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One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure
"absolutely fantastic read. Couldn't put it down"
"a lovely account of real achievement"
"very well written and funny"
"an honest and humorous book"
"really enjoyed following the One Day Ahead team around France"
One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure
It didn't even seem like a good idea when first suggested so how did Richard Grady get hooked into a 5000 kilometre drive around France in a motorhome? Maybe it was the lure of the world's premiere cycle race - The Tour de France - or possibly the desire to help a friend that seduced him but somehow he found himself as a member of the backup team to four riders cycling the Tour route one day ahead of the professional racers.
Driving hundreds of kilometres every day, performing a variety of mundane chores and dealing with the vagaries of his travelling companions all combined to create a three week journey he regretted from the start.
In this hilarious account Richard relates the misadventures of the 'One Day Ahead' team as they battle with the challenge of cycling the 3,497 km Tour de France route and he and the stalwart Sara battle to give the riders the best possible chance of achieving their goal. Filled with amusing anecdotes and facts this is a fascinating insight into the Tour de France for avid fans and the general reader alike.
‘One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure’ was written on the suggestion of his psychologist girlfriend/therapist(!) after Richard struggled for two years to get over the experience. Every book sold helps.
Warning: Contains some moaning however this will not be harmful to your health.
"cracking read and has got me planning my own cycling adventures"
"a Tour de Force. I admire anyone who takes on a challenge like this"
"a humorous book with many a chuckle at the woes of the hard done by support team"
"Richard made you feel like you were actually there & thankful, given some of the situations they got into, that you weren't!"
"by far the best cycling related book I have read in the last few years. I really did not want it to end"
"a lovely account of real achievement"
"very well written and funny"
"an honest and humorous book"
"really enjoyed following the One Day Ahead team around France"
One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure
It didn't even seem like a good idea when first suggested so how did Richard Grady get hooked into a 5000 kilometre drive around France in a motorhome? Maybe it was the lure of the world's premiere cycle race - The Tour de France - or possibly the desire to help a friend that seduced him but somehow he found himself as a member of the backup team to four riders cycling the Tour route one day ahead of the professional racers.
Driving hundreds of kilometres every day, performing a variety of mundane chores and dealing with the vagaries of his travelling companions all combined to create a three week journey he regretted from the start.
In this hilarious account Richard relates the misadventures of the 'One Day Ahead' team as they battle with the challenge of cycling the 3,497 km Tour de France route and he and the stalwart Sara battle to give the riders the best possible chance of achieving their goal. Filled with amusing anecdotes and facts this is a fascinating insight into the Tour de France for avid fans and the general reader alike.
‘One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure’ was written on the suggestion of his psychologist girlfriend/therapist(!) after Richard struggled for two years to get over the experience. Every book sold helps.
Warning: Contains some moaning however this will not be harmful to your health.
"cracking read and has got me planning my own cycling adventures"
"a Tour de Force. I admire anyone who takes on a challenge like this"
"a humorous book with many a chuckle at the woes of the hard done by support team"
"Richard made you feel like you were actually there & thankful, given some of the situations they got into, that you weren't!"
"by far the best cycling related book I have read in the last few years. I really did not want it to end"
- GenresCycling
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 8, 2014
About the author
Richard Grady
9 books8 followersFollowing a 17 year career in corporate finance, Richard Grady eventually escaped the rat race and founded a number of successful Internet businesses. During his time in the world of Internet marketing, he wrote prolifically and published several best-selling eBooks on the subject.
After a few years away from the keyboard, Richard returned to the world of words with 'One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure' in 2014 and 'Distinctly Average Entrepreneur' in 2015. More titles are planned...
After a few years away from the keyboard, Richard returned to the world of words with 'One Day Ahead: A Tour de France Misadventure' in 2014 and 'Distinctly Average Entrepreneur' in 2015. More titles are planned...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 15, 2019
Enjoyable read from the author who served as support on a friend's challenge to ride the 2012 Tour de France route, one day ahead of the pros. What i enjoyed was reading about the on-thego trouble shooting and the day to day work involved. Less interesting (though probably necessary for the plot) was the description of the interpersonal dynamics of the whole team. At the end of each day's chapter, was a summary of the result of the actual Tour stage. I ended up skimming through those portions, because 7 years on,it's no longer interesting for me to re-live.
December 28, 2015
I love the Tour de France, travel and travel writing and this sounded like the ideal book for me. I won one of two signed copies in a Goodreads First Reads draw and considered myself very lucky.
The premise? To support a team of amateur cyclists who were attempting to cycle the Tour de France route one day ahead of the actual race. An idea both madcap and extreme, one I would have dreamt of from the comfort of my armchair and never seriously considered.
The style of writing here is one of a slightly surreal inevitability that things will go wrong but wrong in a peculiarly and hilarious kind of british way. Reminiscent of our great icons Basil Fawlty and Victor Meldrew. We are known to have a certain approach to life and what it throws at us which can often be misunderstood. 'Whinging poms' being one such description. 'Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way' to quote Pink Floyd, but with a few laughs thrown in to get through it.
Here you just know things will not quite turn out as they are envisaged at the beginning. One reviewer said 'Why bother' but of course that misses the point. Once the idea is spawne and takes on a life of its own there is a certain inevitability about it and everything else just gets swept along with the tide.
Richard writes with a certain air of comedy and a sense of the surreal. At times I laughed out loud and at others I enjoyed the descriptions of the minutiae of French life and how it adapts as the Tour and the huge entourage sweeps through. I have encountered this when it passed through Brighton one year and the whole town was given over for a copule of days to tour vehicles, lorries, helicopters' journalists, T.V. crews and of course bicycles.
He intersperses their trip with historical references to the actual tour and describes the stages of the race taking pace one day behind them; a race that is now itself legendary amongst British fans. I found his quotes and stories to be insightful and although his explanations of the race and how it works were aimed at someone who may not be familiar with it, I learned a lot more about it's culture and how it has developed over the years.
Richard has a deapan delivery and at times seems to hold back from the punchline leaving it to your imagination and I imagine that this could be misunderstood without the requisite sense of irony that accompanies being British. If anything, some of the more potentially surreal scenes could have been ramped up allowing even more comic value.
I am giving this four stars but it could have been five. I think Richard has great potential to develop his writing style to produce more slightly surreal travelogues, or maybe as he says, it is a one off therapeutic piece to help him get over the trauma of the journey
The premise? To support a team of amateur cyclists who were attempting to cycle the Tour de France route one day ahead of the actual race. An idea both madcap and extreme, one I would have dreamt of from the comfort of my armchair and never seriously considered.
The style of writing here is one of a slightly surreal inevitability that things will go wrong but wrong in a peculiarly and hilarious kind of british way. Reminiscent of our great icons Basil Fawlty and Victor Meldrew. We are known to have a certain approach to life and what it throws at us which can often be misunderstood. 'Whinging poms' being one such description. 'Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way' to quote Pink Floyd, but with a few laughs thrown in to get through it.
Here you just know things will not quite turn out as they are envisaged at the beginning. One reviewer said 'Why bother' but of course that misses the point. Once the idea is spawne and takes on a life of its own there is a certain inevitability about it and everything else just gets swept along with the tide.
Richard writes with a certain air of comedy and a sense of the surreal. At times I laughed out loud and at others I enjoyed the descriptions of the minutiae of French life and how it adapts as the Tour and the huge entourage sweeps through. I have encountered this when it passed through Brighton one year and the whole town was given over for a copule of days to tour vehicles, lorries, helicopters' journalists, T.V. crews and of course bicycles.
He intersperses their trip with historical references to the actual tour and describes the stages of the race taking pace one day behind them; a race that is now itself legendary amongst British fans. I found his quotes and stories to be insightful and although his explanations of the race and how it works were aimed at someone who may not be familiar with it, I learned a lot more about it's culture and how it has developed over the years.
Richard has a deapan delivery and at times seems to hold back from the punchline leaving it to your imagination and I imagine that this could be misunderstood without the requisite sense of irony that accompanies being British. If anything, some of the more potentially surreal scenes could have been ramped up allowing even more comic value.
I am giving this four stars but it could have been five. I think Richard has great potential to develop his writing style to produce more slightly surreal travelogues, or maybe as he says, it is a one off therapeutic piece to help him get over the trauma of the journey
July 12, 2015
I love the TdF and generally like travel books, so this one worked pretty well for me. The British humour also was a bonus.
March 9, 2016
An interesting book but almost no cycling. It would have been 5 stars, easily, if the rider's experiences had been included.
April 8, 2019
Entertaining book full of cycling stories
Overall it’s a well written book, genuine up to the bone, and smartly laid out. The British ironic humor is so present across the whole book; sometimes I couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed by the author’s complaining about the overall trip -and sometimes even bad vibe... but that’s more kind of my personal POV. It is a book recommended if you love cycling, and if you want to know more about the titanic effort the Tour de France and long stages races involve!
Overall it’s a well written book, genuine up to the bone, and smartly laid out. The British ironic humor is so present across the whole book; sometimes I couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed by the author’s complaining about the overall trip -and sometimes even bad vibe... but that’s more kind of my personal POV. It is a book recommended if you love cycling, and if you want to know more about the titanic effort the Tour de France and long stages races involve!
July 3, 2018
Entertaining look at riding the TDF
I enjoyed this light read about a cycling adventure through France and the day after day grind of supporting the cyclists. It’s a good way to get ready to watch the upcoming tour!
I enjoyed this light read about a cycling adventure through France and the day after day grind of supporting the cyclists. It’s a good way to get ready to watch the upcoming tour!
March 9, 2018
Really great fun. I read this during the 2017 Tour which made both the book and the Tour much more interesting
February 21, 2020
A great read with plenty of chuckles along the way. A good choice for anybody remotely interested in cycling.
April 20, 2023
A Not Cycling Book For Daily Mail Readers
Finally caved and bought this after multiple "you read this so how about this?" suggestions from Kindle.
Effectively this is a book about a bloke moaning his way around France for three weeks. But not in a humourous way.
I'm not sure if it's intentional but I assumed that this book was about somebody cycling the route of the Tour de France one day ahead of the actual Tour. Whilst that does happen and is the reason for this book. The actual subject matter is about the guy who drives one of the support vehicles for those cyclists.
This wouldn't necessarily be a problem on it's own had the book been a good read. Humour is of course subjective, but I didn't find any of the book actually funny. My impression is that it is supposed to be an observational, ironic comedy. But it just reads as someone who is a bitter jerk.
From very early on in the book I kept asking the same question. "Why did you agree to do this?" Followed by "Why do you continue to do this?" And finally "Why have none of the people you are doing this with told you to go home?"
My recommendation would be to avoid this book entirely and read any of the cycling books by Tim Moore or Ned Boulting.
Finally caved and bought this after multiple "you read this so how about this?" suggestions from Kindle.
Effectively this is a book about a bloke moaning his way around France for three weeks. But not in a humourous way.
I'm not sure if it's intentional but I assumed that this book was about somebody cycling the route of the Tour de France one day ahead of the actual Tour. Whilst that does happen and is the reason for this book. The actual subject matter is about the guy who drives one of the support vehicles for those cyclists.
This wouldn't necessarily be a problem on it's own had the book been a good read. Humour is of course subjective, but I didn't find any of the book actually funny. My impression is that it is supposed to be an observational, ironic comedy. But it just reads as someone who is a bitter jerk.
From very early on in the book I kept asking the same question. "Why did you agree to do this?" Followed by "Why do you continue to do this?" And finally "Why have none of the people you are doing this with told you to go home?"
My recommendation would be to avoid this book entirely and read any of the cycling books by Tim Moore or Ned Boulting.
August 31, 2016
I had just started cycling and quickly became addicted. Part of my addiction has been fed by cycling travelogues (indeed, anything that has a bike in it, or on the front cover). This was one of my first cycling reads and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were, on the whole fun, and I loved what they were doing. It was an easy read and time flew by reading it!
July 16, 2016
Entertaining read
Fun read: engaging, fast-moving and amusing. Writing style is conversational and tight with chapters that move quickly. An entertaining account of an apparently trying experience.
Fun read: engaging, fast-moving and amusing. Writing style is conversational and tight with chapters that move quickly. An entertaining account of an apparently trying experience.
Read
January 15, 2016Love the tour de france. This book was a lot of fun to read. I really enjoyed the adventures that the bikers and the support crew went through.
March 2, 2016
A well written and entertaining 'travelogue' about an unlikely cycling challenge for a group of [amateur] friends. Good light reading.
January 27, 2017
Driving tbe Tour de France in a Motorhome
Interesting account of taking care of wannabe Tour de France riders from a motorhome the day before the actual race.
Interesting account of taking care of wannabe Tour de France riders from a motorhome the day before the actual race.
November 22, 2014
Fun, easy read for fans of the Tour de France.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews