Rule #6: Free your mind and your legs will follow.THE VELOMINATI embrace cycling not as a pastime, but as a way of life, as obsessed with style, heritage, authenticity and wisdom as with performance.Rule #9: If you cycle in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.THE RULES is their Bible. It is an essential part of every cyclist's arsenal - whether you're grudgingly cycling to work in the rain or gearing up to be the next Bra...

It's time we all stopped whining and learned a thing or two from The Toughest Cyclists Ever. Including:Stephen Roche, whose cure for exhaustion was to go up a gear and fight harder, all the way to the ambulance. Eddy Merckx, who hurt himself so badly in breaking the Hour record that, he estimated, he shortened his career by a year. Beryl Burton, who crushed her (male) rival's morale with the offer of a piece of liquorice, before speeding past to victory. Nicole Cooke and E...

The inside story of Team Sky's challenge for the 2013 Tour de France.After the victory of Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky in the 2012 Tour de France, the pressure was on the team to repeat their success in 2013. When Wiggins had to pull out of the defence of his yellow jersey, attention moved to Chris Froome, who had finished as runner-up the year before. Could he bring about back-to-back victories fo...

'Beautiful, an instant classic, a poignant voyage through Barry's love for cycling and the turmoil he lived through because of it.' DAVID MILLARIn Shadows on the Road, Michael Barry explores the dreams and passions of cycling in this moving and controversial account of life at the heart of the Peloton, from the one day classics to the Tour de France, from US Postal to Team Sky.In 2012, veteran cyclist Michael Barry announced his re...

FROM GERAINT THOMAS, WINNER OF THE 2018 TOUR DE FRANCELike no other cycling book, from no other rider - Britain's cycling star shares his unique take on the world of cyclingSit back or saddle up as double Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champion Geraint Thomas gives you a warts and all insight into the life of a pro cyclist. Along the way he reveals cycling's clandestine codes and secret stories, tales from the peloton, the key ch...

A fascinating and funny investigation into cyclists' incessant pursuit of speed by one of the sport's top professionals.For professional cyclists, going faster and winning are, of course, closely related. Yet surprisingly, for many, a desire to go faster is much more important than a desire to win. Someone who wants to go faster will work at the details and take small steps rather than focusing on winning. Winning just happens when you do everything right – it's th...

Few British schoolchildren of the seventies can have been as obsessed with the Tour de France as William Fotheringham, who smuggled copies of Miroir du Cyclisme into lessons to read inside his books. He saw the Tour for the first time in 1984, avidly following that year's race on television in the Normandy village where he lived.Since joining the Guardian in 1989, William Fotheringham has been at the forefront of British cycling journalism. Here he reflects on the...

With a new Afterword.Lance Armstrong won a record-smashing seven Tour de France yellow jerseys after staring down cancer, and in the process became an international symbol of resilience and courage. In a sport constantly dogged by blood doping scandals, Armstrong seemed above the fray. Never had cycling - or any sport-boasted such a charismatic and accomplished champion.Then, in the summer of 2012, the legend imploded. The rumors that had long dogged Armstr...

The hottest sprinter in the world - TelegraphMark Cavendish is the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France's green jersey, the first to wear the iconic rainbow jersey in almost 50 years and our only ever rider to capture the Giro d'Italia points title. He is the most prolific sprinter in the Tour's history, and - according to L'Equipe - the best sprinter of all time. But smashing records and racking up victories means whole new levels of fame: and ...

Trading on the sterling reputation that enabled him to survive a widely publicized doping confession, American cyclist “Big George” Hincapie—a record seventeen-time Tour de France participant, Olympian, and key witness in the Lance Armstrong doping case—offers an insightful account of his esteemed career and a sports era defined by performance-enhancing drug use.In this highly anticipated cycling memoir, Big George Hincapie provides the most comprehensive account of a dark period i...

The intimate biography of the charismatic Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, now u****pdated to include the 2014 and 2015 investigation into Pantani's death.National Sporting Club Book of the YearShortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award'An exhaustively detailed and beautiful book . . . a fitting, ambivalent tribute - to the man, and to the dark heart of the sport he loved' Independent

This is the first issue of the Bicycle Reader, a new collection of quality writing about cycling. Two thoughts inspired us to start this collection.The first is that there is a great deal of brilliant article and essay-length writing about cycling that remains inaccessible to most readers. Some of it languishes out of print. Other pieces appeared in publications read by only a tiny minority of cyclists.The second is that eBook readers are the natural companion of cyclists. ...