Cycling Books

I really liked this short read. Like most good stories, this one is a familiar subject, told from a different view. Namely, that of a soldier who went back simply as a man, and found a warm and friendly people waiting for him. If you are uncharmed by Mr. Rampton's dry wit, which can't hide anywhere in this book, you are made of harder stuff than this reader is.

I found the writing to be a bit stiff and the overall book not that engaging. Too many pithy, non-exciting anecdotes. Unless you need to read a book about this man's journey's look elsewhere

Vietnam In The Absence Of War: One Immoral War, Two Revealing Bicycle Trips by Thomas G. Rampton is an informative and engaging travelogue replete with gorgeous color photography, detailed maps, and poignant personal observations of his bicycle trips through Vietnam in 1998 and 1999. Picturesque, vivid, wistful, and a recommended joy for armchair travelers, for Viet Nam bound visitors, and for anyone curious to learn about what life is really like in modern-day Vietnam.

Take a look at the sample - in those few pages the author shows his English is poor (and his editor should be fired). He uses "infer" when he means "imply", "prodigy" when he means "protégé", "through" instead of "throughout", the list goes on.

Beyond that, the style is plodding.

John Wilcockson and Andrew Hood have composed a terrific book for readers who wish to learn more about the Tour de France and gain a deeper appreciation of Lance Armstrong's cycling abilities.

The "2005 Tour de France: Armstrong's Farewell" is worth the book's price for many reasons. The goal of the book is to give a reader an understanding and an appreciation for the difficult task of not only finishing the Tour de France, a three week, twenty-one stage epic trip of 2,233 miles, but also of finishing first -- seven times in a row. The authors, Wilcockson and Hood, clearly know the history and technical details of the Tour having worked as writers for VeloNews magazine. The book's overall presentation is assisted by artsy Futura fonts, full color photos from Graham Watson, and a full set of statistics concerning the Tour de France.

Quotes from the experts in the field of professional cycling give encouragement to a reader who might by trying to cycle faster and farther. Floyd Landis from the Phonak team, puts everything into perspective when he says, "In no way do I want what Lance has in life, other than to be the best bicycle racer I can be" (p. 53). On page 164 Levi Leipheimer from the Gerolsteiner team, says, "There is always something that you can improve on." And Armstrong provides the ultimate perspective by saying, "I don't think my sport accomplishments are going to make my trip to heaven any easier" (p. 266). Armstrong shows that he is the best and infers that the only thing greater than winning the Tour de France is being loving and forgiving.

The chapters alternate between personal skeches of the riders and the thrills of the 2005 Tour. We learn that cyclists are human, too, and have bounced back from tragic injuries. David Zambriskie "smashed healong" into vehicle that "pulled out in front of him" in 2003 which required a long convalescence (p. 26). Alejandro Valverde "fell in a freaky, high speed crash" during the 2004 Vuelta that left him painfully "writhing on the ground" (p. 103). And Alexander Vinokourov watched is best friend crash in the 2003 Paris-Nice race, "go into a coma" and pass which has left a hole in Vinokourov's heart to this day (p. 132). Every cyclist, it seems, has dealt with tragedy and has bounced back with courage. Armstrong's courageous comeback is equally amazing.

I am an advanced biker, I found this book to be much more for begineers, and also, it does not give you very many tips, I have tried aalmost half the rides in this book and i found that only 25% of them were actually okay. If you are advanced, like me, i don't suggest you buy this book, if you are begineer-medium biker, i suggest you can get it.

This book has lots of interesting and easy-to-medium routes submitted by individual cyclists, including road and off-road trails. My wife and I have enjoyed the rides in this book much more than the ones in Grob's book, which are often too ambitious. We recently lost our copy on a tour, and ordered a replacement because we missed it so much! One pet peeve is that the distances are sometimes off by a few miles, making the directions a little hazy, but this only happened in a few of the rides we tried.

I was looking for a more detailed book to help me structure my winter indoor training workouts a bit more efficiently. There is a lot of beginners information regarding bike fit, posture, etc. that is covered in many other books. There are a few workouts that are suggested, but nothing as comprehensive as Smart Cycling's 12 week training program. If you need a good basic info book, this is fine. Otherwise, get something else.

Good, basic bicycle book for training and fitness.

After buying this book and riding Blommer's recommended route from Chicago to Milwaukee I was surprised by the other negative review. In general this book was well organized and very helpful to a person unfamiliar with the trail systems or bike options in the area. It would be possible to get bike maps and layout your own route, but I found the book especially helpful with directions to the most scenic routes through Kenosha and Racine. The otherwise excellent Wisconsin Bike Maps have no city detail and the locals, unless they use the trail systems, are usually clueless about directions to the trailheads, which I found continuing on trails to Madison. The book isn't perfect but it was a big help to an out-of-towner like myself. Whether you use Blommer's book or not, the ride is an excellent way to experience two great American cities.

This book is lame. The author tells you that "even local people get lost" in some parts of this area, so he does not attempt to be specific. He says that even if a street/area says "do not enter", you are a bicyclist, and can do so. This is a good way to get a) a ticket, b) a rude awakening, or c) an accident. There are better books on this topic, which the author mentions. Buy them.

While good for general ideas of where to ride, this book is
littered with misleading information and inaccuracies. Clearly
the author has not done some of the rides, as distances are
double those quoted in some cases (In one case the recommended
map was listed with scale 1:25K, but the actual map available
1:50K. All distances / times were double those suggested.).
Some of the general mountain biking advice in the intro chapters
is questionable (eg: recommended shoes for riding, method for
descending steep hills, etc).

The rides in the author's earlier book (NSW edition) appear
to be better researched (but still not flawless). Perhaps this
book is an attempt to 'cash in' on previous success?

Books by this author are a running joke amongst numerous local
mountain bikers.

Great for inspiration, but use with caution!

Sven Klinge is the author of the most comprehensive cycling guide books in Australia. By combining cycling with walking treks, he has explored over 300 of Australia's National Parks and State Forests. Born in Sydney and educated at Sydney University, Sven now divides his time between accountancy and other writing projects. CYCLING THE BUSH: 100 RIDES IN VICTORIA contains detailed tracknotes for one hundred of the best bicycle rides in the state. The range of rides include short one 'dayers' around Melbourne to extended overnight mountain biking/walking expeditions in the rugged wilderness of Victoria's magnificent Alps, the coastal ranges of the Otways and Wilsons Promontory, the sandstone mountains of the Grampians, and many other locations. From mountain lookouts to fishing lakes, from pristine rivers to limestone caves, from secluded coves to ancient forests, all major national parks are covered as well as a selection of the most scenic state forests and other nature reserves between the rainforests of East Gippsland and the desert parks of the Mallee. Each ride incorporates data on distances, transport, access, track and ride grades, facilities, map references, and special equipment needed. Extensive information is provided on geological, biological, and historical aspects of natural, aboriginal, and colonial features along the rides. There are chapters devoted to the development, mechanics, and maintenance of the mountain bike, in addition to sections covering accessories, riding techniques, first aid, food, equipment, photography, and camping. In COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT FORMAT, this guide should be POCKET EQUIPMENT for every cyclist and bushwalker wishing to discover this exciting way of venturing into one of the most diverse park systems in Australia.

This book should be required reading for anyone remotely thinking about desert exploring of any type. I have done a fair amount of desert trips and have read and reread this book a number of times. It is packed full of important, potentially life saving information that will help you navigate safely in the desert. Everything from techniques for hiking,mountain biking, and 4x4 trips including vehicle preparation is included. There is an interesting section on troubleshooting worst-case scenarios and even a section on selecting the proper gear and equipment for desert conditions. When considering desert trips it is well to remember the admonishment of famed desert rat and author Edward Abbey:"...Enter at your own risk. Carry water. Avoid the noonday sun. Try to ignore the Vultures. Pray frequently." I would add "read and study this book" or perhaps "Don't leave home without it." Highly recommended.

This book promises to instruct anyone on how to hike and bike the desert safely. As a generalized overview to some (not all) desert travel it is sufficient for that purpose, but I found it lacking in many subjects crucial to remote desert hikers. Trip/water planning, gear prep, finding water from natural sources, trip navigation (map and GPS), first aid for desert and heat sicknesses, etc. could have all used a lot more material. Coverage of some deserts and specialized advice was lacking. The book emphasizes coverage of 'high' deserts like the Great Basin, unfortunately, at the expense of others. And forget anything outside the U.S., as it's not covered here. I probably would have liked this book better had I not read the Ultimate Desert Handbook, which covers the same subjects a lot more thoroughly, not to mention the diversity of many more deserts in North America and around the world.

Matt Seaton's book starts off well, but by the end I thought it was whiny and awful. True, it contains many passionate evocations of cycling, its rituals, the sensations experienced during racing, and the unique sense of camaraderie felt by cyclists. It's great when someone can put it in writing, and Seaton succeeds. As Seaton tells his story of growing up and getting into cycle racing, he adds many anecdotes and informative bits of historic or technical information about the sport. For that, it gets 2 stars. The rest of it is terrible. When Seaton writes about his girlfriend/wife, or his children, he becomes vague to the point of boredom. He leaves you with the feeling that he resents how everyone around him interferes with his cycling. Unfortunately, his best depictions of time spent with his wife are when they bicker, leaving an image of a frosty relationship. He tells us of her illness in the middle of a long paragraph, like it was yet another inconvenience. I'm sure he loved her, it's too bad he made her seem so unloveable. And if anyone dares to interfere with Seaton's cycling schedule, his selfish reactions are too much to stomach. Yes, people can develop very intense passions for sport, but this book reads like a blame list for a career that never took off. Believe me, racing cyclists are not all as self-absorbed as this guy.

This is an excellent book on the development of a bike rider into an amateur cyclist racing in England. He is devoted to cycling as was necessary to achieve some success. He also discusses his personal life and how training and racing impact that component.

First of all the book is not waterproof, second the maps lack detail, third the book is narrow and should not be binded, hard to keep open on the ground. there are about five other maps that are better.

Crested Butte Singletrack by Holly Annala is the authoritative guide to mountain biking throughout the Gunnison Valley. I highly recommend owning this guide before setting out on your next ride, whether a visitor to the area or a local.
As a Crested Butte resident, Holly provides a detailed local's perspective to the best riding opportunities in this breathtaking region. I found each trail to be well documented with directions to the trailhead, detailed mileage logs and topographic maps.
As an added bonus, the guidebook was smartly designed to fit nicely into waterpacks.

What I like:
Concise description and outline of steps needed for repair.
List of tools needed and rating of difficulty.
Tips "block" on many pages.
Clear color pictures.
"Extra" chapters included such as: "Ten Top Tips" and "Silence Unwanted Noises".
Up-to-date, i.e. includes V-brakes and other current components.

What I don't like:
Some text refers to a picture and it is unclear which picture, or which part is being refered to.
There are a few procedures which should have more detail: if you are not used to working on bikes.

Other observations:
This book was written by a Brit, so you need to know what a spanner is (there are other terms as well, such as "washing-up liquid).

The best book I have worked with to date. Any information not included I can ask my local wrench. I can't give the book a 5 star rating due to the minor items under "What I don't like" above.

Hmmm. I'm just not sure about this one. The book itself is well laid out, full-color, and spiral-bound. So everything is easy to use and see when you are working in a dusty garage after a hard-core ride. But I just can't get past the fact that this book simply doesn't cover everything you need to know about basic mountain bike maintenance. I mean, its certainly a good enough book that covers the different parts of a bike and most of the different routine maintenance procedures. But, I find that, although the pictures are clear and pretty, they just don't adequately cover all of the steps. For example, one of the most common things you will need to do as a rider is adjust your spokes and true your wheel. The book just doesn't cover it in as much detail as it needs to. In the end, you can guess your way through the process based on the book's text, but you really can't follow it clearly. This is just one example of what this book lacks - DETAIL. And because of this, I just can't recommend it as the " only mountain bike maintenance manual you will ever need". It's nice, but it's not enough. I can, however, say that about the book "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance". If you want to own only one book on the subject, give it a try.