Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100 (Paperback)

by Roy M. Wallack (Author), Bill Katovsky (Author) "BIKE FOR LIFE's agenda is simple: wouldn't you like to ride a century when you turn a century?..." (more)
Key Phrases: poor bike fit, proper bike fit, internal flotation, Tour de France, San Diego, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A great, funny page-turner that you simply don’t expect. -- MICHAEL FRANK, Deputy Editor, Bicycling and Mountain Bike

Bike for Life could be the most important book in your life. -- SAL RUIBAL, USA Today cycling writer

What a great book! -- STEVE BOEHMKE, Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee

Product Description
Do you want to ride to 100? Bike for Life!

Ride a century when you turn a century. That’s the promise offered by nationally-known bicycle journalists Roy M. Wallack and Bill Katovsky in Bike for Life, a blueprint for using cycling to achieve longevity, fitness, and overall well-being. America’s largest participatory sport combines physical and mental challenges, relaxation, achievement, adventure, and social interaction as it unifies different generations and demographics in fitness and fun. To get the most our of your riding time, steer clear of the sport's potholes, and enjoy a long lifetime of fitness, Bike for Life's comprehensive plan includes:

• Cutting-edge training strategies for best-ever fitness at any age • An anti-aging strength plan to revive muscularity and reaction time • An exclusive 10-step cycling-specific yoga routine • How to beat common injuries like Cyclist’s Knee and Biker’s Back • Famous coaches’ climbing, cornering, handling and eating tips • A cure for cycling-related sexual problems in men and women • 16 ways to stop the scary cycling-osteoporosis connection • List of must-do hill climbs, mass city rides, and cross-state events • Rx for Relationships: Reconciling cycling and significant others • How to survive mountain lions, bike-jackers, poison ivy, headwinds, & more

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569244510
• ISBN-13: 978-1569244517
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for All Cyclers, February 24, 2006

By	Zorana Bakovic - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one the best book I have read about biking, and I actually still read it almost every day, checking out different aspects related to cycling - health issues, nutrition advises, and especially exercises and stretching before and after every ride. The book answers almost all of my questions, and considering the fact that I am a women and over 50, but still very ambitious to get better on the road, I find it so very useful - I could say necessary.

The only thing lacking in the book are photos or at least drawings in the chapters on exercises and yoga for cyclers. Maybe it is just me, but only reading the text-descriptions is not enough. Despite that, I would highly recommend the book to all cyclers, regardless of age. I learn enormously from it!

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lotta bang for the buck, November 19, 2005

By	sportfit.com "sportfit.com" (los angeles, ca) - See all my reviews

Bike for Life reads like a lifestyle magazine, categorized by topics designed to pique interest but follows up with depth reserved only for the New York Times or National Geographic. The authors know how to take a position without turning it into religion. Completing a Century ride on your 100th birthday appears within reach, but maybe not if your only activity is cycling.

It's likely that if you're a cyclist or triathlete you've already read both authors, Roy Wallack and Bill Katovsky. Both have been fixtures in the publishing world for years. In fact, Katovsky started Triathlete and Inside Triathlon, and Wallack was one of Triathlete's premier editors. You'll likely recognize each of their distinctive literary voices from chapter to chapter, and feel a pleasant familiarity not unlike the sense you get when James Earl Jones's voice shows up in a commercial. At once you feel at ease.

Simply, Bike for Life posits that cycling is an integral part of longevity but not a panacea. While aerobic fitness can be maximized riding, even into our golden years, other aspects of fitness and bicycling must be addressed. Strength training and flexibility fill in the gaps of cycling's physiological deficiencies. The right bike fit solves the hand, wrist,neck, back, foot and numb nethers issues plaguing many of us, which, if ignored either kill the enjoyment or take us off the bike altogether. And, cycling related benefits notwithstanding, this book is a user's manual for us all, cyclists or otherwise, because it details a cornucopia of secrets to long term health and fitness. It's like having all of those pertinent articles that we read and wanted to save (but never did) compiled and organized for our periodic reference.

Not only, entertaining interviews introduce us to legendary, mature riders who, whether setting records or just climbing into the saddle, embody an ideal, inspiring confidence in our own future, by their achievement, while their peers sidle up to canes and walkers. The authors' personal experiences aim their book squarely at you and me, recreational riders and age-group competitors who want to milk as much fulfillment and adventure as we can from our time turning the cranks. For what it's worth, I took the 34 mile, 10,000 ft. Haleakela volcano (on Maui, HI) climb challenge right off the pages of Bike for Life, essentially at Roy's behest. Now I have indelible imprints of a 4 hour ride from Mayberry to Mars that'll keep me company long as my memory remains - at least 'til my 100th birthday.

There's at least one typographical error. Spinal erectors - those muscles running the length of our vertebral column - are mis-described as spiny erectors. This bothered me - one who's found errors in the Webster's Third International Dictionary (really) - but probably not anyone else.

Bike for Life is a great read, a great reference tool and a great gift - I've given away a half dozen copies so far. As a triathlon coach, personal trainer and avid reader I recommend this book.



Christopher Drozd
Beverly Hills, CA

[Disclosure: I'm featured in this book, but receive no compensation from the authors or publisher. I bought all of the copies I gave away. Further, it took me over six months to get around to writing any sort of review.]

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CAN'T PUT IT DOWN, May 31, 2005

By	Octavio Tortosa (SAN ANTONIO TEXAS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

CAN'T PUT IT DOWN

I bought this book because I personally connect with its theme of "Ride a century when you turn a century." I am 42 and plan on another 50 or 60 years of hammering, so the longevity info interested me. That info is thorough, well-researched and, in some cases, groundbreaking. But more than that, it is AN INCREDIBLY FUN, READABLE BOOK THAT I CAN'T PUT DOWN. Just leafing randomly through the book, your eye catches on something and you end up reading for an hour without even knowing it. Why? A unique format. Bike for Life is actually TWO BOOKS IN ONE:

1) One of the best bike-training/longevity research books I've seen. Includes good descriptions of expected topics: climbing tips , anti-impotence tips, a strong case for cross-training. Particularly illuminating is some surprising, cutting-edge I hadn't heard of: the link between cycling and osteoporosis; using rapid-contraction weight-lifting to spur Human Growth Hormone production; the 5-to-1 "relationship ratio". Had I known some of the latter five years ago, it might have saved my marriage. Seriously.

2) Next, every chapter in Bike for Life is separated by a huge INTERVIEW WITH A CYCLING CELEBRITY; all are fascinating reads. The one with John Howard, the great US cyclist of the 70s, is riviting, as are those of Johhny G, the founder of Spinning, Mike Sinyard, the president of Specialized, John Sinabaldi, a 90-year-old former olympic rider of the 1930's who rides 30 miles per day, and one unknown, but strangely magnetic, fellow named Rich "The Reverend" White. (At first, I didn't like the idea of one of the authors, Roy Wallack, lumping an obvious friend of his with the stars, but it turned out to be a fascinating read. I want to meet the guy) Big names like Missy Giove, Ned Overend, Jim Ochowitz, Eddy B -- all great interviews that taught me a lot about fitness and riding. They alone are worth the [very reasonable] price of the book.

Each interview takes about 45 minutes to read, On top of those, Bike for Life is filled with other human stories, too; many personality profiles of average, extraordinary people infunny, dramatic, instructive stories of success and failure. That includes the two authors themselves, whose in-the-trenches stories of extreme rides they've done over the years actually made me laugh out loud a few times. Both are excellent writers. It was interesting to compare the sensitive, cerebral, vulnerable, weaker-riding Bill Katovsky with the aggressive, in-your-face, go-for-broke anecdotes of lead author Wallack, who supplies some surprisingly sensitive touches himself.

I've never written a book review before, but I could go on and on about Bike for Life. In summation: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK.