Book 4 - Blog 2 - Close To Flying

Book Details:

Close to Flying
Pages: 304
Pages read: All
Words on page 50: 312 (26 x 12)
Words in book: 94,848 (averaged)
ISBN 9781740666671
Author: Cadel Evans (and Rob Arnold)
Published: 2010 by Hardy Grant Books

Price: $39.99

Well, the fourth book is done (though I am nearly a week behind). I think I will have to go on some sort of reading frenzy, soon. Knock one or two over in quick succession. Actually, the next one will be interesting, it is about Princess Diana. That will be great to read, I never knew much about her.

Anyway, on to Cadel Evans.

This book really was a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cadel is a world champion, the photo on the back of the book tells the story, with him in his (five striped) world championship jersey. By the sounds of it, he deserved it, as he has been a consistent competitor for many years now. I really didn't know much about Cadel, and I certainly didn't know how much he has achieved. Particularly, how much he has achieved to make cycling popular. What a guy. Apparently, he is the reason (or one of them) that we all watch the Tour De France on TV now. Even though his predecessors (and there were some good riders, like Robbie McEwen) were great riders, our nation appears to be 'Cadel struck'.

His performances seem to say that he deserves every accolade. His effort over many years have been huge, mate, he rides up to 40,000 ks per year. Holy crap. I thought I was doing well with about 2,000 in the saddle. What a machine. He has twice gotten a second in the Tour, and although he has won other races and gets high rankings in yet more, it is the Tour that everyone remembers. His goal to win one is as yet, unfulfilled, needless to say that I am sure in 2010, he will be on the job. Go son, I will certainly be barracking for Cadel. I am going to start a scrap book, and collect all that I can about the tour, particularly Cadel's performances at this year's tour.

I really enjoyed reading about Cadel (have I mentioned that), though I was surprised that Rob Arnold (in my opinion anyway) went to great pains not to paint Cadel out to be a really likable guy. He said he does not like the publicity, has head butted journos, etc. According to Rob, Cadel is not a really nice guy (look, I might have got that wrong, but hey, whose blog is this). Don't get me wrong, Rob did an outstanding job of the book, and he is very accomplished himself in the sports writing arena, especially writing about cycling. Kudos to him, definitely.

It was great to read that Cadel is happily married to Chiara, and Italian. What a lovely name. She appears to be there for him at every turn, every high and low and every adventure. They still travel home to Aussie to spend some time here each year. Good stuff, mate, you can take the boy out of the bush, but not the bush out of the boy, as they say. He remembers his roots.

The information about drug taking in cycling was amazing to read. No results are really final at the time of racing, as a drug test could mean that people climb the rankings down the track (so to speak) at some stage. Very wierd. And yep, Cadel has always been clean. To the point of being one of the fittest athletes to go through the AIS (in all its years). Good on him. He was just a country kid who loved riding a mountain bike. His training involved just riding for fun. He ended up a world champion mountain biker, and ended up at the AIS where he met some great coaches. He transitioned to road cycling and has changed the world. What a story. There should be more Cadel Evans out there.

Key Messages

Look, there are only 2 points that you need to take from this book:

1. Do what you love and it will not feel like work - cycling has never been hard work for Cadel. He has always loved it, and his love of the bike has kept him riding and kept him improving (oh, and so has his incessant drive to win).

2. Work hard and reap the rewards - Cadel is an example of what is possible, if you spend enough time in the saddle (again so to speak) riding the wave of life. Work hard at what you do, do everything to the best of yoru ability and you will become the best at it. Go son.

Readability: 4.5 (out of 5)
Interesting Information: 4 (out of 5)
Overall book quality: 4.5 (out of 5)
Overall book rating: 8/10

Places visited: 1
People met: 0
Books given away: 1 (to Gemma, my wife)
Books purchased second hand or cheap: 2 (Book 1 and 2 and 3)
Until next time, keep reading.

Jimmy A