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 enlarge | Author: Jamie Smith
Creator: Jef Mallett
Publisher: VeloPress
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $13.19
You Save: $8.76 (40%)
New (15) Used (6) from $13.19
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 21594
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 1934030171
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.62
EAN: 9781934030172
ASIN: 1934030171
Publication Date: March 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book! August 29, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was a very funny read. I am a racer myself and loved the book. This book is even better for friends and family who do not fully understand what is means to be a racer. Very light read, easy to get through, funny, all around awesome book!
Now go buy it!
 Decent, with flaws August 4, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm a recreational cyclist (70-80 miles/week), so I picked this up to see if I could gain some insight into the races I enjoyed watching. I found the information to be comprehensive in scope but lacking in depth. The author perhaps could have devoted more time to equipment and tactics, rather then superficial topics such as how many people you can get into a hotel room. Having said that, the book was decent but I continuously found myself put off by two themes the author kept repeating.
-Cycling is "better" than any other sport, bikers worker "harder" than other athletes, etc. Aside from just the silliness of this argument (how can one sport be better than another; do bikers really work harder than marathon runners, mountain climbers, football players in August, etc?), the constant need to do this comes across as insecure. Biking is cool enough on its own, no need to try so hard.
-Roadies are mavericks, flaunting society's norms, rebels, etc. Any hard core athletes will find themselves different from other people, that's just the nature of intense training and the things people need to do and buy to participate in the sport. Apart from that, biking and bikers seem to impose conformity more so than in other sports. All bikers wear the same kind of clothes, accessories are adopted en-mass by bikers, and conforming to the group's norms seem more important here than say, in baseball. For example, he lists the reasons for shaving one's legs; so that others know you are hard core roadie. Looking at a peloton or group of superior riders, you see the individuality lost in a haze of identical helmets, glasses and apparel, even for recreational bikers. Bikers in general seem to come from a very narrow slice of the demographic pie; white, male, relatively well off and educated. Not exactly a group of individualist mavericks.
I liked the drawings.
Now I get it! August 1, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
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!
 I won't buy this book July 22, 2008
0 out of 18 found this review helpful
I love cycling and read and own lots of cycling books, but this one puts me right off. First of all, what's the idea of having a silly comic-book cover for a hopefully serious book about cycling? Secondly, from the reviews that I've seen of people who have read the book, it sounds more like a joke book than a cycling book: "couldn't stop laughing", etc., etc. I don't mind laughing and jokes, don't get me wrong. In fact "Laughter is the best medicine" is one of great truths of all time. But what's that got to do with cycling? Breaking your back up a massive climb (Alpe d'Huez tomorrow!) or - the one I'm more familiar with - busting a gut trying to hang on to the back of the bunch hardly seems to have anything to do with laughing. Sorry about this book, which could probably have been very interesting, but I take my cycling seriously
From a roadie himself... July 18, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I don't race, but I'm an avid roadie and bike mechanic. This is a great book for friends and relatives who frequently ask, "Why do you spend so much time riding a bike?" Whether serious to build a relationship and mutual understanding or as a humerous conversation piece, it would make a great gift...to cyclists of all levels (to have a greater appreciation of the competitive realm) or noncyclists who are close to cyclists. It is easy to read without getting too technical, it has humor infused throughout, the sidebar boxes are great but not distracting, and Mallet's cartoon's are classic (I've been a fan of Frazz for years).
One has to have a connection to cycling to fully appreciate it, but it is a worthy read.
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