|
|
FitnessProsBooks.com - Inside the Postal Bus: My Ride with Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Cycling Team
|
List Price: $21.95
Our Price: $4.20
Your Save: $ 17.75 ( 81% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: VeloPress
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.62
EAN: 9781931382618
ISBN: 1931382611
Label: VeloPress
Manufacturer: VeloPress
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2005-04-10
Publisher: VeloPress
Studio: VeloPress
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dry and flavorless
Comment: I, too, am pure tifosi and really, really wanted to enjoy this. I remember my own racing days and can talk for hours on end, telling story after story: "Remember that time when..."
Michael Barry either cannot or chooses not to.
There's a pretty good description of the malaise experienced by a professional cyclist mired in a 3-week tour at the end of the book. There are momentary bright spots and little tidbits of trivia that may bring a smile. Unfortunately, the majority of the book is taken up with a spectator's view of Lance Armstrong. Mr. Barry drags us through the 2004 Tour de France from the comfort of his television set; he wasn't on the team that competed that year. And this is the core of the book.
Overall, the book has SO much potential, but Mr. Barry cannot bring it to fruition. Bike racing is fun and funny, and full of wonderful stories. This book is not. It is as dull and subdued as the colors of the racing team it follows.
Meh.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not A Lance Book Alone
Comment: Okay...it's more like a 3.5 star book.
First and foremost, the fact that a professional European cyclist can write a book that is easily read is a miracle. Actually if you go to his Michael Barry's website, you can tell that he is quite intelligent.
This book actually is a very good read. One sees the day to day detail of what a procyclist is like. I particularly enjoyed the episodes that had really nothing to do with racing, but just life in general on the team. Julien DeVriese's love for the Lakers, Luc Verloo, the bus driver, being dragged by a car in the middle of the night, Roberto Heras sitting on the toilet in his pajamas drinking coffee so he wouldn't wake Barry. These are what really makes the book.
The reason I gave it only 3.5 stars is that it is at times dry. And the end tends to drag on...maybe it's like the cycling season at the end of the year. That along with the fact that if you are not into cycling, this may not be a very inspiring book, especially if one was anticipating tons of Lance stories. I enjoyed it as I am a cycling enthusiast...
Yep...3.5 stars...good book...just not great.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Account of Life In and Out of the US Postal Bus
Comment: Forget about all the negative reviews about this book!!! They are completely wrong. I can't believe those people didn't get more out of this book. First, it's called "Inside the Postal Bus". Sure it has Lance in the SUB-title, but that doesn't mean this book is "all about Lance". If that's what they wanted, they obviously can't read a title let alone a sub-title, and they should stick to books that have a hugh pictures of Lance on the cover so they don't get so confussed.
For TRUE cycling fans (and NOT the-Lance-bandwagon crew) this is one great cycling book. Michael Barry does give plenty (yes plenty) of accounts of what went on in the US Postal bus. He also gives accounts of stays in hotels, in European cities that are hubs for non-European born cyclist, and plenty of road racing. A real insider's view.
O.k., Barry didn't race in the Tour de France alongside Lance, but the title doesn't say he did. A true fan would know that there is life outside of the Tour de France and the US Postal Team has more than one rider. And such a fan would also want to know about other races and riders.
Barry gives plenty of stories about other riders (George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Dave Zabriskie, and plenty more) and also US Postal Team staff. Great stories-and well told. This is an easy to read, enjoyable book about life in and out of the US Postal bus, the glory, the pain, and the triumphs of wins both big and small. I'm glad I happened to catch Michael Barry signing copies of his book at the final stage of the inagural Tour of California.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great informal look Inside the Postal Bus.
Comment: I truly enjoyed the way Michael Barry delivered the 'inside scoop' on what goes on inside and outside the Postal bus before, during, and after race events. The personal sacrifices these riders make in order to be a part of a professional race team were brought forth in an amusing and heart felt way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice Read for a Cyclist - But Barry Wasn't on the Bus with Lance in France
Comment: The title of this book is a little misleading for cycling fans. Like other reviewers, I really wanted to like this book. However, it just doesn't come through with the goods.
Like most riders/fans who look for good books on cycling, I eagerly looked forward to Michael Barry's take on life in the pro ranks. Barry is, of course, a world-class rider with world-class experience riding for the phenomenal Postal and Discovery bike teams. I expected Barry to come through with some fascinating insider scoop on life in the Postal bus. While Michael certainly shares some interesting anecdotes, like the importance of the expresso machine on board, I'd be less than truthful if I didn't give the reader a heads-up - this book isn't so much about Michael Barry as about Lance and the Postal efforts to win the 2004 Tour de France. To me that smacks of hopping on the Lance bandwagon in order to make some extra cash. There are plenty of books about Lance - we want to hear about the rest of the team. George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, etc. are great riders as well - tell us what they are like!
Make no mistake - this book is pretty much a collection of Barry's diary entries already published on [...], fleshed out with the aforementioned accounts of Lance and the Postal boys. (In case it sounds like I'm griping - let me point out that Barry recounts the Tour de France in quite a few chapters but didn't actually ride the 2004 Tour). There is no problem with Barry's writing - he does a nice job of capturing the atmosphere surrounding bike racing. However, whoever edited this book forgot to point out to Barry that it might be nice to have a logical transition between chapters instead of the haphazard manner in which each chapter fits together.
Basically, the book follows the US Postal Cycling Team through the 2004 season. The first few chapters were exactly what I had hoped for - background on Michael Barry, details on what the Postal Bus was(!) really like, and interesting notes on Michael's teammates. Yes, the detail was a little sparse, but there were interesting anecdotes here and there. About a third of the way in to the book we get a blow-by-blow description of Lance's heroic win in the 2004 Tour de France... There's only one problem - Barry wasn't actually on the Postal bus or team during the 2004 Tour. I wanted to read about Michael's experience - not Lance's (there are plenty of books detailing Lance's heroic antics during the Tour(s) elsewhere).
I wanted to hear what Barry does and sees on the team, not what Lance did (I've already read all that on [...]! Bottom line - this book is nothing more than a poorly edited collection of Michael Barry's Rider Diary submissions that you can read for free at [...]. I put the book down wondering if Michael didn't see this as a way to supplement his team salary for the year. Its a shame because you can see some real promise in Michael's writing. If he had stuck to writing about himself and his own experiences on the "B" team, I think it would have been a great read. Borrow a copy or just log on to Velonews for Michael's great diary entries...for free!
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
During the professional cycling season, the members of the United States Postal Team live, train, and work together for weeks on end while traveling to competitions throughout Europe. With wit and singular insight, Michael Barry, a professional cyclist and member of the United States Postal Team, shares his first-hand knowledge of the sport and of his fellow cyclists, describing intricate pre-race orchestrations; the efforts of the coach, mechanics, team chef, and other staff members; the personalities and idiosyncrasies of his international teammates, including six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong; and the thrilling races themselves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
