The secret race by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

About a week ago I got a comment from a visitor that I should read The secret race by Tyler Hamilton, I am sorry that I hadn't reply to him/her comment but I was reading just that. Please excuse me for not replying so this review goes to you, my Anonymous commenter. I am glad that someone mentioned this book because after Lance Armstrong's, I was considering him a hero with or without the doping charges. Now I tend to veer my opinion towards a neutral stance. 

What's the deal with this book, you may ask. Yes, it is controversial. ...And yes, it gives you insight on the world of bike racers and doping. This is another cyclist's biography on the Tour de France events and how everybody did what they did. I believe that there are some major lessons to be learned from this book, especially if you like bikes and cycling. One of them is that winning a bike race means lots of work, determination, lots of pain and extremely low body fat. I am screwed on the last one though, I guess I don't have what it takes to be a pro racer. (Now pass me another beer). 

I have noticed a pattern here about the racing world: each sportsman was running from something: Armstrong started his career because he had a difficult family life, Hamilton was battling depression and he needed an outlet etc. etc. But then they went to professional races and their objectives changed. In a way I think that all that doping was a way to gain leverage in a world where it was common practice. This is what Hamilton is trying to say in his book: you gained a few seconds (maybe even minutes) through doping, but there is no denying the fact that behind their results was a lot of hard work.

I really liked this one. In a way, I liked it more than Armstrong's because it gave me another point of view of the guy. He was determined to win, at all costs. That made him a bully and an asshole, but I don't consider him a cheater. He did things better than the rest and beat them at their own game.  What, I think, sucked was how he defended his title and his attitude towards his friends and colleagues. Read the book if you want to know more about the whole scandal. It might not be objective, but no autobiography ever is.

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne

This is a travel book. It depicts certain places that the author had visited. I guess I was expecting something... different. Instead of being a travel book, I was hoping it would be more adventurous.  Given the fact that I didn't know who David Byrne is, I started this book with different expectations. If I would have realized who he was, then maybe I would have expected some rock star adventures or something similar.

It is a decent book, with an air of nostalgia that you cannot really grasp why. Maybe it is the fact that he depicts derelict neighborhoods from the US or the wall of Berlin. From a New Yorker author and a former rock star, one might expect a certain dose of swearing and a bit of an attitude. The book is neither funny, nor very exciting but I believe that the depictions are quite accurate, given the fact that I had been to some of those places. 

Don't expect a work of art. Don't expect adventure and don't expect much action or talk about bikes. What you should expect is a book about travels, a tame story about cities with their ups and downs. The pictures help clarify the meaning behind the words and the language is neither pompous or harsh. Thing of it more like a photo album with a story for every picture.

It took me a while to finish this book because I had been busy with other things. Having a bike, the title caught my eye but I was hoping more of an adventure than a stroll in the city. This is the best way to describe the book " a stroll through the city".