The 10 best Cycling books

There is one thing we will never forget to pack on our bicycle trip, and that is a book! The Guardian has found 10 books every cyclist should read.

1 | The Rider
Tim Krabbé (1978; English translation 2002)
This fictional account of a professional bicycle race by the Dutch journalist, author and former racing cyclist, is a cult classic. Finely written and full of rhetorical flourishes, it captures the peculiar dynamic of the peloton beautifully, from the point of view of one rider. At just 150 pages, it is a book you simply have to put down, in order to savour it. It is also a meditation on pain, for armchair enthusiasts who don’t fancy it much themselves. For bike-racing fans, it’s essential reading.

2 | Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. Dervla Murphy (1965)
3 | Richard’s Bicycle Book. Richard Ballantine (1972; out of print)
4 | Bicycle: The History David V Herlihy (2004)
5 | The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle. Matt Seaton (2002)
6 | Put Me Back On My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson. William Fotheringham (2002)
7 | Cycling. Viscount Bury and G Lacy Hillier (1887; out of print)
8 | The Third Policeman. Flann O’Brien (pub posthumously, 1967)
9 | French Revolutions. Tim Moore (2001)
10 | A Rough Ride. Paul Kimmage (1990)