"To The Edge" by Kirk Johnson is the Badwater book.
Some other s/b/r books from my reading list over the past few years (and short reviews). All the books are here, including a bunch of memoirs I read and some fiction and non-fiction:
http://ironclm.typepad.com/...oklist/archives.html "I met a guy up on that mountain who I grew to like, and do you know who that guy was? That's right, it was me."___Tim Moore, from the book
"French Revolutions....Cycling the Tour de France". GREAT BOOK!!! Laugh out loud funny, and very much in the style of Bill Bryson, if you've read any of his stuff. Moore was what I'd call a couch-potato and decides one day to ride the route of the Tour (2000). He didn't even own a working bike at the time, had never ridden a road bike, used clip-in pedals or owned a proper kit. (And, putting the bike together? No way.) In addition to the story of his ride, he includes some good history of the Tour and makes some of the places come alive. I am now even MORE psyched to go in a few weeks, if that's possible. I very highly recommend this book.
"No Mean Feat" by Mark Inglis.
Impulse purchase in NZ. Great book! About a Kiwi who, with his climbing/work partner), was stranded on Mt. Cook for 13 nights. They were both mountain guides in the national park there and they were rescued, but both had to have both lower legs amputated. The book goes into the aftermath and rehabilitation, and then up to the present (just published this year). Inglis has become an excellent paraolympic athlete and wine maker, who in 2003 is off to a new adventure. Quite the inspirational book.
"The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom" by Slavomir Rawicz.
Excellent book recommended by a guy I met in Kona at the Ironman. In fact, he mailed me his copy when he finished it. It's about a Polish Army guy who escapes with a group of prisoners in 1940-41 from a Russian prison/work camp in Siberia and then their trek thousands of miles to freedom. Totally engrossing.
"Ultimate High--My Everest Odyssey" by Goran Kropp.
Kropp rode his bike 7,000 miles to/from Stockholm to Mt. Everest, attempted the summit and rode back and this is the story of that trip. If I remember correctly, Kropp was killed in the past year or so in a climbing accident.
"The Rider" by Tim Krabbe'
Or, "De Renner", in Dutch. Translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett
This book was originally published in Holland back in the late 1970s and is a cult classic. It's the story of one day, one race and what happens during the race and what goes through the rider's mind during the race. The words rush by at breakneck pace when there is an attack, and then slow down and the rider remembers other days and other races at times when he is sitting in.
There are some great lines in this book and below are some of my favorites. I enjoyed this book a lot, especially as I am going to be doing some bike racing for the first time in January.
"The champions have better bikes, more expensive shoes, many more pairs of cycling shorts than we do, but they have the same roads."
"I ease up a little and shift back to the nineteen. Up on the pedals one more time, back in the saddle. 'OoOo!! OoOo!!' There's something struggling in my head, trying to punch my eyeballs out frmo the inside."
"In interviews with riders that I've read and in conversation I've had with them, the same thing always comes up: the best part was the suffering."
"I think [Charley] Gaul suffered the same way others did, but he enjoyed it more." "Gaul couldn't do without pain: pain was his motor."
clm
Nashville, TN
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