Suggested read while on the trainer:
British cyclist David Millar’s memoir “Racing Through the Dark” is an account of professional cycling racing at the highest level. He has competed in five Tour de France races. In 2007 he helped create the US based racing team Slipstream; now called Garman.
The book starts with his experiences as a amateur mountain bicycle racer in Hong Kong and then as a amateur road racer in England. In 1998 he was signed as a 19 year old pro on the French Cofidis Team. All aspects of professional racing are described, i.e. physical conditioning, racing teams, financing, doping, etc. However, the main theme of the book is about the effects of doping on his career and on the profession of international bicycle racing.
He entered professional racing naively unaware of its rampant doping culture and rode “clean”. Then the reality of competing against dopers became apparent and he gave in and used EPO a banned blood enhancing drug. He was arrested in 2004 for doping and suspended from cycling for 2 years. After the suspension he describes his comeback to racing. In the 2012 Tour de France he raced for Garman, won stage 12 and finished 66th overall.
I am not a literary critic; but for what it is worth, I found the book candid, concise and recommend it to both roadies and racers. The book is available at the ACPL titled “Racing Through the Dark, a Memoir” call number 796.62092 M61R. An overview of his life and career can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Millar#Career8189Gene Dixon, the lone rider
