4 New Cycling Books
Four new reads for the cycling-centric triathlete.
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Four new reads for the cycling-centric triathlete.
The Loyal Lieutenant
George Hincapie, the world’s most famous domestique known for his role in helping Lance Armstrong to all seven Tour de France wins, finally shares his side of the story in his hotly anticipated biography, co-authored by Craig Hummer. Hincapie recounts stories from his early and auspicious start in the sport and from two decades in the pro peloton, and explains what ultimately led him to begin using EPO. The book is peppered with testimonies from various personalities in the sport and those who know Hincapie best, including Armstrong himself. ($27, Harpercollins.com)
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Étape
Are you glued to Universal Sports every July for the Tour de France? Go on a preview ride of the most crucial stages in history with award-winning sportswriter Richard Moore’s new book. Moore combines his play-by-play of the 20 greatest stages with first-person interviews with cycling’s main characters (Greg LeMond, Mark Cavendish, Eddy Merckx and others), focusing each chapter on a single rider during a single stage. The dramatic controversies and courageous victories prove why the Tour is the world’s most iconic bike race.
($19, Velopress.com)
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The Rules: The Way of the Cycling Disciple
The snarky team at Velominati.com put together 95 cycling laws, covering a variety of do’s and don’ts—mount tires with the label centered over the valve stem, keep your sunglass arms over your helmet straps—to help you look less like a stereotypical triathlete, all while encouraging you to ride more. Some of our favorites:
#12: The correct number of bikes to own is N+1 (where N is the number of bikes currently owned).
#25: The bikes on top of your car should be worth more than the car.
#75: Race numbers are for races.
#93: Descents are not for recovery, recovery ales are for recovery.
($15, Velominati.com)
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Pro Cycling on $10 a Day
As a columnist for our sibling publication Velo, Garmin-Sharp pro cyclist Phil Gaimon responds to “Ask a Pro” questions about the peloton with honest, sarcastic answers every month. The self-proclaimed fat-kid-turned-Euro-pro extended his wit for a new book about his journey to the pro ranks. Expect to laugh at his mistakes, learn important techniques—like how to make sweet tea in a hotel room or how to properly tackle a corner in a crit race—and realize what it takes to compete at the top: “The truth is, the biggest factor in who made it to the next level wasn’t talent or work ethic. It was a willingness to keep plugging away through all the hard times.”
($19, Velopress.com)