The helicopter is hanging above our heads. A woman with a child waves up to the family watching at home. Motorcycles tear past, sirens wailing. And here they come, the riders. Like a vast chameleon the peloton continually changes shape and colour. Four hundred tyres sing to us. Music for a Sunday afternoon. Here they come. Here they are.
At times hilarious, in other moments thought provoking, this is a fascinating story of the world seen from a bike.
One of the most entertaining sports books I have ever read
Understated, comic and melancholic... It’ll inspire you to get back on your bike.
Not only is this compulsory reading for the cognoscenti, it ought to accompany every new road bike and sportwool jersey sold in the next decade
There’s no one who can capture the beauty of cycling like Wilfried
Sit down and let Wilfried guide you through the wondrous world of cycling
A master of the short story
Wilfried de Jong is a well-known and highly regarded broadcaster, journalist and writer in his native Holland. A familiar face on Dutch TV, he has made a number of award-winning sports documentaries. In 2012 he won the Nico Scheepmaker Award for the best sports book of the year for Head in the Wind, which went on to be a bestseller in Holland. In 2015 his collection of cycling columns Solo was nominated for the Dutch Sports Book of the Year. The Man and his Bike combines the very best of De Jong’s stories on cycling in one unique collection.
Introduced by Bert Wagendorp, author of Ventoux