Sport Cycling

Fra Coppi og Bartali til Vingegaard og Pogacar fra 1940’erne til 2020’erne, fortæller Jørgen Leth de seneste firs års cykelhistorie. “Jeg lægger det ind i cykelløbene, som jeg ser. Det er min historie. Cykelrytterne kører på cykel. De kører fra et sted til et andet. De kører op, og de kører ned. Den, der kommer først, har vundet. Undervejs sker der nogle ting. Så enkelt er det. Ud af disse enkle hændelser træder personer, som ser direkte ud af billederne i et forsøg på at lave noget uventet. Vi er klar til at se det og indramme det. Det bliver billeder i en ramme."

This telling of the 2023 Tour de France is an addition to our two-volume The Story of the Tour de France: How a Newspaper Promotion Became the Greatest Sporting Event in the World, and four supplements.

For 60 minutes this summer, the British public stopped what they were doing, switched on their radios and their TVs, refreshed their Twitter feeds, and followed Bradley Wiggins' attempt to break one of sport's most gruelling records: The Hour. The premise is simple enough: how far can you cycle in one hour? But it is thought to be one of the toughest events an athlete can endure, both physically and psychologically. Eddy Merckx, cycling's über-champ, called it the hardest thing he ever did.

With cities across the country adding miles of bike lanes and building bike-share stations, bicycling is enjoying a new surge of popularity in America. It seems that every generation or two, Americans rediscover the freedom of movement, convenience, and relative affordability of the bicycle. The earliest two-wheeler, the draisine, arrived in Philadelphia in 1819 and astonished onlookers with the possibility of propelling themselves "like lightning".

Ned Boulting has noticed something. It's to do with bikes. They're everywhere. And so are their riders. Some of these riders seem to be sporting sideburns and a few of them are winning things. Big things. Now Ned wants to know how on earth it came to this. And what, exactly is 'this'. In On the Road Bike, Ned Boulting asks how Britain became so obsessed with cycling. Ned’s search puts him in contact with some of the wonderful and wonderfully idiosyncratic people who have contributed to this nation’s two-wheeled history.

This authorised biography places Maurice Burton at the forefront of the British sporting narrative as a pioneer in our collective cultural history. It traces his experiences as the child of a Windrush-generation father and an English mother growing up in London, before moving across to the European six-day circuit, and his eventual return to South London in 1984, where he became a successful business owner and community leader.

Bike Girl Magic is an essential guide full of useful insights and resources that will demystify cycling concepts and give riders the tools they need to succeed. This is a book full of all of the things we wish we knew when we started cycling. It’s everything you’ll need to be an informed cyclist and enjoy your new riding experience, packed into a neat little guide. You'll find tips on how to choose a bike and shop, change a flat, fit a helmet over your natural hair, what to wear and so much more!

Bill Strickland believed he was cursed. No matter how secure his life outwardly seemed, the happiness he had attained with his wife and daughter hung by a thread, threatened by the monster Bill lived in constant fear of, a demon inside him that had been created by horrific childhood abuse.

Endurance athlete Heather Mason takes her bike on the official 20 Vermont Ski Slopes in a self-recounted first-recorded world-record summit attempt. An accomplished athlete; listen along as she describes firsthand the 62 hours that unfolded in late September 2020. With only three hours per mountain and a drive around the entire state of Vermont, this is a must-hear tale of a journey for anyone who has ever thought about pushing their physical extremes.

Except for the two world wars, the Tour has been run annually since that 1903 race, and yearly addendums seem the best way to keep telling the story. So please join us as we go on the 107th trip around La Belle France. Let’s see how those new faces of the 2019 Tour did in 2020.

Pélissier, ganador del Tour de 1923, protestaba contra la dureza del reglamento: "Pronto nos colocarán plomo en los bolsillos". El pequeño Robic, ganador del 47, se cargaba de plomo para bajar más rápido. El sufrimiento que impone el Tour es de plomo, pero también lo es el empeño de los ciclistas. ¡Descubre los bastidores del Tour de Francia, sus personajes, giros históricos y sus más célebres anécdotas en este audiolibro!

Robert Penn ha montado en bicicleta casi todos los días de su vida. La utiliza para ir a trabajar, para darse baños de aire y sol, para mantenerse sano y para sentirse libre. Este es el relato de su historia de amor con el ciclismo y del viaje que emprendió para construir la bicicleta de sus sueños, un desenfrenado peregrinaje que lo conduce de inventores de bicicletas de montaña californianos a constructores de cuadros artesanales británicos.

Americans have been riding bikes for more than a century now. So why are most American cities still so ill-prepared to handle cyclists? James Longhurst, a historian and avid cyclist, tackles that question by tracing the contentious debates between American bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians over the shared road. Bike Battles explores the different ways that Americans have thought about the bicycle through popular songs, merit badge pamphlets, advertising, films, newspapers, and sitcoms.

Did you know that BMX street riders do awesome tricks using objects you might see in a city park? These daring athletes slide down handrails with their grinds. They bunny hop up curbs and onto benches. They twist their bikes all the way around in 360° spins.

How does a sheet of plastic become a soccer ball? Follow each step in the process - from strengthening the plastic to boxing up a brand new ball - in this fascinating book!

Did you know that the top BMX vert riders can race up and down ramps to show off awesome stunts like no-handed 900-degree aerial spins? They can rotate their bikes two and a half times while airborne. They do moves such as cliffhangers and tailwhips, wowing fans and judges alike.

How does steel become a shiny new bicycle? Follow each step in the process - from shaping the steel to testing the finished bike - in this fascinating book!

Pélissier, ganador del Tour de 1923, protestaba contra la dureza del reglamento: "Pronto nos colocarán plomo en los bolsillos". El pequeño Robic, ganador del 47, se cargaba de plomo para bajar más rápido. El sufrimiento que impone el Tour es de plomo, pero también lo es el empeño de los ciclistas. ¡Descubre los bastidores del Tour de Francia, sus personajes, giros históricos y sus más célebres anécdotas en este audiolibro!

A book like no other, Paul Fournel’s Need for the Bike conducts listeners into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling - from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist.

This telling of the 2019 Tour de France is a supplement to our two-volume The Story of the Tour de France. Volume one told the story of the Tour's origins and each edition of the race from 1903 through 1975. The 2019 edition was filled with surprises with young riders taking control of the race. Every day had something happen that confounded the experts. The winner did not emerge until Mother Nature surprised everyone in late July with snow and ice. With just three stages to go, mud, hail, and ice on an Alpine road changed everything.