Bikie: A Love Affair with the Racing Bicycle

Charlie Woods traces his love of cycling from childhood to adulthood, recalling the challenges and new horizons which served as a rite of passage into manhood. He explores a sport which has been a source of pleasure and comfort to him throughout his life. However, this is much more than one man's homage to cycling. The book also analyzes cycling as a national sport and a pastime intrinsic to British culture and heritage. Today races such as the Tour de France draw huge British audiences, with coverage assured on prime-time TV. Through anecdote and analysis the bike is revealed in "Bikie" as a constant factor in a rather haphazard life--a source of solace and support with which to ride out every age and season, as well as a national tradition surrounded by history and folklore.