Clancy BriggsBlog

To give you some reading inspiration, we thought you might like to see our shortlist of favourite cycling themed books for grown ups.

For the younger readers in your life, don’t forget to check out our previous post about children’s cycling books.

All the below books have been carefully selected by our team of expert coaches.  We haven’t ranked them, because they’re all good!  And sadly we’ve limited it to 10 because the list would be 6 times the size if we included all the brilliant cycling themed books out there.

In this book, double Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champion, Geraint Thomas, leads us inside the pro-peloton, round the back roads of British cycling culture and into his constantly whirring brain.  As Ed Clancy OBE says “All of Geraint’s books are good but this is my favourite.  It’s more of a light hearted encyclopedia of everything cycling than an autobiography”.

See The World of Cycling According to G on Amazon

This is the story behind the elevation of British Cycling to being a major force in modern day road and track cycling.  With a foreward by Mark Cavendish, it’s a must for any cycling fan.

See Project Rainbow on Blackwell's

Mark Cavendish is the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France's green jersey, the first to wear the iconic rainbow jersey in almost 50 years and our only ever rider to capture the Giro d'Italia points title.  In At Speed he takes the reader through the highs and lows of his career in intimate detail. This is a take-no-prisoners account of life at the pinnacle of his sport, and learning how to survive in the fast lane, both on and off the bike.

See At Speed on Waterstones

In 2005 she became the first British female to win Gold at the cycling World Championships in 40 years. She followed it up with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and another World Championship in 2007.  In 2008 she took Gold at the Beijing Olympic Games and joined the ranks of British Olympic heroes.  Between the Lines documents the considerable lows as well as the highs of her career and reveals what it took to achieve glory at London 2012.

See Between the Lines on Amazon

In 1987, Irish cycling legend Stephen Roche had an extraordinary year.

By winning the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and world championships in the same season, Stephen Roche defied all odds to win cycling’s triple crown. Born to Ride, his first full autobiography, takes this extraordinary year as the starting point to explore the rest of his life. 

See Born to Ride on Blackwell's

By his eighteenth birthday David Millar was living and racing in France, sleeping in rented rooms, tipped to be the next English-speaking Tour winner. A year later he'd realised the dream and signed a professional contract. He perhaps lived the high life a little too enthusiastically - he broke his heel in a fall from a roof after too much drink, and before long the pressure to succeed had tipped over into doping. Here, in a full and frank autobiography, David Millar recounts the story from the inside.

See Racing Through the Dark on WHSmith

On Sunday 22 July, Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider ever to win the Tour de France. It was the culmination of years of hard work and dedication and a vision begun with the creation of Team Sky. This is the inside story of that journey to greatness.

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access and interviews, Sky’s the Limit follows the management and riders as they embark on their journey - from their first training camp and team presentation in December 2009, all the way to the moment that Bradley Wiggins achieved what many had long thought impossible: a British rider from a British team winning the Tour de France.

See The Sky's The Limit on Amazon

For 14 years between 1965 and 1978, cyclist Eddy Merckx devoured his rivals.  His legacy resides as much in the careers he ruined as the 445 victories - including five Tour de France wins and all the monument races - he amassed in his own right. So dominant had Merckx become by 1973 that he was ordered to stay away from the Tour for the good of the event.  Merckx's era has been called cycling's Golden Age.  This gripping book is an absolute must for anyone with even a passing interest in cycling.

See The Cannibal on WHSmith

1001 Bikes to Dream of Riding Before You Die celebrates the designs and individual stories behind the world's most influential, groundbreaking, and high-profile bicycles. A detailed photograph of each bike - whether it is a racing shot or stock manufacturing image - is accompanied by text revealing the history, development, and importance of each of the 1001 bikes featured.

See 1001 Bikes to Dream of Riding Before You Die on Amazon

Although not a cycling book, Ed added it to the list because the author, Professor Steve Peters works in elite sport.  He was the psychiatrist at British Cycling for a long time.  Peters has been recognised by Olympic cyclists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, as having helped them in their careers.

The Chimp Paradox is an incredibly powerful mind management model which explains the struggle that takes place within your mind and then shows how to apply this understanding to every area of your life.

Visit the Chimp Management website

Read Our Top 10 List of Children's Cycling Books

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