The Loyal Lieutenant: Achieving Success on the Rocky Road to Paris Despite Pain and Challenges

Colin C: Easily the best cycling book I’ve read. Honest, personal and hugely informative on both cycling, racing and commitment. High recommended.

United Kingdom on Jun 26, 2023

Valentin Webley: J'ai adoré lire ce livre sur mister Georges . Contrairement à ce que laisse penser le titre et même le résumé, ce livre traite a la fois de l'époque Discovery mais aussi de l'époque C. Evans a la BMC et du temps passé avec le Cav.

J'ai trouvé le discours sur le dopage très réaliste, terre à terre. Je conseille ce livre a tous les fans de cyclisme .

France on Feb 16, 2023

music fan: Mr. Hincapie's memoir makes no attempt at great technical or philosophical insights about his sport. It is a personal story about his personal experience, especially with his friends and family, and if you've followed his career as it happened and have read other books and articles about the sport, as I have, it is a welcome addition and gives a good look at what it's like to be a star in this punishing sport.

I see some Lance Armstrong haters have put their 2 cents in here, but if you read carefully, you see he is quite realistic and even dispassionate about his longtime friend. The Lance we see here, though a good and faithful friend, had an insatiable need, not only to win, but to dominate, and couldn't accept the idea that a rival might have an unfair advantage over him. OTOH, he makes clear, without being overly vindictive, that some of those who have attacked Armstong most harshly, especially Frankie Andreu and Tyler Hamilton, stood on no higher moral ground. And he makes the telling (imo) point that the USADA never offered any justification for painting a picture of their US Postal / Discovery Channel team targets Armstong, team director Bruyneel, team doctor Celaya...

United States on Sep 27, 2022

JVF: Se trata de un libro ameno y rápido a la hora de leer, intercalando reflexiones del protagonista con comentarios de personas de su entorno. Es además un intento de visión ecuánime y ponderada sobre una época compleja y estigmatizada en el ciclismo. Dejando de lado los análisis más sensacionalistas que imputan al US Postal toda la red de dopaje de aquella etapa, así como evitando una visión maquiavélica del tema, Hincapie ofrece un relato contextual muy interesante en donde no se excluyen puntos de vista ni se pinta un escenario maniqueo.

Spain on Aug 22, 2018

Amazon Customer: Libro interessante coraggioso, come il personaggio Hincapie. Si conoscono molti risvolti umani di uno sport di fatica ed impegno. Consigliato soprattutto per gli amanti del ciclismo

Italy on Jan 01, 2017

Rebecca Fjelland Davis: George Hincapie’s book is not just another cycling memoir. It’s not an apology or an accusation. It’s certainly not a ploy for pity. It’s the true story of the life of a great man, on and off the bike.
As a cycling fan for the last few decades, I have made no secret of the fact that Big George Hincapie has been my hero. Hincapie’s memoir confirmed everything I thought he was and hoped he would be: a gifted, driven, and passionate athlete; a generous and gracious human being; and a humble and honest man.

I’ve read quite a few cycling memoirs. Some come across as tell-all stories, some cocky, some accusatory, some whiny, some looking for pity as victims of circumstance. George Hincapie’s story is none of these. He explains honestly what his life was like as a professional cyclist. The work, the pain, the sacrifice (even something as tiny as foregoing the mints on a hotel pillow because it wouldn’t make him a better cyclist), the love of speed, the drive and single-mindedness it takes not to give up, and the discipline all year, year after year, to pull it all together.

Some critics of this book have said that it’s disjointed and doesn’t flow...

United States on Jun 17, 2014

Descent Whisperer: This book reads like Craig Hummer was interviewing George and transcribing. So trite metaphors and sayings are left in. After just finishing a couple brilliantly written and edited Truman Capote classics (edited by the talented Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird), the brilliance for George is on the road, not on the page. Once I got past that style choice (Really, Craig, you didn't want to polish it a bit?), I enjoyed the book more than expected. For many years, we have seen, on TV, George doing incredible service to Lance, Contador and Cadel in the Tour de France. This book details some of those memories and we still end up liking George as much as we already did. In particular, Cadel and Och (BMC) forsee that picking George will anchor the new BMC team, just as Och did in the 1980s with Eric Heiden (5 Olympic Gold Medals Speedskating)on the groundbreaking 7/11 Team.  Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World-and Won

There is some detail of doping, but less than we read in Tyler's book By Tyler Hamilton, Daniel Coyle's - The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs (Secret...

United States on Jun 10, 2014

Erik Davis: Since 1996 when Lance stepped off his bike, there has been many twists and turns within the pro peloton. Cycling has risen from an obscure sport to as main stream as golf and there is a lot of money at stake, risks were taken and many great riders rose to the challenge, but also took risks and even death to achieve that glory.

This is a great perspective, from a rider that was at the very heart of the glory and the darkness.

Hummer did a great job, to capture George's perspective and also getting other influential quotes from the era and also confirm what must have been going thru many of the riders minds..WTF

It is great to see that George is pushing beyond the dark days and creating a new generation of professional cyclists with a great support system and sharing his passion for family and cycling with the new generation.

We really need less negative and way more positive and it begins with one person. Thanks George.

Canada on Jun 02, 2014