Training and Tactics

This is the Bible of Road Racing. Learn everything from how to ride an echelon to how to fend off an ugly blocker!

Order Bicycle Road Racing Today!

Bicycling Magazine's Complete Book of Road Cycling Skills : Your Guide to Riding Faster, Stronger, Longer, and Safer by Ed Pavelka (Editor), the Editors of Bicycling Magazine (Editor) List Price: $15.95 Our Price: $12.76 You Save: $3.19 (20%)

Maybe you're a novice who has yet to squeeze into that first pair of sexy Lycra shorts. Or perhaps you're a seasoned racer who is seeking ways to become stronger and faster. Whatever the case, you will be well served by Ed Pavelka's comprehensive guide, which takes the reader on a highly readable ride through road cycling--from the basics of handling and maintenance to the subtle intricacies of racing. Instead of asking the reader to take his word on every subject, Pavelka has gathered a cast of Olympians and renowned mechanics to tackle whichever topic reflects his or her strongest suit. Besides the basics, chapters also include in-depth advice on sprinting, hill climbing, using heart monitors effectively, training indoors during the wintry months, and even surviving your commute in the concrete jungle. If that's not enough, Pavelka has devoted an entire section to medical concerns, including over training, sore knees, and saddle sores. --Ben Tiffany

Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible

"Periodization," nutrition, stretching, peaking--who knew that so much went into riding a bike? Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible is jam-packed with information, easily the most authoritative book on cycling to date.

Training for Cycling : The Ultimate Guide to Improved Performance by Davis Phinney, Connie Carpenter (Contributor), Peter Nye (Contributor) List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $11.96 You Save: $2.99 (20%)

If you want to learn how to reach peak cycling performance, listen carefully to Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter. Phinney, a two-time Tour de France stage winner, was named the winningest racer in U.S. history by VeloNews, and Connie Carpenter, an Olympic gold medalist, is no slouch either. Together they have compiled a comprehensive guide to cycling that will not disappoint. Chapters include specific instructions for everything from basic training to cycling nutrition to the nitty-gritty of racing tactics. The guide is written in the first person, and because it is authored by two people, this can sometimes lead to confusion. But when milking the gurus for knowledge, a little confusion will seem well worth it.

Learn from the three-time Tour Winner Greg Lemond

Order Greg Lemond's Complete Book of Bicycling by Greg Lemond, Kent Gordis (Contributor) Today!

Serious Cycling by Ed Burke, Edmund R. Burke List Price: $18.95 Our Price: $15.16 You Save: $3.79 (20%)

This book includes all the information needed to evaluate and improve every aspect of cycling training and performance and shows how to create the most personalized and efficient program possible. Tables make it easy to determine optimal training levels based on readers' equipment, physiology, and cycling objectives. Geared toward the more advanced cyclist.

Cyclo Cross Training & Technique by Simon Burney List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $11.96 You Save: $2.99 (20%)

The Giro D'Italia : Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy by Dino Buzatti, Dino Buzzati List Price: $17.95 Our Price: $14.36 You Save: $3.59 (20%)

From Booklist , April 15, 1999: This is no ordinary tale of the 1949 Tour of Italy, pitting rivals Fausto Coppi (considered the greatest Italian bicycle racer) and Gino Bartali (three-time Giro winner). These recently translated newspaper dispatches of each stage of the race reveal a truly poetic narrative by Buzzati (his style is compared to John McPhee), who captures not only the visually stunning backdrop from Sicily to Milan, "the sun is setting amid dusty reddish halos," but also the fervor among the villagers who swarm dusty streets to see, for a fleeting moment, their heroes battling for the coveted pink jersey through the "velodrome of Italy." From the boat ride to the start to the famous Dolomite stage, Buzzati's account transcends traditional sports reporting, drawing readers to the battlefront with military metaphors and using characters from The Iliad, Achilles and Hector, to illustrate this public rivalry. This is a story of a changing country, divided loyalties, and a two-wheeled race with a unique perspective sure to appeal to bike-racing fans, readers interested in Italian history, literature aficionados, and sports journalists. Brenda Barrera Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights reserved

Major Taylor : The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer by Andrew Ritchie List Price: $16.95 Our Price: $13.56 You Save: $3.39 (20%)

Long before Jackie Robinson crossed baseball's color line, before Jack Johnson spawned a line of Great White Hopes desperate to take the heavyweight boxing crown back from a black man, Major Taylor was setting records and fighting bigotry in one of the most popular athletic arenas of the turn of the century. The "Extraordinary" in the title of this steady biography is not just spinning wheels. Both a world and national champion, Taylor bicycled to glory on three continents. His name on the marquee meant added revenue and attendance. In Europe, he was a superstar, and treated like one. Yet he was mocked by fellow riders in America, shunned by his sport's establishment, and died forgotten and penniless in Chicago in 1932. Part of why Taylor should be remembered is the way he reacted to the hatred he had to ride against: "I always played the game fairly and tried my hardest," he wrote in his own autobiography, which Ritchie thoroughly mines, "although I was not always given a square deal or anything like it ... I only ask from them the same kind of treatment which I give and am willing to continue to give." Ritchie does yeoman's service in reviving Taylor's story and giving it context with a carefully studied examination of what life was like for black Americans 100 years ago. More importantly, he reaches into the muck of the past and returns with a clear picture of an endangered species: the thoroughly decent human being. --Jeff Silverman

Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World (Black Heritage Library Collection) by Marshall W. Taylor Our Price: $41.95

This is the autobiography of Major Taylor, the greatest rider of the early part of the century.

Hearts of Lions : The Story of American Bicycle Racing by Peter Nye, Eric Heiden List Price: $14.00 Our Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%)

Until the 1920s, bike races outdrew all other American sports including baseball. This colorful, exciting period of sports history, a saga of courage and occasional lunacy is re-created by the author, a prize-winning racer himself. Photos.