Book Review - Lance Armstrong's War by Daniel Coyle
Category Book Reviews
Like many others, I'm not a bike racer but I'm fascinated by the Tour and the Lance Armstrong story. My copy of Lance Armstrong's War by Daniel Coyle finally came into the library, and it's an inside look as to what's it's like to be part of "Planet Armstrong" for three weeks in July...
Coyle spent a great deal of time with Lance and his Postal team leading up to the 2004 Tour De France. His access to the "inner circle" allowed him to detail what went into Lance's training, his motivation and mindset, and how each of his main competitors were setting up to dethrone Armstrong. You also see how personally Lance takes the attempts to link him to doping and cheating, and how his story plays out in other countries and cultures. Americans love him, French people seem to look for a reason to drag him down, and the Basques just dislike anyone but their own... :)
To me, the book really portrayed the physical demand and agony of cycling. How riders push themselves hard and out "on the razor"... that thin line between being at your peak and going catabolic. And while the physical grind can't be ignored, the mental aspect is just as critical (if not more so). If you can dominate your opponent in an area where he expected to perform well, you can break him mentally in such a way that you don't have to bother with him again. There was a lot of that in the 2004 Tour, and Coyle documents it all.
If you're at all interested in the Tour and Lance, this is a book that you need to read. Entertaining, fascinating, and a look at Lance from someone other than Lance himself...
Like many others, I'm not a bike racer but I'm fascinated by the Tour and the Lance Armstrong story. My copy of Lance Armstrong's War by Daniel Coyle finally came into the library, and it's an inside look as to what's it's like to be part of "Planet Armstrong" for three weeks in July...
Coyle spent a great deal of time with Lance and his Postal team leading up to the 2004 Tour De France. His access to the "inner circle" allowed him to detail what went into Lance's training, his motivation and mindset, and how each of his main competitors were setting up to dethrone Armstrong. You also see how personally Lance takes the attempts to link him to doping and cheating, and how his story plays out in other countries and cultures. Americans love him, French people seem to look for a reason to drag him down, and the Basques just dislike anyone but their own... :)
To me, the book really portrayed the physical demand and agony of cycling. How riders push themselves hard and out "on the razor"... that thin line between being at your peak and going catabolic. And while the physical grind can't be ignored, the mental aspect is just as critical (if not more so). If you can dominate your opponent in an area where he expected to perform well, you can break him mentally in such a way that you don't have to bother with him again. There was a lot of that in the 2004 Tour, and Coyle documents it all.
If you're at all interested in the Tour and Lance, this is a book that you need to read. Entertaining, fascinating, and a look at Lance from someone other than Lance himself...
| Permalink |
