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| Riding High: Shadow Cycling the Tour De France | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Howard
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £10.55
You Save: £5.44 (34%)
New (3) Collectible (1) from £6.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 127194
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1840187115
Dewey Decimal Number: 790
EAN: 9781840187113
ASIN: 1840187115
Publication Date: November 13, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 9 to 12 days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A highly enjoyable account July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is about Paul Howard's attempt to ride all stages of the Tour de France with the support of his father and a few close friends. No doubt it's a feat that few cyclists would attempt singlehandedly without the aid of a team but Howard seems to take everything in his stride ... I very much enjoyed this light-hearted read and having spent a little time down in the South of France myself was amused by Howard's observations of the locals and the general hubbub surrounding the Tour. I also appreciated his account of the characters found along the route (also riding without a team) and his assessments of the foibles of the professional side of the tour as well as some humorous anectdotes - Jacques Anquetil and the food etc!
I especially liked to read about the duration taken to complete each stage by Howard compared with that of the professionals both past and present ... there was a vast gulf between the times ... this proves what a tough sport cycling really is.
It surmises that Howard completed almost all stages of the Tour, missing only one or two due to illness which was an incredible achievement. Also I think that this would not have been possible without a supportive father. For anyone who enjoys cycling this account is a must read.
 The must read cycling book - my sort of non-fiction: the right amount of facts mixed into a gripping personal story March 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Riding High" gives you real insight into the unbelievably gruelling Tour de France. I now know why this race - 2000 miles in only three weeks - is such a big deal in the world of sport.
It's the book to read if, like me, you only want to read one book about the Tour.
Before, I'd flicked through a few Tour books but none had grabbed me enough to want to read them cover to cover. I plumped for this one - and didn't regret it - because it had an original angle while still giving me all the Tour facts I wanted.
You get the author's unique personal race story: a good amateur race rider doing the same stage each day as the actual competitors - just dragging his knackered body out of bed a bit earlier than them! You also get the history and drama of the race and a clear picture of today's world of top level cycling - and that includes the drug issues.
I love the style of the book. It's carefully crafted and witty but you still feel you're in the company of an honest writer: he doesn't go for easy laughs and isn't afraid to bare his personality and thwarted cycling ambitions. He's not trying to impress the reader with his writing or sporting abilities; he just wants the reader to know what's happening mentally and physically to a cyclist who is either mad or dedicated enough to be putting themselves through the Tour's three weeks of torture.
To me Paul Howard delivers what he promises in his preface: "to demonstrate the magnitude of the Tour de France."
(There's an interesting podcast interview with Paul Howard on Radio 4's website. Follow the links to the travel programme "Excess Baggage" and then the heading "Cycling".)
 Boring man fails to complete commonplace cycling challenge November 26, 2006
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
Unoriginal, tedious rambling diary by a bloke who gives up when the going gets tough. Bangs on endlessly about his malt loaf consumption and various minor injuries. Trying to get to the end of a chapter without falling asleep/throwing the damn book in a bin was a stiffer challenge than anything this loser faced. His publishers must have wept openly when they read the dull prose about his self-absorbed underachievements, but for some reason they went ahead and published.
Can it be done by a typical racer with a day job? September 20, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Paul spells out the challenge right on the front cover...we know professionals on drugs can ride the Tour de France in 21 days and we know comics wearing a jolly fun-meister suit can do parts of some stages in the sunny summertime....but what about the grey territory between the two?
How would a half-decent cyclist fare? Someone who already races, someone who could do a single stage of the Tour quite comfortably? Someone who rides the Etape or a cyclosportif, perhaps?
Paul is an ideal guy to supply this insight and he does it wonderfully well. We can all feel for him as the days roll on.
The book is a lovely blend of some Tour de France history (no point in repeating too much), a daily diary, and a sometimes whacky take on the happenings all around.
I'm a racing type, I'm a cyclosportif type (like 12 hours in the Alps), I'm a winter training type and what this book shows me more than anything is that I couldn't do it. So big cheers to Paul for signing up a publisher who would foot the project.
I loved the quirky bits.
Here though,I could picture myself as the rider, suffering Paul's pains/worry, enjoying his moments of glory/success. Surely that's what picking up a good book and reading is all about...like lifting you out of your life and putting yourself into that of someone else.
So it worked big-time for me.....it certainly delivered what it said on the tin.
A bloated diary of one man's attempt to cycle the Tour de France route September 10, 2006
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Paul Howard attempts to complete the Tour de France on the same day as the Pros and Riding High is basically a blow-by-blow account of Howard's Tour experience. It's an epic undertaking for any non-pro and I can imagine that after doing something like that I'd feel like writing a book about it. But...
The biggest problem Howard has (and any other person who wants to write about cycling) is the fact that the cycling itself is essentially boring. What can you say about the repetitive motion of turning your legs on an endless, flat, French road? Cycling, and any sport for that matter, becomes interesting when you describe the competition and the struggle. But with no competition and essentially nothing pushing Howard to complete the route other than his own personal desire, getting to the end of this book is as much of a struggle as the Tour itself was for Howard.
What compounds this further is Howard's infuriating sensibleness. For instance, if he doesn't think he can complete a stage on time he drops out; if he thinks he's expending too much energy on a stage he drops out to save energy for the next one; if there's a party going on in the finishing town he puts ear plugs in so he can sleep; he never misses his afternoon nap... get the idea?! All very sensible things I'm sure, but if you're writing a book about what, for the average man, is essentially an adventure then in my opinion you have to take some risks! So lets hear about how the Peloton was closing in and you had to race the last hour to complete the stage, or how you sweated blood and tears to make it to the summit of the final mountain, or how you partied till 3am in the morning with the locals and then awoke two hours later and rode a 120 mile stage! Alas no, Howard doesn't have so much as a puncture to report (seriously)! I guess the reality of it is you just can't take on a feat like completing the Tour without being anything other than sensible about it and herein lies the problem with the book. There's really nothing to report. So instead we hear lots about Howard's knee injury, the pizzas he eats in restaurants and the "opulence rating" of his hotels. Yawn.
I admire the courageous attempt Paul, but I'm sorry to say that this bloated diary would have been better suited to a two-page article in Cycling Weekly.
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