Twelve Months in the Saddle: How Two Riders Tackled a Dozen Iconic Cycle Rides

An enjoyable antidote to the usual fare in this booming genre. This beautifully photographed book is both a guidebook to some of the more interesting rides on these and other shores and also a story of friendships forged through cycling. Not a book for those obsessed by power outputs, cadence and heart rate, rather it is about the enjoyment of the open road, strade bianche or cart track. To be recommended.

Okay so first of all a gripe. This book is billed on Amazon as '12 Iconic Rides'. Now I don't know about you, but if you make a book called that, and you put Mont Ventoux on the cover, the reader could be right in assuming that the other 'iconic' rides would be mostly those from famous Tour de France stages (Galibier, Alpe DHuez etc) or at least the Giro / the classics.In fact this book is about two blokey mates cycling eight British routes, and includes only four of what I would call classic 'Iconic' rides. (One from the Tour, L'Eroica from Italy, and then routes of the tour of Flanders and the Paris Roubaix.)And in fact, the cover says "Epic Rides", not iconic, which you might be able to argue for the South Downs Way and the Isle of Skye I suppose. But one of the rides is just around London at night!! I felt quite annoyed at the point of realising all this!Having got over my irritation, though, it is a rather lovely and inspiring book.They are a funny charming pair (even though they do seem to have written some of their own reviews on here - Charly Gaul and Fred Coppi on the same day?!). And their non-professional appearances do inspire the reader to imagine that one day they might do something of the same. (And I spent a long time thinking about how they managed to take the photos - I'd love to have had a bit of technical info of some shots of them at night in Scotland from a distance for example....) Pretty enjoyable really, but don't make the same mistake as me and then you'll be a much happier purchaser.

I bought this book for my brother who is a keen cyclist and lives in New York. He loves this book and it has inspired him to take on some challenges he had only dreamed of.

Good read

A disappointing book. Great idea, nice format and gorgeous photographs. But I found the jokey copy of Two Hairy Bikers to be irritating especially as that replaced any meaningful detail of the 'iconic rides', or planning, or preparation, or technique, or anything else...Yes, it gives the flavour of each ride but it hasn't fired me up with enthusiasm or knowledge to attempt one as other reviews have suggested.

Not your average cycling book. A lovely coffee-table tome that made me laugh out loud. Ahhh, L'Erocia in Tuscany.....someday, definitely, maybe.

Good pics, but each event is given minimal detail. Good to get you wanting to do the rides, but details sadly lacking

Very quick delivery. Good quality. Enjoyable read.

This was a gift. He seems to like it.