Reading the Race: Bike Racing from Inside the Peloton Paperback – October 1, 2013

Fantastic book. I have never raced but was asking a racer for advice for potentially racing next season and he suggested I read this book. I am glad I did.I wasn't sure what to expect, but this book is super entertaining, super informative, and super easy to read.As a long time Tour de France watcher, (ABC's Wide World of Sports on Sunday Afternoon anyone?) among other pro races I could find throughout the year, I felt I had a pretty good handle on team racing and personal racing strategy but was surprised to learn so much more though Reading The Race.Being a long-time fan of Chris Horner, his inputs into this book added a ton of personal experience and great advice on top of the authors already great advice.Finally, I'm currently in central Ohio doing my riding, and clearly the author is also a racer in Ohio, so the local race reference are a added bonus. Although, no matter where you live, get this book if you want to read up on race strategy and tactics either as a team or just on your own.

I am an experienced (if mediocre) bicycle racer and a former race announcer, so I cannot claim to have learned anything new from reading his book, but I nevertheless found it entertaining, and I recommend it to anyone interested in bicycle racing. I especially enjoyed Chris Horner's vignettes describing some of his own racing experiences.Jamie Smith unquestionably knows bicycle racing, and that knowledge is clearly presented in this book. I will go so far as to say that this is the best explanation of bicycle racing I have ever read (not a high bar, I admit), and I recommend this book to new racers, to those who are considering racing, and to spectators who want to improve their enjoyment of watching bike races. Even knowledgeable racers may enjoy reading this book, as I did, and comparing their own racing experiences with those that Jamie Smith and Chris Horner describe. Chris Horner's contributions to the book may be minor, but they are well worth reading.As one of the comments to another review points out, Jamie Smith is not Chaucer. He is no literary giant, but his writing style is sufficient to explain bicycle racing to any reader in a thorough and easily understandable manner that many will also find to be entertaining.On the downside, from my point of view, the author's attempts at humor are weak, even annoying. Example "...the large pack fell apart like a cheap suit." Jamie Smith repeatedly compares a bike race to the Miss America Pageant and the racers to the Pageant's contestants The comparison quickly wears thin. During most of the book, I was able to overlook the attempted humor and concentrate on the book's good points, and it wasn't until near the end of the book that I began to find the attempts at humor to be annoying.In summary, despite a less-than-ideal writing style, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the tactics of bicycle racing. The author's writing technique is adequate; the information presented in the book more than makes up for any minor defects in style; and I don't think there are any other books on the market that do as good a job of explaining our sport. -- Jack Quinn

I am learning lots through this book. I think it is great for those without much knowledge about racing to understand (reading) races or those interested in getting into racing. It is easy to read with good figures and great anecdotes. It is not technical, there are no numbers or charts, nor it is intended to be a training manual, but I have already used the tactics discussed in improving my racing skills.

This is a great book. Even if you arent planning on joining a race, but are thinking of joining a sunday peloton ride, i recommend you give this book a read. First off the author is very knowledgeable in the subject and has been steered in the right direction by his cycling buddies. Second, the book isnt as funny as others but it does have its share of funny which makes it an addictive read. There are gems galore in here, i really recommend this book to anyone who rides a bike and is unsure about road rules, drafting, pedaling, and tons of other topics about this great sport.

There's some really good information in this book and I'm glad I bought it. It's also pretty fun to read. The vignettes by Chris Horner are also good reading. The author, Jamie Smith, is funny and seems to know his stuff (at least better than I do), but a lot of the time I felt like He was just using a book on racing tactics as a platform for his desire to be a comedian. And does anyone really need a glossary of words like "breakaway"?

This is the second book in a row from VeloPress that followed this formula:take an unknown author with a good book and get a B-level pro rider to put their name on it and write little anecdotes that may or may not be useful.In this case, it's a good book on racing tactics with stories from Chris Horner about how he whined until he got his way in a team time trial and held onto a car to get up a mountain in a race.If you've read Thomas Prehn's book on the same topic, there is little new here, but it's still a decent book on how to race smarter in road racing and crits.

OK - this book is exactly what I was after after having read other less useful publications. The book is very well written by Smith with sideline comentary by Horner and is easy to read and has some geat observations of riders actions and habits and very good advice to get the most out of your race, crit or group ride. I laso loved the comedy written into almost every passage/section which keep it light hearted and thoroughly enjoyable.The best cycling tactics and advice book I have found and will surely read time and time again when I get things wrong on race day!!