Rating: 
Summary: Imaginative and Uncompromising
Review: I have yet to read any of Tim Krabbé's other books but after finishing The Rider I am forced to seek them out. After reading the six or so sample pages here on Amazon I immediately recognized Krabbé's playful and abrupt style. It is like listening to a jazz solo. He jumps around his point, using fluttering digressions of introspection and observation to represent cycling's personal effect on him. I was a little sad when I got to page 148 and the ride ended, but I understand that this style is suited more by the narrative poetic form and length. Read the sample pages and if you enjoy their quirkiness buy the book. If you are put off by the style or find it annoying then you will probably not enjoy the book, even if you get something out of it.
This story is valuable primarily for it's insight into road racing. There are plenty of well used references, antidotes about historic cycling figures, and general bike culture perspective to entice the already bike minded. However, these are not just off-hand comments, every reference is dealt with a philosophic tone and this is definitely a book worthy of re-reading, another likeness to a good poem.
Krabbé looks so astutely into the mind of a cyclist that any type of serious bike rider with be able to relate and form a dialogue. Before reading this book I was primarily a mountain biker and weary of road riding a boring an purely physical pursuit. Krabbé shows the inter-rider dynamics of road racing. I became genuinely excited about the next big climb or a break away. The story is quite suspenseful at times. Throughout the race several riders are profiled from Krabbé's past knowledge of them, he talks about what kind of riders they are and what he expects them to do in this race. When he is unaware of their place in the break or peloton so too is the reader left wondering. It is an involving perspective that protrudes a sense of yurning uneasiness and anticipation.
While his vantage point is subjective it is honest to the narrative style and does not relapse into the stereotypical characters many authors end up creating. Krabbé keeps his edge throughout the book and does not fall into a formulaic trap.
IT IS WORTH IT IF YOU LIKED THE SAMPLE AND ENJOY EITHER BIKES OR QUIRKY SHORT-STORY WRITING.
Rating: 
Summary: The View From Inside the Racer's Helmet
Review: I think the appeal of this book is primarily the way the author has captured the thoughts and strategies that are zooming through the mind of the racing cyclist like a sprint for the finish line, as well as how his body is serving notice of the physical tortures due to the race. I've never participated in bicycle racing myself, but as an avid rider and fan of the races, I found this little book fascinating. One other thing that I loved about this book: being written in the '70s, before the age of wireless communications, "The Rider" shows how the professional cyclists were much more involved with the strategy of the race than they are today. With no little voice in his ear to tell him that the chase group is 2'00" behind and gaining quickly, it was a completely different game. I disagree with the reviewer that recommended "It's Not About the Bike" over this one. They are two completely different books and while I'm a huge LA fan, I preferred the drama of "The Rider" to the inspirational, but sometimes plodding LA bio.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing
Review: I'm a cycler and I read this just after finishing the 500-mile across Iowa rolling party known as RAGBRAI. Everyone was talking about the Tour de France, and this book is exactly what to read to get the feel of the race. The book describes a one-day race on a small portion of the Tour. You are in the author's pocket the entire way. The author is a gifted cyclist, as well as a gifted author (and, in a previous life, a chess champion). He says things about cycling that are infinitely true. Particularly apt was his comment that cyclers love pain. It is the pain that makes each individual experience memorable. A highly entertaining story about a very personal quest.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Novella--Even for the Noncyclist
Review: I'm not a cyclist by any stretch of the imagination, and am only a moderate fan of the sport in general. But Krabbé's novella, originally published in the Netherlands 25 years ago, has got to best one of the best fictional treatments of any sport. The book follows an competitive amateur rider through a half-day, 150 kilometer race over the very real Mont Aigoual in France. Krabbé is himself an avid amateur cyclist, and his ability to capture both the mental and physical aspects of the sport is uncanny. Although I've never raced a bike, I did run cross-country competitively, and many of the elements carry over-mainly the twin battle each individual faces with their brain and their body (There's one excellent moment when the rider wills his bike to get a flat so he can withdraw with honor.).The stripped-down prose style (common to all Krabbé's work), works especially well in the context of a race where the long distances can lead to almost a trance-like state. The mind wanders all over the place, and that is captured brilliantly in the rider's musings-for example, one part describes how he tries to invent words to keep himself amused during long, boring training rides. At the same time, the race itself is very tense, and Krabbé does quite well at describing the various tactical gambits employed along the way. The main competitors emerge as distinct figures-allies and foes in both a psychological and physical sense (I especially liked the unknown in the blue Cycles Goff jersey). Interwoven with it all are tidbits of cycling history, which are intermittently interesting to the non-racer. It's not a reach to call this a masterpiece of sports literature. The story does a remarkable job at conveying the tension and flow of a race to the outsider. At the same time, the insights into the psychology of the athlete are so acute as to be universally recognizable across cultures and sports.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Novella--Even for the Noncyclist
Review: I'm not a cyclist by any stretch of the imagination, and am only a moderate fan of the sport in general. But Krabbé's novella, originally published in the Netherlands 25 years ago, has got to best one of the best fictional treatments of any sport. The book follows an competitive amateur rider through a half-day, 150 kilometer race over the very real Mont Aigoual in France. Krabbé is himself an avid amateur cyclist, and his ability to capture both the mental and physical aspects of the sport is uncanny. Although I've never raced a bike, I did run cross-country competitively, and many of the elements carry over-mainly the twin battle each individual faces with their brain and their body (There's one excellent moment when the rider wills his bike to get a flat so he can withdraw with honor.). The stripped-down prose style (common to all Krabbé's work), works especially well in the context of a race where the long distances can lead to almost a trance-like state. The mind wanders all over the place, and that is captured brilliantly in the rider's musings-for example, one part describes how he tries to invent words to keep himself amused during long, boring training rides. At the same time, the race itself is very tense, and Krabbé does quite well at describing the various tactical gambits employed along the way. The main competitors emerge as distinct figures-allies and foes in both a psychological and physical sense (I especially liked the unknown in the blue Cycles Goff jersey). Interwoven with it all are tidbits of cycling history, which are intermittently interesting to the non-racer. It's not a reach to call this a masterpiece of sports literature. The story does a remarkable job at conveying the tension and flow of a race to the outsider. At the same time, the insights into the psychology of the athlete are so acute as to be universally recognizable across cultures and sports.
Rating: 
Summary: For Bicycling Racing Fans
Review: If you are a big fan of bike racing and the Tour de France (before Lance) then this book may appeal to you. It's written in the first person and is the authors's thoughts as he battles his way through a fictional 100 mile one day racing classic. It was written in Dutch and translated into English, and perhaps suffers because the language is not the author's intended words. It's not exacting exciting prose, nor drama. I ride a lot and I admit that while the book was interesting as a creative writing exercise (and a novel idea), that reading "It's not about the Bike" was far more interesting. If you have already read the latter, then try Samuel Abt.
Rating:
Summary: The Rider
Review: If you participate in a sport, or art, or any activity that you dedicate yourself to 100%, this book is a worthwhile read. It documents a man's efforts throughout a very tough cycling race, with insights into how an over the hill chess player can transform into an exceptional cyclist. It's a very good narrative, and a very effective translation. What it's not: Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike". It's a lot more personal and you suffer along with the narrator throughout the race.
Rating:
Summary: Best fictional account of what it is like to be in a race
Review: If you race, you will feel right at home with this book and its description of the Mont Aigoual bicycle race. It is as close to the actual experience one can get other than writing your own account.
When he is not actually describing the race events, Krabbe's mental wanderings and musings mimic what often goes on in most cyclists heads during the course of a long road race. I too have wished for a flat to put me out of my misery and suffering during the course of a race. A good read.
Rating:
Summary: great real racing book
Review: this book was great for anyone who races bicycles. the book was very well written, and was really about the old school of racing when you had to shift on the down tubes..and no radio communication in the races.
Rating:
Summary: the best cycling novel...
Review: This is easily the best novel I've read about bicycle racing--
it's relatively short, no murders, no love interest, just
bicycle racing pure and simple. It centers on a single minor
1-day race in southern France, 150 kilometers in the mountains,
and a racer (Krabbe) who is decent but not professional caliber.
The novel is part stream-of-thought, part flashbacks to Krabbe's
other 300+ races, part anecdotes about the great cyclists from
the Tour de France and elsewhere. If you want a baseball
analogy, Krabbe would be playing in the low minor leagues, and
describing the life there, and relating some tales about well-
known major-leaguers--kind of a Ron Shelton [Bull Durham] of
bicycle racing. In the Tour de France, the police keep the roads
clear for the racers: in the Tour de Mont Aigoual, police are
at intersections directing the racers, but you share the road
with ordinary drivers. Krabbe describes speeding down steep
mountain roads and having to plan in his mind what to do if a car
comes around the corner towards him while he's doing 60kph.
A very involving, finely-written book!
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