride

Kimmage Rough Ride

Paul Kimmage’s book “Rough Ride” has been seen as The Doping Book, the text that exposed the use of banned substances in pro cycling when it was published 1990 but it’s much more than this. In the light of recent events I wanted to go back and read the book again.

For most of the book doping seems incidental and the consequence of a rotten system, a response to the environment riders find themselves in. This is much more the tale of a rider struggling to find their place in the sport. The times have changed and some practices in the book are unrecognisable today but much holds true and it is a good read because it offers a tale from the back of the peloton that’s distant from the podium, the prizes and glory.

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Donate To Win

Cyclocross book

In an ideal world the mention of dirty cycling should remind us the cyclo-cross season is underway and the Superprestige series starts this weekend. We should conjure up images of fields, dunes, drunken spectators, frites and, above all, mud. But we’re not there yet.

If you want those images here’s a chance to win a copy of Balint Hamvas’s excellent review of the cyclocross season. This is a big photobook printed on high-quality paper that captures the mud, frost and frites. For a chance to win a copy just donate money to the Paul Kimmage fund, which as well as helping a specific legal case, looks set to force the UCI to confront a few uncomfortable truths about the kind of dirt that soap doesn’t shift.

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Book Review: Vélo

Vélo by Paul Fournel

Remember those action films where someone would get poisoned and only a special serum could cure them? Our ailing hero would be close to death but the antidote always arrived just in time.

Following pro cycling can leave many feeling sick thanks to unredeemable controversy and scandal; although this can be part of the intrigue too. Still this should be a beautiful sport that uses a bicycle to turns farm tracks into paths to glory and exploits mountain ranges as arenas. In truth there are still lots of good stories but they’re being drowned out by the poison of the past.

There’s no magic remedy to these problems but you can find escapism. The easiest escape route is a ride, the simple pleasure of pedalling can often remind you that cycling isn’t about someone else’s race. Indeed this is what Fournel’s book is about and over the pages we get a series of short essays and vignettes that cover cycling and many of the related experiences, from click-clacking in cleated shoes to the pleasure of aching legs.

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Book Review: The Secret Race

The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

This is a guest review by a reader known as The Race Radio on Twitter, the go-to source for information on the USADA action and much more.

“The truth really will set you free“: the last sentence of Tyler Hamilton’s new book is a fit ending. For 300 pages Tyler and Dan Coyle trace Tyler’s journey through the madness of professional cycling during one of the sports most complex times. Coyle’s elegant style allows the story to flow effortlessly through Tyler’s career, capturing the ebb and flow of enablers, teammates, doctors, and DS’s.

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Consumed – Giveaway Competition

I reviewed Jonathan Budd’s book “Consumed” last month. It’s an enjoyable read and if the fictional account is a dark and wild tale of cycling and more it amused me because the reality of cycling isn’t all that removed from some of the wacky characters and shady practices that Budd serves up.

But now there’s chance to swap fiction for reality and win a copy of the book, complete with a matching musette and T-shirt.

Question: name the rider who will finish last on Stage 17 of the Vuelta on Wednesday from Santander to Fuente Dé.

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It’s Millar Time – Book Giveaway

There’s one remaining copy of David Millar’s autobiography “Racing Through the Dark” to give away. As a reminder the publisher’s offered me a review copy but I’d already reviewed the book when it came out in Europe so there was no point getting another review copy.

Instead they offered to send three copies to give away to readers of the blog. I’ve done this via a quiz. The trouble is finding an answer that people can’t get from an internet search in six seconds.

Quiz
Guess the word count of the story.

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It’s Millar Time – Book Giveaway

David Millar Cofidis

Another chance to win a copy of the new US edition of David Millar’s autobiography “Racing Through the Dark” which I’ve reviewed last year.

The Tour de l’Ain is happening now and from memory this was Millar’s first race with the Cofidis pro team. It’s sadly no longer the case but when Millar turned pro, the French squad was one of the most exciting teams in the sport with a big roster of talent and great ambitions. They even hired Lance Armstrong, although he fell ill and the rest is history. Millar’s book tells the tale of this plus more.

Having asked what was Millar’s first type of bike race last time, this time it’s four wheels

Question
After signing his first pro contract with the Cofidis team what car did David Millar buy:

  • A) Land Rover
  • B) Jaguar
  • C) Aston Martin

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