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It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (平装)
by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins
| Category:
Motivation, Sports, Biography, Personal Success |
| Market price: ¥ 170.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An awesomely inspirational tale of faith and persistence, this is a book not only about bike, but about being a winner in life. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 14 items |
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Sam Rouleau (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
It's Not About the Bike is the story of an up and coming star, cut down in his prime, only to return with more passion and fury than before. Lance Armstrong had just won the World Cycling Championships, and was receiving contracts from some of the biggest sporting companies in the world.
Suddenly, he becomes aware of his body starting to give way on him. Concerned, he goes in for testing and is diagnosed with a severe form of Testicular Cancer. Within a few weeks he is undergoing intense chemotherapy, and left to reflect on his life thus far. He is faced with the realization that his life, if not over, might never be the same. His friends and mother stand by him through the entire ordeal, and after months of fighting, he is in remission.
He struggles as he pieces together a new life, but meets his future wife, Kik, who helps him back on the bike. He doesn't perform like he had in the past, and drops out of the sport for a while. Kik, once again talks him back into riding. This time though, he was determined. He focused all of his energy into winning the Tour de France. He trained smarter, and lived healthier. He was no longer the overbearing and egotistical boy of his past. He was a man now, one with something to prove, to himself, and to those who said he was finished.
He wins the Tour de France, but quickly changes his focus to the future. He wants to spread his story, and live a more complete life. He and Kik look to have a child. Lance's chemotherapy had made him sterile, and the process is long and hard trying to get Kik pregnant. It required multiples surgeries, countless needles, and a supply of Lance's banked sperm from before his fight with cancer. He later becomes a father to Luke Armstrong, and his life is reshaped.
After all of Lance's success though, there is still some doubt among the cycling world. To put an end to the speculation, he again sets himself up with intense training to repeat as champion of the Tour de France. He, in a way only Lance Armstrong could, succeeds.
It's Not About the Bike is a very well-written and personal story. It is very articulate, and in no way falls under the expectations of an athlete's autobiography. It does not bask in the glory of athletic achievements, nor does it try to leave the reader feeling as thought he athlete was immortal. The story takes the reader down a long hard road of Lance's life. He builds up his immortal status in the beginning, simply to shatter that thought in the reader's mind. It is a very well thought out, and crafted book.
However, it does truly live up to its title. It focuses deeply on the feelings and motivations that surround Lance, rather then the actual actions that are taking place. Even in the two chapters of the book that are dedicated to him winning the Tour de France, they focus much more on his thought process then telling what happened. There was also a large amount of detail placed in his reminiscence of childhood. However, this same level of detail is not matched during more critical times in the book, such as the meeting of his wife, or birth of his son.
Overall, the book is inspiring and personal. It leaves the reader with the feeling that they truly know Lance, and have a bond with him in some tiny way. It is an almost addicting book, and an absolute must read for anyone who's life has cancer surrounding it. It was a book made by Lance Armstrong the man, not the cyclist, and it carries a message for us all to take in. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
The book covers Lance Armstrong's life - from birth, to his first bike, initial cycling successes, cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, returning to cycling to win the Tour de France, and becoming a first-time father. The book is hard to put down, and well-worth reading.
Lance's mother was only 17 when he was born, played a very large role in his development, and continues to be very close to him. His father left before Lance reached his second birthday, and she worked two jobs while finishing school and raising Lance. She taught Lance never to quit.
Lance got his first bike at age seven, and loved it. In high-school he tried football (not coordinated enough), then swimming (the 12-year-old was initially put in with 7-year-olds) and soon became quite good. At age thirteen Lance entered and won his first junior. triathlon, followed by another in Houston, and by age 15 was entering adult competitions, going from 15th place the first year to 5th the second. Lance began earning $20,000/year as a competitor, and then ended up winning the World Championship in Norway. Before this happened, however, Lance had to learn racing tactics (e.g. saving himself until close to the end), and as often as not became too eager and faded before the finish.
Then came cancer - described by Lance as the "best thing that happened to me." Early symptoms were attributed to "bicycle injury," or "flu." However, after coughing up blood, Lance sought help - eventually resulting in the diagnosis of advanced testicular cancer which had spread to the lungs (12 locations) and his brain (2 locations). Initial testicular removal and chemotherapy took place in Austin, with little adverse impact. Getting a second opinion took him to Houston, and a third in Indianapolis, where brain surgery and much more aggressive chemotherapy were undertaken. Lance not only lost all his hair, but also ended up with prolonged daily retching.
Along the way, Lance clearly conveys his worries, willingness to confront the disease and question medical authorities, and ultimate bond and admiration for his medical team. His negative blood marker (HCG count) went from about 50,000 at diagnosis to 92,000 at peak, and then down to 9,000, and finally 96.
Recovery, however, had only begun. Lance recounts being passed by a 50-ish local woman riding a heavy mountain bike, and the nagging worry that the cancer would return. After about a year, he returned to Europe, and quit almost immediately. Finally, in 1999 he was able to sustain a return to cycling and go on to win the Tour de France.
Other "high points" include Lance deciding that he had a higher purpose than cycling - helping others through cancer and cancer research. Organizing his first charity event resulted in meeting his wife ("Kit"), and the eventual birth of their first child - Luke (via previously stored sperm).
Reading the book reinforces the reasons Lance Armstrong gave for quitting cycling - to spend more time with his children, and to pursue his "responsibility to help others with cancer."
Truly an inspirational story and individual! |
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Eric (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Anyone who's remotely interested in leisure reading should make a bee-line for It's Not about The Bike. Along with Sally Jenkins, Armstrong paints us a picture of his life starting as an angst-filled up and coming athlete to his cancer diagnosis to his physical and mental battles and finally to his first Tour de France victory.
The book is funny, candid, action packed, and truly moving. I mowed through its 270 or so pages in one evening. I couldn't put it down. When he described the searing pain of chemotherapy, I winced. When he talked about the thrills of hurtling down the Alps at 70 mph, my eyes widened. Lance exposes himself not as a hipper than thou athlete, but a regular human being humbled by life itself. He's blunt, but not preachy. Funny a lot of the times, but serious when need be. And he never forgot his roots.
I can see why people drew such inspiration from Lance by reading his book. When you've been to the very brink of death, a place where the odds are crushed against you, and then you come all the way back to not only beat cancer, but also develop into the best athlete in your sport, you can't explain it. Instead, you just hope. You fight. And even if you don't make it, at least you get to go out in a blaze of glory. Lance gives hope to people who have none, because as bad as they think they're in for, he's been in worse - and he beat it.
Read the first few pages of it here at Amazon.com. If you're not drawn in by the time you're done, you have no soul. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Several years ago a great mountaineer wrote that it any endurance athlete needs to be incredibly selfish to make it to the top of his or her game. To be the best, you must have no qualms about sucking the energy of the people who love you in order to feed your obsession. You can give them cars, homes, money, and your name, but your net worth to your family will always be diminished because you must love your sport more than you can love the people who love you.
Mature athletes acknowledge the human toll, either in the loneliness of trying to go it alone or in the broken people they often leave behind. Lance Armstrong has not reached point yet, so this book is just as interesting for what he leaves unsaid or misunderstood.
We admire the strength, obsessiveness, and tenacity, the qualities Lance Armstrong personifies. Most readers can draw inspiration from his story and improve their lives by developing more strength, obsessiveness, and tenacity. On the other hand, beware of trying to use this story as a model for living, unless you are willing to either pay the price or inflict it on others. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
I disagree that this book is primarily about glorifying Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong describes himself in his younger days as a tragedy waiting to happen, an extraordinarily gifted young man who literally amused himself by playing with fire. He was full of bravado and, he admits, full of fear. He was long on attitude and raw talent, but short on introspection. He was a diamond and he knew it, with the kind of strength that cannot be taught. But looking back, he describes a very rough diamond, one that could not have reached anything like its potential without extravagant patience and help from others. He could have been such a sad case.
As I read it, this is not a book about how important Lance Armstrong is because he succeeded in becoming a famous professional athlete. It is about how important it is to become you. How important you are if you are a parent. How important you are if you are a spouse. How important you are if you are a doctor, a nurse, an ultrasound tech. How important you are if you are a coach. How important you are if you are a loyal friend, or even a decent stranger. How important you are if you have a business that gives back and sticks to putting people first.
This book teems with gratitude. It is possible to read this and internalize what Lance did for himself, without seeing him pointing to the difference between those who did everything for him and those who did nothing, or worse. If you miss this, you have missed one of the main points of the story. Although this book would be inspiring to anyone battling cancer, not many of those who read this will become another Lance Armstrong. Most will find themselves every day in the position of his mother, his doctors, his nurses, his mentors, his friends. Your everyday choices make such an enormous difference. Don't wait to get cancer to realize that.
Another main point is that success isn't in bouncing out of bed every day with a go-getter attitude. It is not even about always knowing what your goals are-you have to search, sometimes. It is about slogging through when the attitude isn't there, about getting up after failure, about making negatives into opportunities-an attitude he learned from his mother, whom he rightly adores. He writes, "Some of it is not easy to tell or comfortable to hear... I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else." His book makes it very clear that he did not, could not, get up those hills alone.
The unspoken prologue, of which we all are too aware, is that his marriage with Kristen did not last. Here is a man who was raised with no father he would give the title, whose mother was thrice divorced, from a country where 50% of us don't manage to stay married. He is an exceptionally independent man who had no track record of stable long-term relationships before marriage. Kristen is an independent, self-possessed woman. Their marriage had to be navigated through the waters of fame, the medical ordeal of becoming parents, and the rigors of a professional bicycling career. This was one time when Lance Armstrong didn't manage to beat the odds, even for the sake of his children. Until he or Kristen asks us to feel sorry for them, I would be embarrassed to raise the sentiment for their marriage. Both strike me as people who are far past needing the pity of strangers.
Read the book. Your life is not about what you think about Lance Armstrong. It is about what you're going to do about you. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
It's Not about the Bike, My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong is an amazing book. After reading this book, I looked at life differently. This book teaches a human a lesson about how you have to live your life to the fullest and complete every journey through life in a positive way. I thought this book was mind-blowing, and I couldn't believe that one famous human being could have dealt with all this. After reading this book, a person learns the beauty and truth of life. It teaches a human being that cancer cannot be cured by a miracle but by an ordinary person but all they need is courage. Not only is this book sad but happy at points, the character Lance Armstrong gives humor and sorrow at the same time. Armstrong never stays in the same lane, he makes it emotional at times and then at other times he makes it adventurous. This book is so wonderful that giving it five stars is so less, not every author or writer can tell their life to everyone and reveal it, but this book let's out Lance and us out into the world too. |
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Alma (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
This is a real life story about a man who found himself while he was challenged with the greatest fight anyone could fight. The fight that to live or die. This is a story of a hero who fought one of the deadliest diseases that kills people everyday. Lance Armstrong found out what the greatest things in life were while he was challenged with this horrible disease. This time he had to fight the cancer and get to the finish line first before the cancer could finish him off. I thought this was an outstanding book that gives everyone who is facing lives greatest challenges hope to live and to go on. It teaches you that greatest things in life are family and friends. Lance Armstrong learned that no matter how much money he was still going to have cancer. He learned that no matter how much he had in life that he was not going to able to defeat cancer if he did not have faith. He soon learned what his priorities were and he learned that the best thing that could ever happen to him is that he had to face death. He looked at death in the eye and he was not going to give up on the greatest thing in this world which is to have family and friends. He learned that no money in the world was able to show him that until he was faced with this great challenge. I rate this book a perfect ten is one of the greatest life stories I've ever read in my life. |
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Craig Wood (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
It's Not about the Bike is mostly not about the bike. Lance Armstrong spends the better part of his book talking about his fight against cancer and how it changed him as a person and as a professional cyclist. It's easy to get swept up in Lance-mania, hearing the guy describe his awful experiences with his illness and his improbable return to athletic greatness.
Despite the catchy title, the bike really does matter. Cycling is so central to Armstrong's life that his bicycle is always with him. He sees it as part of his treatment, whether riding between chemo treatments, or discussing the nuances of bike parts with his nurse. Just as interesting are descriptions of key races that he competed in both before and after falling ill. You'll feel like a real dweeb when you learn all of that cycling vocabulary, particularly if you use it around the office. You may also take a keener interest in next summer's Tour de France, whether or not Lance is there to compete.
The book's key weakness is that it's tough to reconcile Lance's personal life with how he describes himself in the book. He barely pays lip service to an erstwhile girlfriend who was with him during his battle with cancer, but he fawns incessantly over his now divorced first wife Kristin. Sheryl hadn't shown up yet. Oh well, that's the elephant in the room so it had to be mentioned. But don't let that stop you from reading this book. It's a good read and it'll give you a profound respect for those who have battled and survived cancer.
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John Gloria (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
I read Lance's book right after I read James Frey's book: A million little pieces. Unfortunately, the former makes the latter look silly, especially in light of what we've learned about Frey's book, which is admittedly, still significant if he was being completely honest about the depth of his addiction and his struggles to get clean. What separates this book is, obviously, the fact that we know that Lance is telling the truth, and the complete truth. I cried about 8 times when I read this book. And a lot of light was shed on my previous perceptions about Lance's personality as a cocky, rude, hot-head. And while, indeed he IS still a cocky hot-head, I now have a more complete idea of who he is fully, as a man, a truly sensitive person, and a father. He also happens to be a great writer, and I'm already looking forward to reading his 2nd book. His details of the strategies involved in training and racing are just as fascinating as the survival aspects of his story, and I also got a complete crash course on in-vitro fertilization and childbirth. Lance Armstrong just shot straight to the top of my own personal list of the most significant athletes ever to live. I can't recommend this book more highly, for anyone. |
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Ali (MSL quote), Canada
<2006-12-26 00:00>
To be honest, I didn't know much about Lance before reading this. I knew he was a cyclist and I knew those trendy live strong bracelets that all the celebrities suddenly had, had something to do with him, but that's about it. The topic of Lance Armstrong came up after my history class a few months ago. My teacher and I were talking about positive quotes, and he read me one from "It's not about the Bike." I was instantly moved. My teacher asked me if I would like to borrow the book for the weekend, and I automatically said yes. I couldn't put it down, I read the entire thing in under 48 hours. It moved me in ways I never thought possible, brought up emotions I never knew I had. A family member of mine passed away from cancer a few years back, and it took me back to that summer, I saw things from a different perspective. I have urged many of my friends to read this, and convinced a few of my friend's parents too. All of them have enjoyed it. Me, being a 16 year old female, who was never ever interested in cycling, was skeptical at first to read it, but it is now one of my all time favorite books. Read it, you won't be let down. |
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