Lance Armstrong: A Biography

Bill Gutman has written more than 200 books over the past 30 years. Many of his books are about sports legends like Lance Armstrong.

Some Background

Many moons ago when I had competed in triathlons, I had entered the Santa Cruz Triathlon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the sport, the triathlon is a grueling swim/bike/run race.

When the horn sounded, me and 500 triathletes stormed into the surf at the Santa Cruz Beach to conquer the swim event.

My teammates and I were swimming at our usual pace when we saw under the surface of the water what appeared to be a shark?! "Oh my god! I think it's a shark!" screamed my teammate, Eric.

We swam so fast we passed at least a hundred swimmers, and caught the first wave of competitors. I personally cut five minutes off my personal best.

Our coach was flabbergasted! His jaw dropped when he saw us run for our lives out of the water and jump on our bikes and take off like a bunch of scared rabbits.

That's when the real trouble began. You see, there was this new guy, Lance Armstrong, a wiry young hot-shot coming up behind us on his bike like a freight train that ate way too many power bars.

Lance blew by us like we were standing still. We had no idea how famous this kid would become. He would later inspire the world to LIVE STRONG.

Fast forward 18 years. I am doing my grocery shopping, I see on the book rack: Lance Armstrong--A Biography by Bill Gutman.

Being a fan of cycling, I had to have it--so I paid the seven bucks and read the book in practically one sitting.

The Book

The book was published by Simon & Schuster, and has only 175 pages. There are lots of color photos from Lance's 7th Tour de France victory.

It is easy to read--I did not have to break the flow of my reading to look up every other word in the dictionary.

There isn't anything that I hate about the book--I can only say that I love and feel inspired by the true-life story of a man who conquered cancer, and went on to win seven Tour de France competitions!.

The chapters chronicle Lance's life story from his days as a triathlete to his illustrious and spectacular career as a cyclist. Seven chapters are set aside to chronicle each of Lance's seven Tour de France victories.

What really amazed me most was how Lance actually became a better cyclist after he contracted cancer. The disease cut 20 pounds off his riding weight--making him an invincible mountain rider--a perfect athlete for the Tour-de-France.

The race chapters have a sharp edge of competitive suspense as Lance races his arch nemesis, Jan Ullrich. After coming in second to Lance in each tour, Jan swears he will beat Lance next year, only to be foiled once again.

Lance seems too good to be true--but he is the real deal--he is Tour de Lance!

Bottom Line

If you love being inspired and the thrill of competition, if you want to LIVE STRONG, hop on your bike like I did, ride to the store and capture this book--or click a link and buy it online.

The victory will be yours