FlashUNC
09-18-2013, 03:47 PM
Yes, I know some of you will be surprised this baboon finds time from flinging poo around here to read a book. And generally I don't really rave about a lot of the cycling books I read.
However, I felt compelled after reading Jean Bobet's work that I needed to share.
If you care at all about riding a bike, or have ever raced, or ever had family members, read this book (http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-We-Ride-Jean-Bobet/dp/187473951X).
Written by the brother of Louison Bobet (Jean was known as the studious one in the pro peloton in the 1950s, riding with his brother while studying in England and becoming quite the Anglophile), the book is a brilliant, impressionistic portrait of life in the peloton, and some of the complexities of your brother being the most famous French cyclist in post-war Europe. As the first person to win the Tour three years in a row, Louison slotted somewhere between Babe Ruth and Jesus at his peak.
Rather than a simple chronological rehash of who won what where, Bobet gives really unparalleled insight to the personalities and people around the sport back then. About the dope pushers and hucksters, his autocratic father and worrying mother, and the genuinely good people in the sport. He's even got some harsh words for the modern champions (the book was written in the late 1990s).
His chapter -- all of two pages -- about Paris-Roubaix is as good an account of the race as I've ever read. His description of those really good days -- when everything lines up -- and the pedals feel like and you fly uphill is breathtaking. And the final chapters about his brother's untimely death are poignant and touching.
It's a quick read (170 pages) but most definitely one for the bookshelf.
However, I felt compelled after reading Jean Bobet's work that I needed to share.
If you care at all about riding a bike, or have ever raced, or ever had family members, read this book (http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-We-Ride-Jean-Bobet/dp/187473951X).
Written by the brother of Louison Bobet (Jean was known as the studious one in the pro peloton in the 1950s, riding with his brother while studying in England and becoming quite the Anglophile), the book is a brilliant, impressionistic portrait of life in the peloton, and some of the complexities of your brother being the most famous French cyclist in post-war Europe. As the first person to win the Tour three years in a row, Louison slotted somewhere between Babe Ruth and Jesus at his peak.
Rather than a simple chronological rehash of who won what where, Bobet gives really unparalleled insight to the personalities and people around the sport back then. About the dope pushers and hucksters, his autocratic father and worrying mother, and the genuinely good people in the sport. He's even got some harsh words for the modern champions (the book was written in the late 1990s).
His chapter -- all of two pages -- about Paris-Roubaix is as good an account of the race as I've ever read. His description of those really good days -- when everything lines up -- and the pedals feel like and you fly uphill is breathtaking. And the final chapters about his brother's untimely death are poignant and touching.
It's a quick read (170 pages) but most definitely one for the bookshelf.