It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life New Edition

It's not about the bike and this book is almost not about a human too.

It's a story that hollywood would have dismissed as cliched, because only in fairy tales do you hear of tales of such grit, determination and dreams.

Bullied into the corner with cancer, stomped by chemo and torn by sponsors, Lance makes a comeback, this time leaner, more resolved to win than ever.

The book conveyed in first person by Lance, takes you through his childhood in Austin, his triathlon days and then his Cance and then his amazing comeback to win his first Tour De France.

Read it to be inspired, to be awed and to believe nothing is just impossible

What if you are on the top of the hill of success, and suddenly someone pushes you down?

That's what Lance Armstrong is,
A super successful biker, and suddenly one day his career seems to end because he is diagnosed with cancer.

The story is not about how Lance fought, but how an everyday person would react and go through in his toughest times.

It would let you decide that who your well wishers are,
It will let you realize what real struggle is,
And it will give you the importance of family, friends and life.

It simply teaches you not to take life for granted.

Its written just like a simple conversation and you'll feel that you're having a discussion in you room.

Any person who wants to read for any reason,
To get inspired, to just time pass, to gift, read just for the pleasure of reading or any reason you may have, you should give this book at least one read.

Believe me, you'll want another read of the book.

Lance Armstrong's story is the stuff of legends. 'It's not about the bike' is a spectacular book describing the life of a man born with immense talent who had a tough childhood and was marred down by cancer but emerged as the greatest cyclist ever.
Lance was a rough teen, successful tri-athlete and an excellent son.
The narration is good and style, engaging. The story,described in breathtaking 290 pages, is truly inspiring.
Human relationships are described well and their importance revealed, as the story progresses.
He is a cancer survivor and his experiences are priceless, and his body is one of the fittest.
Lance won Tour de France 7 consecutive times and still the simplicity of his personality leaves one in awe.
Book has a lot to teach: love, respect, struggle, determination, inspiration, teamwork and friendship.
There's a human touch to the book and describes a life cheered and supported by true friends. Lance at one point had lost all hope to return to cycling. His perception of life had changed. He didn't want to cycle anymore but his friends and wife helped him find his true self. Earlier he cycled to earn a living but now it was for the love of it.
Describing the moments just after his '99 Tour de France win and the yellow jersey awarded to him he writes,'only the zipper is mine, rest all belongs to my team, the front, the back, all of it'.

I have always looked upto him since I was 9 years old when I saw his poster in my school and read few articles about him, and time spent reading this book has been a good investment.

Quality of the pages is excellent and the cover is good.

The book is an autobiographical account of Lance Armstrong, whose career path to become a cycling champion was shattered at the age of 25 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He candidly describes his fight against cancer, the consequent loss of hope to race, small inspirations to comeback to track and then a punishing training schedule that culminate into seven consecutive wins at Tour de France (TdF). He speaks of a mix of deep harrowing experiences during his chemotherapy treatment and brain surgery, since he was in advanced stage of malignancy; and that of spiritual experiences when he survived the harshest of the moments near the finish line of the Tour stages with only an ounce of physical energy available to cross the line.

It is an enjoyable read to motivate you to fight stronger, practice harder, and never never never give up!

Quotable Quotes:
"We are so much stronger than we imagine"
"They (doctors) know more about life and death than most people"
"Hope is the only antidote to fear"
"We have unralized capacities that sometimes only emerge in crisis"

Unlike many others I had read this book much before Yuvraj was diagnosed with cancer ... Lance's book is well written and is extremely uninhibited. He painstakingly takes us through the journey , and has left me emotionally drained after I finished the book ... His account narrates in details Lance's vulnerability at times while fighting the dreaded disease, and also his indomitable mental strength to cope with it ... and then gouing on to create history in Tour-de-France. He is honest and speaks from the heart, and I have never felt going through a superhuman's anecdote. Rather it is a well written account of a normal human being who fought his way out of cancer .. I would take u through the highs and lows during the prolonged treatment, and throws light on the world of professional sports ... Easy paced and straight from the heart .. this book must be on everybody's shelf, whether or not he has even heard about "Tour-de-France" !!