Author: Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

Publisher: Highbridge Audio

Pub. in: November, 1999

ISBN: 1565114493

Pages: 240

Measurements: 5.7 x 5 x 1 inches

Origin of product: USA

Order code: BB00054

Other information: ISBN-13: 978-1565114494

The #1 New York Times Bestseller

It's Not about the Bike is an autobiography of Lance Armstrong, a world champion cyclist, and how he dealt with cancer. Lance was born in Plano, Texas where he grew up fatherless. Consequently, his mother was a very important part of his life. As Lance went through high school he was never part of the "cool crowd". This was mainly because he didn't play football, and that was not socially acceptable. Basically, any game that consisted of a ball (basketball, baseball, ext...) he was not good at. Lance joined the swim team at the age of 12. He was so bad at swimming that he was put in the class of seven years olds. Lance as he did with most things in his life gave it his all and within a year, with the help of his coach, Chris MacCurdy, Lance became the 4th best in the state in the 1,500 meter freestyle. Lance was swimming about six miles at practice, and was riding 20 miles on the bike to get to practice and to get home, everyday. Lance enrolled in his first triathlon after he saw a sign at his school. A triathlon consisted of swimming, running and biking. Those were Lance's three strengths. Lance blew the competition out of the water. He entered every triathlon he would find. Most were with adults much older than him. He always won. He eventually moved to Russia to compete, which caused him to miss much of his schooling, forcing him to graduate somewhere else. Lance did poorly in Russia because he was a beginner racer who had no sense of pacing himself. Eventually, he was called by Chris Carmichael to be part of the U.S. Nation Cycling Team. Lance went to Europe with the team.

Cancer hit Lance when he started doing well in cycling. He won a few races in Europe and was starting to make a real career in the sport. The first cancer he was diagnosed with was testicular cancer; that devastated him. He had to have his testicle removed. Following this he found out he had 11 cancerous tumors in his lungs. This was devastating for him to hear. He called up his cycling team and told them his career was over. To him, hearing those words that he had cancer in his lungs was the most devastating thing he had ever heard. He learned everything there was to know about cancer and ultimately went to Indiana to be treated. There he learned that he also had two cancerous tumors in his brain. There was one tumor right next to the vision portion of his brain and one directly over his coordination center of the brain. He had surgery to have them removed and luckily his doctor was one of the best in the world. The operation went smoothly. Lance still had tumors in his chest though, and they were growing at an amazing race. The treatment he went though was chemotherapy. Chemo was the worst thing that he had ever experienced. "It literally felt like fire flowing threw my veins, burning everything in it's path" as Lance states in It's Not about the Bike. Chemo would be so intense that he would lose all of his hair and drop over 20 lbs. He was already in perfectly lean cut muscle before he started the treatment, and he would be known to be lying in the fetal position very often. He would vomit numerous times a day, and he often thought he was going to die. It was so intense that Lance decided to quit cycling. He thought his body couldn't' handle it. He would never be the same again. This was all untrue. Lance called this phase "survivorship" because it was how someone thinks they will never be the same after cancer. This was completely untrue. After a year or two of doing nothing, his family convinced him he needed to be back in cycling. It was where he belonged. When Lance finally did come back to cycling, he did it with a bang. He was horribly out-of-shape but he worked and worked. He would ride 7-8 hours a day on his bike. He was finally making a miraculous comeback. He ultimately won the Tour de France to complete his life dream and show everyone with cancer that there is hope for recovery, no matter how stacked the odds are against you.

Lance Armstrong's autobiography was truly an amazing book to read. It moved very smoothly from topic to topic and gave a full overview of his life. It showed Lance's emotions through every phase of his life. It showed how great he felt when he first went to Russia to win his first major bike race, to his devastating feelings when cancer struck. Cancer is such a horrible thing. It is hard to imagine for someone hasn't had it. Lance did an amazing job of showing every last emotion. Lance was able to tell exactly what he was feeling throughout the whole book. I also got a taste of Lance's gut wrenching character though the entire book.

The book did have some minor negative points though, don't get me wrong, they took no joy away from reading it. The only thing I did not enjoy was how it got graphic in some points of the book. Although it might not be pleasing to hear about a person's battle with cancer, it is the honest truth. Some of the things that happened to his body, like vomiting, are sad and gross, but a reality. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone. It was enjoyable and always kept my attention.

(From quoting Nick Grover, USA)

Target readers: General readers, especially kids and young adults.