Rough Ride: Behind the Wheel with a Pro Cyclist

Description

Updated edition of one of the classics of cycling and sports literature with a new introduction and new chapters - published to coincide with the 2007 Tour de France coming to London First published in 1990, Rough Ride is one of the greatest books ever written about the life of a professional athlete. Almost twenty years later, Yellow Jersey is publishing an updated edition of this cycling classic, with a new foreword by the author which reflects on his life both inside and outside the sport.Paul Kimmage's boyhood dreams were of cycling glory- wearing the yellow jersey, cycling the Tour de France, becoming a national hero. He knew it wouldn't come easy, but he was prepared to put in the graft- he spent his teenage years cycling an average of 400 miles per week.The dedication began to pay off. As an amateur, he represented his country and finished sixth in the World Championships. In 1986 he turned professional. That's when reality hit. He soon discovered it wasn't about glory and courage, and it wasn't about how much training you put in or how much you wanted to win. It was about gruelling defeats, complete and utter exhaustion, and it was about drugs. Not drugs that would ensure victory, but drugs that would allow you to finish the race and start another day.Paul Kimmage left the sport to write this book. It is a powerful and frank account that breaks the law of silence surrounding the issue of drugs in sport. An eye-opening expose and a heartbreaking lament, it is a book that anyone interested in any sport should read.

Since writing Rough Ride, Paul Kimmage has gone on to become one of the UK and Ireland's most respected sports journalists. Currently chief interviewer for the Sunday Times' sports section, he is also the author of Andy Townsend's autobiography, and of the highly acclaimed Full Time- The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino.

Sent shockwaves through the peloton -- Daniel Friebe * Outdoor Fitness * A devastatingly frank description of life on the professional road cycling circuit, hurtful in its telling of unwelcome truths yet powerful in its capture of what it takes, legally and illegally, to compete -- Mary Perryman * Huffington Post UK * In the wake of the Armstrong affair, you can't move for books about doping, but Kimmage, and ex-pro rider himself, was the first to 'spit in the soup' back in the 1990s... A must read for any cyclist * Cyclist *