The RB Official Road Cycling Book Review Thread

[NeilM]

Re:

Recently finished 'On The Road Bike' by Ned Boulting.

This is a very different book to 'yellow jumper', and we get to see a much more considered, and at times tongue in cheek bordering on cynical Ned.

I liked the book and will read it again at some point, but I'm not sure where the book leads and what conclusion it draws, if indeed it is meant to lead anywhere and draw any conclusions.

Regardless, it is a quick, well written and entertaining read.

 

[NeilM]

Re:

I have not long finished 'A racing cyclist's worst nightmare' by Tony Hewson.

This is Tony's second book and is a collection of fictional stories and actual accounts of racing, mainly in the late 1940's and early 50's, including a nicely compressed personal account of the 1955 Tour of Britain, which Tony won.

I enjoyed the book, both for the content and also because it is well written and an easy read.

 

[vademecum]

Re: Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance

Is it wrong to review non-fiction? Is it also wrong to take advantage of a name that easily spoofs prior art?

It might be a 'bestseller' but that doesn't mean a few more people shouldn't find out about it. I love my copy, the pages are smeared with grease and dirt. For a non-mechanic, the descriptions are easy to follow without being condescending although can get a bit jokey at times (see large spline vs. large spleen!). Rather than tiny photos, the descriptions are accompanied by clear pen-and-ink diagrams. The sections are well organized, and I've often thought about but never applied the bike fit advice.

I guess the target audience might be somewhere below the level of this forum, but for me (with the will but without the workshop) I could just be in it.
_______________________________________________________________
Border Cycles Frontiera
Hechins Vade Mecum Model 6
Dispatches: Elswick Mistral, Coventry-Eagle, Raleigh Medale, Peugeot Premier (?), Coventry-Eagle Junior

 

[NeilM]

Re:

I just finished reading 'Cycling is my Life' by Tommy Simpson.

This is a very well written and interesting book, giving a window into both the sport in the 50's and 60's and also into the character of the author, it is also an extremely poignant book, both in title and in content, given the circumstances of Tom Simpson's death, a couple of years after the book was written.

Well worth a read.

 

[NeilM]

Re:

Last night I finished reading Gironimo by Tim Moore.

This follows an equally funny trail of highs and lows as his previous cycling book French Revolutions.

This time Tim decided to ride the route of the 1914 Giro D'Italia, on a 1914 bike and wearing 1914 style cycle clothing.

I think the writing style has changed a bit and the inclusion of historical fact added to the book. I also think the book gets funnier as it progresses, and by the last couple of chapters I was again annoying my wife by sniggering or just plain laughing out loud.

Great entertainment, one for the Christmas list.

 

[roadking]

Merckx 69.

Merckx 69.

Been given this as a gift, published in joint celebration of EMs 69th Birthday and his greatest year - not much to say except this is a stunning book of large format black and white images of the great man's 1969 season.

No link, I'm sure you're good to Google - published by Bloomfield.

Rk.

 

[GasPipeWarrior]

I recently picked up a copy of this book for £2.99 at The Works - hardback edition. It's sitting on the To Be Read pile so no review yet.

Recently read Tim Moore's French Revolutions and very enjoyable it was indeed, as well as being a timely reminder to keep the bidons clean.

 

[CyclingTheLakes]

"Last night I finished reading Gironimo by Tim Moore."

Sounds good and make me the 3rd on this webpage having read "French Revolutions".

I've also read "Pedalare, Pedalare" and it sits ready to read again, it's decent, the history of Italian cycling: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/m ... oot-review

It's a longish book for a cycling type of book, 450 pages or so. John Foot also wrote that history of Italian football, calcio in the book 'Winning at any cost", I believe I've got that around too.

My favorite personality in Foot's book really must be Ottavio Bottecchia (I mean Coppi is the big legend, Bartali is popular and was a good man passing away not that long ago, Bottecchia raced in the '20s so that is quite a time ago); he was quite a cyclist and a sad ending apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottavio_Bottecchia#Death

Ever so often, I will see a Bottecchia bicycle. http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bi ... ia-rb.html

 

[CyclingTheLakes]

Louison and Jean Bobet, Louison won 3 Tours de France but both were top calibre cyclists. Jean went on to teach in Scotland as a professor.

Post-war cycling, the interesting thing I gathered reading this was, apparently, there indeed was corruption in the smaller French races when one was trying to climb the ladder to become a top racer. There is a tiny bit about racing during World War II, maybe it is just vaguely referenced, it's been a while. A leisurely read; not really a "can't put it down" type of book.

 

[CyclingTheLakes]

Good book, a must for some and perhaps not that easy to find; what I really enjoyed about it was reading about trying to set a record, on a Raleigh of course, riding Land's End to John O'Groats back in the 1920s, it's wild because, just like the Tour, many of the roads were not that good then and it was more desolate everywhere.

Coverage is up to the mid-'70s, to me, it doesn't really deal that much with the technical issues of bike-building and so on.