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Books about bicycle racing

Books about bicycle racing on this page: Cycling's Golden Age | The Giants of Cycling | Landscapes of Cycling | 20 Years of Cycling Photography | Paris-Roubaix - A Journey Through Hell | Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story | The Spring Classics: Cycling's Greatest One Day Races | Reading the Race: Bike Racing from Inside the Peloton | Hell on Two Wheels | The Story of the Giro d'Italia, Vol 1 | The Story of the Giro d'Italia, Vol 2 | The Giro d'Italia: Coppi versus Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy | Dancing on the Pedals | Cycling Heroes | Uphill Battle: Cycling's Great Climbers | The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz-Age Sport | A Century of Cycling | Bicycle History: A Chronological Cycling History of People, Races and Technology | Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes: Aerodynamics, Bike Fit, Speed Tuning, and Maintenance | Breaking the Chain | Facts and Figures: A Handbook of Cycling Statistics | Cycling 2004 | The Total Triathlon Almanac-5 | His Finest Hour

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Cycling's Golden Age: Heroes of the Postwar Era, 1946- 1947, by Owen Mulholland, Brett Horton & Shelly Horton. Introduction by Eddy Merckx. New Hardcover, $49.95/each

Part# 9781931382878

There is no better way to appreciate the history of a sport than to experience it through a collector's treasures. "Cycling's Golden Age" takes readers inside the extraordinary Horton Collection for an intimate look at one of the sport's most memorable eras, 1946-1967. From the commanding victories of Fausto Coppi to the rise of Jacques Anquetil, the Horton Collection boasts never-before-published photographs and countless jerseys, trophies, posters, and other artifacts. Cycling historian Owen Mulholland weaves it all together with the tales of each rider, their admirable feats, and the nostalgia of each piece in the collection.

Featured items include Fausto Coppi's maglia rosa and Tour de France podium sash; Hugo Koblet's personal treasure trove, including his Tour de France trophy, maillot jaune, maglia rosa, and Giro d'Italia trophy; and Gino Bartali's maglia rosa and Tour de France stage winner's trophy. Each painstakingly preserved piece evokes the dramatic history of this popular world-class sport.

Cyclong's Golden Age

Front cover

Cycling's Golden Age

Back cover

Cycling's Golden Age

Info about the book on the front cover flap.


The Giants of Cycling, by Jean-Paul Ollivier. New hardcover, $65.00/each

Part# 9781931382182

French historian Jean-Paul Ollivier pays tribute to the most famous cyclists in history through arresting full-color and black-and-white photographs, many drawn from the official archives of the Tour de France Society. A dramatic mix of history and anecdote, The Giants of Cycling also provides statistics on each cyclist's racing career. The athletes featured include Anquetil, Bobet, Coppi, Merckx, Indurain, and Hinault, and they're ranked here according to six categories - Legendary Cyclists, Cyclists Throughout History, The Best Sprinters, The Heroes, The Gods, and The Classic Cyclists.

Giants of Cycling

Front cover

Giants of Cycling

Back cover


Landscapes of Cycling, By Graham Watson. New hardcover, $75.00/each

Part# 9781931382489

Bicycle races present some of the most dramatic action scenes in sports. Add to that the snowy Swiss Alps, the sunflowers of the South of France, the twisted mountain roads above the blue Mediterranean, and one has a book for both landscape lovers and bicycle enthusiasts. Organized by season, the book takes readers around the globe, from the Australian championships to the Tour de France, highlighting the majesty and grit of the sport against a backdrop of exquisite, compelling scenery. The book includes some of Watson's most famous landscape shots as well as many never-before published photographs.

Landscapes of Cycling book

Front cover

Landscapes of cycling

Back cover

Landscapes of Cycling

Info about the book on the front cover flap


20 Years of Cycling Photography - Graham Watson. New, $49.95

Part# 9781884737848/Z

We have two in stock.

20 Years of Cycling Photography

The cover

20 Years of Cycling Photography

The back cover

20 Years of Cycling photography

Close-up of the book description.


Paris-Roubaix - A Journey Through Hell, by Philippe Bouvat, Pierre Callewaert, Jean-Luc Gatelier & Serge Laget. New hardcover, $39.99/each

Part# 9781934030097

Paris-Roubaix, aka "The Hell of the North," has enough cobbles to shake bikes and bones to bits, and enough bad weather to make it treacherous even for the best professional cyclists. Held every April since 1896, the race follows a 270-kilometer course between the suburbs of the French capital and the northern industrial city of Roubaix, and its long history and location have made it pivotal in attracting cycling's superstars and testing their reputations.

This lavish, large-format book recounts the history and excitement of Paris-Roubaix. With authoritative text from the top sportswriters at France's L'Equipe, the book presents the inside story of the race, its great riders, its traditions, and its secrets. Arranged chronologically, "Paris-Roubaix" includes an exclusive, behind-the-scenes chapter to bring readers directly into the action. Hundreds of spectacular color and black-and-white photos, many of them never before collected in book form, round out this memorable portrait of one of cycling's greatest events.

Paris-Roubaix book

Front cover

Paris-Roubaix book

Back cover


Paris-Roubaix: The Inside Story - All the bumps of cycling's cobbled classic, by Les Woodland. New paperback, $16.95/each

Part# 97809859636

198 pages

We have four in stock.

The Paris-Roubaix bicycle race, nicknamed "The Hell of the North," is famous for sending riders over brutal cobblestone roads. Only the strong, brave and lucky survive the hours of bone-shaking racing without suffering some mishap or catastrophe. It is so difficult no one wins it by accident, and winning Paris-Roubaix automatically puts a rider among the immortals of the sport. How did that come to be? At one time roads everywhere were paved with cobbles. Why did Paris-Roubaix emerge to be such a special race? Les Woodland tells the inside story: how one of cycling's classics grew from several 19th century businessmen's plan to bring cycling to the mill town of Roubaix. It wasn't a sure thing, and several times it seemed the race might die. It's a fascinating tale, so fasten your seat belts, Les is going to take you on a bumpy ride.

Paris-Roubaix

Front cover

Paris Roubaix

Back cover


The Spring Classics: Cycling's Greatest One Day Races, by Philippe Bouvet, Phillipe Brunel, Pierre Callewaert, Jean-Luc Gutellier & Serge Laget - Introduction by Paul Sherwen. New hardcover, $39.99/each

Part# 9781934030608

224 pages

Cycling’s spring races are always the most anticipated of the year, not only because they herald the start of the season, but also because they are brutally difficult and spectacularly unpredictable. Known as the Spring Classics, these one-day races test cycling’s toughest riders with the worst conditions imaginable—sucking mud, choking dust, leg-numbing sleet, fanatic spectators, and Europe’s narrowest, most bone-grinding country roads. Clattering through agrarian hamlets on routes established a century ago, the Spring Classics celebrate cycling’s most glorious and meaningful history. Riders that perform well amidst the intensity of these one-day races are acclaimed as cycling’s “hard men.”

The Spring Classics delves into the stories of Milan-San Remo, Ghent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallone, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège through hundreds of rare and restored photographs presented in a lavish format. With authoritative text from cycling’s expert sportswriters, The Spring Classics commemorates the riders, traditions, and secrets of cycling’s greatest one-day contests.

The Spring Classic

Front cover

The Spring Classics

Back cover


Reading the Race: Bike Racing from Inside the Peloton, by Jamie Smith & Chris Horner. New paperback, $18.95/each

Part# 9781937715106

We have two in stock.

In Reading the Race, race announcer Jamie Smith and veteran road captain Chris Horner team up to deliver a master class in bike racing strategies and tactics. Armed with strategies and tactics learned over thousands of races, cyclists and cycling fans will learn how to read a race--and see how to win it.

Bike racing is called a rolling chess game for a reason. Sure, a high pain threshold and a killer VO2max are helpful. But if you're in it to win it, you need race smarts. Starting breaks, forming alliances, managing a lapped field, setting up a sprint--on every page, Horner and Smith reveal new secrets to faster racing and better results.

Smith and Horner dissect common mistakes, guiding riders with lessons learned from decades of racing experience. Reading the Race reveals the veteran's eye view on:

  • Assembling the best possible team
  • Crafting strategies around the team, course, and rivals
  • Reacting instantly to common scenarios
  • Making deals and combines
  • Breaks, echelons, blocking
  • Pack protocol and etiquette
  • Finishing in the prize money or on the podium
  • Winning the group ride

Whether you're a new racer, an aspiring pro, a team manager, or even a roadside fan, Reading the Race will elevate your cycling IQ for better racing.

Reading the Race

Front cover

Reading the Race

Back cover


Hell On Two Wheels: An Astonishing Story of Suffering, Triumph, and the Most Extreme Endurance Race in the World, by Amy Snyder. New hardcover, $25.00/each

Part# 9781600785252/Z

We have two in stock.

Three-time Ironman finisher Amy Snyder takes the wraps off the best kept secret in the sports world, the Race Across America (RAAM), a bicycle race like no other. Unlike its famous cousin the Tour de France, RAAM is much crazier, more gothic, and even savage: once the gun goes off the clock doesn't stop, and the first rider to complete the prescribed 3,000-mile route is the victor. In Hell on Two Wheels, Snyder follows a group of athletes before, during, and after the 2009 RAAM, the closest and most controversial race in the event's 30-year history. This work offers a thrilling and remarkably detailed account of the competitors' triumphs and tragedies as they test themselves, each other, and the limits of human endurance. As RAAM exacts its vicious toll, Snyder shows how the racers discover their essential humanity and experience profound joy and completeness, demonstrating how such a grueling effort can also be cleansing and self-revelatory.

Hell on Two Wheels

The front cover

Hell on Two Wheels

Back cover

Hell on Two Wheels

Book description on the inside cover flap.


The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy - Volume 1: 1909 - 1970. New paperback, $19.95/each

By Bill & Carol McGann

Part# 9780984311767/Z

The Giro d’Italia is one of the world’s most important and popular bicycle races, yet there is almost no information in English about this magical Italian race’s rich past. With “The Story of the Giro d’Italia”, the fabulous history of Italy’s national tour is at last available. Volume One takes the story of the Giro from its origin as a desperate promotional gamble by a nearly broke newspaper to Eddy Merckx’s convincing 1970 victory.

Volume 1 of “The Story of the Giro d’Italia” tells of Italy’s most celebrated riders: Costante Girardengo, the first campionissimo, or “Champion of Champions”; Alfredo Binda, who so dominated the Giro that one year he was paid by the organizers not to enter; Gino Bartali, who looked to become the dominating rider of his era; and Fausto Coppi, a fascinating personality and Bartali’s great rival, who became not only Italy’s, but the world’s finest rider.

The great rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali is known to many cycling fans, mostly because of their adventures in the Tour de France. But for much of bike racing’s history, the Alps have been a high wall, and Italian sponsors preferred to keep their racers at home where they could earn valuable publicity. Because of this, there is a whole world of great athletes who are virtually unknown to the non-Italian cycling fan. How about Giovanni Valetti? In 1939 Valetti beat Bartali when Gino was at the very peak of his powers. Has anyone heard of Giuseppe Enrici, the Giro winner who was born in Pittsburgh? Alfonsina Strada was the only woman who entered (and unofficially finished) a Grand Tour. And there was Giordano Cottur, who won a Giro stage in Trieste while guns blazed.

Clearly, this is a story that has to be told, and it’s all there in “The Story of the Giro d’Italia”.

The Story of the Giro d'Italia

The front cover of Volume 1.

The Story of the Giro d'Italia

The back cover.


The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Volume Two: 1971 - 2011. New paperback, $19.95/each

The Giro d’Italia is one of the world’s most important and popular bicycle races, yet there is almost no information in English about this magical Italian race’s rich past. With “The Story of the Giro d’Italia”, the fabulous history of Italy’s national tour is at last available. Volume One took the story of the Giro from its origin as a desperate promotional gamble by a nearly broke newspaper to Eddy Merckx’s convincing 1970 victory.

Volume Two describes the growth of the Giro into a modern, vital international race that is followed by cycling fans all over the world. Along the way, the stories and races that have excited the public over the last forty years are told, including the Francesco Moser/Giuseppe Saronni rivalry, the tragic tale of Marco Pantani and the Alberto Contador affair that left the Spaniard stripped of his 2011 Giro championship.

The Story of the Giro d'Italia

Volume 2 front cover art.

The Story of the Giro d'Italia

Back cover art.


The Giro d'Italia: Coppi versus Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy. New paperback, $29.95/each

Part# 9781884737510

200 pages

The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) was not raced for several years during World War II, and the first postwar race took place in 1949, when the country was still recovering. This newly translated book - from Dino Buzatti's newspaper accounts at the time - captures the excitement of that contest, which drew national attention and made heroes of the cyclists Coppi and Bartali.

Dino Buzzatti was a beloved Italian writer of novels, short stories and poetry as well as a highly respected journalist.

The Giro d'Italia

Front cover

1949 Giro d'Italia

Back cover


Dancing on the Pedals. New paperback, $9.95/each

Part# 9781891369551

Dancing on the Pedals book

The cover

Dancing on the Pedals


Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years, by Les Woodland. New paperback, $16.95/each

Part# 9780984311774

Les Woodland climbed aboard his old Carlton bike to take a nostalgia trip across Belgium and Holland to visit some of cycling’s greatest riders. "Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years" tells the story of that journey he took in the early 1990s and the time he spent with some of the finest riders from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

Rik van Steenbergen, Rik van Looy, Jan Janssen, Wim van Est, Hennie Kuiper and Peter Post were some of the most colorful and dominating riders of an era that produced many of the sport’s greatest-ever champions. In this book Woodland has collected their and other riders’ precious and fascinating recollections, some going back to a time of leather saddles, cloth caps and spare tires wrapped over riders’ shoulders; when screaming fans packed smoke-filled velodromes to see their heroes up close; when a stage of the Tour de France could take more than eleven hours. Woodland has filled in his portrait of racing’s golden years with the stories of those riders who were either too far away or time got there first, including Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor.

Join Les Woodland on a captivating journey back to the golden age of racing.

Cyclong Heroes

Front cover

Cycling Heroes

Back cover


Uphill Battle: Cycling's Great Climbers. New hardcover, $29.95/each

By Owen Mulholland

Part# 9781931382120/Z

Written by America's greatest cycling historian, Owen Mulholland, Uphill Battle gives a synopsis of the careers of 31 great climbers. To the uninitiated cycling can appear to be a boring procession of innumerable rumps rotating over two wheels. Mulholland has the unique ability to bring alive not only the careers of these eagles of the mountains, by why each one was so acclaimed during his moment of glory. Each chapter is short, riveting,and easy to read. Beyond the excitement of the individual exploits is the relationship of each climber and his conquests to the panorama of a century of cycling history. All of this is done in a prose that is, frankly, unique. Any person with a modicum of interest in cycling will love Uphill battle.

What makes this book a particular pleasure is that Owen writes as if he were talking to you. His enthusiasm comes across every page. He is a man mad about bikes and bike racing and I love everything he has ever written about the sport.

There are 39 chapters, each about a particular climber and each is a gem.

Owen was kind enough to send Bill McGann a collection of his essays and race reports to post on his BikeRaceInfo.com web site. You find them here.

Uphill Battle

The front cover. That's the great Spanish climber Federico Bahamontes leading Raymond Poulidor.

Uphill Battle

The back cover


The Six-Day Bicycle Races: America's Jazz-Age Sport, by Peter Joffre Nye. New hardcover, $94.00/each

Part# 978189249495

A photographic portrait of what was the most popular spectator sport in America during the period from 1900 to 1930: 6-day bicycle racing. It was a big-money sport, because bets were on. The sport was tough and the stakes were high, as the most prominent people in society flocked to Madison Square Garden to watch the races and place their bets. This compilation of historic photographs reproduced in fine duotone detail and accompanying text paints the complete picture of this fascinating but almost forgotten era in American sports.

The Six Day Bicycle Races

Front cover

The Six-Day Bicycle Races

Back cover

The Six-Day Bicycle Races

Info about the book on the front cover flap.


A Century of Cycling: The classic races and legendary champions. New, $60.00/each

By William Fotheringham

Part# 9780760315538

A Cetury of Cycling

Front cover

A Century if Cycling

Back cover

A Century of Cycling

Info on the book cover flap.


Bicycle History: A Chronological Cycling History of People, Races and Technology, By James Witherell. New paperback, $16.95/each

Part# 098421170551695

We have two in stock.

Bicycle History

Front cover

Bicycle History book

The back cover


Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes: Aerodynamics, Bike Fit, Speed Tuning, and Maintenance, by Lennard Zinn. New paperback, $24.95/each

Part# 9781931382977

Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes guides triathletes through the many triathlon-specific problems of bike tuning and maintenance. It also explains about safely shipping a bike from race to race and provides clear advice on equipment choice and upgrades so that readers can make sensible choices as they advance through the sport. With this book, triathletes can become faster and more comfortable during the aerodynamic time trial and increase their enjoyment of the bike leg, the most technically demanding leg of any triathlon race.

Newcomers and experienced mechanics alike can benefit from the clear illustrations, expanded views of how components go together, and practical tips on how to completely and properly maintain their bikes in order to ensure hours of trouble-free riding. Lennard Zinn's advice helps readers decide whether to tackle the maintenance project or head to the bike shop for repairs.

Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes

Front cover

Zinn & the Art of Triathlon Bikes

Back cover


Breaking the Chain - Drugs and Cycling: The True Story, by Willy Voet. New paperback, $35.00/each

Part# 9780224061179

On July 8, 1998 Festina team soigneur Willy Voet was stopped by the police. In his car were the drugs the team needed if they were to have any chance of playing a competitive part in the 1998 Tour de France. The car was searched, he was immediately arrested and so the story that has been undermining the sport of cycling since the death of Tommy Simpson in 1967, finally broke.

Imprisoned for sixteen days, sacked from the Festina team and ostracized from the sport to which he had dedicated his life, Willy Voet at last was able to tell the truth. His sensational story will change cycling forever.

Cocaine, amphetamines, EPO, heroin - all these are now considered not optional but necessary, not to win but just to compete in the Tour de France. Details of how these drugs are obtained, mixed together to make cocktails, administered and concealed are all included in this graphic and uninhibited account of how drugs brought cycling to its knees.

Breaking the Chain

Front cover

Breaking the Chain

Back cover


Facts and Figures: A Handbook of Cycling Statistics, by the editors of VeloNews. New paperback, $7.95/each

Part# 9781931382397

96 pages: Issued January 6, 2004.

The editors of VeloNews, all cyclists themselves, are fanatical about the sport--but they're also sticklers for the details. This compact handbook of stats showcases that combination of passion and knowledge, making it an ideal carry-along for participants and a tasty read for fans.

Each race listing includes a brief description and history of that particular race along with significant facts, including record number of wins, record times, and any unusual circumstances. Also featured are lists of the winners (first three places) for each year it was run, plus other jerseys and awards for the grand tours and bigger events. Included are all Hors Category, Category 1.1, the World Championships, the Grand Tours, the Great Stage Races, and Category 2.1 Races.

Facts and Figures

Front cover

Cycling Facts and Figures

Back cover


Cycling 2004, by Graham Watson, Roberto Bettini & Pier Bergonzi. New hardcover, $33.00/each

Part# 9781931382588

A collaboration between Graham Watson and Roberto Bettini, two of international road racing's leading photographers, Cycling 2004 chronicles one of the most competitive seasons in the history of the sport. Featuring exceptional images on every page, the book starts with Milan-San Remo and ends, like the season itself, with Wielrennen Zolder. It's all here - the ten World Cup classics, the three big European tours (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a Espana), along with the World Road Championships and a full sampling of other important races that form the nine-month-long cycling season each year.

Endorsed by the international Cyclists Union in Italy, Cycling 2004 also contains a results section listing top finishers for every European road race, as well as racer and team statistics and memorable photographs of top cyclists in action. Noted sports journalist Pier Bergonzi adds informed text and captions.

Cycling 2004

Front cover

Cycling 2004

Back cover


The Total Triathlon Almanac-5, by Tony Svensson. New paperback, , $48.95/each

Part# 630029518950

The Total Triathlon Almanac-5 is a comprehensive logbook and a basic training primer. Building on the four earlier standard-setting editions, it is light weight and "pared down to the bones"-a flexible year-long training companion.
The almanac saves time for the experienced athlete. For the newer participant, it is a foundation for establishing a successful program which conforms to current advances in exercise physiology, training and race preparation. For all, it's an indispensable year-round organizer, record keeper and information source.

The weekly log pages now have twice the room to write.

Includes motivational full-page color pictures of world-class triathletes in full racing action by the Official Ironman Triathlon Photographer.

You will learn from world class triathletes and triathlon authorities how to:

  • Prevent burnout and injury
  • Live healthier and race faster
  • Train with a heart rate monitor
  • Improve your strength, speed and endurance
  • Assemble the building blocks of a training program
  • Prepare, taper and peak for a race of any distance
  • Develop a mental training program called "Mind Power"

Contributors providing training and racing information for this edition include:

  • Mark Allen, a six-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship
  • Eric Bean, an Ironman Triathlon World Championship age group winner from 1998, a 2003 Collegiate National Champion and the current Stanford University Triathlon Team coach
  • Thomas Hellriegel, a multiple Ironman Triathlon winner, including the Ironman Triathlon World Championship
  • Joy Leutner (nee Hansen), a former world-class Olympic distance triathlete
  • Dr. Phil Maffetone, nutrition coach to numerous top athletes
  • Paula Newby-Fraser, an eight-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship and the only woman to break nine hours in Kona; has achieved an incomprehensible 24 career Ironman victories across the globe
  • Seppo Nuuttila, former coach of the Finnish National Track & Field Team and several Olympic and professional endurance athletes, including rowers, runners and triathletes
  • Dave Scott, a six-timer winner of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship

The Total Triathlon Almanac

Front cover

The Total Triathlon Almanac

Back cover


His Finest Hour, by David Neuhaus. New hardcover picture book, $14.95.00/each

Part# 9781931382496/Z

When Ralph wants to catch the eye of the local racing team, he challenges Dudley to a bicycle race knowing full well that against his fancy new gear, Dudley's ancient balloon-tire bike doesn't stand a chance. Dudley does have unflagging perseverance, but will that be enough to win the day? Set in the world of bicycle racing and written for all young sports enthusiasts, His Finest Hour, complete with color illustrations by the author, is a tale of how two lifetime friends reach their goals in completely different ways.

His Finest Hour

The front cover

His Finest Hour

Back cover

His Finest Hour

Book description on the inside cover flap.