Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,390 
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Post by Jem on Jun 24, 2021 8:52:19 GMT
I can't remember if we did this topic before? But, what are your favourite cycling books (as opposed to magazines or periodicals?)
I haven't read any bike books for a while, but I enjoyed one called 'The Race' ? (I think?) It's a slim book about a mountain stage of a tour in the Swiss Alps and it can (and maybe should be?) read in one sitting. I think the writer was a journalist who was an amateur race cyclist , but my memory isn't great. It's a semi-fictional piece but that doesn't detract as it leaves you breathless and really takes you on the ride.
EDIT - just looked and can't find the book I am referencing , maybe i got the wrong title. I think it's quite a well known book though
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Post by brianbutler on Jun 24, 2021 11:15:46 GMT
I recently read and highly recommend "The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero". For much of his cycling life, he lived in Worcester, Massachusetts about 20 miles west of here. There is a street named for him as well as a statue at the art museum. But mostly, there are the streets and hills he trained on.
Here is a book review from The Washington Post:
If you want to ride in his shoes, try the George St. Hill Climb. It has an average gradient of 18 percent and a steep section of about 23 percent in the 500-foot ascent from Main Street to Harvard Street in downtown Worcester.
Brian
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bendo
Viscount
Posts: 538
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Post by bendo on Jun 24, 2021 11:41:13 GMT
Um, the Viscount Dealer's Manual, aka the Good Book.  Seriously though, I don't know any cycling novels, but I have some great picture books (how old am I?).
The history of Toei is a big one for me. I got to quiz Yamada san, the second generation head of Toei, about some of the amazing bikes in there when I visited the workshop in Tokyo. Like the one with the spoked chainring. He just said yeah, that one was a bit crazy.
Also Jan Heine's big books have been a big influence as well. Not just in terms of the French constructeur tradition, but just a confirmation that a lot of the components that were developed by those makers have stood the test of time: aluminium alloy components, centrepull brakes, derailleurs.
There's a good Aussie book on similar bikes called Racing Bicycles: 100 years of steel. It's a great reminder for me on how bicycle nomeclature can be really regional. We all know that Nth Americans call mudguards 'fenders' (as does every Aussie who started riding bikes after the internet became a thing). But I didn't realise there were other terms used locally that have kind of disappeared. For instance the author insists that a 'drop-out' only ever refers to someone who didn't finish school. The bit of the frame that holds your wheels in place is always called a 'fork end'. Which is interesting to me because in Japanese they are known by the Japlish term 'endo'. Super regional is the term for your best pair of racing wheels, known (apparently) as your 'Warrnambools', after the famous Melbourne-Warrnambool Cycling Classic, the second-oldest and longest one-day road race in the world*.
b
*Dean Woods holds the race record of 5h 12m for the 267km. That's an average speed of about 50km/h!! Even more amazing when you consider that in that part of the world you're usually dealing with a westerly or south-westerly headwind.
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bendo
Viscount
Posts: 538
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Post by bendo on Jun 24, 2021 11:48:56 GMT
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,390
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Post by Jem on Jun 24, 2021 14:13:51 GMT
Thanks for that. Top of the list is that one I mentioned The Rider Tim Krabbé (1978; English translation 2002) |
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Post by scottw on Jul 8, 2021 13:07:10 GMT
I have recently purchased "Walter Greaves - True Yorkshire Grit" by Aled Owen. I am not a big reader, but the story of a one armed, vegetarian, world record holding cyclist has got me.
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Jem
Viscount
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Posts: 3,390
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Post by Jem on Jul 9, 2021 2:39:29 GMT
I have recently purchased "Walter Greaves - True Yorkshire Grit" by Aled Owen. I am not a big reader, but the story of a one armed, vegetarian, world record holding cyclist has got me. You've got me with that review  |
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Seriously though, I don't know any cycling novels, but I have some great picture books (how old am I?).
