Every Second Counts

I don't usually pick up biographies, and I've never been a follower of bicycle racing (my only exposure so far had been Aamir Khan's cycle race in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander which I watched from the edge of my seat in Gaiety-Galaxy a long time ago) but for some strange reason I picked this book by Lance Armstrong. I won't say it's a great book, but while I was reading it, I got really fascinated by the sport of cycling & by the Tour de France; I read up a lot about the race itself, about its little traditions, about the various stages (its very interesting) & have decided that I must make a visit to France & drive along the Tour track; its my latest addition to my "Must-do-before-I-die" list.

Competing in the Tour de France is an incredible feat I think - the bikers cycle around France for 3 weeks or so, through the mountains & crowds, at average speeds like 40 miles an hour & in the end the difference between winning & not is a few minutes. Its an absolutely physically abusive race & to win it 6 times is beyond incredible. I loved every detail described in the book about how the winner goes about this awesome-but-ridiculous feat. As Armstrong mentioned, there's a lot of attention to detail, even small details like how your hand moves on the handle-bar of your bike could shave off a few seconds of time; there's a lot of strategy; a lot of technique to it. Its also a team-sport; who would've guessed that?

By the end of the book, I'm totally sucked into the world of TDF & I'm so going to follow the Tour next year.

PS: After a very long time, I read a book which didn't begin with the words "what to expect..."; its refreshing :)