The Racer

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What to expect

What is it really like to be a racer?

What is it like to be swept along at 60kmh in the middle of the pack? How does it feel to be reeled in from a solo breakaway metres from the line? What happens to the body during a high-speed chute? What tactics must teams employ to win the day, the jersey, the grand tour? How does a domestique keep going to the end of a stage once his job is done and his body exhausted? How does a time-trialist maintain his form when every muscle and sinew is screaming at him to stop? What sacrifices must a cyclist make to reach the highest levels? What is it like on the bus? In the hotels? What camaraderie is built in the confines of a team? What rivalries? How does it feel to be constantly on the road, away from loved ones, tasting one more calorie-counted hotel breakfast?

David Millar offers us a unique insight into the mind of a professional cyclist during his last year before retirement. Over the course of a season on the World Tour, Millar puts us in touch with the sights, smells and sounds of the sport – the barked instructions of a road captain in a sprint chain, the silence of a solo training ride. This is a book about youth and age, fresh-faced excitement and hard-earned experience. It is a love letter to cycling.

Critics Review

  • David Millar’s book takes you inside the sport of cycling while also emphasising the absurdity of it. It’s quite rare for a sportsman to be so immersed and yet able to detach themselves from it all … The parts on crashing are amazing. I felt frightened and sore reading it

    Richard Moore, author of Slaying the Badger

  • Cycling has always been about a great deal more than its winners, and The Racer is quite a ride

    Spectator

  • What’s it really like to be a professional bike racer? David Millar gives you an unparalleled insight

    Road Cycling UK

  • A love letter to the simple pleasure of riding a bike, and a very well-written one at that

    Bike Radar

  • Millar’s love for what he did, and the curious world he inhabited for 18 years, shines through his prose

    Scotsman

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