Melanie's Reviews > It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life

In early 2002, I was going through a rough time--I had just dropped out of college after a semester marked by panic attacks, the inability to leave my room, and a variety of reckless behaviors, and I was convinced that my life was over. I was also convinced that my parents hated me because I was such a failure. It was in this weakened state that I agreed to read It's Not About the Bike (and, later, The Hobbit), because they were recommended by my stepmother (Bike) and my father (Hobbit), and I was desperate for approval and affirmations of their love.

Actually, my stepmother wanted me to read this book because she and my father were arguing about it. I ultimately sided with Dad: for Lance Armstrong, it really is about the bike.

That said, other readers have found his story inspirational, and I'm willing to accept that my review is probably clouded by issues (difficult time in own life, general dislike of memoirs, distrust of by-the-bootstraps narratives and their implications) that have nothing to do with Lance (or the bike).