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Epicurus.com - It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $16.47
Your Save: $ 8.48 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.62092
EAN: 9780399146114
ISBN: 0399146113
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2000-05-22
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Studio: Putnam Adult
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Editorial Reviews:
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The inspiring journey of world-class hero Lance Armstrong, from the dark night of advanced cancer through his dramatic victory in the 1999 Tour de France, and beyond.
In 1996, twenty-four-year-old Lance Armstrong was ranked the number-one cyclist in the world. But that October, "The Golden Boy of American Cycling" was sidelined by excruciating pain. Tests revealed advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. His chance for recovery was as low as twenty percent.
Armstrong embarked on the most aggressive form of chemotherapy available and underwent surgery to remove cancer that the treatments couldn't reach. Five months after his diagnosis, he resumed training under a cloud of uncertainty, and the path back to competition wasn't smooth. It took a ride with friends through the mountains of North Carolina for Armstrong to rediscover his genuine love of the sport, and to rededicate himself to its pursuit.
Scarred physically and emotionally, Lance Armstrong considered his cancer "a special wake-up call," one that crystallized for him the blessings of good health, family, friends, and marriage. In October 1999, just months after his astonishing triumph in the Tour, his wife, Kristin, gave birth to their son, Luke David Armstrong.
Filled with the nutritional, physical, emotional, and spiritual details of his recovery, It's Not About the Bike traces the wondrous journey of one of America's greatest athletes to a singularly inspiring appreciation of life lived to the fullest.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Need inspiration?!?
Comment: If you are looking for a book to get you off your but and moving this is the book for you. I have never felt as lazy as I did after reading Lance Armstrongs story. He will not only inspire you to be more active he'll make you see the value of trusting yourself, loyalty, and taking control of your life. Im not he fastest reader around but I read this book in one day! This book is a must for anyone who likes true stories of determination and inner strength winning against all odds.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT.BEST SPORTS BOOK EVER!
Comment: What a story. This book is for everyone and anyone. Even non sports fans will love this.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Story About The Power Of The Human Spirit
Comment: Before reading this book I knew that Lance Armstrong survived Cancer to win a bike race, how naive I was. First off, the Cancer was mostly in his brain and required an incredible surgery and a large amount of painful recovery. Secondly, the bike race was the Tour De France which is a 2,000+ mile race around the circumference of a nation. His tale is so much more than that of an athlete trying to complete a dream. This might sound cliche but this was a story about the power of the human spirit to overcome social, emotional and physical odds.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's Not About the Bike, it's about Living Strong!
Comment: The book begins: "I want to die at a hundred years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour." When I first read those words, I found the book impossible to put down.
I purchased my first copy of It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life right here four days after it was released in the spring of 2000, and read it immediately. I read many chapters of it to my youngest son over the following years, and we discussed its message even in his early grade school years. Lance Armstrong became a personal hero to him, as he has been to me.
Have given this book as a gift, sometimes in its paperback form and other times as a hardbound, and only once have I given it to a fellow cyclist -- it's often been to friends who have gone through a battle with cancer, either themselves or with someone close to them. And now I see that it's available here in a Kindle Edition, so I'm sure that I'll be giving it again... and if I ever get my own Kindle, it's going to be the first book that I get in that media.
I'm a cyclist of the mountain/trail bike variety, but as the title of the book says, "It's Not About the Bike." I've never had cancer, but have had numerous close family members and friends who have been victims of this most dreaded disease, including my mother and my oldest son's mother. This is perhaps why I find Lance's story so inspirational. It's more than a story of his amazing athletic achievements and cancer recovery, this is a true story about the triumph of the inner self.
Since the book was originally published, 'Maillot Jaune' (Lance's nickname in French for 'Yellow Jersey') has gone on to break so many cycling records. In his final tour before retirement in 2005, he crossed the finishing line on the Champs-Élysées on July 24th to win his 7th consecutive Tour de France title. Since his retirement, he has focused his efforts on the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides support for people affected by cancer. And yes, I'm one of those who wears a yellow LIVESTRONG wristband on a daily basis in support of his efforts.
Lance has also written a moving and insightful follow-up to this book, Every Second Counts which offers another facet to this inspirational athlete who is both motivated and motivating. And now we hear that Lance Armstrong, at age 37, will be making his pro-cycling comeback, and he's already in training, and put in 20-24 hours a week on the bike throughout October. He's pledged to continue with his national call to action on cancer prevention and survivorship program.
If you're looking for a book about cycling, this isn't it. Read the title and that will tell you that. I found his message of optimism to be quite stirring, and hope that you will as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life Review
Comment: Lance Armstrong was a strong, single, 25-year-old world-class athlete that was diagnosed with testicular cancer in October of 1996. It's Not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life is his story. Through x-rays and severe symptoms, the doctors finally pinpointed his disease and Armstrong embarked on the most aggressive form of chemotherapy as soon as possible. Although being testicular cancer, it had metastasized through his entire body to even his lungs and brain. This man even underwent surgery before his chemotherapy treatments and afterwards. Before his treatments to remove the cancer his chemotherapy could not and afterwards to fix and smooth out complications brought up by the chemotherapy. You will have to read to find out what exactly those complications were. Even before his final chemotherapy treatment on December 13, 1996, Lance began to ride again, but this time for a different reason, for the love of it, not because it was his career. He even said, "it was something I had to do for pleasure--like poetry." After Armstrong's grueling fourth cycle of chemotherapy he began to ride again and train. Yes, as a career, but with a new sense of passion and accomplishment. He had married a woman he had met one month after his treatments and went on to race in the Tour de France, which you all can guess the outcome. Lance was now a "record-breaking seven-time winner of the Tour de France, a cancer survivor, a husband, a father, a son," and of course, "a Human being."
Although this book does not go into extreme details of how cancer forms and specifically testicular cancer, it does talk about the multi-cellular level and what stages this cancer undergoes. With this absence of information, the reader is able to concentrate on the emotional appeal brought up by the spreading of cancer, treatments and the overall affect of this great athlete's life. However, overall this book was extremely informative. It gave great experiential information and therefore a chance for the reader to understand the steps of a process such as cancer and how it affects the person who has it but the family and close friends as well. As the book progresses reader's began seeing cancer as monster, and questioning its reasons for taking over a man's life and why it would inhibit the natural ways of life such as marriage and reproduction. But as readers, we are triumphant over cancer just as Lance Armstrong was, because we are with him during this time, and through his description we are able to understand closer to what cancer truly is and how people overcome it, even when its at the most dangerous stage and the survival rate is only 3%. Anyone can read medical pages with boring facts, but to read this book is true meaning behind the word cancer.
I personally have not had cancer, but I have had plenty of family members that have, including my cousin having testicular cancer. Although he overcame it in the early stages and before I was old enough to understand what was going on, this book really came me a true insight to a little of what he and other victims of this disease must go through if they want a chance at a normal life afterwards. Armstrong writes in an empathetic way, not only for himself but in a way that makes people want to help everyone in their own lives and societies. Lance Armstrong even did this himself by creating the Lance Armstrong Foundation which helps to research for cures and treatments for cancer. After reading this book, the word cancer has an entirely deep, empathetic, and different meaning.
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