I recently read The Yellow Jersey by Ralph Hurne and it was a pretty good read. In some chapters it seems kinda dated reading it today as it was written in 1973. Something about it reminded me a bit of Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and think it must have had to do with the era they were written. Nowhere near as freaky as Zen--, but Hurne's writing is very good and the parts about racing and the struggle of The Tour make for a real page turner.
In a nutshell it's the story of a retired pro cyclist named Terry Davenport living out his post career days by stringing along women who either keep him financially afloat or have a way of making him feel as though he's not lost it age wise just yet. Circumstances come about that lead to him coming out of retirement to be a domestique for a rider he coaches to ride The Tour de France.
At 37, (Isn't Lance 37?) Terry gives it a go and some amazing things happen that change his role on the team dramatically. I'd probably read it if I were you,... or not. Actually, yeah, read it. It was fun.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
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2 comments:
Was the writer going nuts when he wrote it?
That's what I thought was happening to Pirsig when he wrote Zen...
Aside: wikipedia says Pirsig had an IQ of 170 at age 9.
No, not nuts like Persig, but it was more that early 70's feel. Hard to explain it really. I'll bring the book home, Chris wants to read it.
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