Title: Life In The Slipstream: The Legend Of Bobby Walthour Sr
Author: Andrew M Homan
Publisher: Potomac Books
Year: 2011
Pages: 241
Order: Potomac Books
What it is: A biography of an American double-World Champion who made his name racing in the slipstream of motor-pacers and on the Six Day circuit.
Strengths: Excellently researched and a fascinating story about an era in cycling's history when the sport was all about speed.
Weaknesses: The more you learn about this era of cycling - not just in the US, but also in Europe - the more you want to know.

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Title: The Unknown Tour de France: The Many Faces of the World's Greatest Bike Race
Author: Les Woodland
Publisher: Van der Plas Publishing / Cycle Publishing
Year: 2002 (updated 2009)
Pages: 152
Order: Cycle Publishing
What it is: A history, of sorts, of the Tour de France, stopping off at some of the usual destinations but also exploring areas most other authors have forgotten exist.
Strengths: It's a fun and enjoyable read that's well presented and looks nice.
Weaknesses: So much history, so little space.

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Belgian Hammer author Daniel Lee pops into the Café for a chat about Belgium, nurturing talent and the next generation of American cyclists.

* * * * *

Podium Café: Let's begin this with a bit about you. You're a reporter who's been there, done that and worn the jersey. Tell us a little bit about how you got into cycling and came to do your own stint in Belgium.

Daniel Lee: I graduated from high school in 1987, so my teenage years were a great time for US cycling with the 1984 US Olympic team, Team 7-Eleven and Greg LeMond all making history. I always loved riding my bike and around my junior year discovered that cycling was not just an activity but was also a competitive sport.

One summer a good friend and I rode our bikes from our homes in suburban Pittsburgh northeast to my grandparent's house to Bradford, Pa, which is almost to the New York state border. I was wearing cut-off sweatpants, a t-shirt and bulky helmet and riding a Schwinn World Sport. It was a two-day, 188 mile journey with just the two of us pedaling across rural and hilly Western Pennsylvania roads. Our parents were worried but realized it was a very important challenge for us as teenagers. That trip remains my favorite high school memory and really helped spark my interest in cycling and eventually racing.

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Title: One Way Road: The Autobiography Of Robbie McEwen, Three Time Tour De France Green Jersey Winner
Author: Robbie McEwen (with Edward Pickering)
Publisher: Ebury Press
Year: 2011
Pages: 339
Order: Random House
What it is: What it says on the tin: the autobiography of Australia's green jersey hero, Robbie McEwen.
Strengths: McEwen has a way of telling his story that makes you want to listen to him and he effortlessly takes you inside the peloton in a way few other cycling books really manage.
Weaknesses: While McEwen talks about deals - and (briefly) doping - you get the feeling that you're not getting the full, unvarnished story.

"Bike racing's just a hobby I happen to be very good at. It's not a matter of life and death."
Robbie McEwen

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Title: Inside The Peloton: My Life As A Professional Cyclist
Author: Nicolas Roche (with Gerard Cromwell, foreword by Sean Kelly, afterword by Bradley Wiggins)
Publisher: Transworld Ireland
Year: 2011
Pages: 394
Order: Random House
What it is: A collection of Nicolas Roche's Grand Tour newspaper diaries, padded out with extra biographical detail.
Strengths: Fans of Roche will love it.
Weaknesses: It's a pretty bland ride through Roche's life and cycling career.

If cycling were a popularity contest, Nicolas Roche would be a winner. Like his father before him, the man knows how to be the media's friend and a fans' favourite. Through his Grand Tour diary columns in Irish newspapers he hasn't just eclipsed his fellow Irish pros - Philip Deignan (Vuelta a España stage winner, 2009), Daniel Martin (Vuelta a España stage winner 2011) and Matt Brammeier - he has all but nullified their presence in the peloton to the point that casual sports fans in Ireland (and general sports editors in the Irish media ) seem to assume there is just one cyclist flying the flag for Irish cycling.

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Title: Inside The Peloton: Riding Winning & Losing The Tour De France
Author: Graeme Fife
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Year: 2001
Pages: 220
Order: Random House
What it is: Graeme Fife's cycling heroes.
Strengths: Guimard. Hinault. Yates.
Weaknesses: It's all dreadfully Anglo-centric.

Inside The Peloton is Graeme Fife's thank you to his cycling heroes, the men whose "riding provided the first inspiration, their readiness to talk to me the continuing stimulus, their generosity the example to make [Inside The Peloton] as good a book as I possibly could." Fife's heroes here are Chris Boardman, Cyrille Guimard, Barry Hoban, Bernard Hinault, Charlie Holland, Sean Kelly, Phil Liggett, Albert Londres, Eddy Merckx, David Millar, Fréderick Moncassin, Raymond Poulidor, Brian Robinson, Paul Sherwen, Bernard Thévenet and Sean Yates. Along the way, many other riders step sideways into the story, Fife often telling the story of one man by comparing and contrasting him with someone else (so, for example, the chapter about Raymond Poulidor is also about Jacques Anquetil).

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Coming to the Cafe Bookshelf in 2012 ... the backlog of 2011 releases, which include: Ross E Goldstein's cycling novel, Chain Reaction; Andrew M Homan's biography of Bobby Walthour Snr, Life In The Slipstream; the autobiography of former British pro Steve Joughin, Pocket Rocket; Robbie McEwen's autobiography, One Way Road; Nicolas Roche's autobiography, Inside The Peloton; and Team Type 1-founder Phil Southerland's autobiography, Not Dead Yet.

That's the backlog and hopefully we'll be through it and out the other side by the time the season-proper starts. By which time 2012's crop of cycling books should have started hitting the shelves. Let's have a look at some of the titles that are currently scheduled for 2012 release.

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The cycling season is over, the year is coming to a close and it's time to pile on the pounds that you'll spend the first three months of 2012 trying to ride off. It's also time to look back at the year that was. So what kind of year has it been on the Café Bookshelf then? Busy is probably the best way to describe it, with a slew of new cycling books hitting the shelves over the course of the year. More books than the Café Bookshelf has been able to keep up with.

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