Can you recommend me a good cycling book?

[Snowball]

Hi all,

I would really appreciate if you could recommend a few cycling books as a present for my dad.

He's not really into the whole pro-cycling scene but prefers stories about 'normal' riders and i know he has read obsessive cycling disorder or something and The escape Artist by matt Seaton.

Really appreciate any suggestions !

Thanks

 

[Afrank]

Take a look through this thread http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=14036&highlight=cycling+bookshelf

 

[Snowball]

Many thanks, Afrank.

Do you know if there are any new books out for xmas, that thread finished around September?

 

[elapid]

Does your father enjoy reading about normal riders, or also about places you can ride.

For the former, try:

- The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American, by David Herlihy
- The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, by BikeSnobNYC
- The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa, by Neil Peart
- Cycling Home from Siberia: 30,000 miles, 3 years, by Rob Lilwall
- The Man Who Cycled The World, by Mark Beaumont
- Ireland, a Bicycle, and a Tin Whistle, by David A. Wilson
- Come and Gone, by Joe Parkin (it's about racing, but not professional)

For the latter, try:

- Fifty Places To Bike Before You Die, by Chris Santella

I love these ones, but they are about professional cycling (beautiful photos and engaging stories though, although I am admittedly a Merckx fan and a Paris-Roubaix devotee!):

- Merckx 525, by Frederik Backelandt
- Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hell, by Philippe Bouvet

 

[Scott SoCal]

Does your father enjoy reading about normal riders, or also about places you can ride.

For the former, try:

- The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American, by David Herlihy
- The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, by BikeSnobNYC
- The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa, by Neil Peart
- Cycling Home from Siberia: 30,000 miles, 3 years, by Rob Lilwall
- The Man Who Cycled The World, by Mark Beaumont
- Ireland, a Bicycle, and a Tin Whistle, by David A. Wilson
- Come and Gone, by Joe Parkin (it's about racing, but not professional)

For the latter, try:

- Fifty Places To Bike Before You Die, by Chris Santella

I love these ones, but they are about professional cycling (beautiful photos and engaging stories though, although I am admittedly a Merckx fan and a Paris-Roubaix devotee!):

- Merckx 525, by Frederik Backelandt
- Paris-Roubaix: A Journey Through Hell, by Philippe Bouvet

Add "a dog in a hat" by Joe Parkin. It's a bit more racing but as a struggling American on the European scene in the early 1980's.

It's a page turner.

 

[Snowball]

That is a great list i will take a look. Thanks!

 

[williamp78]

Dare I say that the Escape Artist is the best cycling book i have ever read. May take some beating!

I tend to read autobiographies or about professional cycling so may not be able to recommend much except to read the forum feed already linked to above

 

[gobuck]

The Rider by Tim Krabbe is very good

 

[Rossco8]

Is Marco Pinotti's book available?

"Il mestiere del ciclista: Una vita in bicicletta, curiosità, esperienze e consigli" (The cyclist's trade: a life in cycling, secrets, experience and advice).

In English?

 

[Christian]

I bought my dad "The Memory of Running" by Ron McLarty for Christmas. Has anyone read it? I am going to lend it from him after he's done

 

[markgrubb]

I'm surprised on reading this thread and previous ones referred to on cycling books, that no one has mentioned Graeme Obree's-The Flying Scotsman-gut wrenching stuff at times-an amazing book about how he was driven by fear of failure, the one hour record after failing the previous day,his attempted suicide and his idiosyncrasies-IMHO the best cycling book of all

 

[rolfrae]

Hi all,

I would really appreciate if you could recommend a few cycling books as a present for my dad.

He's not really into the whole pro-cycling scene but prefers stories about 'normal' riders and i know he has read obsessive cycling disorder or something and The escape Artist by matt Seaton.

Really appreciate any suggestions !

Thanks

Bit late for Christmas but your dad might like my book (shameless plug alert!):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Breakaway-Cycling-Mountains-ebook/dp/B00BO9LLG8

 

[stainlessguy1]

How about going back to the beginning :

Racing Bicycles 100 years of Steel . (hard cover)

makes a nice gift.

or :

Tour de France , one hundred years of the worlds greatest cycle race.

 

[winkybiker]

The Rider by Tim Krabbe is very good

Yes, very, very good. If your dad liked "The Escape Artist" (also a good book), he'll also like "The Rider".

 

[winkybiker]

I'm surprised on reading this thread and previous ones referred to on cycling books, that no one has mentioned Graeme Obree's-The Flying Scotsman-gut wrenching stuff at times-an amazing book about how he was driven by fear of failure, the one hour record after failing the previous day,his attempted suicide and his idiosyncrasies-IMHO the best cycling book of all

"Searching for Robert Millar" is another classic.

 

[avanti]

I read "The Wheels of Chance" by H. G. Wells on a recent airline flight. Written in 1896 it is an interesting tale of what happened during a bicycle vacation (and life) at that time. It can be downloaded for free (text or audio) here: http://www.gutenberg.org/