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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
This book interested me due to a Bicycling.com review. I thought it was an eye opener to abuse. It has several sections of language and sexual situations that I would discourage younger readers from reading the book.
Picked it up because it’s a story about bike racing but is vulgar – I wish I had not read it.
Although marketed as a cycling story, Bill Strickland's autobiographical snippet is so much more than that. The psychology of this book goes beyond racing and training technique and ventures into the world of old childhood fears teamed with adulthood guilt.
Strickland tells harrowing tales of his abuse incurred by his father and relates these to his trials as a more peaceful and respectable father to his own daughter. These lessons in patience and inner strength transpose nicely onto the racing field, although he doesn't always get his way.
Ten points go from being a daughter's naive wish to a father's yearning hope.
I enjoyed this book so much more than I was expecting because it is not solely about cycling. As a cyclist who enjoys bike-centric stories, this was a refreshing take on the sport. Due to my own experiences, I found it easy to relate to the constant turmoil Strickland continues to feel, inflected from both the memories of his father and the game of racing.
This is ultimately a tale of fatherhood, childhood, passions, rage, despair, and acceptance. And bicycles. Please don't forget the bicycles.
Strickland tells harrowing tales of his abuse incurred by his father and relates these to his trials as a more peaceful and respectable father to his own daughter. These lessons in patience and inner strength transpose nicely onto the racing field, although he doesn't always get his way.
Ten points go from being a daughter's naive wish to a father's yearning hope.
I enjoyed this book so much more than I was expecting because it is not solely about cycling. As a cyclist who enjoys bike-centric stories, this was a refreshing take on the sport. Due to my own experiences, I found it easy to relate to the constant turmoil Strickland continues to feel, inflected from both the memories of his father and the game of racing.
This is ultimately a tale of fatherhood, childhood, passions, rage, despair, and acceptance. And bicycles. Please don't forget the bicycles.
I'm generally interested in books about different sorts of bicycling experiences and there certainly are many different sorts - both of such experiences and the books about them.
Nominally this is about Strickland trying to win a certain number of points as a criterium racer despite not being a natural for this sort of racing. (Criterium races are typically on a short urban course, doing laps, and at a very high rate of speed.) The descriptions of the race are pretty good and certainly make it all seem dramatic.
The book tries to connect Strickland's success (or lack thereof) as a racer to his being a father to his five year old daughter and flashes back to how he was raised by his own father. Some of what he was trying to say with this apparently went over my head and in describing his relationship with his father, he seems determined to have you understand in the greatest possible horrific detail just how awful it was - beyond all reason. He also says some damn peculiar things about his own marriage. Ugh. I just paged through the last half and read the bits about racing. Ideally someone would tear out all the pages about anything other than racing.
Nominally this is about Strickland trying to win a certain number of points as a criterium racer despite not being a natural for this sort of racing. (Criterium races are typically on a short urban course, doing laps, and at a very high rate of speed.) The descriptions of the race are pretty good and certainly make it all seem dramatic.
The book tries to connect Strickland's success (or lack thereof) as a racer to his being a father to his five year old daughter and flashes back to how he was raised by his own father. Some of what he was trying to say with this apparently went over my head and in describing his relationship with his father, he seems determined to have you understand in the greatest possible horrific detail just how awful it was - beyond all reason. He also says some damn peculiar things about his own marriage. Ugh. I just paged through the last half and read the bits about racing. Ideally someone would tear out all the pages about anything other than racing.