Bobke II
Bobke II

Author: Bob Roll

Publisher: VeloPress

Published: 2014-06-18

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1937716589

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bob Roll is a former Tour de France racer, well-known scribe, and race announcer, and he's back to cause a ruckus! Bobke II (correctly pronounced "BOOB-kuh") revisits all of the original journals of Roll's wild rides and crazy tales about cycling's uncensored side. When Bobke retired from competition, his pen continued the crazed poetic commentary, and Roll's newest additions cover both topics held reverent in cycling and also those that are hardly related to the sport. Bobke tips his cap to the classic riders and races, takes us on a grueling week of training with Lance Armstrong, tells the sport as he sees it, and entertains us with plenty of ditties and rants in between. It's a zany, often absurd, yet compelling commotion.

The No-Drop Zone
The No-Drop Zone

Author: Patrick Brady

Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press

Published: 2011-04-27

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 089732854X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The No-Drop Zone contains all the information necessary for new cyclists to gain the knowledge and skills to take them from buying their first bicycle to starting their first race. Cyclists learn how to handle the bike, perform minor maintenance, select clothing and accessories, join clubs, and find events. The book also covers every aspect of riding in a group, emphasizing such specific skills as how to avoid bumping into other riders when riding in close quarters and fixing a flat quickly enough to rejoin the group. Author Patrick Brady explores the particular pleasures that come from group riding, a unique experience at once social (talking with friends while riding), exciting (descending in a group), and exhilarating (finishing a long hill). Brady also details the enormous fitness benefits of riding in a group. The No-Drop Zone has all the knowledge a cyclist needs to move to that next level of skill.

Historical Dictionary of Cycling
Historical Dictionary of Cycling

Author: Bill Mallon

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2011-09-09

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0810873699

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The nearly 150-year-old sport of cycling had its first competition in France in 1868. Soon afterward, the need arose for purpose-built cycling tracks because of poor road conditions at the time. Racing on blocked off pieces of street or grass soon evolved into racing on special tracks called velodromes. This development marked the split into what are still the two main forms of cycling competition: road racing and track racing. Initially, track cycling was more popular in terms of public attention and money to be earned by racers, but this gradually changed in favor of road racing, which has been the most popular form of cycling since at least the end of World War II. The Historical Dictionary of Cycling takes a closer look at the sport, as well as discussing the use of bicycles as a means of fitness, touring, and commuting. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, photos, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on cycling's two main disciplines—road and track—as well as brief overviews of the other forms of cycling. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about cycling.

Bobke
Bobke

Author: Bob Roll

Publisher: Velopress

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9781884737121

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Journal entries and anecdotes about bicycle racing and world mountain-bike championships.

A Dog in a Hat
A Dog in a Hat

Author: Joe Parkin

Publisher: VeloPress

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 1937716023

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1987, Joe Parkin was an amateur bike racer in California when he ran into Bob Roll, a pro on the powerhouse Team 7-Eleven. "Lobotomy Bob" told Parkin that, to become a pro, he must go to Belgium. Riding along a canal in Belgium years later, Roll encountered Parkin, who he saw as "a wraith, an avenging angel of misery, a twelve-toothed assassin". Roll barely recognized him. Belgium had forged Parkin into a pro bike racer, and changed him forever. A Dog in a Hat is Joe's remarkable story. Leaving California with a bag of clothes, two spare wheels, some cash, and a phone number, Parkin left the comforts of home for the windy, rainswept heartland of European cycling. 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 lays out the hard reality of the life--the drugs, the payoffs, the betrayals by teammates, the battles with team owners for contracts and money, the endless promises that keep you going, the agony of racing day after day, and the glory of a good day in the saddle. A Dog in a Hat is the unforgettable story of the un-ordinary education of Joe Parkin and his love affair with racing, set in the hardest place in the world to be a bike racer. It is a story untold until now, and one that you will never forget.

Team 7-Eleven
Team 7-Eleven

Author: Geoff Drake

Publisher: VeloPress

Published: 2011-08-01

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 1937716058

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1980, there were exactly four professional bike racers in America. Six years later, an American cycling team would wear the coveted yellow jersey of the Tour de France. And that same team would go on to win Italy's greatest race--the Giro d'Italia--only two years later. Team 7-Eleven is the extraordinary story of how two Olympic speed skaters, Jim Ochowicz and Eric Heiden, pulled together a small group of amateur cyclists and turned them into one of the greatest cycling teams the sport has known. From humble beginnings in a barn in Pennsylvania to soaring victories in the French Alps, Team 7-Eleven is the complete history that has never been fully told--until now. The 7-Eleven Cycling Team--Team 7-Eleven for short--launched the careers of American cycling superstars Andy Hampsten, Davis Phinney, Bob Roll, Ron Kiefel, and many more. It also changed the cycling world, creating a new team structure based on multiple stars, unified goals, and personal sacrifice for the greater good. And yet at the time it was formed, the number of American cyclists with world-class experience could be counted--literally--on one hand. And the number of American teams that competed in Europe's biggest races was exactly zero. Team 7-Eleven is the amazing story of how two cycling fans found one exceptional sponsor and created the greatest American cycling team of its era. Written with the enthusiastic cooperation of the team members, Team 7-Eleven will impress cycling fans with behind-the-scenes stories of the team's founding, its growing pains, and its lasting success as the team that established America as a powerhouse in the world of professional cycling.

Domestique
Domestique

Author: Charly Wegelius

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2013-06-06

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1448148375

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

**Winner - Sweetspot Cycling Book of the Year** For 11 years I was a professional cyclist, competing in the hardest and greatest races on Earth. I was in demand from the world’s best teams, a well-paid elite athlete. But I never won a race. I was the hired help. When my mum dropped me off in a small French town aged 17, I was full of determination to be a professional cyclist, but I was completely green. I went from mowing the team manager’s lawn to winning every amateur race I entered. Then I turned pro and realised I hated the responsibility and pressure of chasing victory. And that’s when I became a domestique. I learned to take that hurt and give it everything I had to give, all for someone else’s win. When the order came in to ride I pushed out with the hardest rhythm I could, dragging the group faster and faster, until my whole body screamed with pain. There were times I rode myself to a standstill, clutching the barrier metres from the line, as the lead group shot past. But that’s what made me a so good at my job. As my career took off, I started looking at the fans lining the route, cheering us like heroes. The passion for cycling oozed off them, but they couldn’t know what it was really like. They didn’t see the terrible hotels, the crazy egos or all the shit that goes with great expectations. Well, this is how it is...