VeloVeritas

Joe Parkin’s “Come and Gone” (0)

Joe Parkin’s “Come and Gone” chronicles the rebirth of pro bike racing in America, it’s his sequel to the highly praised memoir, “A Dog in a Hat”.

Boulder, CO, USA, May 12, 2010… After a grueling five-year education in European bike racing, Joe describes his return from Belgium, his struggles with the nascent American bike racing scene, and the birth of mountain bike racing.

After those years of racing in Belgium, Joe Parkin said goodbye to Flanders knowing he might never go back, and he never did.

“The Autobiography” by Chris Hoy (0)

As the first Briton to win 3 Olympic golds at the same Games since 1908, Scotland’s Chris Hoy has become a beacon for British sporting achievement.

This autobiography charts his life from 7-year-old BMX fanatic, supported by a devoted dad and local cycling club, through paralysing self-doubt and a major career overhaul, to the sport’s holy grail.

“Boy Racer” by Mark Cavendish (0)

Boy Racer steps behind the scenes of the Tour de France. It unmasks the exotic, contradictory, hysterical and brutal world of professional cycling from the compellingly candid viewpoint of someone right in the thick of it.

Written off as ‘fat’ and ‘useless’ in his youth, Mark Cavendish is now cycling’s brightest star.

“A Dog in a Hat” by Joe Parkin (0)

A Dog in a Hat is the remarkable story of Joe Parkin. In 1987, Parkin left the comforts of home to become a bike racer in Belgium, the hardest place in the world to be a bike racer.

As one of the first American pros in Europe, Parkin was what the Belgians call “a dog with a hat on” — something familiar, yet decidedly out of place.

Parkin’s memoir reads like a novel. In plainspoken and fast-paced prose, Parkin describes the true life of the professional bike racer, putting the reader into the whirlwind of this hardest of athletic educations.

“The Escape Artist” by Matt Seaton (0)

Matt Seaton’s critically acclaimed memoir about his obsession for cycling and how that obsession was tamed.

For a time there were four bikes in Matt Seaton’s life.

His evenings were spent ‘doing the miles’ on the roads out of south London and into the hills of the North Downs and Kent Weald.

“The Flying Scotsman” by Graeme Obree – Putting the Record Straight (0)

Let me first say this is firstly a review of the Graeme Obree autobiography, the book – not the film – “The Flying Scotsman”, and also my version of the events at the world cycling championships in Sicily in 1994.

I was the Great Britain team mechanic for those championships, but Mr. Obree didn’t remember to mention this fact in his book. You could call this the bitter out-pouring of a man scorned, but rather it’s just my memory of what happened.

“French Revolutions” by Tim Moore (0)

Not only is it the world’s largest and most watched sporting event, but also the most fearsome physical challenge ever conceived by man, demanding every last ounce of will and strength, every last drop of blood, sweat, and tears.

If ever there was an athletic exploit specifically not for the faint of heart and feeble of limb, this is it. So you might ask, what is Tim Moore doing cycling it?

“Push Yourself Just A Little Bit More” by Johnny Green (0)

“Push Yourself Just A Little Bit More” by Johnny Green is an interesting read, mostly because it’s a book about the Tour de France, written by someone who isn’t a typical cycling journo.

“Man on the Run” by Manuela Ronchi (0)

“Man on the Run” by Manuela Ronchi is the story of the last few years of Marco Pantani’s life.

The title works on two levels: after being slung out of the Giro D’Italia race on the penultimate day on a charge of suspected EPO use, whilst leading by a long way, Marco was hounded by demons – insecurity, shame, confusion, betrayal, distrust – all the way through a terrible cocaine addiction to his demise of an overdose.

“A Peiper’s Tale” by Allan Peiper (0)

This book, Allan Peiper’s story, is a little different from the usual sports biography: it’s clear that Allan is a sensitive, thoughtful, somewhat spiritual bloke, who spends a lot of time trying to get through life in the best way possible, whilst looking after others (he’s currently working as a Team Director for the Lotto – Davitamon Pro cycling team), and usually putting himself further down his priority list than most other folk would.