22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now I get it!, July 31, 2008
This review is from: Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer (Paperback)
Obviously, from some of the reviews on here, some people don't understand that this book isn't written as an instruction manual for roadies. This is a book for people like me...friend of a roadie trying to understand the lifestyle. Before reading this book, I knew NOTHING about the cycling world. I found the book extremely informative and entertaining at the same time. There is a lot of good information in here and the wit and humor that the author and illustrator used kept me interested. After reading "Roadie" I HAD to see a race in person...perhaps to answer the question "Does this really happen?". Yep, it really happens. And now the world of bike racing has a new supporter. I'm hooked!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Fun!, May 5, 2008
This review is from: Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer (Paperback)
Jamie Smith and Jef Mallett have done a terrific job of explaining the complex (OK, weird) culture of bicycle road racing. They have done this with such good humor that I must warn you, do not read this book while drinking milk. At some point in the book you will not be able to contain yourself and you will make a mess laughing out loud.
Writer Smith takes the reader step by step through the equipment, time consuming training, eating habits and the rest of the near obsessive life style successful bike racing entails. He then segues to cycle racing tactics, the inevitable crashes and how a day at a bicycle race is structured. Along the way he translates the odd language of cycling, clearly defining each word that would be foreign to the person new to the sport.
The book's purpose is to be a guide for those who want to understand that strange fellow with the beer cooler strapped to his head and oddly-shaped shaved legs. He also gives out lots of sage and valuable advice to racers, such as "Another important and powerful action is to find and thank the sponsors for footing the bill for the event [race]. If they are not on-site, then each roadie should write a letter of thanks within the following month." Gosh, if every racer did that, we'd have a rich racing calendar that would make the bike-mad Belgians green with envy.
Jef Mallett, the award-winning creator of the nationally syndicated cartoon "Frazz", illustrates Smith's first-rate text with lots of wonderful pictures. As a roadie himself, Mallett understands cycling, and his cartoons are hilarious because they are spot-on true. Smith gives a detailed explanation of what happens to a rider when he doesn't eat enough. The crippling weakness that occurs when the body can no longer supply the needed food to the muscles is called the "bonk". Mallett's cartoon of a blank- faced, starved rider sitting on the ground with a tow-truck backing up to take him away is perfect. It could only have been drawn by someone who has at least once forgotten to bring along enough chow and wondered if he would make it home.
Smith says every rider has a "bonk" story and the memory of that misery is etched indelibly in his memory. He got that right! 20 years ago I was stuck 10 miles from home and came upon some tomatoes by the side of the road that a harvesting truck had spilled while going around a corner. Those were the best tomatoes I ever ate and they got me home.
I'm not sure if it's better that Smith and Mallett have shown that my own shaved-legged, loner, obsessive life isn't all that rare or that I'm really in a looney bin with a bunch of other crazed people who can be spotted a mile away because of the odd tans that wearing bike clothing causes.
In any case, get and read this book. I recommend it not only to those interested in the roadie (bicycle road racer) life. It is also a good refresher course for any racer on the ins and outs of cycling. And it's funny as all get-out.
-Bill McGann, author of "The Story of the Tour de France"
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST buy book to aid your cycling enabler, April 25, 2008
This review is from: Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer (Paperback)
If you have ever struggled to explain why you ride your bike, why you race, why you shave your legs, why anyone would drive 4 hours to race for one hour, and what's the motivation to your madness to friends and family, then this is the book for you!
I wish all of my ex-girlfriends, as well as a few of my ex-wives, and all of my former in-laws had read it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
