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

I really enjoyed this, a fascinating and inspirational read even if you’re not a cycling fan or into sports biographies. As the title states this is “not about the bike” well not completely anyways, of course the bike is always present (even on Lance’s sickest days when he could barely stand from the chemo treatments he still managed to go for a wobbly ride around the block) but I would say more than half of this story deals with Lance’s brutal battle with cancer and his miraculous recovery. We also learn about his childhood and growing up kinda poor in a single parent home, his early days as a triathlete, falling in love and his 1st marriage (this was written in 2002) and a surprisingly detailed account about the IVF that allowed for the birth of his first child.

It’s well written, honest and unflinching, as some of what we read doesn’t always paint Armstrong in the most favorable light. Other reviewers have mentioned his ego (huge) and his single mindedness when it came to racing and training, bordering on obsession. I am of the mind that you don’t become the best in the world without developing an ego, without becoming preoccupied. I mean it takes everything to get to the top so personal relationships are bound to suffer. On that note while Armstrong praises his (now ex-wife) Kit I was shocked at how he treated her, expecting her life to just revolve around him. At one point she gives up everything in the States and follows him to Europe to just “be there” while he trains, then on a whim Lance quits the tour and he expects her to just pack up the house and follow him back home while he sorts himself out and plays golf.

When Lance is diagnosed with cancer it’s the first time in his life that cycling is not the foremost thing in his life however he handles his treatment and recovery like a big race. Finding the right doctors and learning everything he can about his disease. We the reader get the story down to the smallest of details; from the day he just didn’t feel well, through diagnosis, gut-wrenching fear, denial, dealing with the backlash from his team and sponsors and then a single minded focus on beating cancer through his day to day struggle through operations, chemo and near death. I actually had no idea just how sick he was, not only was the cancer in his testicle but he also had tumors in his chest and brain, his odds of survival at one point were as low as 20%.

His fight to make a comeback into the cycling world is almost as grim as his cancer itself; no team would touch him so there was a political side as well as a physical side to his return. And just because he was in remission and well enough to race didn’t mean his mind was in the game either. I found it fascinating how he entered into a sort of survivor’s guilt phase where he didn’t want to ride, he just wanted to play golf, eat crappy food and be a bum, like he didn’t know how to go back to his life before cancer.

If you’re into cycling obviously this is a must read. The longest chapter here deals with his first Tour de France win and it’s exhausting and totally exhilarating, leaving me feeling like I was grinding up the Alps and Pyrenees amidst a mass of spandex. (Yay me) There is also a freakin ton of inside information regarding well, just about everything you ever wanted to know about “the Tour” and cycling in general, specifically covering European terms, customs, the training regime and accounts of competitions and what it takes to get there. Yup the doping issue is brought up as well, and because Armstrong was an American winning a European dominated race he was tested persistently,(always negative) with such claims as his cancer treatments had given him an unfair advantage!

322jb4