6 Best-Selling Cycling Books Millions Love

What if everything you knew about professional cycling’s glory was shadowed by a relentless quest for advantage? Tyler Hamilton, an Olympic gold medalist turned whistleblower, teams up with journalist Daniel Coyle to expose the hidden doping culture behind the Tour de France. You get an insider’s view of the physical and psychological costs borne by athletes chasing victory at all costs, including Hamilton’s own battles with injury, depression, and moral conflict. Chapters detailing the rise of EPO and the unyielding pressure from team directors offer sharp insights into the sport’s darker undercurrents. This book suits you if you want to understand professional cycling beyond the headlines, grappling with its complex truths.

Drawing from her remarkable journey cycling through Europe, Persia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to India in 1963, Dervla Murphy offers more than just a travelogue; she immerses you in the practical and emotional complexities of solo long-distance cycling. You learn about navigating diverse cultures, enduring physical challenges, and the mental resilience required for such an odyssey, with vivid anecdotes like crossing the Hindu Kush mountains and engaging with local communities. This book suits adventurers fascinated by cycling as a means of exploration and those curious about the intersection of travel and personal grit. While it doesn't serve as a guidebook, it richly conveys the mindset and experience of pioneering overland cycling.

This tailored book explores effective cycling training techniques matched to your interests and goals, combining proven knowledge with personalized insights. It examines endurance development, power optimization, recovery practices, and mental training, all tailored to your background and cycling ambitions. The content reveals how to blend popular training principles with your unique profile, making each chapter relevant and engaging. You engage deeply with topics like interval training, nutrition for cyclists, and performance tracking, all addressed in a way that fits your specific context. This personalized approach ensures you gain focused knowledge and practical understanding without wading through irrelevant material, enhancing your cycling journey.

Joe Friel brings decades of coaching elite endurance athletes to this guide designed for cyclists serious about improving performance. You’ll learn to interpret power meter metrics, apply Training Stress Scores, and tailor personalized programs that sharpen your climbing, sprinting, and endurance. The book breaks down testing protocols like Functional Threshold Power and offers detailed strategies for timing your peak and taper phases, supported by targeted strength training exercises. Whether preparing for criteriums or gravel races, this resource equips you with the knowledge to plan daily through yearly training cycles effectively.

What started as a personal refusal to accept a conventional career path became Jedidiah Jenkins' deeply reflective cycling memoir. You follow his 16-month journey from Oregon to Patagonia, where each mile uncovers not just physical challenges but internal reckonings with identity, faith, and purpose. Jenkins shares moments like his Instagram reflections that sparked a community eager to explore what makes life meaningful. This book offers you intimate insight into how travel and endurance cycling can awaken self-awareness and courage, making it ideal if you’re drawn to adventure narratives with emotional depth rather than just sports tales.

After analyzing decades of cycling biomechanics research and collaborating with medical professionals, Phil Cavell crafted a focused guide for cyclists over 40 aiming to train hard and ride fast without compromising health. You learn how aging affects performance, how to adapt your training and bike setup, and strategies to maintain speed and endurance while minimizing injury risks. The book delves into biomechanical adjustments, age-specific training plans, and psychological advantages for mature riders, making it a solid resource if you want to keep competing or enjoying cycling at a high level well beyond your youth. It's best suited for experienced cyclists navigating the challenges of midlife, not novices just starting out.

This personalized cycling book explores rapid improvement techniques tailored specifically to your background and goals. It delves into focused training methods designed to boost your cycling performance within a concise 30-day period. By matching the content to your interests and skill level, the book examines essential fitness components such as endurance, power, and recovery strategies. Throughout, it reveals ways to integrate popular insights with your personal cycling challenges, making the learning process both efficient and motivating. With a clear focus on your specific objectives, this tailored guide offers a unique approach to accelerating your cycling fitness in just one month.

What started as Lonely Planet's decades-long commitment to trustworthy travel guides evolved into a detailed cycling companion that immerses you in America's most thrilling bike routes. This book offers a wide range of rides—from rugged mountain biking in Moab to scenic road rides through Colombia—each paired with practical maps, stunning photos, and logistical tips like where to stay and how to get there. You gain specific tools to plan everything from a weekend urban ride in Pennsylvania to a multi-day bikepacking adventure in Baja. It's ideal if you're eager to explore diverse terrains across North, Central, and South America with reliable, well-curated guidance.