Bucket List: 6 Cycling Must-Reads!
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Stories guaranteed to fuel your next ride
CAT: FREYA NORTH (1999)
Catriona ‘Cat’ McCabe attempts to boost her career as a sports journalist by covering the Tour de France. Following a breakup, she immerses herself in the world of cycling, navigating a male-dominated press corps while dealing with the ‘soap opera’ of the race. Along the way, she begins to rediscover her passion for life beyond the newsroom.
MOLLOY: SAMUEL BECKETT (1951)
Molloy is a crippled vagrant cycling through the countryside in an attempt to find his mother. He becomes obsessed with his bicycle, treating it as his primary companion, a source of joy and a prosthetic extension of his failing body. The bicycle serves as a central, ironic element in the novel’s existential exploration of identity erosion and alienation.
THE NIGHT OF ELECTRIC BIKES: JOSH FEIT (2023)
Feit’s highly relatable poetry collection presents a swirling collage of city life; not just the literal city of commuters and economics but also the haunted nocturnal city of myth and history. The poems focus on the emotional landscape of city folk – vivid imagery captures the strange beauty and quiet solitude of e-biking through a city after dark.
THE RIDER: TIM KRABBÉ (1978)
Tim Krabbé’ first-person account of the fictional 150-kilometre Tour de Mont Aigoual is a detailed, kilometre-by-kilometre, and thought-by-thought description of a single road race. The book explores the physical sensations, mental strategies and intense psychology of cycling, including the “thrill of the ride” and the “darkness of fatigue”.
THE SOLITARY CYCLIST: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1903)
Violet Smith asks the great Sherlock Holmes to investigate the mysterious bearded man who follows her as she cycles to and from work. Initially, Holmes is somewhat distant from the case but the story later showcases both his deductive skills and his physical prowess – Holmes fights and defeats Violet’s stalker, a brutal drunk and dangerous villain.
THE WHEELS OF CHANCE: H.G. WELLS (1896)
Mr Hoopdriver, a poorly paid draper’s assistant, escapes his grinding routine for a 10-day bicycling holiday along England’s southern coast. When he encounters a young woman ‘on the run,’ he adopts a heroic, imaginative persona to help her. Light-hearted and often funny, the novel captures the 1890s cycling craze, focusing on class, romance and self-discovery.
