An autobiography which takes the reader on a roller-coaster of emotions; following one of the worlds most famous athletes as he battles his way to the top of his game despite the devastating news that, at the age of 25, and at the peak of his fitness, he had cancer. Whether you have an interest in cycling or any sport for that matter is irrelevant, because as the title suggests, "its not about the bike". It's about the man riding that bike and how the illness swiftly took hold of his body, his mind and the effects it had on his family.

Lance Armstrong, pre-cancer was, in my opinion, an extremely arrogant, selfish and angry young man. Early on in the book, the theme of "me, myself and I" was so predominant it was quite nauseating - Armstrong himself, would not deny this. He needed to be bullish and explosive to be taken seriously. He didn't care what people thought of him and he was going to prove to the world just what a sensation he was. How dare the world treat him, Lance Armstrong, as if he was nothing.

However reading on, the reasons become more clear and it is only towards the end of the book, as Armstrong becomes a survivor of cancer does he tenderely provide you with the absolute love he holds in reserve for his family and closest friends. The people closest to him ... people like his management and coaching staff, Bill Stapleton, who inadvertently became like an unspoken father figure, Chris Carmichael, his teammates ... but most notably, his mother. There are many people that help Armstrong through his ordeal, an inspiration individually, in the way they provide him with unfaltering, unconditional love and encouragement when other people quite clearly deserted him - declaring him "finished". It wasn't just Lance fighting this disease, it was all of them. It was however, only Armstrong, who would have to regain not only his health, but his reputation as a serious contender.

For that he literally was required to fight for his life.

And my word, did he fight ... despite everything that was mounted against him, whether it be the tortuous mountains of the Pyrenees or the constant reminder of the disease ravaging his body, his dogged determination and overwhelming refusal to quit is, quite simply, amazing.

A notable difference when reading the book, is how it shaped Armstrong as a person. He would always be fiercely competitive and single-minded, but now, there was more evidence of a quiet patience that was willing to listen to the voice of others to guide him. He finds love, becomes a father for the first time ... this is perhaps why he says he would choose cancer over winning the Tour de France - because of what it made him, how it shaped him and most importantly, what it taught him.

I am now looking forard to reading the next book "Every second counts ..." which continues the story of how Lance would go on to win the Tour a further three times with a record equalling fourth in his sights ...

If one knows the scandalous last few years of Lance Armstrong's life, with the breakdown of his marriage due to his adultery and the collapse of his legacy due to the exposure of his sophisticated doping operation, it is impossible to read this book without a feeling of ironic distance from the feel-good sentiments that Lance and his co-writer are trying to convey. That does not mean that this book is not worthwhile or even interesting, but merely that one goes into this book, or at least I did, with a strong sense of cynicism about its contents and approach, and a determination to read between the lines. That this book still stands up as being noteworthy under such circumstances is credit to its authors, even if it is not quite the reading experience that it was originally intended to be or that it likely was in the period where Lance Armstrong was seemingly miraculously winning all those Tour de France titles after having recovered from a near-fatal battle with metastatic testicular cancer. Even now, Lance Armstrong is right that it's not about the bike, it's about a man so driven to win and so consumed with himself that he pushed through cancer and showed a total disregard for the feelings of others as well as the rules and traditions of his chosen sport of cycling [1], and one can see that here clearly enough to see what Armstrong was eliding in these pages.

Like a good Aristotelian drama, this particular book begins in media res with an apparent contrast between the pre-cancer Lance Armstrong and the post-cancer Lance Armstrong, although, as we have seen in subsequent revelations, the contrast is not as great as we may hope, and in both periods Lance Armstrong comes off even in his own account as more than a little bit of an aloof jerk. The book then goes to his childhood where he shows an almost emotionally incestuous relationship with his mother and is extremely critical about his birth father and his first stepfather and then shows his early athletic success in triathlons and as a competitive cyclist. The rise of the young cyclist is interrupted by his battle with cancer, which is described in vivid and sometimes brutal detail, as Armstrong first tries to soldier through early symptoms, then fights cancer and has to deal with chemo even as he faces concerns over not having insurance and dealing with a cycling team that is trying to renegotiate or cancel a deal under duress. The book then moves to the whirlwind courtship between Lance and his wife Kik, surviving, and then returning to form and winning his first two Tour de France titles, told from his perspective as part of a growth and success narrative.

Even though this is clearly a whitewash and clearly not the full story, there is a lot of worth in this book anyway, even after the truth of Armstrong's victories and the fact that they were owed to a sophisticated doping regime and a sport willing to look the other way at least for a time. For one, Lance Armstrong tries to promote himself as belonging to a tight-knit cancer community that he mines for sympathy [2]. For another, Lance Armstrong shows himself throughout as being hostile towards protocols and established traditions, whether that is regarding his senior year of high school in Plano, Texas or his insistence that his mother come along with him on a meeting with the King of Norway after his victory in the cycling world championships or his refusal to go by the arcane rules of the road in European road cycling. Over and over again Lance seems tone deaf to the demands of the social world he finds himself in, a lone wolf demanding loyalty from others but not being sensitive to the needs and concerns of others, and relying on ruthlessness, predatory aggression, and his own God-given natural gifts and talents. The result is a fascinating look at a man that even at his peak was someone who was quite willing to let the darker side of his personality show, or perhaps had such a dark side that it was impossible for it to be completely hidden however he may have wanted to portray himself.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...

Absolutely Fantastic, one of my all time favorite reads! You don't even have to enjoy cycling to enjoy and get a lot out of his book. His story of how he changes his attitude and love for life is one of the greatest I've ever read. And if you DO enjoy cycling, then this book is even more of a bonus! I've never been more motivated to ride faster and harder than after I finished this book! (I compare it to the feeling I get driving after watching "Top Gun")

I've had this book for years, but never managed to pull myself away from my usual diet of pure fiction for long enough to read it. It's Not About the Bike is a moving story and well structured. Although he is an impressive athlete, I'm more moved by his journey as a cancer survivor.

Having said that, I found myself looking for tell-tale signs of dishonesty. In recent years, he's been accused of using performance enhancing drugs when participating in the Tour de France. Although it's difficult to know for sure, if forced to make a guess, I would say he is guilty as charged. Knowing this tainted my reaction to the book.

I waffled between admiration and suspicion. In the end, I decided that Lance is likely the same as the rest of us: imperfect. This led me to examine our need for heroes. Although this was never the intention of the authors, I am sure, the main take-away for me from this book is a more critical view on idolization of any kind.

След случаен разговор за жълтите гривни Livestrong, колоезденето и силните духом, един колега ми даде книгата да я прочета. Бях впечатлена и си я купих. Започнах да я раздавам.

Докато четях отделните глави и части от живота на Ланс, чувствата ми към него непрекъснато се променяха - ту ми се струваше егоист, отворко, самохвалко, ту му се възхищавах колко упорит, смел и борбен тип е. Животът му е чудо и стискане на зъби. Голям късмет е да имаш такива хора до себе си - амбициозна майка, всеотдайна жена, верни приятели и свестни лекари!

Препоръчвам на всеки, стига да не мрази книги за колоездене, състезания и рак.

Achteraf is het natuurlijk een klootzak, maar om met Mart Smeets te spreken, een aardige klootzak.

On Wednesday, November 17, 2004 I wrote on bookcrosing:

I had to decide what to read next and decided to read this book. Although I do not like Lance Armstrong I love The Tour de France and want to know as much as I can of the event and the participants.I have heard that this is a very good book and while reading I noticed I forget the arrogant guy who treats the other cyclists with not enough respect. Now I just want to read how he dealt with the cancer and I know a lot of the names and persons he is talking about which makes it more interesting.will update this journal while reading.

Update November 18 2004 Oh My God. I tried to read this story with an open mind but after the first 2 chapters the way this guy is ranting, it made me sick. This guy is full of himself, does not have any respect for others, he is a narcissistic arse. This is one angry man with one of the hugest ego's I ever experienced in my life! Everybody is tiptoeing around him. Some of the bicycle facts are not correct and the story about Pantani? don't get me started. He made a big show how he gave the win to Pantani. He humiliated Marco which was not necessary at all in 2000, calling him El Elefanta (because Marco had big ears) since then I have no respect for this guy and this book proved I was right.He is just an angry little selfish child.




Update: I wrote this nearly 10 years ago. I can't tell you how satisfying it is for me to see this bully finally got his come uppance.

You will read a lot of bad reviews stating that the guy is an asshole and that the book is bad because he is a such cocky SOB. Buy you know what? if all of the people that are saying that, together, can even finish the Tour the France, they will write a book about that.
Lets face it, if you can win the tour 7 consecutive times you can write a book about anything. And if, on top of that, you did that after surviving the kind of cancer that this guy had, the book can be 300 pages with just your name on it.
Cocky is good is you can back it up.
Now to the book itself. Its an inspirational story with a fair narrative, but I found some structure problems that keep it from being a 5 stars book.
The book might not be about the bike, but it gives just enough bike to the people that, like me, were looking for it. In fact, the best parts on the book where the cycling parts (the pre-cancer training and the first tour win).
Other than cycling, you'll find a lot of personal information that makes this a very honest book.
Finally, I have to say that I respect him even more after reading this book, and that I loved the parts where he throws dirt at the people that abandoned him when he had cancer.

I was embarassed that I watched the movie Show Girls and I was embarassed that I read this book. This should have negative stars because I am pretty sure it took away some of my IQ points.
I learned that the world actually does revolve around Lance Armstrong, thus the reason he is a confirmed agnostic. I doubt very much that he knows what the word means.
The riduculousness of this book would take too long to elaborate on but we were able to get a lot of laughs by reading passages of it out loud to each other. The actual writer of the book was probably not able to disguise his incredible arrogance, self involvement and above all his blatant ignorance.
The only part that I found useful was his description of the chemo process. He already says that he doesn't remember anything about it so it is probably someone else's description.
I cannot believe that poor woman Kek married him or understand why she did. She already saw how the world and everything in it was supposed to cater to him (in his mind). The title also makes no sense because it is 100% why anyone knows anything about this man
If this man is a cultural icon or hero of some sort this culture has a lot of problems. I can see why the Beck/Palin ticket in 2012 could be viable if this country is that stupid.
A truly inspirational book about cancer is Death Be Not Proud.

I am always impressed by amazing feats of human endeavour and even though Armstrong was a hard man to actually 'like', I was a fan. Like many I wanted to believe in his story of multiple Tour wins without resorting to the drugs that plagued the sport. Like many I was gutted when it turned out that he was a big fat fraud, a liar and a cheat. Having read David Walsh's 'Seven Deadly Sins - My pursuit of Lance Armstrong' I had taken my (at that time unread) copy of 'It's not about the bike' and put it in the dustbin. I just don't DO that to books. I recycle, I give them to charity shops, I pass them on to friends. Not this one - I didn't want the world contaminated by the lies in my copy. It went into the bin.

And then yesterday I found a copy for 50p in a charity shop and figured I probably SHOULD give it a go. He wouldn't get any money from that 50p but a reputable children's hospice would. So I just read it and I still feel slightly sick and slightly dirty for dabbling in the Lance Armstrong fantasy.

I have enormous pity for his ghost writer, Sally Jenkins, who made a very readable book out of this man's fantasy. What must she have thought when the truth came out? All the 'I just pushed a bit harder and hey presto I'd won' type BS was just a cover for a needle full of performance enhancing drugs. From the distance of a few years, even his dream romance with Kik is a sad story too - all the hell that poor woman went through to give him 3 IVF babies and then they divorced, he had high profile relationships with a few more women and then two naturally conceived babies with his latest love. Even his infertility turned out to be fraud.

Let's be fair though, a LOT of riders were cheating in his era - but they weren't lying, bullying and resorting to lawyers to protest their innocence. There's irony when reading of his battle with his competitors - including my old favourite, King of the Mountains Richard Virenque - and knowing that they too were stripped of titles as drug cheats too. No doubt it's true that it takes superhuman effort to survive a Tour de France let alone win it EVEN drug assisted - but that doesn't excuse the extreme arrogance and lies that fill this book.

Read it with a sense of irony. Read it knowing that this man bought into his own lies to such a degree that he really does seem to have believed he didn't do it. But he did. Let history show that. It really WASN'T about the bike when it all came down to it.

dickhead

A friend of mine loaned me this book years ago; he enjoyed it and recommended that I read it. This friend had never loaned me a book before, and since he's a bit more of a jock than me, I thought I might not get the same satisfaction as he did. So I put it on my shelf and considered it from time to time over the years, but finally picked it up when there was nothing else of interest on the shelf.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I have never read any sports books before, and didn't know what to expect. I also thought Lance Armstrong would come off as a cocky overachiever, but after reading the book I have a different level of respect for him and his career. I also have much more respect for cycling as a sport, and the Tour de France as a challenge I will probably never understand.

Of course you know how the book ends and most of the story throughout (amazing cyclist wins many races, fights and beats testicular cancer, comes back to win the Tour de France numerous times) but it doesn't feel like you're reading a story you already know. It's much more personal, insightful, and exciting than that. It's an easy read, and I found myself eager to go to bed at night to read it. I would recommend this to anyone - you don't need to be a sports or cycling enthusiast to appreciate this book.