Every Second Counts, by Lance Armstrong, tells the story of his life after he overcame cancer. Armstrong is a seven-time Tour De France winner, which is arguably the hardest cycling race on the planet. He wrote this book in collaboration with Sally Jenkins, a sports writer. It is the second book by Lance Armstrong, after he wrote his first autobiography, “It’s Not About The Bike”. I was unaware of a second book until, by chance, I stumbled upon it. I think that it is an injustice to have this book stowed away out of sight, because it was a gripping read.
The story begins by describing how he won his first Tour De France win in 1999 with his team the US Postal Service, after battling and surviving cancer. It continues all the way until his Tour De France win in 2005, after six wins. But Every Second Counts is not primarily about Armstrong’s cycling career.
It focuses more on his morals and opinions in life. He includes personal details, like the birth of his twin daughters, and marriage problems with his wife Kik. Armstrong uses the same open frankness as in his first book, giving his ideas on everything, not holding back what he thinks, whether it be good or bad.
In the book, scenes were described, but not with the familiar descriptive paragraph containing thousands of adjectives. Armstrong used his thoughts and feelings at the time to piece together a clear picture of the event. The first scene that I particularly enjoyed was when Armstrong was describing one of the stories that he was told that have kept him going throughout his life. It begins by saying how some losses are greater than others, and some you just have to let go of. Then, Armstrong says “When I need reminding of this, I think of Sally Reed’s hair.” (Armstrong, p. 59). He then describes an event that occurred the day that he won the 1999 Tour De France. Sally Reed, his close friend, was suffering from cancer, and losing her hair from chemotherapy. When Armstrong won, she took the final strands of hair and threw them into the wind.
I liked this scene because even though it wasn’t about Lance Armstrong himself, it obviously had so much meaning to him. It was one of life’s lessons, something he learned from. Most autobiographies don’t contain the story behind the author, just their history and achievements. But Armstrong takes it to another level, by describing how he came to be the man he is today.
The second scene I enjoyed was when Armstrong was describing his incidents with Jeff Spencer, the US Postal Service’s team chiropractor. Armstrong describes Jeff’s “Pink Tape” that can fix any problem, be it tendinitis, sore muscles, or an aching back. I enjoyed this scene because it was light-hearted and fun. It made me smile as I read it. Even though Armstrong touched deep subjects in his book, he also included happy moments that every book needs to keep you from becoming bored.
I really enjoyed this book. Although it was not as interesting as Armstrong’s first book It’s Not About The Bike, simply because there was not as much to write about, compared to a battle with cancer, it was still a very inspiring book. I would recommend this book to older, more mature readers, because of the language used, the morals and opinions in the story, and because the book is about the life of a adult athlete. Younger readers may not understand fully what the book is about, and perhaps in a few years time, if I read the book again, I would interpret even more from the novel. Sports and cycling fans would enjoy this book too, if they wanted to get a deeper understanding of the life of a professional athlete.