Behind the Wheel with a Pro Cyclist

Rough Ride

One of the greatest books ever written about the life of a professional athlete: the full story beind life in the peloton. 
 
Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award

A devastatingly frank description of life on the professional road cycling circuit, hurtful in its telling of unwelcome truths yet powerful in its capture of what it takes, legally and illegally, to compete

In the wake of the Armstrong affair, you can’t move for books about doping, but Kimmage, and ex-pro rider himself, was the first to ‘spit in the soup’ back in the 1990s... A must read for any cyclist

Since writing Rough Ride, Paul Kimmage has gone on to become one of the UK and Ireland's most respected sports journalists. Currently chief interviewer for the Sunday Times' sports section, he is also the author of Andy Townsend's autobiography, and of the highly acclaimed Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino.

An eye-opening expose of and a heart-breaking lament for professional cycling 
 
Paul Kimmage's boyhood dreams were of cycling glory: wearing the yellow jersey, cycling the Tour de France, becoming a national hero. He knew it wouldn't come easy, but he was prepared to put in the graft. The dedication paid off – he finished sixth in the World Championships as an amateur and in 1986, he turned professional. 
 
He soon discovered it wasn't about courage, training hours or how much you wanted to win. It was about gruelling defeats, total exhaustion, and drugs - drugs that would allow you to finish the race and start another day. 
 
 Kimmage ultimately left the sport to write this book – profoundly honest and ground-breaking, Rough Ride broke the silence surrounding the issue of drugs in sport, and documents one man’s love for, and struggle with, the complex world of professional cycling. 
 
 ‘A must read for any cyclist’ Cyclist 
WINNER OF WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR

Paul Kimmage

An Insight into Pro Cycling

In A Rough Ride, Paul Kimmage gives a devastatingly frank account of what life is really like in the world of professional cycling. In tracing his mixed fortunes, Kimmage describes not only the grueling pressures of the sport but also the seamier side: the widespread use of drugs to enhance performance. A Rough Ride breaks the law of silence to expose a world where the supposed glamour has worn very thin.

Paul Kimmage

Books by Paul Kimmage

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