Book Review: The Spring Classics, Cycling’s Greatest One Day Races

From time to time I get sent books to take a look at, I guess running a bike blog has some small perks. Usually they are pretty formal stuff, weight training, repairs, stuff like that. Once in a while however you get a real gem.

The Spring Classics, Cycling Greatest One Day Races is a fantastic coffee table book full of amazing pictures of time of yore. With todays heavy focus on a few big flashy races, and tours we sometimes forget that cycling has a long history of one day “classics.” Sure a lot of die hard cycling fans love the start of classic season, but your average biker has never heard of most of these races.

And races they were, this book is resplendent with amazing black and white photos of old time bike racers showing their all. Through snow, over cobbles, in the wind, rain, you name it these guys just kept pushing (and none of them had helmets either). This book is a treat for anyone who likes cycling, or old pictures of cycling, or both.

Seeing a couple guys from the 20’s pushing fixed gears through a blizzard, or seeing Eddie Merckx DESTROY people in the way only he could while his face looks like someone just punched him in it, gives you a real sense of the heroics of cycling.

It was a real joy watching some of the old school races (which look like a lot of alley cats I have ridden), and to see that even back then they understood that if you want to win you have to suffer. Seeing people covered in muck riding the Paris Roubaix, or even some of the colorful pictures from modern times, really makes you want to go ride your bike a couple hundred miles over cobble stones in a blizzard…really. This is a great gift for the cycling enthusiast in your home.

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