Pro Cycling Manager 2015
You really don’t have many options when it comes to cycling video games these days, but Pro Cycling Manager 2015 gives you the opportunity to become the sports director of one of the 90 teams of the pro circuit and compete in over 200 competitions (550 stages). Tour de France and its official route are naturally part of that package!
The Rider by Tim Krabbé
The most exciting time during Christmas might be the food restocking for us but that doesn’t mean we don’t crave adrenaline anymore. Tim Krabbé’s The Rider will make you (and us) feel like a part of a real bike race. At 150 pages for 150 kilometres long race The Rider runs at a break-neck pace and you will be through it before you realize it.
A Sunday in Hell
We chose this movie because it follows the French Paris-Roubaix spring classic. A race known worldwide for the hellish paves or cobbled roads of the north, which are no longer used for traffic but only for transporting cattle – and for cycling races. You’ll see the unbelievable battle between two legendary rivals Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck. This really isn’t Tour de France. This is a whole new world of cycling.
The Triplets of Belleville
Champion is a small boy adopted by his grandmother Souza. Under her leadership he grows into a great cyclist and Tour de France favourite. When he is kidnapped Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire and try to rescue him. Don’t pass on this film! This could be easily considered a cult movie in a couple of years.
Bicycle Thieves by Luigi Bartolini
Little bit forgotten but that doesn’t make this classic any less fun. Do you want to know how a bike thief can come to an existence? This book will reveal everything. Plus there’s a great movie with the same title in case you want to save a little bit of time.
Premium Rush
An action movie with a bicycle in the main role is a pretty rare thing to see but the 2011 film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt is exactly that. Bike messenger picks up a mysterious envelope that attracts the interest of a dirty cop. Amazing bike/car chase comes immediately and the pace of the movie never slows down again.
Chasing Legends
The essence of Tour de France? It’s really hard to capture the world’s most amazing race in just hour and a half. This movie focuses on following the Columbia-HTC team during the 2009 Tour and the results are staggering.
Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage
We could read this book over and over again without ever getting bored. The section about doping written by a frustrated cyclist who was fed up with being unable to compete with riders who used performance enhancing drugs once shocked the world. Many years and scandals have since passed but it’s still an essential reading for any cycling enthusiast.
