Book picks similar to
The Yellow Jersey by Ralph Hurne
cycling
fiction
sports
cycletour-bicycles
Wide-Eyed and Legless
Jeff Connor - 1988
In this new edition of 'Wide-Eyed and Legless', Connor describes in detail what it takes to compete, survive and win during those 26 days of gruelling effort in the name of sport.
The Slummer: Quarters Till Death
Geoffrey Simpson - 2021
Quitting isn’t in his DNA. In 2083, Benjamin Brandt is among the millions of “slummers” who are relegated to poverty and struggle on the outskirts of society. As a minority growing up in the gritty underbelly of Cleveland’s Industrial Valley, Ben sees the way genetically designed “elites” live only from a distance: from the shadows of public spaces people like him are forbidden to use, and on TV, where he watches the enhanced athletes compete at an extraordinary level. For years, a national track championship has inspired Ben to ferociously cultivate his own talent as a runner.As Ben logs miles through the potholed, darkened streets of his community, an idea takes hold of him that could turn his highly stratified society upside down. He isn’t prepared to lead a revolution; however, he is prepared to run like a slummer with nothing to lose.
To The Point: The No Holds Barred Autobiography
Herschelle Gibbs - 2010
Despite the frustrating on-field inconsistencies of this towering talent, and the messy and very public off-field personal troubles that have tracked him through the years, Herschelle remains one of South African cricket's best-loved sons. In his own, very frank, words, Herschelle Gibbs chronicles the ups and downs of his personal and professional life, and describes what it's been like to be part of the Proteas set-up for the past fourteen years, through the controversies of its various captains, coaches and administrators. "To the Point" is, of course, a spicy story of excess - women, alcohol, money...and plenty of runs - but underlying it all is a warm and generous man who wears his heart on his sleeve.
One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure
Richard Grady - 2014
Couldn't put it down""a lovely account of real achievement""very well written and funny""an honest and humorous book""really enjoyed following the One Day Ahead team around France"One Day Ahead: A Tour de France MisadventureIt didn't even seem like a good idea when first suggested so how did Richard Grady get hooked into a 5000 kilometre drive around France in a motorhome? Maybe it was the lure of the world's premiere cycle race - The Tour de France - or possibly the desire to help a friend that seduced him but somehow he found himself as a member of the backup team to four riders cycling the Tour route one day ahead of the professional racers.Driving hundreds of kilometres every day, performing a variety of mundane chores and dealing with the vagaries of his travelling companions all combined to create a three week journey he regretted from the start.In this hilarious account Richard relates the misadventures of the 'One Day Ahead' team as they battle with the challenge of cycling the 3,497 km Tour de France route and he and the stalwart Sara battle to give the riders the best possible chance of achieving their goal. Filled with amusing anecdotes and facts this is a fascinating insight into the Tour de France for avid fans and the general reader alike.‘One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure’ was written on the suggestion of his psychologist girlfriend/therapist(!) after Richard struggled for two years to get over the experience. Every book sold helps.Warning: Contains some moaning however this will not be harmful to your health."cracking read and has got me planning my own cycling adventures""a Tour de Force. I admire anyone who takes on a challenge like this""a humorous book with many a chuckle at the woes of the hard done by support team""Richard made you feel like you were actually there & thankful, given some of the situations they got into, that you weren't!""by far the best cycling related book I have read in the last few years. I really did not want it to end"
Unchained: One Woman, One Bike, One Dream... One World
Rubina Soorty - 2019
She is daunted by busy dangerous roads, wild animals and the possibility of getting lost. And yet in 2013, completely unprepared and unsure if she can make it to London 60 miles away, she sets off around-the-world with her bicycle, Percy, and her mother's ashes.Unchained is a deeply personal travelogue about an around-the-world bicycle tour and the journey within. The story gradually unfolds as she crosses beautiful but unfamiliar lands with a fully loaded bicycle whilst struggling with the recent loss of her mother and her feelings of love.Ruby's journey, that takes her cycling across 5 continents, is a story about the ups and downs of the road, the highs and lows of life, trusts and betrayals, the loving kindness of nameless strangers, and a slow realisation of our deep connection with nature and the oneness of humanity. But above all, it is a tale of love.
Rogue Avenger
John R. Monteith - 2005
HE STOLE THEIR SUBMARINE.The accident changed everything… One moment, Lieutenant Jake Slate was going about his duties aboard the ballistic missile submarine, USS Colorado. The next second, he was sprawled on the deck plates in a spreading puddle of blood and hydraulic fluid. But it wasn’t the injury that ruined his life and doomed his military career. It was the rescue effort.Now he’s being thrown to the wolves to cover up the misdeeds of a superior officer, and Jake doesn’t care for the role of sacrificial lamb.Blinded by rage and unsure of his future, he finds himself at the center of a treacherous plot to hijack the Colorado and sell her nuclear warheads to a foreign power. Jake no longer knows who he can trust. He doesn’t know what the future holds. He really only knows one thing. He will have his revenge.Book 1 of the Rogue Submarine Series... Rogue Avenger (2005), Rogue Betrayer (2007), Rogue Crusader (2010), Rogue Defender (2013), Rogue Enforcer (2014), Rogue Fortress (2015), Rogue Goliath (2015), and Rogue Hunter (2016).This novel is part of the Rogue Submarine fiction series, launched in 2005 by John Monteith, a former military officer and naval warfare instructor. Beginning with Rogue Avenger, the books are titled in alphabetical order for ease of reference. Although the stories are best read in sequence, each installation is written for enjoyment as a standalone adventure.
The Rider
Tim Krabbé - 1978
Originally published in the Netherlands in 1978, The Rider became an instant cult classic, selling over 100,000 copies. Brilliantly conceived and written at a breakneck pace, it is a loving, imaginative, and, above all, passionate tribute to the art of bicycle road racing. Not a dry history of the sport, The Rider is beloved as a bicycle odyssey, a literary masterpiece that describes in painstaking detail one 150-kilometer race in a mere 150 pages. We are, every inch of the way, inside amateur biker Tim Krabbé's head as his mind churns at top speed along with his furious peddling. Privy to his every thought-on the glory and vagaries of the sport itself, the weather, the characters and lineage of his rival cyclists, almost hallucinogenic anecdotes about great riders of the past-the book progresses kilometer by kilometer, thought by thought, and the reader is left breathless and exhilarated. A thrillingly realistic look at what it is like to compete in a road race, The Rider is the ultimate book for bike lovers as well as the arm-chair sports enthusiast. Author Biography: Tim Krabbé is one of Holland's leading writers, and his novels are published all over the world. His many books include The Vanishing, which was made into a successful film, and The Cave. He lives in Amsterdam.
When Lions Roared: The Lions, the All Blacks and the Legendary Tour of 1971
Tom English - 2017
No Lions team had ever defeated the All Blacks in a Test series. Since 1904, six Lions sides had travelled to New Zealand and all had returned home with their tails between their legs. But in 1971 a tour party led by John Dawes set out to carve their names into the annals of the sport with their assault on the great bastion of world rugby. Lying in wait were team after team of hardened rugby warriors and an All Blacks side filled with legends of the game. But as the Lions began to sweep their way across the length and breadth of the country, displaying ferocity and magic in equal measure, it became clear that a Test series of epic proportions was set to unfold. When Lions Roared delves into the very heart of that famous summer as Lions, All Blacks and provincial players recount their memories to bring to life one of the most celebrated tours in rugby history - one that changed the game forever and continues to resonate powerfully to this day.
Romi and The Wildfire
Ruskin Bond - 2010
Romi needs to reach home with medicine for his sick father. But the forest he has to travel across has caught fire and is a dangerous place full of falling trees, leaping flames and panicked animals. Will he make his way across safely? Ruskin Bonds classic tale of extraordinary courage comes alive in this special illustrated edition for young readers.
Creatures
Gareth Ellis - 2018
Little did Stanley know that his work at Viruson Technologies, creating a vaccine for a newly discovered virus would have such an impact on himself and the rest of the world. Ten years on, Matt lives in Stanley’s home town of Highfield, UK. Life is hard. Mutated Creatures have begun to appear and terrorise the world and its inhabitants. It’s now up to Matt, his friend Sarah, and Ben, the baddest guy in town, to put an end to the Creatures and to find out what really happened to Stanley Figgis.
Secrets and Promises
Kate Jackson - 2013
But will it cost her all she holds dear?England, 1944: With deadly doodlebugs terrorising London, Bessie Rushbrook agrees to give shelter to eight-year-old evacuee, Marigold, in her Norfolk home. However, the little girl is no random stranger, and Bessie must honour the promise she gave to Marigold’s mother, Grace, and not reveal her connection to the child.Marigold’s arrival stirs up Bessie’s memories from the past when the world was at war for the first time. She is forced to face her actions from those days, and question the haunting secret that she’s long kept hidden.When Grace is injured in London, Bessie makes the heart-wrenching decision to confess her secret, knowing that it could destroy everything she holds dear – her marriage, family and home. Will those who love her understand, and can they forgive her?
Bouch: Through my Eyes
Mark Boucher - 2013
Over a decade later, when Bouch finally retired with a plethora of records under his belt and to huge acclaim from the public, he took grim satisfaction in relating this piece of history. Through my Eyes is the story of a man with remarkable sporting prowess. Born into a sports-mad family in East London, he excelled in squash, tennis and rugby before choosing cricket as his preferred sport. His extraordinary achievements on the field are well known – he was voted SA player of the year in 1998, 2000 and 2006. What is not so well known, and makes up much of this book, are the behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes. Stories of staring down the barrel of defeat and of celebrating victory; of developing strong bonds with teammates Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and others that go way beyond mere friendship. What emerges is the image of a man who always fought for the underdog, whose never-say-die attitude inspires those around him. Bouch’s career was brought to a dramatic end on a cricket pitch in England when the bail of a stump punctured his left eye. But, in his own words, ‘I lost sight but gained vision.’ True to his character of gritty determination, Bouch has rededicated his life to a new cause, that of the environment and particularly the critically endangered rhino.
The Might Have Been
Joseph M. Schuster - 2012
Schuster’s absorbing debut novel resonates with the pull of lifelong dreams, the sting of regret, and the ways we define ourselves against uncertain twists of fate—perfect for fans of Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding. For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he’s still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him. But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career. Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities—a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family—Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players—one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable—who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected. Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might-Have-Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
The Greatest Course That Never Was
J. Michael Veron - 2001
But now, just as Charley is settling down into his budding legal career at a prestigious Atlanta law firm, strange notes clipped to obituaries start to arrive. Curious as to their origin, he tracks down the sender-an old caddie from Augusta National named Moonlight McIntrye-and Charley finds himself drawn into another tangled mystery surrounding a hidden golf course.Driven by his passion for the game and a hunger for the truth, Charley dives into the most riveting, high-stakes mystery yet, another terrific golf story that will entice and delight fans and newcomers alike. Join Charley and Moonlight in their search for The Greatest Course That Never Was.