Need for the Bike

Need for the Bike
by Paul Fournel

List Price: ~~$16.95~~
Our Price: $8.71
You Save: $8.24 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.63 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Author: Paul Fournel
Translator: Allan Stoekl
Introduction: Allan Stoekl
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-01
ISBN: 0803269099
Number of pages: 150
Publisher: Bison Books

Book Reviews of Need for the Bike

Book Review: Very short stories about cycling
Summary: 3 Stars

I grew up biking in Canada so Fournel's perspective and unbringing into cycling is much different than my own. Here biking is often a thing that children do and a few of us stick with it. However in France they are so much more deeply steeped in cycling, the terrain, the heritage and the romanticism of the Tour, it's a way of life for many.

So this perpective was a refreshing one, I like the way the book was presented. The very short [mostly 2 page] stories were so easily digestable that you fly through 'em. Some of the references to specific climbs and racers were lost on me. But there are many points where a serious biker can relate to some of the romanticisms, physiological & behavioral elements, and odd life choices.

It wasn't the greatest book I've picked up but I enjoyed it. He's apparently quite the creative authour, I'm not sure if some of this creativity was lost on me or through the translation. The writing style didn't really blow my socks off.

In the end it was like having a string of stories told to you by a parisienne cycliste over a baguette and cheese after you went for a ride in the Alps. If that appeals to you, check it out.

happy trails

Write your own review

More Need for the Bike reviews:
1 2 3

Summary of Need for the Bike

A book like no other, Paul Fournel?s Need for the Bike conducts readers into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle, and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling?from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist.

An extended meditation on cycling as a practice of life, the book recalls a country doctor who will not anesthetize the young Fournel after he impales himself on a downtube shifter, speculates about the difference between animals that would like to ride bikes (dogs, for instance) and those that would prefer to watch (cows, marmots), and reflects on the fundamental absurdity of turning over the pedals mile after excruciating mile. At the same time, Fournel captures the sound, smell, feel, and language of the reality and history of cycling, in the mountains, in the city, escaping the city, in groups, alone, suffering, exhausted, exhilarated.

In his attention to the pleasures of cycling, to the specific ?grain? of different cycling experiences, and to the inscription of these experiences in the body?s cycling memory, Fournel portrays cycling as a descriptive universe, colorful, lyrical, inclusive, exclusive, complete.

Literature & Fiction Books

Book Subjects

Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books

Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: ~~$5.00~~

The Killing Ground
by JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book

Saving Fish from Drowning
by Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book

Life Expectancy
by Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00

Constant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book

Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)
by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book

Sahara
by Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book

Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)
by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.73
Price in other shops: ~~$10.50~~

The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towers
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book

Red Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book

Similar Books and other products

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance
by Lennard Zinn
Velopress; Velo Press; Published: 2009-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.27
Price in other shops: ~~$24.95~~

Bicycle Dreams
Published: 2010; DVD
Best price: $24.95

Bicycling Science
by David Gordon Wilson
The MIT Press; Published: 2004-03-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.66
Price in other shops: ~~$27.95~~

The Belgian Hammer: Forging Young Americans into Professional Cyclists
by Daniel Lee
Breakaway Books; Published: 2011-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops: ~~$15.00~~

It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels
by Robert Penn
Bloomsbury USA; Published: 2011-04-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops: ~~$20.00~~

Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling
Chronicle Books; Published: 2010-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops: ~~$16.95~~

The Spring Classics: Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races
by Philippe Bouvet, Phillipe Brunel, Pierre Callewaert, Jean-Luc Gatellier, Serge Laget
VELO; Velo Press; Published: 2010-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.14
Price in other shops: ~~$39.95~~