A Journey Through the Cycling Year

by The Cycling Podcast

Readers as well as listeners can now embark on a journey through the cycling year with The Cycling Podcast, which has been entertaining and informing fans since 2013. Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe share their diaries from three incident-filled Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España. These take readers behind the scenes and explore the culture and landscape as well as the racing, while the ‘Lionel of Flanders’, complete with beer recommendations, does the same for the Classics in Belgium.There are appearances, too, by leading journalists and podcast favourites François Thomazeau, who takes responsiblity for the French Tour de France jinx, Ciro Scognamiglio, with a heartfelt love letter to cult favourite Filippo Pozzato, Fran Reyes, who pens a farewell to El Pistolero, Alberto Contador, and Orla Chennaoui, who hits the road to cover La Course in a one-woman karaoke-booth-on-wheels.Further contributions from professional riders Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Joe Dombrowski and the voice of the Tour de France, Sebastien Piquet, as well as stunning galleries from the podcast world’s first and only dedicated photographer, Simon Gill, make this the perfect celebration of a year in cycling.

Genres: Cycling, Nonfiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2018

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

c2018 (1) Another co-incidental read in that I finished this the day before the Tour de France 2018 started. This was not planned. Sadly, I am one of those riders that prefer to look at their gleaming machine rather than actually get it out of the shed and go for a ride. The Tour de France and lately the Giro have been the only two cycling events that I look forward to watching. I first started to watch because I was interested in the scenery but started to get interested in the tactics - which I don't understand - but am fascinated with. This book is full of interesting tit bits if you have watched the Tours and there is some explanation of the inexplicable. I also liked the rather Tripadviserish entries relating to the food enjoyed by the journalists along the way together with the various bumps in the road. Definitely recommended to the normal crew. "And to paraphrase what Chris Froome says every year on the finish line of the Tour de France, on the Champs-Elysees:"I can't wait for the next Tour.."

[Rauno Villberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great, as a recent fan of this here The Cycling Podcast thanks to their daily coverage of the Giro.
Fun to nerd out and read about names that are either still active riders or doing things in slightly other spheres (i.e. Conor Dunne of GCN)

Was sceptical that a podcast would work as a book so pleasantly surprised - though, to be fair, only a few chapters of this read as podcast transcriptions.

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good for TDF withdrawal

I really enjoyed this, but it felt too short… I could listen to these guys for hours. I picked it up just after the 2024 Tour de France, following three weeks of daily Cycling Podcast episodes… and it was the dose I needed to get me through my TDF withdrawal.

I listened to the Audible audiobook.

[Lain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of the Cycling Podcast for several years, and this book gave a really good insight into the contributors and their experiences throughout the year. The Grand Tour Diaries in particular were very enjoyable chapters. Recommended for all cycling fans!

[Timojhen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a book about a podcast may not compute, this was a great read. Additional depth, context and texture on the racing of 2017. Knowing the narrators voices so well meant I heard them in my head and appreciated the storytelling even more.

Very nicely done.

[Ciarán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining and insightful book into following the cycling season

[David P · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read, though Lionel's constant food references will make you hungry!

[Andrew Hurn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A whimsical trio through the world of professional bike racing over the course of a year. Audio version benefits from the flavoured self-narration of the various authors.

[Jeff Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of a podcast?

I stumbled upon this while perusing Amazon and I am so glad I did.

Part travelogue, cycling coverage, comedy, glamour but completely full of the contributors' love of the sport.

This is not a dry book about cycling but an insight into the sport and the places it travels through. It is filled with humour and not just facts about who won what race or doping scandals.

This is well worth reading, even if you have little interest or understanding of cycling as a sport.

Now to start listening to the podcasts.