Never Tell me Never Dare to Fly by Janine Shepherd

This is about a story of a cyclist  and skier training for the Olympics who was run over by a truck and survived:-

“On an afternoon bike ride in the Blue Mountains Janine Shepherd’s life was altered irrevocably. When the champion cross country skier in training for the Winter Olympics was hit by a truck, doctors warned her parents that she was not expected to survive her ordeal. The bleeding alone was enough to kill her. Even if by some small chance she recovered, she would never walk again. ‘The ultimate in dedication, achievement, determination, accomplishment…

A celebration of life’ : Sara Henderson ‘If gold medals were awarded for sheer guts and determination, Janine Shepherd would have a truckload’: Herald Sun ‘A story of remarkable strength, endurance, discipline and inspiration’: Gold Coast Bulletin”

Though I haven’t got this book yet (as so many on the go), it look really good. Her website is on my links.

‘Call the Midwife’ – A cyclist midwife

I picked this up at a charity shop today. Turns out that the book is a bit like ‘James Herriot’.   However, for some reason Matthew Parris (of all people) says, it made him cry’.

It will take me a while to read it as it is a bit of a ‘thick book’ but it looks interesting and entertaining. I have an interest in the East End and my family helped run the London Hospital where she worked at one time.

I love her 30s bike on the back of the book.

 

Update 9/12/08 still reading!

 

I was touched by one of the chapters about how a teenage boy in the scruffy parts of London helped this midwife to ride a bicycle. Turns out she thanked him and bought a bike for him. He later became a time trial cyclist and eventually, became Princess Diana’s bodyguard.

So far, an excellent and compelling book.

I’m still reading Dervla!

I am now half way reading ‘Wheels on Wheels’ by Dervla Murphy, which is gripping and funny. It was quite curious (well I found it funny, but then I wasn’t a relative), when as a young child in Ireland, she had an unusual hobby of – collecting skeleton bones, as she wanted to be a surgeon. She is definitely not a dull cyclist!  So I have today (ouch) bought another book by her, ‘Tibetan Foothold’ – she used to work in a Tibetan Refugee camp in India.

Here is the Synopis from Amazon:-

“In July 1963 Dervla Murphy arrived in a sweltering Delhi by bicycle. Deciding that the heat precluded further cycling until November, she worked in Tibetan refugee camps in Northern India. Using extracts from the diaries she kept at the time, Dervla describes the day-to-day life in the camps where hundreds of children are living in squalor while a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feed and care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with limited resources. Quickly falling in love with the “Tiblets” – cheerful, uncomplaining, independent and affectionate children – she pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed (just about everywhere), and even finds time to meet the Dalai Lama and his entourage.”

Dervla Murphy – Wheels on Wheels – Autobiography

other Book

October 15, 2008 · No Comments

I picked up an autobiography by Dervla Murphy, the Irish world-the-world cyclist and I am hooked! I don’t particularly want to go out today.

Though I haven’t quite finished it yet, I am glued to her tales of her Irish parents and Convent life, and all the religious doctrine and the cattiness of the kids. I also loved her tales about her love of books. The fact that her teacher told her parents that she ‘didn’t fit in’ and her mother more or less said, afterwards, ‘Thank God for that’.

I’m quite interested how she started to want to travel.

Having had a similar childhood, in the sense, that I went to a Convent, I could relate to all the stuff she went on about. However, her convent was much tougher than mine. I was quite gobsmacked that her College didn’t allow her to take English books along. All this clearly was ‘political’. I could understand that but I think education is learning about different cultures and ways of thinking.

When I was younger, I used to enjoy french books, even though I couldn’t understand all of it. I enjoyed the style and types of books they had and the stories. The Black Stallion was one of them. If I could read Gaelic, then I would read those! To be forced to read only certain types of books is ridiculous, and smacks of brain washing, something I think the schools system is riddled with!

Another thing she said was that the atmosphere didn’t encourage ‘asking questions’. Like mine too. You were supposed to ‘accept it’.

My own sheltered schooling encouraged me to travel and learn more about life. Hence I travelled to Northern Ireland and Eire to see for myself what it was like rather than a) nothing being taught at school about it b) the media brain washing you. The BBC is supposed to be balanced, but it is not.

So, this book is very inspiring and I look forward to reading the rest of her entertaining stories.

Roule Britannia, a History of Briton’s in the Tour de France

This book is by William Fotheringham.

I have only just picked it up today. It looks good with some up to date photos too. However, naturally disappointed it by Le Tour de France meaning the Mens! (In the index at the back there is something about ‘women’ but it is about wives and girlfriends. Honestly, in this day and age.  We do exist you know! There is a tiny snippet about Nicola Cooke but it talks mainly about her coach.

The book should be retitled – A History of British Men in the Le Tour de France.

Other than that, I am looking forward to it and will report back. I am looking forward to the moving story of Tom Simpson too. There are some photos of him dying and I think that isn’t acceptable in my books.

I wonder if there are ANY books about the Women’s Tour de France?! Maybe I will contact the British Library, that should be a challenge.

London Cycle Guide

Well, I was right in the fact that it was useless in the sense of telling me where the London Cycle Network runs in London. I still haven’t the foggiest clue where the network goes. Looks like I will have to fork out for the full UK Network book, even though I rarely go out of London and Kent to cycle. Bah!

Other than that, it is an inspiring book, which photographs that make you want to jump your bike and go (shame I have to go to work later!).  It is written in a friendly and fun style, much better than these stuffy cycling guide books. I have never followed a cycling guide EVER because I tend to like surprises as I cycle. However, this book is quite user friendly and it points out interesting things. It is like having a fellow cyclist along with me.

‘You can’t it take it with you’ Jane and Mike Tomlinson

This about the woman who cycled almost everywhere after being told she had cancer. She did the Ironman and cycled from Leeds to Rome..and much more. Very inspiring story and I am only on the third chapter at the moment and I am glued to the book. I Hope to read more on the train today.

Update as still reading it: She doesn’t half shout at her husband! Ooh, the swearin’!

Update: 11/08/08 A riproaring read.  After one difficult bike trip you kind of expect her to relax a bit but no, not Jane. I was very surprised at the woman who kept on giving her prank calls, because she didn’t believe she had cancer. It make the winnings of the Olympics pail into insignificance even now, several years later.

It is a great ‘girly bike book read’ and us gals don’t get that many of those to read, do we?

Reading

 

 I’ve been reading normal books so sorry about that!

In Search of Robert Millar by Richard Moore

I picked this up from my local library, although it is the sort of book you’d want to keep in your bookshelf for life!

The author found  it hard to get information from this intriguing character. Often he was regarded as rude and retiring but I think he is just a very independent and private individual. I found him a bit of a social phobic, something I have and can identify with. He didn’t stay long eating with other people either, something I don’t like too.  I can relate to the fact that he didn’t really get on with his home town, another thing I can relate too. I always feel I don’t belong, I mean like Glasgow, it is not very cycling friendly, though it has improved a lot.

He did very well. He was very focussed in everything he did. I thought he was very sharp and witty.

He doesn’t fit into the normal celebrity mould which is a refreshing relief.

Devil on Wheels – the story of the Inventor of the Bicycle, who got fined for speeding

This book is by journalist Gordon Irving and tells the story of Kirkpatrick Macmillian, Inventor of the Bicycle.

He built the first pedal cycle and road on it to Glasgow at eight miles an hour and got fined 5 shillings for speeding

He was also a blacksmith and he even used to pull out people’s teeth.  It is an extraordinary real story of a person who was ’scorned’ and who ‘frightened kids’ on his two wheelled bicycle!

I bought this book from the Cyclejumble I went to recently at Ripley. The book comes with lots of photographs.

However, I don’t think people really know who the bicycle inventor really was. .There seems to be so much controversy. Maybe it was him, but who knows?