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| It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Lance Armstrong
Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £8.98 (100%)
New (29) from £3.71
Avg. Customer Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 702
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0224060872
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780224060875
ASIN: 0224060872
Publication Date: May 3, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence!
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| Customer Reviews:
Amazing Man, Great Story, Good book December 18, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading the book you are sure of 2 things,
1. This guy was meant to live and inspire.
2. No woman can ever make him happy except his mum (she is amazing too)
Adrenaline junkie October 29, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Ok he was inspirational and he survived all the odds, but in retrospect he did treat his "stud" wife appallingly. She was dumped in favour of a newer model. Disappointing after all she did for him. But he is a risk taker after all.
Inspirational October 13, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I noticed that some of the reviews talk about Lance's training regime's and his acheivements as an athlete. & having read this superbly written and very sensitive book, I can't help but feel that's missing the point. It is first and formost about his fight for life, & the people who helped him so much during his battle.
A particularly moving part is when Lance is feeling depressed & sorry for himself, and probably in need of a kick in the pants, and the hospital engineers a visit to the children's cancer ward, were Lance discovers kids younger than 10 who were optimistic and determined to beat this thing, and it became a real turning point for him.
I should imagine it is very inspiring for a cancer sufferer (of which I'm extremely thankful I'm not), and have lent the book to a friend, who was suffering, and said it had that effect on her.
Yes, inevitably, it has to touch on his background & childhood, & his fight for fitness, & ultimately his triumphs in the Tour, but I felt these were kept to a sensible minimum in order to get his real message across.
This disease is no respector of age, class, creed, money or power, it can & will strike at any time.
Frightening, but Armstrong's story shows that even those given little chance of survival, as he was (less than 20%), can & do recover.
And what a recovery. The ultimate athlete in the ultimate test of athletic ability.
Inspires you to do better and try harder in life October 11, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have recently got back into cycling after nearly 20 years away from the sport. And as a result have been reading up on some of the all time greats, hence how I came to be reading Lance's book. It is a gripping read - better than fiction because it is an account of what really happened. Many of Lance's finest moments in the Tour De France are described from his view point which gives a whole different perspective when you then watch them again on the TV.
I had never realised that he had been so severely affected by cancer, and to come back in such a big way is an inspiration to all of us.
Since reading this book I haven't complained once about the wind and rain that I regularly experience on my 6 mile ride into work. If Lance Armstrong can ride up a mountains covering over 100 miles a day in these conditions then I'm sure I can manage a tiny fraction of that.
All in all a brilliant read and highly recommended. The only nit picking I would have is that there are a couple of times where I wish he would have expanded on a point being made. For example he says he regrets not contesting a stage win against Marco Pantani, but doesn't give any detail as to why he regretted this.
Inspirational October 9, 2007
This is a wonderful book, and a perceptive and insightful narrative of a talented and complex athlete. Armstrong's story cannot help but be inspiring and it says something about the man that even those who have no interest in cycling know who Lance Armstrong is.
This book does not attempt to put Armstrong on a pedestal, it rather focusses on what drives a man to put himself though the physical exertions of riding the Tour de France. Like many professional sportsmen Armstrong's single minded dedication to chasing perfection comes through, but it is also a heart warming look at a man who has his failings like we all do. He comes across as a genuinely likeable man, who is down to earth and just like your ordinary average Joe.
A remarkable book that deserves to be amongst the pantheons of sports writing. Buy a copy now.
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