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I learned things about professional cycling, but I also wanted to shake the author sometimes. No one cares what you ate for breakfast!! We don't care about you - we read this book because we wanted to know what Lance ate for breakfast.
It's hard to not appreciate what journalists must go through when covering the three grand cycling tours of Europe, especially the largest Tour de France. Add to that the announced retirement of the sport's most successful Tour de France rider in history and the coverage of the event is even greater. It's more than three weeks of every day starting in one place, then having to travel 100 or so miles away to beat really fast cyclists through traffic of centuries-old towns and villages if you want...
Loved this book! Dugard is a terrific writer who is an admirer (but not a hero-worshipper) of Lance. The most enjoyable parts of the book for me were not about Lance but about the author's description of his experience of France and the French people he encountered during the Tour de France. He is insightful and poetic at the same time, and he includes both personal comments along with observations about cultural and artistic aspects of life in France. He definitely does not glamorize the schlep...
This book was really a combination of sport book, travel book, and motivational book, and this makes sense given the story - Lance Armstrong's successful attempt to win his seventh Tour de France. The author made an interesting choice, to spend many pages on each of the first stages of the race, then covering the final half dozen stages over a couple of pages total. It is written as the race is described, a bit anti-climactic after the mountains. I read this over a period of months, a few pages
Good casual book about the 2005 Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's attempt to win 7 times. It was filled with great Tour details, historical references and tidbits about the authors travels while covering the Tour. Very interesting; I learned more about the Tour than I had know when I started the book even though I have followed the Tour over several years. Some of the information was basics, but that is understandable since it's a book for many audiences.
If you read this book hoping for a tell-all about Lance & drugs you'll be disappointed, but if you want insight into professional bike racing & the Tour de France, this is very good. Well written with a lot of inside information about personalities as well as how the Tour works & what watching in person is like.
So interesting! I did not know much about cycling or the Tour de France before I read this but now I'm really looking forward to watching this year's race on TV. This book was a little bit cycling history, French/world history, Lance Armstrong biography, a behind the scenes look at the Tour and overall an entertaining and inspiring story.
This book seems to be more about the author's time in France rather than about Lance. Lacking the objectivity of a sports reporter (a sad statement in and of itself). For a much better book about Lance and The Tour de France, try 23 Days in July.
Good book even if you are a little done with the whole Lance drug thing. Such a good read to know what it's like to follow Le Grand Boucle. As others have said, this is partly a cycling book and partly a guide book to traveling around France, in this case, Chasing Lance.
Did not read, put in it in my too be read pile by mistake
I really liked this book. It was part-travelogue, part-biography and part-sports book, following Lance Armstrong on his record breaking seventh tour win.
Some cool facts about the Tour de France.
Nice combination of history, local flavor, and the excitement of Lance's final Tour.
great biography
a good read in itself shame that it turned out to be fantasy by way of lance anyway but well written
Very quick read, really liked it. Not as much about Lance as it is about Dugard's experience following Lance on his last Tour victory.