Chris Sidwells

From mountain bikes to road racers, find out how to keep your bike in peak condition. Fully revised and updated bike repair encyclopedia, the "Bike Repair Manual 5th Edition" is perfect for beginners and dedicated cyclists alike. Clear, jargon-free advice steers you through a complete maintenance programme. Get up to speed with the hottest developments and pick up the latest in gear-shifter technology, new maintenance techniques for disc brakes and hints and tips for mountain-bike suspension. Now including new material specifically for road cyclists. Pocket-sized manual with flaps to easily mark your page, the "Bike Repair Manual 5th Edition" is perfect for when you're on the road.

Cycling jerseys represent many different things. For a cyclist they must be functional. For team sponsors they must stand out, and in doing so they must increase brand awareness. For cycling fans they help pick out their favorites or a race or competition leader. Jerseys show who is a world or a national champion. And in some races, jerseys tell of a competitor’s nationality. But cycling jerseys have evolved into something bigger than all those things. Some jerseys are iconic, others stylish, and some are beautiful. They can evoke good times or bad times, success or failure. Above all, jerseys mark the great occasions of cycling, they speak of its history, its personalities and its style. And all jerseys have an element of art in their design. Cycling Jerseys celebrates the cycling jersey in all its forms. With stunning pictures and snatches of history, this is the story of the cycling jersey told in 192 gorgeous pages. From the first simple garments that early cyclists raced in, to the technologyladen jerseys top riders use today. This book looks at the iconic jerseys associated with great riders and with great teams, the jerseys of champions and nations, and the jerseys that leaders wear in the most famous races.

Eddy Merckx. Fausto Coppi. Jacques Anquetil. Bernard Hinault. Beryl Burton. Marianne Vos. A sole cyclist battling over a pass high in the mountains is one of the most romantic of sporting images. In the past 150 years road cycling has been dominated by a series of iconic people who have redefined endurance and fortitude. Every decade has pushed human limits, until limits were extended by inhuman pharmacology. And these battles have not been fought over just one race, but an annual series beginning with the Spring Classics and then culminating in the three great tours - the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta d'Espagne and the Tour de France - before the cyclists retire to lick their wounds and start on another winter of training. The Call of the Road is the definitive story of cycle road racing, from the first race in 1868 to the present day. It is a story that has never been told as the professionals experience it - as a whole energy-sapping year. It looks at the beginning and development of the sport, it explains the tactics and looks at the different physical types that succeed. It explains why some nations have dominated this sport and why, until recently, British riders have underperformed. It also looks at the way the great races were founded and developed, and how the great riders stamped their authority on them through the ages. Sidwells doesn't shy away from controversy: dissecting the vexed and seemingly ever-present question of doping. The final chapter brings the story of road racing completely up to date with insight into jiffy bags and salbutamol levels. Truly international in scope, looking at road racing in North and Latin America, Australia, Africa and Asia, as well as continental Europe, The Call of the Road is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the history, tactics or personalities of cycle road racing.