It's Not About the Bike


Lance Armstrong
TBD Publisher and Year
I think I own it, but I'm not sure where it is or its library call number
Or its ISBN
Link to Book: Barnes & Noble

Rating:
Date Reviewed: Feb 2007, but I read it a couple years ago.
Reviewed By: Foo
Comments: This is Lance's story of his early career as a triathlete (single mom, etc.), then his successful, but not overwhelming biking career, followed by his bout with cancer, and his eventual return and success in biking the tour de France.

I guess it's sort of interesting, but Idunno. His description of cancer and therapy is the first I'd ever read. I understand cancer a lot better now. He made a special point of dissing the team that used to sponsor him (can't remember which team). They sent a guy to evaluate his cancer, who dumped him on the spot. Lance was kind of bitter about it.

Lance was kind of an asshole of a competitor in his younger days. But I guess that's the way of the world. Those driven enough to be the best usually sacrifice just about everything else, including social graces. I'd say he's still got a lot of that in him, the Livestrong foundation not withstanding.

Well, if you wanna understand Lance and his motivation a little better, this book may help. But it won't help you be a better biker. I mean, the guy just has natural (biological) ability. He popped the NY Marathon with only a 13 mile run as his longest and still managed under 3 hours. I've been training much better than that for 4 years and I can still only get a 3:30 as my best. This book does not describe how to bike or train in a way that will help you. And I think it could do a lot better job of describing some of his more exciting biking duels. But no.