Book Review: Lance Armstrong - It's Not About The Bike

Against all the odds, he did it - he recovered from testicular cancer, and won the Tour de France 7 times. I read his autobiography in the weeks before the tour, and then watched every single stage of the race, either live on Eurosport, or the edited highlights on ITV2. It was an incredible show of strength and control to get an early lead (by default, when Dave Zabriskie fell in the finishing straight of the team time trial, and lost his lead to Lance), and then never looked like losing it. His awesomely strong Discovery Channel Team, part-owned by him, and stocked with some real strength-in-depth (white jersey winner Popo and his long-term mate George Hincapie included) were a massive part of his success. Whenever the peloton got into the mountains, his Discovery Team kept up an amazing pace at the front, making it too difficult for individual riders to make breakaways. There were only two occasions he looked vulnerable, and they were when his team mates weren't around him, but he still managed to remain mentally strong, and prevail. This year appeared to be the easiest of all his 7 victories, and the Tour director even gave him the microphone in an unprecendented move on the podium, so he could say his goodbyes to the one race that became his career focus.

As for the book, well, Lance demonstrates that cancer changed him, and for the better too. Before that, he was a singleminded athlete who entered everything, took brash risks, and won some (he was World Number One in 1993). In 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and much of this book looks at his reactions, how he felt when the symptoms started to appear, and the whole consultation process. He describes his operations, the harshness of the chemothereapy, and the nervousness of his remission, and it makes for an inspiring read. His closeness to death changes his attitude to life, and his spirit is evident throughout.

Like many sporting autobiographies, the sheer single-mindedness, determination and guts required to reach the top of his chosen sport are incredibly inspirational - it gives you those "you can achieve anything you want to" tingles on the hairs of your neck, and makes you want to get on your bike and ride all day. So you do, and you realise how tiring it can be, and how much of a machine Lance Armstrong really is.

His obvious need to share his experience, and help others seems genuine enough. The formation of his Lance Armstrong Foundation has generated much for cancer research, including $61m alone for those yellow wristbands you see everywhere. Incidentally, his was the first wristband, now they are everywhere. I even heard off a friend that advertising executives are using them to promote brands at the moment, although that would appear to be a cynical corporate exploitation of a means to raise money for charities.

All in all, an inspiring read, and a remarkable story of a man near death who then comes back to win the Tour 7 times. The book only covers the first two Tour wins, but these sections of the book are fascinating too, and the reader will learn a lot about the races within a race that the Tour de France really is. I am listening to the audiobook of his other book "Every Second Counts" although at the half-way point, this seems to cover much of the same ground of "It's not about the bike" .. I will keep you posted. 7/10.

You can buy this book here.