Book Review: Hell on Two Wheels: Buy it, Read it, Enjoy it.

Amy Snyder's new book, Hell on Two Wheels, is a thoroughly enjoyable account of the 2009 edition of the Race Across America (RAAM). Having followed the 2009 race pretty closely through RAAM and racer blogs, it was amazing to learn about the race and the racers from an entirely different and more intimate perspective.

While I don't want to race RAAM any more than I did before reading the book, I also don't want to race it any less, which was the impact that viewing the film "Bicycle Dreams" had on me when it first came out. The book focuses less on the suffering and tragedy of the race and more on the personalities and idiosyncrasies of the racers. Snyder also does a great job of documenting the context and history of RAAM, which promises to make the book accessible and interesting to an uninitiated, general audience.

My only complaint, really, is that Snyder's prose could have benefited from more aggressive editing as there is some senseless repetition in some areas. Nearly every time one South African racer is discussed, for instance, she is referred to as an "uber-athlete." Once would have been enough. That said, the account really is a page-turner and Snyder succeeds in conquering what she describes as a "diabolically difficult" task from a journalistic perspective with her subjects spread out over 3,000 miles over the course of two weeks. One of my favorite aspects of the book comes at the end when Snyder follows up a year after the race with participants and shares their reflections on the experience which are fascinating.

Hell on Two Wheels provides readers with an intimate and sensitive account of the world's toughest endurance challenge. It should be read by all who are interested in endurance sports and the frontier of human performance.

Eat, Sleep, Ride. The Tour Divide from my Armchair

"Enjoy the suffering; pain is only weakness leaving the body." Paul Howard.

After reading Run! by Dean Karnazes, I noticed another title pop it's head up in my list of Kindle book recommendations: Eat, Sleep, Ride (or How I Braved Bears, Badlands and Big Breakfasts in my Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide) by Paul Howard. Boy, am I glad I downloaded this title and read it right away.

Howard's account of his attempt to race the 2009 edition of the Tour Divide, the 2700-mile race from Banff Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, was quite illuminating and enjoyable to read. It was also surprising in several ways. First, while a mammoth test of endurance for sure, the Tour Divide is definitely not RAAM.  Racers must be completely self-supported and literally forage for food at convenience stores, restaurants and elsewhere along the way and no one has crew support of any kind. The racers chronicled in this book also seemed to be getting plenty of sleep. In fact, Howard describes front and rear lights so lame that night riding itself seems not to be part of his plan. It may be more important to someone like six-time winner Matthew Lee whose time is significantly better than Howard's, but this is not something we'll learn from this book.

The description of the Tour Divide in Eat, Sleep, Ride makes the event sound much more like a randonee than a race. Randonneurs will recognize their own experience's in passages such as this: "we were no longer racing in the sense of competing against others - everyone was either too far behind to catch us, or more commonly, too far ahead to be caught - we were, in spite of occasional appearances to the contrary, [simply] intent on making it to the finish as quickly as possible."

All in all, this book was engaging and Howard's understated British humor and sense of irony was quite  entertaining. Like most endurance epics, it inspired me to get out and ride, just not 2700 miles along the spine of the American Rockies. We're in luck, though; because the start of the 2011 Tour Divide is less than two weeks away. On June 10, over 75 riders will begin their epic tour and the TD website will broad their stories and locations for all the world to follow. 

Tragedy, loss and recovery in "The Long Run"

And I thought I had it bad! There's nothing more humbling than reading a story about someone who's had a far more serious accident and grueling recovery. In The Long Run, NYC firefighter, bar owner and endurance athlete, Matt Long describes how a terrible bike accident in 2005 cut short his plans to run the Boston Marathon, but did not stop him from fighting his way back to run again. I should explain from the start that I'm a sucker for tragic-adventure memoirs. Into Thin Air, Between a Rock and a Hard Place and Off the Wall sit prominently on my book shelf and films like "Grizzly Man" and "Into the Wild" are listed among my Netflix favorites. That said, I did not love this book.

Matt's story is surely an inspirational one. Pinned beneath a 40-ton bus while commuting to work on his bike in mid-town Manhattan, Long was impaled by his seat post and lost a tremendous amount of blood while severely damaging several vital organs and destroying quite a few important bones and muscles. It is nothing short of amazing that he is now able to run again after 40 surgeries and years of rehabilitation. Co-written with a professional writer, it is still far too rambling a tale. His editor should have taken a more aggressive surgical approach. Long's story of recovery includes far too much reflection on his macho life as a firefighter and not enough detail on his incredible rehabilitation for my taste. As a result, readers are not able to fully appreciate and savor all that Matt has gone through in his remarkable journey.

My reading of this book is admittedly idiosyncratic. Like Matt, I was hit by a car while cycling and have spent a great deal of time in hospitals and physical therapy unsure that I would ever be able to become the athlete I once was. While my injuries were nowhere near as severe as Matt's, his book leaves me hungry for details about the healing and recovery process. Unfortunately, Matt neglects to devote any time at all to some of the sad realities of what takes up much of a recovering athletes time after a serious injury. Where are the countless hours spent arguing with insurance companies over bills that keep piling up? How does he find the time to exercise again with work, family and therapy demands pressing in? Where does all the money come from to subsidize his recovery? One imagines that Long received a juicy insurance settlement and perhaps a healthy disability package from the FDNY to help smooth things out financially, but we'll never know as he has chosen not to share this aspect of the recovery process with his readers.

Perhaps the most disappointing point in the book for me was Long's decision to sue the Transit Workers Union for holding an illegal strike that caused him to cycle to work on that cold winter's day in 2005. Give me a break, Matt. After all you've been though, you really hold the union responsible for what happened? I would have expected more from the son of the NYS Conservative Party chairman. Luckily, the judge threw the case out before Long could become an embodiment of the need for tort reform as well.

If you're interested in Long's story, you might do yourself a favor and read the great 2009 Runner's World article that also includes six short videos on the magazine's website.

Form, function AND fashion: the NY Times trainer review

Well, I suppose the "Fashion & Style" section of the NY Times is about the last place I'd think to look for gear advice, but mom sent me a link to a review of indoor trainers this week so I took a peek to see what's hot these days. I was happy to discover that the 26 year-old "amateur triathlete" gave my trainer top honors.  My Cycle-Ops Fluid II trainer is a few generations behind the current model, but the design hasn't changed much in the past few years.

What the review does not discuss is the wonderful customer service I've come to expect from Saris Cycles, the company that manufactures Cycle-Ops trainers. This was reaffirmed for me again recently when I called to report that my trainer had sprung a slight leak in the "fluid" department. By the time I finished explaining the problem, a new cylinder was in a box on its way to my doorstep. Within a week, I had swapped out the old drum, sent it back and was rolling like new. All for the price of return shipping. That's some warranty! The only trouble is with all the new pressure in the drum, my revitalized trainer is about one gear harder to pedal!

I enjoyed a 30-mile loop on my single speed today and, good trainer or not, it was great to get out on the open roads. Next Sunday it's the Catskill Climbfest 200K permanent and I can't wait!

Book Review: Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne

Bicycle Diaries is not a book about randonneuring. Bicycle Diaries is not a book about ultra-cycling. Bicycle Diaries is not really even a book about cycling at all. Bicycle Diaries is a collection of essays by former Talking Heads front man David Byrne reflecting upon his travels around the globe and his observations of art and society in which the bicycle plays a principal role.

Byrne uses his bicycle as his primary means of transport through the streets of New York City. As a former Brooklynite myself, I instantly understand the appeal of urban cycling and miss seeing the city over the handlebars of my red 3-speed British racer. There’s nothing quite like approaching Lower Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. It really IS the best and fastest way to get around New York and it’s great to see all the improvements made over the past ten years to make cycling a safer and more acceptable alternative to subway, bus, cab and car.

Anyone looking for an in-depth analysis of the politics of urban transportation will likely be disappointed by this book. While Byrne’s interests and political inclinations parallel the recent rise of urban cycling in this country, he does not claim to be an activist or urban planning insider. He does include some cool images of his playful bike rack designs, though. His essays on American cities are juxtaposed against essays on other cities around the world. In Copenhagen, Berlin and Amsterdam, cyclists are welcome as part of the mainstream whereas in New York and other US cities, we are only now seeing efforts to undo decisions made made by urban planners long ago in favor of cars. His cross-cultural analysis supports his claim that we have cut off possibilities for ourselves through decisions made in the service to the car. He writes:

As a cyclist or pedestrian, it makes one feel unwanted, like an interloper, and you end up sort of pissed off. Needless to say, riding on an expressway is no fun. There’s nothing romantic about it either – you’re not a cool outlaw, you’re simply somewhere you don’t belong.

The real beauty of Bryne’s rambling tales, though, may be the window they provide us into the worldview of an artist. Byrne often drags a bike along with him to explore the cities he visits in Europe, Asia, Latin America as well as the United States between performing engagements. His essays remind us that the world seen from the seat of a bicycle is different from the one we see shut off by a car windshield in so many ways. 

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It reminds me that the world is not always as it seems. As cyclists, we have the opportunity to experience a different world; the common can be quite uncommon, whether that means the smell of a wooded grove at 2:00 am or the feeling of a gentle rain on your face at dawn. The blank stare you get when you tell someone you just finished a 24-hour ride through the mountains makes you want to utter “You just had to be there.” Byrne's essays reveal an artist-cyclist's parallel world in action. Readers interested in cycle commuting, urban planning or a behind-the-scenes view of the life of a major pop star should enjoy it. It is another reminder to stop and smell the roses.