It's Not About the Bike

Bibliography

Armstrong, Lance. It's Not About the Bike. 2000. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons ISBN # 0-399-14611-3

Critical Analysis

Lance Armstrong's memoir It's Not About the Bike is an honest and direct synopsis of his rise to the top of the cycling world and his battle with testicular cancer. This inside look allows Armstrong fans to go beyond what they read from press and magazines and get the inside scoop on the Tour de France champion. Armstrong's portrayal of himself as a rowdy child and teen living with his hardworking, single mother provides many humorous anecdotes while also giving the background to his determined personality in adulthood. Perhaps the most entertaining story is that of the game Armstrong coined called "fireball," which consisted of soaking a tennis ball in kerosene, lighting it on fire and throwing it back and forth while wearing garden gloves. It's ideas like this that make It's Not About the Bike a great read for reluctant, young adult, male readers but might make parents wish it came with a "Do Not Try This at Home" warning label on it. 

Armstrong's approach to describing his cancer battle is direct and matter-of-fact. Though his emotions play a role in his retelling, he details his chemotherapy treatments, doctor's visits, MRI's and X-rays with medical precision and honesty. Determined would be the best word to describe his outlook on cancer, cycling and life.  

Book Discussion Questions

1. Lance Armstrong's mother plays a large role in his life, as detailed in the book. How does their relationship effect Lance in cycling, his cancer battle and life in general?

2. Lance is often forced to make some difficult decisions, whether it be in cycling or deciding between oncologists. Discuss his decision making process and any decisions you might have made differently.

3. What are some of the parallels between Lance's race approach and life approach? What are some of the differences?

4. How would some of Lance's experiences have been different if he were not a successful, famous cyclist? 

5. Lance receives an email from a man in the military stationed in Asia that was a fellow cancer patient that says "you don't know it yet, but we're the lucky ones." What did the man mean? At that time Lance doesn't understand what he means. Do you think that by the end of his battle he understood?

External Assessments

"In 1996, young cycling phenom Armstrong discovered he had testicular cancer. In 1999, he won the Tour de France. Now he's a grateful husband, a new fatherAand a memoirist: with pluck, humility and verve, this volume covers his early life, his rise through the endurance sport world and his medical difficulties. Cancer "was like being run off the road by a truck, and I've got the scars to prove it," Armstrong declares. Earlier scars, he explains, came from a stepfather he casts as unworthy; early rewards, from his hardworking mother and from the triathlons and national bike races Armstrong won as a Texas teen. "The real racing action was over in Europe": after covering that, Armstrong and Jenkins (Men Will Be Boys, with Pat Summit, etc.) ascend to the scarier challenges of diagnoses and surgeries. As he gets worse, then better, Armstrong describes the affections of his racing friends and of the professionals who cared for him. Armstrong is honest and delightful on his relationship to wife Kristin (Kik), and goes into surprising detail about the technology that let them have a child. The memoir concludes with Armstrong's French victory and the birth of their son. The book features a disarming and spotless prose style, one far above par for sports memoirs. Bicycle-racing fans will enjoy the troves of inside information and the accounts of competitions, but Armstrong has set his sights on a wider meaning and readership: "When I was sick I saw more beauty and triumph and truth in a single day than I ever did in a bike race."- Esther Newberg, Publisher's Weekly