Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer

Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer
by Jamie Smith

Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: $13.19
You Save: $8.76 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.64 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jamie Smith
Brand: VELO
Illustrator: Jef Mallett
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-01
ISBN: 1934030171
Number of pages: 206
Publisher: Velo Press
Product features:
  • By Jamie Smith
  • Veteran race announcer and long-time cycling enthusiast Jamie Smith sets out to explain the sport he loves and the roadies who live for it in this lighthearted treatise on bike racing
  • Finally, a book to explain those people who roll out for a ride dressed in Technicolored Lycra at the crack of dawn on Saturday, and return at sundown with a glow of satisfaction and even stronger tan lines
  • Black and white illustrations throughout
  • Paperback

Book Reviews of Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer

Book Review: What Fun!
Summary: 5 Stars

Jamie Smith and Jef Mallett have done a terrific job of explaining the complex (OK, weird) culture of bicycle road racing. They have done this with such good humor that I must warn you, do not read this book while drinking milk. At some point in the book you will not be able to contain yourself and you will make a mess laughing out loud.

Writer Smith takes the reader step by step through the equipment, time consuming training, eating habits and the rest of the near obsessive life style successful bike racing entails. He then segues to cycle racing tactics, the inevitable crashes and how a day at a bicycle race is structured. Along the way he translates the odd language of cycling, clearly defining each word that would be foreign to the person new to the sport.

The book's purpose is to be a guide for those who want to understand that strange fellow with the beer cooler strapped to his head and oddly-shaped shaved legs. He also gives out lots of sage and valuable advice to racers, such as "Another important and powerful action is to find and thank the sponsors for footing the bill for the event [race]. If they are not on-site, then each roadie should write a letter of thanks within the following month." Gosh, if every racer did that, we'd have a rich racing calendar that would make the bike-mad Belgians green with envy.

Jef Mallett, the award-winning creator of the nationally syndicated cartoon "Frazz", illustrates Smith's first-rate text with lots of wonderful pictures. As a roadie himself, Mallett understands cycling, and his cartoons are hilarious because they are spot-on true. Smith gives a detailed explanation of what happens to a rider when he doesn't eat enough. The crippling weakness that occurs when the body can no longer supply the needed food to the muscles is called the "bonk". Mallett's cartoon of a blank- faced, starved rider sitting on the ground with a tow-truck backing up to take him away is perfect. It could only have been drawn by someone who has at least once forgotten to bring along enough chow and wondered if he would make it home.

Smith says every rider has a "bonk" story and the memory of that misery is etched indelibly in his memory. He got that right! 20 years ago I was stuck 10 miles from home and came upon some tomatoes by the side of the road that a harvesting truck had spilled while going around a corner. Those were the best tomatoes I ever ate and they got me home.

I'm not sure if it's better that Smith and Mallett have shown that my own shaved-legged, loner, obsessive life isn't all that rare or that I'm really in a looney bin with a bunch of other crazed people who can be spotted a mile away because of the odd tans that wearing bike clothing causes.

In any case, get and read this book. I recommend it not only to those interested in the roadie (bicycle road racer) life. It is also a good refresher course for any racer on the ins and outs of cycling. And it's funny as all get-out.
-Bill McGann, author of "The Story of the Tour de France"

Summary of Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer

Veteran race announcer and long-time cycling enthusiast Jamie Smith sets out to explain the sport he loves and the roadies who live for it in this lighthearted treatise on bike racing. Finally, a book to explain those people who roll out for a ride dressed in technicolored Lycra at the crack of dawn on Saturday, and return at sundown with a glow of satisfaction and even stronger tan lines.

Perfect for anyone who has ever known a roadie, considered becoming a roadie, or walked away from a bike race completely puzzled, Roadie addresses all of the curiosities that accompany the sport of cycling, from shaved legs to colorful jerseys and unbelievably expensive bicycles, shoes, and components. Every seemingly neurotic tendency is explained and celebrated with humorous illustrations from nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett (also rumored to log thousands of miles of riding per year).

Explaining strategy and races from the famous Tour de France stage race to the local criterium, Roadie brings the excitement of bike racing alive for anyone with an appetite for adrenaline. And for the thousands who purchase a shiny new road bike each spring, it's a much-needed primer on the politics of a group ride. Pacelines, drafting, sprinting, climbing, and breakaways are turned into everyday commonsense with colorful anecdotes.

Whether interested onlooker or cycling aficionado, readers will find themselves laughing out loud as they revel in the roadie's world.

Cycling Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Cycling Books
Arkansas Valley Mountain Biking ImageArkansas Valley Mountain Biking
by Mark S Wolff
Barking Dog Guides Press; Published: 2010-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.38
Price in other shops: $12.95
All About Bikes and Bicycling: Care, Repair and Safety ImageAll About Bikes and Bicycling: Care, Repair and Safety
by MAX ALTH
BAILEY BROS.& SWINFEN LTD; Published: 1974; Hardcover; Book
The Tour de France: A Cultural History, Updated with a New Preface ImageThe Tour de France: A Cultural History, Updated with a New Preface
by Christopher S. Thompson
University of California Press; Published: 2008-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.88
Price in other shops: $24.95
Cycling Home from Siberia ImageCycling Home from Siberia
by Rob Lilwall
Hodder Pb; Published: 2009-08-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.44
Wheels!: The kids' bike book ImageWheels!: The kids' bike book
by Megan Stine
Little, Brown; Published: 1990; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.89
Lance Armstrong: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies) ImageLance Armstrong: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies)
by Paula Marie Johanson
Greenwood; Published: 2011-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.65
Price in other shops: $35.00
Across America by Bicycle: Alice and Bobbi's Summer on Wheels ImageAcross America by Bicycle: Alice and Bobbi's Summer on Wheels
by Alice Honeywell, Bobbi Montgomery
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2010-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.38
Price in other shops: $21.95
Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi ImageFallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi
by William Fotheringham
Random House UK; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.53
Price in other shops: $16.95
Cycling in the South West of Ireland (Cycling Guide) ImageCycling in the South West of Ireland (Cycling Guide)
Harper Collins; Published: 2002-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $59.57
Cycling in the South East of Ireland (Cycling Guide) Collins ImageCycling in the South East of Ireland (Cycling Guide) Collins
by Collins
Collins; Published: 2001-05-08; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $9.95
Similar Books and other products
Frazz: Live at Bryson Elementary ImageFrazz: Live at Bryson Elementary
by Jef Mallett
Andrews McMeel Publishing; Published: 2005-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.90
Price in other shops: $12.99
The Cyclist's Training Bible ImageThe Cyclist's Training Bible
by Joe Friel
VELO; Velo Press; Published: 2009-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.23
Price in other shops: $24.95
Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World - and Won ImageTeam 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World - and Won
by Geoff Drake
VELO; Velo Press; Published: 2011-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.07
Price in other shops: $27.95
Bobke II: The Continuing Misadventures of Bob Roll ImageBobke II: The Continuing Misadventures of Bob Roll
by Bob Roll
VeloPress; Published: 2003-09-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.06
Price in other shops: $16.95
99% Perspiration: A Frazz Collection Image99% Perspiration: A Frazz Collection
by Jef Mallett
Andrews McMeel Publishing; Published: 2006-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete ImageTrizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete
by Jef Mallett
VELO; Velo Press; Published: 2009-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: $21.95
Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling ImageBike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling
Chronicle Books; Published: 2010-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.54
Price in other shops: $16.95
Boy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker ImageBoy Racer: My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker
by Mark Cavendish
Velo Press; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.37
Price in other shops: $21.95
The Rider ImageThe Rider
by Tim Krabbe
Bloomsbury USA; Published: 2003-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.20
Price in other shops: $12.99
A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium ImageA Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium
by Joe Parkin
VELO; Velo Press; Published: 2008-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops: $21.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories