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People around the
world have found inspiration in the story of Lance Armstrong--a world-class
athlete nearly struck down by cancer, only to recover and win the Tour de
France, the multiday bicycle race famous for its grueling intensity. Armstrong
is a thoroughgoing Texan jock, and the changes brought to his life by his
illness are startling and powerful, but he's just not interested in wearing a
hero suit. While his vocabulary is a bit on the he-man side (highest compliment
to his wife: "she's a stud"), his actions will melt the most hard-bitten souls:
a cancer foundation and benefit bike ride, his astonishing commitment to
training that got him past countless hurdles, loyalty to the people and
corporations that never gave up on him. There's serious medical detail here,
which may not be for the faint of heart; from chemo to surgical procedures to
his wife's in vitro fertilization, you won't be spared a single x-ray, IV drip,
or unfortunate side effect. Athletes and coaches everywhere will benefit from
the same extraordinary detail provided about his training sessions--every aching
tendon, every rainy afternoon, and every small triumph during his long recovery
is here in living color. It's Not About the Bike is the perfect title for
this book about life, death, illness, family, setbacks, and triumphs, but not
especially about the bike. --Jill Lightner
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Kids Book.
Armstrong's wife has written this captivating, well-paced biography in the All
Aboard Reading series. Starting with his first bicycle, she follows her
husband's life through his first triumph at the Tour de France and his battle
with cancer to the birth of the couple's son. Written in language suitable for
readers almost ready to make the transition to chapter books, the text is spiced
with personal details that will interest a wide range of children. Plenty of
photos (including a few fuzzy shots) and some less-compelling watercolor
illustrations by Ken Call add to a gripping story. Gillian Engberg
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In The Lance
Armstrong Performance Program: Seven Weeks to the Perfect Ride, Armstrong
teams up with his coach, Chris Carmichael (whom the U.S. Olympic Committee named
1999's Coach of the Year), to offer the ultimate insider's guide to becoming a
better rider, based on the regimen Carmichael has been fine-tuning for Armstrong
since the early 1990s. Noting that athletes of all levels focus best when aiming
for specific goals at the end of short windows, the authors describe the
performance program as consisting of "three specialized weekly training programs
that build on your current fitness level" followed by a week of "recovery riding
between each program." They provide an easy-to-administer fitness-level
self-test in the form of a three-mile time trial (beginner, intermediate, or
advanced), and they then define the key operative terms that make up the bulk of
the actual training, including Tempo, HighSpin,
PowerIntervals, Sprints, and Training Zone. A brief section
of workbook-style pages provides readers with a user-friendly outline for the
entire seven weeks.
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Beginning with
coverage of Lance Armstrong's remarkable 1999 win, this report by cycling's
premier journalist follows riders on their grueling three-week race through the
beautiful but extreme terrain of the Tour de France. John Wilcockson covers the
contenders, the course, and significant events, adding behind-the-scenes
anecdotes and insights for a book "guaranteed to delight bicycle-racing fans"
(Booklist on the 1999 edition).
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