Rating: 
Summary: A definate, inspiring story...with a life lesson
Review: It's Not About the Bike; My Journey Back To Life, written by Lance Armstrong himself, was an incredible book. Lance Armstrong had to overcome many hardships in his life. Cancer being the key element. I could not imagine living life through all the bicycle pain, then, on top of that, having cancer. I don't think I could endure the bicycle pain, alone. He had to deal with a lot of it during his races. He had to live through so much pain before he got cancer. It is amazing how he battled through it. He said that cancer has changed his life, and I agree. He said it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I was confused. How could cancer make you happy? BUt I realized soon what he was talking about. His attitude changed dramatically after he had cancer. He found joy and triumph that he couldn't find in any bicycle race. He knows he was lucky to have survived cancer, because most people don't. I think that from this book anyone can realize that you should take life for granted and appreciate all the things you have. It was not only a great book, but a great story.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Keeps on Riding, Straight Into your Heart.
Review: This was by far one of the best books I've ever read. It is very inspirational, and proves the fact that absolutely no one is invincible. It moves very quickly for a biography, and it allows you to relate to the author and his problems. Pick this one up if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Awe inspiring!
Review: This book is highly recommended! An easy read - but the material will inspire you - no doubt! Lance is, and will always be a hero of mine - motivating!!!!!!!Go Lance!
Rating:
Summary: A lot more than the bike...
Review: In a style that almost demands that you read it, Lance Armstrong engages the athletic and humanistic side in all of us with his inspiring and, at times, unbelievable story of cancer recovery. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, Armstrong shows a strength of character only seen previously on his bike and describes in somewhat graphic detail his ordeal that encompassed an agressive chemotherapy treatment followed by an un-nerving recovery to become Tour De France Champion 3 years later. As a newly minted cyclist, I purchased this work with the idea of improving my performance with some expert tips from the World Champ...I was soon completely overwhelmed with the force of Armstrong's character and his equally intense story. Having only a vague knowledge of his recent cancer diagnosis, I had no idea how sick he really was and how close to terminal he became...and from this, he goes on to win the Tour! Armstrong describes this period with a compelling honesty that has the reader rapidly turning the pages to see what's next...even though one already knows the ending. I got my desired biking details as he descirbed the training regime that was needed to propel him back to a "Tour" class rider, and also got a surprisingly focused narrative that gives hope and inspiration...in some cases in overwhelming volume. Armstrong does things in a big way and whether it's climbing the Pyrennes or living through chemo or convincing his wife to marry him, he projects a force in his character that's very engaging and one that I'm sure that the prospective reader will be equally attentive to. Whether looking for performance improvements, spiritual inspiration or just a darned good read, you'd do well to pick up "It's Not About the Bike". A work that reads quickly and enjoyably, this is a small price to pay for this level of literary enjoyment and I look very much forward to reading his second installment "Every Second Counts". Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: It's Not About the Bike
Review: This book is about a man who has many hardships in life but perservers and in the end becomes one the greatest cyclists ever. You'll learn about the horrors of cancer and the intricies of cycling. When I was reading the book I couldn't believe how horrible the cancer was and what that and the chemo did to his body. You'll also learn that cycling is much more than riding a bike and what really goes on in the races. I think anyone who reads this book will really enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: About the man
Review: Sure, Armstrong is a walking (riding) miracle, and his book is an interesting story. However, I certainly didn't like the Lance Armstrong that was described in the book. This man is totally egocentric, self absorbed and lacking in appreciation for what he has and for those around him. He has three great achievements: beating cancer, staging a great comeback, and becoming one of the best bike racers in history. I give him credit for the last one. As for beating cancer, his doctors did that. His wealth and celebrity status got him those, along with financial help from sponsors he later trashes. As for his comeback, he quit in the middle of it. His business manager, his wife and some friends gave him the will to persevere. It wasn't him. He loses his temper at innocent people, makes unreasonable demands of his wife, friends and sponsors, and shows no remorse whatsoever. It's a shame that so few people can maintain humility and a perspective when they become celebrities.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: A riveting quick read, that can make a reader think. Before I read "It's Not About The Bike," I knew virtually nothing about the sport of Cycling. This sport is definitely one of the more physically grueling and mentally demanding. Mainly because of the lengthy races, and the lengthy training time required to compete at the professional level. A dedicated hard working athlete that trained relentlessly, Armstrong also had a genetic advantage, like most world champion athletes: he has enormously high levels of VO-2, which is the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed into the body from the lungs. He also produces extremely low levels of Lactic Acid, which is the natural chemical in our body that causes a burning sensation in our muscles when we exert them strenuously (Spaghetti legs and burning, for example). That is why when many of the world's top cyclists were burning out at the end of a race, Armstrong could charge up a long and steep hill to overtake them, or strategically sprint to the end. Some of the Cycling lingo a reader will learn: pulling, Peloton, sitting on someone's wheel, fricking, dafting, "Give an inch, gain a friend," and "bonking out." To train for events and stay in tip-top shape a cyclist has to obviously ride a lot. 6 hours straight, at times. Getting run off of the road in Texas by a Ford F-250, crashing onto the pavement, and getting actually hit by cars happened to Armstrong several times. I could relate to him tell how he shook his fist and middle-finger at a passing vehicle as he lay on the ground, gravel embedded in him, with his bike on top of him. Crashes will happen, and one of the most dangerous parts of a race are the descents. Racers go at high speeds, through hair-pin curves. I slight error can mean serious injury, or even death, as one team member of Armstrong fractured the back of his skull and neck. Cycling was significant but not exclusive part in this this book about Lance Armstrong's life. He shared a lot about his private and personal beliefs, fears, tragedies and triumphs. I liked the fact that this auto-biography didn't paint just the pretty pictures that most auto-bios do (after, these people are writing about themselves). Armstrong often candidly provided the reader with interesting little things about him, as well as his thoughts and feeling about issues, both big and small. This info. on the little stuff is what I am often most curious about. Armstrong is a Gen Xer, and this is evident throughout the book. Quoting from the movie "Goodwill Hunting," Armstrong has a favorite quote from a dialog between Matt Damon and a Harvard preppy after they have an intellectual debate. This quote means a lot to Armstrong, and he applies it to his life: "You like apples?" "Yeah, I like apples." "I just got her phone number. How do you like them apples?" As for the sport the reader will learn the tactics, strategies, and politics of Cycling. Like any popular and lucrative sport with many athletes participating and dedicated fans involved, there is hard-core and fierce, competition. In Italy, some local fans were so unsettled with the fact that an American was beating their favorite son (Armstrong in the lead), they threw tacks onto the road hoping to pop Armstrong's tire. In another incident, a person sprayed pepper spray into the Peloton (pack of racers), causing some riders not to be able to finish the race. CANCER & CHEMO:
When he began to feel pain and have diminished energy he thought it was just another part of being sore from training and racing, because soreness and pain came with the extremely demanding physical training. After going to the doctor he learns out of the blue that he has a terrible prognosis. He is knocking at death's door. The cancer had spread to his lungs and his brain. 24 years old. A world-class athlete. Facing death. Lance takes us through his fight and the reader will learn a lot about the disease, what it does, and what is used to fight it. After he beat Cancer with a combination of foods and 4 cycles of Chemo therapy, he recovered, then returned to training. The cancer and it's destructive effect made me cringe and Armstrong described the chemicals, methods, and side-effects of chemotherapy.
Caner: up close and personal. What it does to your body. How it kills. How Chemo kills you, and how it kills cancer. What is it like to look death in the face? Everyday. Most of us have not experienced this. Another scary scenario was that when he was diagnosed with Cancer and was to begin treatment to save his life, his insurance company refused to pay. He technically had no health insurance, even though he had had medical insurance (he was switching jobs and there was contractual "fine print"). Only in America.
After he beat the odds, he got back into Cycling: Victories started to come again. Armstrong eventually triumphed in the Tour De France, the most demanding of all Cycling competitions. People had wrote him off as dead. When he returned to Cycling, some previous sponsors would not even tough him. They thought he was finished. After Armstrong's success, funny, that the French media began spurring rumors and unfounded allegations that Armstrong was taking performance enhancers, without having any proof at all. In fact, Armstrong was one of the very few Cyclists to live and train in France, which has the most comprehensive drug testing laws regarding athletes in all of Europe, while other riders trained elsewhere, avoided the possibility of random tests. Yet, the French media had to start false rumors. Armstrong noted the suburban isolation of the "soul-deadened" alienation of the suburb, Plano, Texas. Home to wealthy polo shirt wearing country-club members, yet Plano has one of the highest rates of teen heroin addiction and teen suicide in the U.S. "It's Not About The Bike," will make you think....
Rating:
Summary: Intimate and well written memoir
Review: Before reading this all I knew about Lance Armstrong was that the had cancer and raced bikes. I was not a fan in any sense of the word. This book however was an extraordinary account of a young man literally being knocked off his seat by a serious illness and his struggle to survive and recover is described in every detail. His come-back in the sport of bike racing is also described in great detail. Reading this I came to have great admiration for Lance Armstrong and a greater appreciation of his sport. But more importantly I came away with a greater understanding of what someone goes through physically and psychologically when suddenly diagnosed with cancer and is faced with all of the ramifications of that knowledge. The writing is frank and extremely revealing of Armstong's state of mind at each stage of his disease and recovery. Absolutely fascinating reading. I now know more about cancer treatment and chemo therapy and it's effects and i know more about the grueling sport of bicycle racing so for me this was a very informative and important book.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Filled WIth Inspiration to ALL
Review: "It's Not About the Bike" is an autobiography of Lance Armstrong, a world champion cyclist, and how he dealt with cancer. Lance was born in Plano, Texas where he grew up fatherless. Consequently, his mother was a very important part of his life. As Lance went through high school he was never part of the "cool crowd". This was mainly because he didn't play football, and that was not socially acceptable. Basically, any game that consisted of a ball (basketball, baseball, ext...) he was not good at. Lance joined the swim team at the age of 12. He was so bad at swimming that he was put in the class of seven years olds. Lance as he did with most things in his life gave it his all and within a year, with the help of his coach, Chris MacCurdy, Lance became the 4th best in the state in the 1,500 meter freestyle. Lance was swimming about six miles at practice, and was riding 20 miles on the bike to get to practice and to get home, everyday. Lance enrolled in his first triathlon after he saw a sign at his school. A triathlon consisted of swimming, running and biking. Those were Lance's three strengths. Lance blew the competition out of the water. He entered every triathlon he would find. Most were with adults much older than him. He always won. He eventually moved to Russia to compete, which caused him to miss much of his schooling, forcing him to graduate somewhere else. Lance did poorly in Russia because he was a beginner racer who had no sense of pacing himself. Eventually, he was called by Chris Carmichael to be part of the U.S. Nation Cycling Team. Lance went to Europe with the team.
Cancer hit Lance when he started doing well in cycling. He won a few races in Europe and was starting to make a real career in the sport. The first cancer he was diagnosed with was testicular cancer; that devastated him. He had to have his testicle removed. Following this he found out he had 11 cancerous tumors in his lungs. This was devastating for him to hear. He called up his cycling team and told them his career was over. To him, hearing those words that he had cancer in his lungs was the most devastating thing he had ever heard. He learned everything there was to know about cancer and ultimately went to Indiana to be treated. There he learned that he also had two cancerous tumors in his brain. There was one tumor right next to the vision portion of his brain and one directly over his coordination center of the brain. He had surgery to have them removed and luckily his doctor was one of the best in the world. The operation went smoothly. Lance still had tumors in his chest though, and they were growing at an amazing race. The treatment he went though was chemotherapy. Chemo was the worst thing that he had ever experienced. "It literally felt like fire flowing threw my veins, burning everything in it's path" as Lance states in "It's Not About the Bike". Chemo would be so intense that he would lose all of his hair and drop over 20 lbs. He was already in perfectly lean cut muscle before he started the treatment, and he would be known to be lying in the fetal position very often. He would vomit numerous times a day, and he often thought he was going to die. It was so intense that Lance decided to quit cycling. He thought his body couldn't' handle it. He would never be the same again. This was all untrue. Lance called this phase "survivorship" because it was how someone thinks they will never be the same after cancer. This was completely untrue. After a year or two of doing nothing, his family convinced him he needed to be back in cycling. It was where he belonged. When Lance finally did come back to cycling, he did it with a bang. He was horribly out-of-shape but he worked and worked. He would ride 7-8 hours a day on his bike. He was finally making a miraculous comeback. He ultimately won the Tour de France to complete his life dream and show everyone with cancer that there is hope for recovery, no matter how stacked the odds are against you.
Lance Armstrong's autobiography was truly an amazing book to read. It moved very smoothly from topic to topic and gave a full overview of his life. It showed Lance's emotions through every phase of his life. It showed how great he felt when he first went to Russia to win his first major bike race, to his devastating feelings when cancer struck. Cancer is such a horrible thing. It is hard to imagine for someone hasn't had it. Lance did an amazing job of showing every last emotion. Lance was able to tell exactly what he was feeling throughout the whole book. I also got a taste of Lance's gut wrenching character though the entire book.
The book did have some minor negative points though, don't get me wrong, they took no joy away from reading it. The only thing I did not enjoy was how it got graphic in some points of the book. Although it might not be pleasing to hear about a person's battle with cancer, it is the honest truth. Some of the things that happened to his body, like vomiting, are sad and gross, but a reality. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone. It was enjoyable and always kept my attention.
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Summary: It's Not About the Bike... My Take On It
Review: It's Not About the Bike is the story of an up and coming star, cut down in his prime, only to return with more passion and fury than before. Lance Armstrong had just won the World Cycling Championships, and was receiving contracts from some of the biggest sporting companies in the world.
Suddenly, he becomes aware of his body starting to give way on him. Concerned, he goes in for testing and is diagnosed with a severe form of Testicular Cancer. Within a few weeks he is undergoing intense chemotherapy, and left to reflect on his life thus far. He is faced with the realization that his life, if not over, might never be the same. His friends and mother stand by him through the entire ordeal, and after months of fighting, he is in remission.
He struggles as he pieces together a new life, but meets his future wife, Kik, who helps him back on the bike. He doesn't perform like he had in the past, and drops out of the sport for a while. Kik, once again talks him back into riding. This time though, he was determined. He focused all of his energy into winning the Tour de France. He trained smarter, and lived healthier. He was no longer the overbearing and egotistical boy of his past. He was a man now, one with something to prove, to himself, and to those who said he was finished.
He wins the Tour de France, but quickly changes his focus to the future. He wants to spread his story, and live a more complete life. He and Kik look to have a child. Lance's chemotherapy had made him sterile, and the process is long and hard trying to get Kik pregnant. It required multiples surgeries, countless needles, and a supply of Lance's banked sperm from before his fight with cancer. He later becomes a father to Luke Armstrong, and his life is reshaped.
After all of Lance's success though, there is still some doubt among the cycling world. To put an end to the speculation, he again sets himself up with intense training to repeat as champion of the Tour de France. He, in a way only Lance Armstrong could, succeeds.
It's Not About the Bike is a very well-written and personal story. It is very articulate, and in no way falls under the expectations of an athlete's autobiography. It does not bask in the glory of athletic achievements, nor does it try to leave the reader feeling as thought he athlete was immortal. The story takes the reader down a long hard road of Lance's life. He builds up his immortal status in the beginning, simply to shatter that thought in the reader's mind. It is a very well thought out, and crafted book. However, it does truly live up to its title. It focuses deeply on the feelings and motivations that surround Lance, rather then the actual actions that are taking place. Even in the two chapters of the book that are dedicated to him winning the Tour de France, they focus much more on his thought process then telling what happened. There was also a large amount of detail placed in his reminiscence of childhood. However, this same level of detail is not matched during more critical times in the book, such as the meeting of his wife, or birth of his son.
Overall, the book is inspiring and personal. It leaves the reader with the feeling that they truly know Lance, and have a bond with him in some tiny way. It is an almost addicting book, and an absolute must read for anyone who's life has cancer surrounding it. It was a book made by Lance Armstrong the man, not the cyclist, and it carries a message for us all to take in.
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