[.ca] North Wind in Your Spokes: A novel of the Tour de France (ISBN 1891369393)

excellent:
Just an excellent novel that really digs deep into professional sports of our era. The author writes as one who knows the poetry associated with cycling, and yet never moves too far from the realities of life. From start to finish, this book held my attention, and would love to see a sequel written... or, hey, Hollywood, wanna see your next movie??

North Wind in your Spokes:
This is a wonderful book about the trials of not only racing the most enduring race in the world, the Tour De France, but also shows the joys and pains of what happens to a person after they have completed this life changing event. This book is inspiring and makes you want to go out and to try to become a better rider, or even start riding.

Dreadful and grotesque:
Dreadful, impossible read. Trite dialog, from a writer who clearly never rode a bike. Turgid, wooden, trivial, and utterly false. Read "The Rider" or "The Yellow Jersey", or, better yet, just go for a ride. Forget this hollow, stiff, utter waste of trees. If you must, buy the one I (stupidly) purchased, before I burn it for fuel.

A cautionary tale, for athletes and everyone else.:
This is a great cautionary tale about the dangers of sudden success. A young German cyclist finds his promising cycling career on the skids when he lets fame and fortune get to his head. Other mishaps along the way provide further distractions from his racing career, and he suffers for it. It seems that so many young cyclists are declared "The Next Merckx" or "The Next Armstrong", and time and again their potential is never realized. This book helps reveal why. If you want to know what has gone wrong with riders like Jan Ullrich, read this book. Don't think this is an entirely negative book. In fact, the ending is very well done so that everyone wants to see a sequel!