Cycling's 50 Craziest Stories

Professional cycling has been around for over 100 years, more than enough time for nearly anything imaginable to have happened. Whether it's the Tour de France racer who thought the worst thing that could happen to him was being forced to wear the Yellow Jersey, or the communist team director who insisted, on a whim, that a rider have a toe amputated, or the fit of jealousy that started the Giro d'Italia, the sport has an endless supply of examples of human folly. Les Woodland has the perfect knack for telling these improbable, silly, crazy, and absurd stories.
About the Author: Les Woodland is a tall and balding man who never once troubled the judges in his lengthy and persistently unsuccessful career as a racing cyclist. Having failed to make even a mild profit at cycling, let alone a living, he took to writing about it instead. That was in London in 1970. His mother dismissed the idea as no job for a grown man. Mrs. Woodland is no longer with us and her son now lives in southwest France, 20 km from the route of the first Tour de France. But somewhere unseen, she is shaking her head in despair.