Simply the best book on the topic, 09 Dec 2008
I know that some have complained about Kimmage's bitterness, but that's what makes this book so good - it's for real, he doesn't shy away from examining himself, his own failures and his own role in what went on.
That he felt wretched being a part of the politics and cheating is part and parcel of an aspect of cycling that few people knew about until recently. Kimmage's high-profile spat with Stephen Roche was a precursor to Greg LeMond v Armstrong - for similar reasons.
This book was a genuine ground-breaker - Kimmage really put his neck on the line and had to face the predictable fallout for what he wrote. A far cry from the disingenuous "apologies" and press conference conversions we've seen from the likes of Bjarne Riis.
The original and still the best. Unfortunately, it's still all-too relevant.

Reveals more about Kimmage than about cycling?, 19 Nov 2008
Plenty of other reviewers have picked up on the obvious bitterness that Kimmage displays towards his chosen sport, as well as his obvious lack of real drive to succeed meaningfully in it; so I'm not going to dwell on that. The anecdote about Sean Kelly and the sauna is sufficient: I won't ruin it for you here. Unlike Kimmage, Kelly was notorious for his brutal training regime. In his own words, from the mid-1980s, Kelly said that if he expected to be able to race for seven hours, then his training 'spins' had to last for eight hours or more. On the evidence he presents in this book, it's hard to imagine Kimmage spending eight hours training on his bike in a week, making it easier to understand why he was only ever an also-ran at best.

What the book does remind one of is how ghastly and brutal a sport professional cycling is; and this is written as one who has raced and has followed the sport enthusiastically for over two decades. No other mainstream sport comes close to the relentless physical exertion, pain and injuries that are a guaranteed by-product of competing on the bike. Even the most casual student of the sport will be familiar with the endless list of doping offenders, virtually from the sport's inception, and including many of the greatest champions, from Coppi to Hinault and onwards. And all those top riders who loathed cycling - Lucien van Impe possibly the most famous. Son of a Belgian miner, it was the bike or the pits. He hated both, but at least the bike meant being in the open air.

Apart from the winning and the money, does anyone enjoy the actual act of competitive cycling itself, aside from the dubious and fleeting pleasure of inflicting pain on your opponents when it's going well? It's a sport dominated by the sons of working people, for whom pain and a grim working environment appear a necessary and accepted part of life. They are tough, brutal people, marked out by extreme tenacity and utter physical ruthlessness. And if everyone else is doping, why not join them? Who gives a stuff, in the end? Especially if you know the chances of getting caught are tiny, even today. Just look at the recent Olympics and the endless string of new world records, with sprinters cruising in at sub-9.8 times. Dope anyone?

Kimmage was an idealist in a world of realpolitik. Naive and, you get the impression, hiding his lack of real appetite for his sport behind his principles. And, in the end, he just wasn't tough enough. He didn't want it enough to play in the big time. But at least he did find out what he is good at. The writing is great and it's a compelling, very enjoyable read, take from it what you will. To anyone who knows the sport at all, learning that so many riders dope is not exactly up there with Saul on the road to Damascus. But there's a lot of good stuff in here and some great anecdotes. Well worth a read.

The Date, The Day...It's All Written Down, 04 Sep 2008
Paul Kimmage is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, he is a former professional cyclist who competed in the 1980s - alongside compatriots Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley. In "Rough Ride", Kimmage looks back on his life on the bike - he touches on his amateur years, though he focuses more on his time as a professional. While the move into professional cycling was a dream come true for Kimmage, the reality of professional cycling wasn't quite the dream he had hoped for : never mind the physical and psychological difficulties associated with the sport, cycling had a widespread drugs problem.

The 1980s were great times for Irish cycling - Sean Kelly was successful from one end of the decade to the other, while Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championships in 1987. Kimmage, however, was a domestique and never won a race. He entered the professional ranks with RMO in 1986, before moving to Fagor-MBK in 1989 - where he rode alongside Stephen Roche until the Tour de France. He abandoned that race and - despite having intended to quit at the end of that season - he never rode professionally again.

Kimmage was one of four new pros taken on by RMO in 1986 - however, as one of the few non-French riders, it was initially difficult for him to integrate into the team. Nevertheless, Andre 'Dede' Chappuis quickly became a friend - as, in time, did Jean Claude Colotti and Thierry Claveyrolat. As an amateur, Kimmage had heard rumours about the drug-taking in the professional ranks. However, he was determined to stay clean - even, initially, refusing to take the vitamin shots. (The shots were injected and, in Kimmage's mind, syringes meant doping. Nine stages of the 1986 Tour de France changed his mind : he wouldn't have been capable of starting stage 10 without a shot of Vitamin B12). So far as I know, vitamin shots don't count as doping - I may be wrong - but they certainly would certainly appear innocent enough to the man in the street. Similarly, caffeine tablets also sound reasonably innocent - however, they would return a positive test. Nevertheless, they were quite commonly used - taken early enough in the stage, the caffeine would've been out of the system by the time the cyclist reached doping control.

However, things in cycling went far beyond vitamins and caffeine tablets. Kimmage remembers arriving at a race in his early days carrying a briefcase, something that caused a bit of a slagging from the other riders. It was only later that he discovered many other cyclists carried pills and syringes in theirs - while Kimmage himself was only carrying his passport and a few letters. Since not every race tested for drugs, cyclists knew which races they could 'charge up' for safely. While it was never openly encouraged by the management, they were occasionally reminded of their duty as professionals - especially when there were world ranking points at stake. It wasn't uncommon for syringes full of amphetamines to be used, not only in these races but also in Criteriums. EPO, of course, only arrived in the 1990s - but Kimmage also touches on it in the second edition.

"Rough Ride" was first published in 1990 and, while he wasn't expecting it to be universally welcomed, he wasn't expecting the reception the book received. His friendships with Sean Kelly and Martin Earley survived - both are thanked for their support following the book's first publishing - though Thierry Claveyrolat and Jean-Claude Colotti weren't quite so understanding. Worse, things worked out terribly with Stephen Roche. It's clear from reading the book that Kimmage idolised Roche and that riding alongside him at Fagor was a dream come true. Roche, however, seemed to view the book as a personal attack, and was very quick to talk about the possibility of legal action. I'm not sure if the court case ever arrived...the cleanup cycling certainly hasn't. A sad book, but a very highly recommended one.

Phenomenal book, full of the contradictions of life on a bike., 03 Aug 2008
Loved it. The latter edition has some articles and interviews which reflect on the ethics of the peloton not having changed from 89. Many people complain about Kimmage's partisan ire and lack of impartiality, but in the initial book it is nothing of the sort. The book is essentially a diary of his personal sporting troubles, and the acceptance that the organisations of cycling force nearly all young riders to reflect that to compete for any length of time doping is a necessity. He talks about his teammates drug use, but in the main it is a general look at the pressures and reality of doping during the tour/season.

It's full of contradictions that nearly all of us have apart from the Merx's, Hinault's and Armstrong's. Kimmage doesn't avoid the accounts of multiple failures and retirements from races. It's clear that he doesn't have the single-mindedness mentality and dedication for winning but also that he had the talent to compete in stages. Without performance enhancers he would never compete on his favoured routes.

The bitterness froths on the subsequent cycling & media aggression towards him. Was he right? Yes. He wasn't attacking his fellow cyclists, bombastic idiots like McQuaid saw fit to undermine him at every turn. It's a shame that McQuaid didn't put some effort into preventing the systemic drug abuse, that led to so many lives being destroyed by EPO in the 90's.

To all the people criticising Kimmage for his lack of proffessionalism, take a moment to think if you ever could get anywhere near finishing the tour. Then think if your true love of cycling would sustain through having to waste yourself for the team, whilst knowing you were racing
against doped up rivals. Yes he becomes very bitter, mainly after the abuse he receives from the cycling administration that should be ensuring a clean peloton.

Interesting insight, 02 Jul 2008
I've read this book twice now.

I agree with some reviewers that there seems to be hypocrisy in Kimmage's accounts - he claims some of his friends and himself are victims of the pressure to dope just to survive however put Landis and Rasmussen up there in the same situation and they are villans.

However what must be remembered is that the villification of Landis et all by Kimmage happened a full 14 years AFTER the first part of the book.
By this time Kimmage has seen countless sabre rattling false dawns of "we'll clean this up" and each time it comes to nothing.

It needs to be remembered that Kimmage's peers that doped in the 80's are running the sport now.

I've read some of his comments in his newspaper articles and it seems has been left betrayed that the sport he loved could harbour so many
years of cheats. Even the great Jacques Anquetil said "Do you think we did all that with just water in our bottles?"

Even the new holier than thou brigade (David Millar) don't come out of this clean on his return to the Peleton he takes advise from the very doctor who 2 of his clients have been implicated in the Peurto scandal. So you can understand Kimmage's "will they ever learn" attitude.

Ironic as i write this that Spain have just won Euro 2008 and yet in the Puerto scandal of 100+ samples seized 24 are alledged to come from La Liga footballers.... Football has no EPO or blood doping controls just amphetamines and class A drugs......

A good enthralling read.

The publishing of Breaking the Chain must surely rub salt into cycling's ugly wounds. The sport is still reeling from the explosion of controversy that was sparked by the arrest of Team Festina backroom staff member Willy Voet and his cargo of narcotics, on the Franco-Belgian border on July 8, 1998. The subsequent police investigation uncovered a drugs scandal that destroyed that year's Tour de France but Voet sensationally claims in Breaking The Chain, endemic cheating has been at the heart of the sport for years.

Voet's role as team "pharmacist"--ferrying and administering the cocktails of performance-enhancing drugs--made him the invisible hand that shaped the fortunes of one of the sport's most successful teams and he spares little detail in relating how it was done. Step-by-step guides to the business of "charging" on amphetamines and testosterone, administering mid-race injections and the secrets of beating the dope tests, are revealed for the first time.

.You slip the part of the tube fitted with the condom up the backside, inject clean urine up the tube ... cork it and stick it to the skin following the line of the perineum as far as the testicles ... this system was never bettered ... I used it for three years without any worries.

This is an astonishing story and Voet's is an amusing, candid voice--strong on the thrills of cheating and on the horrors of being caught--but given the ongoing investigations, and that fact the Voet, along with other senior members of the Festina team, is living under the cloud of a suspended prison sentence, it is hard to gauge whether the author's version of events has itself been "doctored". He names specific individuals related to the Festina case but protects the identities of other cheats that he claims operated on the pro circuit and it remains to be seen whether the full story of the scandal has now been told. --Alex Hankin

Simply the best book on the topic, 09 Dec 2008
I know that some have complained about Kimmage's bitterness, but that's what makes this book so good - it's for real, he doesn't shy away from examining himself, his own failures and his own role in what went on.
That he felt wretched being a part of the politics and cheating is part and parcel of an aspect of cycling that few people knew about until recently. Kimmage's high-profile spat with Stephen Roche was a precursor to Greg LeMond v Armstrong - for similar reasons.
This book was a genuine ground-breaker - Kimmage really put his neck on the line and had to face the predictable fallout for what he wrote. A far cry from the disingenuous "apologies" and press conference conversions we've seen from the likes of Bjarne Riis.
The original and still the best. Unfortunately, it's still all-too relevant.

Reveals more about Kimmage than about cycling?, 19 Nov 2008
Plenty of other reviewers have picked up on the obvious bitterness that Kimmage displays towards his chosen sport, as well as his obvious lack of real drive to succeed meaningfully in it; so I'm not going to dwell on that. The anecdote about Sean Kelly and the sauna is sufficient: I won't ruin it for you here. Unlike Kimmage, Kelly was notorious for his brutal training regime. In his own words, from the mid-1980s, Kelly said that if he expected to be able to race for seven hours, then his training 'spins' had to last for eight hours or more. On the evidence he presents in this book, it's hard to imagine Kimmage spending eight hours training on his bike in a week, making it easier to understand why he was only ever an also-ran at best.

What the book does remind one of is how ghastly and brutal a sport professional cycling is; and this is written as one who has raced and has followed the sport enthusiastically for over two decades. No other mainstream sport comes close to the relentless physical exertion, pain and injuries that are a guaranteed by-product of competing on the bike. Even the most casual student of the sport will be familiar with the endless list of doping offenders, virtually from the sport's inception, and including many of the greatest champions, from Coppi to Hinault and onwards. And all those top riders who loathed cycling - Lucien van Impe possibly the most famous. Son of a Belgian miner, it was the bike or the pits. He hated both, but at least the bike meant being in the open air.

Apart from the winning and the money, does anyone enjoy the actual act of competitive cycling itself, aside from the dubious and fleeting pleasure of inflicting pain on your opponents when it's going well? It's a sport dominated by the sons of working people, for whom pain and a grim working environment appear a necessary and accepted part of life. They are tough, brutal people, marked out by extreme tenacity and utter physical ruthlessness. And if everyone else is doping, why not join them? Who gives a stuff, in the end? Especially if you know the chances of getting caught are tiny, even today. Just look at the recent Olympics and the endless string of new world records, with sprinters cruising in at sub-9.8 times. Dope anyone?

Kimmage was an idealist in a world of realpolitik. Naive and, you get the impression, hiding his lack of real appetite for his sport behind his principles. And, in the end, he just wasn't tough enough. He didn't want it enough to play in the big time. But at least he did find out what he is good at. The writing is great and it's a compelling, very enjoyable read, take from it what you will. To anyone who knows the sport at all, learning that so many riders dope is not exactly up there with Saul on the road to Damascus. But there's a lot of good stuff in here and some great anecdotes. Well worth a read.

The Date, The Day...It's All Written Down, 04 Sep 2008
Paul Kimmage is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, he is a former professional cyclist who competed in the 1980s - alongside compatriots Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley. In "Rough Ride", Kimmage looks back on his life on the bike - he touches on his amateur years, though he focuses more on his time as a professional. While the move into professional cycling was a dream come true for Kimmage, the reality of professional cycling wasn't quite the dream he had hoped for : never mind the physical and psychological difficulties associated with the sport, cycling had a widespread drugs problem.

The 1980s were great times for Irish cycling - Sean Kelly was successful from one end of the decade to the other, while Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championships in 1987. Kimmage, however, was a domestique and never won a race. He entered the professional ranks with RMO in 1986, before moving to Fagor-MBK in 1989 - where he rode alongside Stephen Roche until the Tour de France. He abandoned that race and - despite having intended to quit at the end of that season - he never rode professionally again.

Kimmage was one of four new pros taken on by RMO in 1986 - however, as one of the few non-French riders, it was initially difficult for him to integrate into the team. Nevertheless, Andre 'Dede' Chappuis quickly became a friend - as, in time, did Jean Claude Colotti and Thierry Claveyrolat. As an amateur, Kimmage had heard rumours about the drug-taking in the professional ranks. However, he was determined to stay clean - even, initially, refusing to take the vitamin shots. (The shots were injected and, in Kimmage's mind, syringes meant doping. Nine stages of the 1986 Tour de France changed his mind : he wouldn't have been capable of starting stage 10 without a shot of Vitamin B12). So far as I know, vitamin shots don't count as doping - I may be wrong - but they certainly would certainly appear innocent enough to the man in the street. Similarly, caffeine tablets also sound reasonably innocent - however, they would return a positive test. Nevertheless, they were quite commonly used - taken early enough in the stage, the caffeine would've been out of the system by the time the cyclist reached doping control.

However, things in cycling went far beyond vitamins and caffeine tablets. Kimmage remembers arriving at a race in his early days carrying a briefcase, something that caused a bit of a slagging from the other riders. It was only later that he discovered many other cyclists carried pills and syringes in theirs - while Kimmage himself was only carrying his passport and a few letters. Since not every race tested for drugs, cyclists knew which races they could 'charge up' for safely. While it was never openly encouraged by the management, they were occasionally reminded of their duty as professionals - especially when there were world ranking points at stake. It wasn't uncommon for syringes full of amphetamines to be used, not only in these races but also in Criteriums. EPO, of course, only arrived in the 1990s - but Kimmage also touches on it in the second edition.

"Rough Ride" was first published in 1990 and, while he wasn't expecting it to be universally welcomed, he wasn't expecting the reception the book received. His friendships with Sean Kelly and Martin Earley survived - both are thanked for their support following the book's first publishing - though Thierry Claveyrolat and Jean-Claude Colotti weren't quite so understanding. Worse, things worked out terribly with Stephen Roche. It's clear from reading the book that Kimmage idolised Roche and that riding alongside him at Fagor was a dream come true. Roche, however, seemed to view the book as a personal attack, and was very quick to talk about the possibility of legal action. I'm not sure if the court case ever arrived...the cleanup cycling certainly hasn't. A sad book, but a very highly recommended one.

Phenomenal book, full of the contradictions of life on a bike., 03 Aug 2008
Loved it. The latter edition has some articles and interviews which reflect on the ethics of the peloton not having changed from 89. Many people complain about Kimmage's partisan ire and lack of impartiality, but in the initial book it is nothing of the sort. The book is essentially a diary of his personal sporting troubles, and the acceptance that the organisations of cycling force nearly all young riders to reflect that to compete for any length of time doping is a necessity. He talks about his teammates drug use, but in the main it is a general look at the pressures and reality of doping during the tour/season.

It's full of contradictions that nearly all of us have apart from the Merx's, Hinault's and Armstrong's. Kimmage doesn't avoid the accounts of multiple failures and retirements from races. It's clear that he doesn't have the single-mindedness mentality and dedication for winning but also that he had the talent to compete in stages. Without performance enhancers he would never compete on his favoured routes.

The bitterness froths on the subsequent cycling & media aggression towards him. Was he right? Yes. He wasn't attacking his fellow cyclists, bombastic idiots like McQuaid saw fit to undermine him at every turn. It's a shame that McQuaid didn't put some effort into preventing the systemic drug abuse, that led to so many lives being destroyed by EPO in the 90's.

To all the people criticising Kimmage for his lack of proffessionalism, take a moment to think if you ever could get anywhere near finishing the tour. Then think if your true love of cycling would sustain through having to waste yourself for the team, whilst knowing you were racing
against doped up rivals. Yes he becomes very bitter, mainly after the abuse he receives from the cycling administration that should be ensuring a clean peloton.

Interesting insight, 02 Jul 2008
I've read this book twice now.

I agree with some reviewers that there seems to be hypocrisy in Kimmage's accounts - he claims some of his friends and himself are victims of the pressure to dope just to survive however put Landis and Rasmussen up there in the same situation and they are villans.

However what must be remembered is that the villification of Landis et all by Kimmage happened a full 14 years AFTER the first part of the book.
By this time Kimmage has seen countless sabre rattling false dawns of "we'll clean this up" and each time it comes to nothing.

It needs to be remembered that Kimmage's peers that doped in the 80's are running the sport now.

I've read some of his comments in his newspaper articles and it seems has been left betrayed that the sport he loved could harbour so many
years of cheats. Even the great Jacques Anquetil said "Do you think we did all that with just water in our bottles?"

Even the new holier than thou brigade (David Millar) don't come out of this clean on his return to the Peleton he takes advise from the very doctor who 2 of his clients have been implicated in the Peurto scandal. So you can understand Kimmage's "will they ever learn" attitude.

Ironic as i write this that Spain have just won Euro 2008 and yet in the Puerto scandal of 100+ samples seized 24 are alledged to come from La Liga footballers.... Football has no EPO or blood doping controls just amphetamines and class A drugs......

A good enthralling read.

Shocking account of how bad things are, 27 Jun 2008
This book provides a shocking account of Willy Voets experience in his many years in professional cycling. For someone that has no idea about cycling, I'm sure the contents of the book would be almost inmpossible to believe. For those that follow cycling (like myself) it's still a shock.
The book isn't all that well written, its written in a very informal tone, with the occasional use of bad grammer, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.
I think there are better books out there which give a more detailled acount of life in the proessional peleton, but for the price of it, I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Badly written, but still interesting!, 04 Sep 2003
I'm not a cyclist and never have been. I have watched the Tour De France for years though, amazed at the strength and stamina of the riders. Now I know how many of them have done it - through the comprehensive and systematic use of a huge range of drugs.

This book is written by a masseur who worked with many top teams and riders for years and was heavily involved in the drug culture in professional cycling.

It's badly written and it's hard to follow in places. I guess if you know your cycling history and names, it would be easier. But it is also full of stories and anecdotes about drug taking, told in such a casual way that makes it both shocking and fascinating for anyone interested in sport.

The writer tries hard to elicit your sympathy for the fact he got caught and had little choice but to own up. He is angry with others in the sport whom he helped cheat, for abandoning him. Yet I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. It's clear that getting caught was the only thing that stopped him being there today doing the same thing.

The sheer scale of the cheating is what made this an interesting read. It leaves you wondering if every rider or every sportsperson for that matter is a cheat. For me it reaffirms the need to leave no stone unturned in ridding sport of drugs.

I need to know that Lance Armstrong is naturally as remarkable a sports man as he appears, so that you can continue to marvel at what is possible.

Willy Voet, 10 Jun 2003
If you can read some french get the original and a dictionary.
I read it when it fisrt came out, in between watching the tdf in the alps, which gave it more impact.

yes its not written brilliantly, but reads more like the man telling his story, rather than trying to make it into a hollywood movie!

it incriminates some very famous cyclists and makes you wonder to what level doping is currently happening in sport.

recommended to anyone interested in cycling/ athletics etc.

A strangely unengaging experience, 15 Jan 2002
Willy Voet was most definitely not born to be a writer. The book has - of course - been translated into English, but even after making the necessary allowances it is still poorly structured and very poorly written. I really wanted to feel sympathy for this man but his literary style - I would describe it as "blow the whistle and run" - makes it near to impossible.
Read it on a train...

Shocking but a great read., 30 Oct 2001
Willy Voet worked for many years as a soigneur for some of the world's top professional road racing teams. A soigneur is a person who takes care of other people and that is just what Willy did. Making sure that everyone had the right food, massage regime and drugs.

In 1998, he was arrested as he entered France with the supply of drugs to be used by the Festina team in that year's Tour de France. At first, the French thought that they had picked up another drug dealer bringing back supplies from the Netherlands but when they realised the true significance of their find, the consequences for the tour were severe.

The 1998 tour was almost scrapped and serious damage was done to the reputation of the event, the teams and cyclists. Voet himself was briefly imprisoned and then kicked out of the sport which was quite prepared to sacrifice him as a single rotten apple. That led directly to this book in which Voet tells of his own experiences of the drug taking within the world of professional cycling.

The scope of those revelations is shocking indeed. Not just the fact that drug taking occurred but the degree to which it spread across the whole sport and the lengths to which teams went to ensure that riders had the best set of drugs for their individual needs and the measures taken to prevent the riders from testing positive for banned substances. If you want to know exactly how to give a sample of somebody else's urine when stripped and made to give that sample in the presence of a doctor, read here.

The book has it's lighter moments too. The rider caught because the mechanic, who had provided the specimen that the rider later produced, had been taking amphetamines. Another rider who was prepared to buy a dose of rocket fuel, contents unknown, from a stranger who promised that he could win a stage.

Voet's motivation in writing this book is, at least in part, to justify himself by explaining that he did nothing that was not common practice throughout the sport. As such, some will doubt his veracity but he does not mince his words. He names names and gives considerable detail and yet nobody is queuing up to sue him for defamation.

The book does not pretend to be a far reaching survey or to tell the whole story. The author simply writes about his personal involvement in and knowledge of the field. William Fotheringham's translation is very good indeed. He writes fluidly and clearly understands what he is working on. Together, the two men have produced a fascinating book which is really an essential read for anyone interested in cycling or the effects of drugs on sport in general.

Simply the best book on the topic, 09 Dec 2008
I know that some have complained about Kimmage's bitterness, but that's what makes this book so good - it's for real, he doesn't shy away from examining himself, his own failures and his own role in what went on.
That he felt wretched being a part of the politics and cheating is part and parcel of an aspect of cycling that few people knew about until recently. Kimmage's high-profile spat with Stephen Roche was a precursor to Greg LeMond v Armstrong - for similar reasons.
This book was a genuine ground-breaker - Kimmage really put his neck on the line and had to face the predictable fallout for what he wrote. A far cry from the disingenuous "apologies" and press conference conversions we've seen from the likes of Bjarne Riis.
The original and still the best. Unfortunately, it's still all-too relevant.

Reveals more about Kimmage than about cycling?, 19 Nov 2008
Plenty of other reviewers have picked up on the obvious bitterness that Kimmage displays towards his chosen sport, as well as his obvious lack of real drive to succeed meaningfully in it; so I'm not going to dwell on that. The anecdote about Sean Kelly and the sauna is sufficient: I won't ruin it for you here. Unlike Kimmage, Kelly was notorious for his brutal training regime. In his own words, from the mid-1980s, Kelly said that if he expected to be able to race for seven hours, then his training 'spins' had to last for eight hours or more. On the evidence he presents in this book, it's hard to imagine Kimmage spending eight hours training on his bike in a week, making it easier to understand why he was only ever an also-ran at best.

What the book does remind one of is how ghastly and brutal a sport professional cycling is; and this is written as one who has raced and has followed the sport enthusiastically for over two decades. No other mainstream sport comes close to the relentless physical exertion, pain and injuries that are a guaranteed by-product of competing on the bike. Even the most casual student of the sport will be familiar with the endless list of doping offenders, virtually from the sport's inception, and including many of the greatest champions, from Coppi to Hinault and onwards. And all those top riders who loathed cycling - Lucien van Impe possibly the most famous. Son of a Belgian miner, it was the bike or the pits. He hated both, but at least the bike meant being in the open air.

Apart from the winning and the money, does anyone enjoy the actual act of competitive cycling itself, aside from the dubious and fleeting pleasure of inflicting pain on your opponents when it's going well? It's a sport dominated by the sons of working people, for whom pain and a grim working environment appear a necessary and accepted part of life. They are tough, brutal people, marked out by extreme tenacity and utter physical ruthlessness. And if everyone else is doping, why not join them? Who gives a stuff, in the end? Especially if you know the chances of getting caught are tiny, even today. Just look at the recent Olympics and the endless string of new world records, with sprinters cruising in at sub-9.8 times. Dope anyone?

Kimmage was an idealist in a world of realpolitik. Naive and, you get the impression, hiding his lack of real appetite for his sport behind his principles. And, in the end, he just wasn't tough enough. He didn't want it enough to play in the big time. But at least he did find out what he is good at. The writing is great and it's a compelling, very enjoyable read, take from it what you will. To anyone who knows the sport at all, learning that so many riders dope is not exactly up there with Saul on the road to Damascus. But there's a lot of good stuff in here and some great anecdotes. Well worth a read.

The Date, The Day...It's All Written Down, 04 Sep 2008
Paul Kimmage is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, he is a former professional cyclist who competed in the 1980s - alongside compatriots Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley. In "Rough Ride", Kimmage looks back on his life on the bike - he touches on his amateur years, though he focuses more on his time as a professional. While the move into professional cycling was a dream come true for Kimmage, the reality of professional cycling wasn't quite the dream he had hoped for : never mind the physical and psychological difficulties associated with the sport, cycling had a widespread drugs problem.

The 1980s were great times for Irish cycling - Sean Kelly was successful from one end of the decade to the other, while Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championships in 1987. Kimmage, however, was a domestique and never won a race. He entered the professional ranks with RMO in 1986, before moving to Fagor-MBK in 1989 - where he rode alongside Stephen Roche until the Tour de France. He abandoned that race and - despite having intended to quit at the end of that season - he never rode professionally again.

Kimmage was one of four new pros taken on by RMO in 1986 - however, as one of the few non-French riders, it was initially difficult for him to integrate into the team. Nevertheless, Andre 'Dede' Chappuis quickly became a friend - as, in time, did Jean Claude Colotti and Thierry Claveyrolat. As an amateur, Kimmage had heard rumours about the drug-taking in the professional ranks. However, he was determined to stay clean - even, initially, refusing to take the vitamin shots. (The shots were injected and, in Kimmage's mind, syringes meant doping. Nine stages of the 1986 Tour de France changed his mind : he wouldn't have been capable of starting stage 10 without a shot of Vitamin B12). So far as I know, vitamin shots don't count as doping - I may be wrong - but they certainly would certainly appear innocent enough to the man in the street. Similarly, caffeine tablets also sound reasonably innocent - however, they would return a positive test. Nevertheless, they were quite commonly used - taken early enough in the stage, the caffeine would've been out of the system by the time the cyclist reached doping control.

However, things in cycling went far beyond vitamins and caffeine tablets. Kimmage remembers arriving at a race in his early days carrying a briefcase, something that caused a bit of a slagging from the other riders. It was only later that he discovered many other cyclists carried pills and syringes in theirs - while Kimmage himself was only carrying his passport and a few letters. Since not every race tested for drugs, cyclists knew which races they could 'charge up' for safely. While it was never openly encouraged by the management, they were occasionally reminded of their duty as professionals - especially when there were world ranking points at stake. It wasn't uncommon for syringes full of amphetamines to be used, not only in these races but also in Criteriums. EPO, of course, only arrived in the 1990s - but Kimmage also touches on it in the second edition.

"Rough Ride" was first published in 1990 and, while he wasn't expecting it to be universally welcomed, he wasn't expecting the reception the book received. His friendships with Sean Kelly and Martin Earley survived - both are thanked for their support following the book's first publishing - though Thierry Claveyrolat and Jean-Claude Colotti weren't quite so understanding. Worse, things worked out terribly with Stephen Roche. It's clear from reading the book that Kimmage idolised Roche and that riding alongside him at Fagor was a dream come true. Roche, however, seemed to view the book as a personal attack, and was very quick to talk about the possibility of legal action. I'm not sure if the court case ever arrived...the cleanup cycling certainly hasn't. A sad book, but a very highly recommended one.

Phenomenal book, full of the contradictions of life on a bike., 03 Aug 2008
Loved it. The latter edition has some articles and interviews which reflect on the ethics of the peloton not having changed from 89. Many people complain about Kimmage's partisan ire and lack of impartiality, but in the initial book it is nothing of the sort. The book is essentially a diary of his personal sporting troubles, and the acceptance that the organisations of cycling force nearly all young riders to reflect that to compete for any length of time doping is a necessity. He talks about his teammates drug use, but in the main it is a general look at the pressures and reality of doping during the tour/season.

It's full of contradictions that nearly all of us have apart from the Merx's, Hinault's and Armstrong's. Kimmage doesn't avoid the accounts of multiple failures and retirements from races. It's clear that he doesn't have the single-mindedness mentality and dedication for winning but also that he had the talent to compete in stages. Without performance enhancers he would never compete on his favoured routes.

The bitterness froths on the subsequent cycling & media aggression towards him. Was he right? Yes. He wasn't attacking his fellow cyclists, bombastic idiots like McQuaid saw fit to undermine him at every turn. It's a shame that McQuaid didn't put some effort into preventing the systemic drug abuse, that led to so many lives being destroyed by EPO in the 90's.

To all the people criticising Kimmage for his lack of proffessionalism, take a moment to think if you ever could get anywhere near finishing the tour. Then think if your true love of cycling would sustain through having to waste yourself for the team, whilst knowing you were racing
against doped up rivals. Yes he becomes very bitter, mainly after the abuse he receives from the cycling administration that should be ensuring a clean peloton.

Interesting insight, 02 Jul 2008
I've read this book twice now.

I agree with some reviewers that there seems to be hypocrisy in Kimmage's accounts - he claims some of his friends and himself are victims of the pressure to dope just to survive however put Landis and Rasmussen up there in the same situation and they are villans.

However what must be remembered is that the villification of Landis et all by Kimmage happened a full 14 years AFTER the first part of the book.
By this time Kimmage has seen countless sabre rattling false dawns of "we'll clean this up" and each time it comes to nothing.

It needs to be remembered that Kimmage's peers that doped in the 80's are running the sport now.

I've read some of his comments in his newspaper articles and it seems has been left betrayed that the sport he loved could harbour so many
years of cheats. Even the great Jacques Anquetil said "Do you think we did all that with just water in our bottles?"

Even the new holier than thou brigade (David Millar) don't come out of this clean on his return to the Peleton he takes advise from the very doctor who 2 of his clients have been implicated in the Peurto scandal. So you can understand Kimmage's "will they ever learn" attitude.

Ironic as i write this that Spain have just won Euro 2008 and yet in the Puerto scandal of 100+ samples seized 24 are alledged to come from La Liga footballers.... Football has no EPO or blood doping controls just amphetamines and class A drugs......

A good enthralling read.

Shocking account of how bad things are, 27 Jun 2008
This book provides a shocking account of Willy Voets experience in his many years in professional cycling. For someone that has no idea about cycling, I'm sure the contents of the book would be almost inmpossible to believe. For those that follow cycling (like myself) it's still a shock.
The book isn't all that well written, its written in a very informal tone, with the occasional use of bad grammer, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.
I think there are better books out there which give a more detailled acount of life in the proessional peleton, but for the price of it, I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Badly written, but still interesting!, 04 Sep 2003
I'm not a cyclist and never have been. I have watched the Tour De France for years though, amazed at the strength and stamina of the riders. Now I know how many of them have done it - through the comprehensive and systematic use of a huge range of drugs.

This book is written by a masseur who worked with many top teams and riders for years and was heavily involved in the drug culture in professional cycling.

It's badly written and it's hard to follow in places. I guess if you know your cycling history and names, it would be easier. But it is also full of stories and anecdotes about drug taking, told in such a casual way that makes it both shocking and fascinating for anyone interested in sport.

The writer tries hard to elicit your sympathy for the fact he got caught and had little choice but to own up. He is angry with others in the sport whom he helped cheat, for abandoning him. Yet I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. It's clear that getting caught was the only thing that stopped him being there today doing the same thing.

The sheer scale of the cheating is what made this an interesting read. It leaves you wondering if every rider or every sportsperson for that matter is a cheat. For me it reaffirms the need to leave no stone unturned in ridding sport of drugs.

I need to know that Lance Armstrong is naturally as remarkable a sports man as he appears, so that you can continue to marvel at what is possible.

Willy Voet, 10 Jun 2003
If you can read some french get the original and a dictionary.
I read it when it fisrt came out, in between watching the tdf in the alps, which gave it more impact.

yes its not written brilliantly, but reads more like the man telling his story, rather than trying to make it into a hollywood movie!

it incriminates some very famous cyclists and makes you wonder to what level doping is currently happening in sport.

recommended to anyone interested in cycling/ athletics etc.

A strangely unengaging experience, 15 Jan 2002
Willy Voet was most definitely not born to be a writer. The book has - of course - been translated into English, but even after making the necessary allowances it is still poorly structured and very poorly written. I really wanted to feel sympathy for this man but his literary style - I would describe it as "blow the whistle and run" - makes it near to impossible.
Read it on a train...

Shocking but a great read., 30 Oct 2001
Willy Voet worked for many years as a soigneur for some of the world's top professional road racing teams. A soigneur is a person who takes care of other people and that is just what Willy did. Making sure that everyone had the right food, massage regime and drugs.

In 1998, he was arrested as he entered France with the supply of drugs to be used by the Festina team in that year's Tour de France. At first, the French thought that they had picked up another drug dealer bringing back supplies from the Netherlands but when they realised the true significance of their find, the consequences for the tour were severe.

The 1998 tour was almost scrapped and serious damage was done to the reputation of the event, the teams and cyclists. Voet himself was briefly imprisoned and then kicked out of the sport which was quite prepared to sacrifice him as a single rotten apple. That led directly to this book in which Voet tells of his own experiences of the drug taking within the world of professional cycling.

The scope of those revelations is shocking indeed. Not just the fact that drug taking occurred but the degree to which it spread across the whole sport and the lengths to which teams went to ensure that riders had the best set of drugs for their individual needs and the measures taken to prevent the riders from testing positive for banned substances. If you want to know exactly how to give a sample of somebody else's urine when stripped and made to give that sample in the presence of a doctor, read here.

The book has it's lighter moments too. The rider caught because the mechanic, who had provided the specimen that the rider later produced, had been taking amphetamines. Another rider who was prepared to buy a dose of rocket fuel, contents unknown, from a stranger who promised that he could win a stage.

Voet's motivation in writing this book is, at least in part, to justify himself by explaining that he did nothing that was not common practice throughout the sport. As such, some will doubt his veracity but he does not mince his words. He names names and gives considerable detail and yet nobody is queuing up to sue him for defamation.

The book does not pretend to be a far reaching survey or to tell the whole story. The author simply writes about his personal involvement in and knowledge of the field. William Fotheringham's translation is very good indeed. He writes fluidly and clearly understands what he is working on. Together, the two men have produced a fascinating book which is really an essential read for anyone interested in cycling or the effects of drugs on sport in general.

Inaccurate, easily out of date, 31 Dec 2007
The author has tried their best, but this book has many better and more researched rivals. I would go for the far better Anabolics 2008 or The Manifesto of Mass 3rd Edition for more up to date and 'from the front' information on these products and how the pros and bodybuilders REALLY use them.

Steroid Handbook, 10 Jul 2005
Service was fast and accurate...the book described does as exactly as said buy the seller...I recomend this book for anyone thinking about steroids and even for people on them. The information is frank but honest and will give you a good insight and back ground knowledge on the world of steroids....for the sake of a few pound invest in this book and save yourself a lot of possible problems from little knowledge and shower room information.

Simply the best book on the topic, 09 Dec 2008
I know that some have complained about Kimmage's bitterness, but that's what makes this book so good - it's for real, he doesn't shy away from examining himself, his own failures and his own role in what went on.
That he felt wretched being a part of the politics and cheating is part and parcel of an aspect of cycling that few people knew about until recently. Kimmage's high-profile spat with Stephen Roche was a precursor to Greg LeMond v Armstrong - for similar reasons.
This book was a genuine ground-breaker - Kimmage really put his neck on the line and had to face the predictable fallout for what he wrote. A far cry from the disingenuous "apologies" and press conference conversions we've seen from the likes of Bjarne Riis.
The original and still the best. Unfortunately, it's still all-too relevant.

Reveals more about Kimmage than about cycling?, 19 Nov 2008
Plenty of other reviewers have picked up on the obvious bitterness that Kimmage displays towards his chosen sport, as well as his obvious lack of real drive to succeed meaningfully in it; so I'm not going to dwell on that. The anecdote about Sean Kelly and the sauna is sufficient: I won't ruin it for you here. Unlike Kimmage, Kelly was notorious for his brutal training regime. In his own words, from the mid-1980s, Kelly said that if he expected to be able to race for seven hours, then his training 'spins' had to last for eight hours or more. On the evidence he presents in this book, it's hard to imagine Kimmage spending eight hours training on his bike in a week, making it easier to understand why he was only ever an also-ran at best.

What the book does remind one of is how ghastly and brutal a sport professional cycling is; and this is written as one who has raced and has followed the sport enthusiastically for over two decades. No other mainstream sport comes close to the relentless physical exertion, pain and injuries that are a guaranteed by-product of competing on the bike. Even the most casual student of the sport will be familiar with the endless list of doping offenders, virtually from the sport's inception, and including many of the greatest champions, from Coppi to Hinault and onwards. And all those top riders who loathed cycling - Lucien van Impe possibly the most famous. Son of a Belgian miner, it was the bike or the pits. He hated both, but at least the bike meant being in the open air.

Apart from the winning and the money, does anyone enjoy the actual act of competitive cycling itself, aside from the dubious and fleeting pleasure of inflicting pain on your opponents when it's going well? It's a sport dominated by the sons of working people, for whom pain and a grim working environment appear a necessary and accepted part of life. They are tough, brutal people, marked out by extreme tenacity and utter physical ruthlessness. And if everyone else is doping, why not join them? Who gives a stuff, in the end? Especially if you know the chances of getting caught are tiny, even today. Just look at the recent Olympics and the endless string of new world records, with sprinters cruising in at sub-9.8 times. Dope anyone?

Kimmage was an idealist in a world of realpolitik. Naive and, you get the impression, hiding his lack of real appetite for his sport behind his principles. And, in the end, he just wasn't tough enough. He didn't want it enough to play in the big time. But at least he did find out what he is good at. The writing is great and it's a compelling, very enjoyable read, take from it what you will. To anyone who knows the sport at all, learning that so many riders dope is not exactly up there with Saul on the road to Damascus. But there's a lot of good stuff in here and some great anecdotes. Well worth a read.

The Date, The Day...It's All Written Down, 04 Sep 2008
Paul Kimmage is an award-winning sports journalist who writes for the Sunday Times newspaper in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, he is a former professional cyclist who competed in the 1980s - alongside compatriots Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley. In "Rough Ride", Kimmage looks back on his life on the bike - he touches on his amateur years, though he focuses more on his time as a professional. While the move into professional cycling was a dream come true for Kimmage, the reality of professional cycling wasn't quite the dream he had hoped for : never mind the physical and psychological difficulties associated with the sport, cycling had a widespread drugs problem.

The 1980s were great times for Irish cycling - Sean Kelly was successful from one end of the decade to the other, while Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Championships in 1987. Kimmage, however, was a domestique and never won a race. He entered the professional ranks with RMO in 1986, before moving to Fagor-MBK in 1989 - where he rode alongside Stephen Roche until the Tour de France. He abandoned that race and - despite having intended to quit at the end of that season - he never rode professionally again.

Kimmage was one of four new pros taken on by RMO in 1986 - however, as one of the few non-French riders, it was initially difficult for him to integrate into the team. Nevertheless, Andre 'Dede' Chappuis quickly became a friend - as, in time, did Jean Claude Colotti and Thierry Claveyrolat. As an amateur, Kimmage had heard rumours about the drug-taking in the professional ranks. However, he was determined to stay clean - even, initially, refusing to take the vitamin shots. (The shots were injected and, in Kimmage's mind, syringes meant doping. Nine stages of the 1986 Tour de France changed his mind : he wouldn't have been capable of starting stage 10 without a shot of Vitamin B12). So far as I know, vitamin shots don't count as doping - I may be wrong - but they certainly would certainly appear innocent enough to the man in the street. Similarly, caffeine tablets also sound reasonably innocent - however, they would return a positive test. Nevertheless, they were quite commonly used - taken early enough in the stage, the caffeine would've been out of the system by the time the cyclist reached doping control.

However, things in cycling went far beyond vitamins and caffeine tablets. Kimmage remembers arriving at a race in his early days carrying a briefcase, something that caused a bit of a slagging from the other riders. It was only later that he discovered many other cyclists carried pills and syringes in theirs - while Kimmage himself was only carrying his passport and a few letters. Since not every race tested for drugs, cyclists knew which races they could 'charge up' for safely. While it was never openly encouraged by the management, they were occasionally reminded of their duty as professionals - especially when there were world ranking points at stake. It wasn't uncommon for syringes full of amphetamines to be used, not only in these races but also in Criteriums. EPO, of course, only arrived in the 1990s - but Kimmage also touches on it in the second edition.

"Rough Ride" was first published in 1990 and, while he wasn't expecting it to be universally welcomed, he wasn't expecting the reception the book received. His friendships with Sean Kelly and Martin Earley survived - both are thanked for their support following the book's first publishing - though Thierry Claveyrolat and Jean-Claude Colotti weren't quite so understanding. Worse, things worked out terribly with Stephen Roche. It's clear from reading the book that Kimmage idolised Roche and that riding alongside him at Fagor was a dream come true. Roche, however, seemed to view the book as a personal attack, and was very quick to talk about the possibility of legal action. I'm not sure if the court case ever arrived...the cleanup cycling certainly hasn't. A sad book, but a very highly recommended one.

Phenomenal book, full of the contradictions of life on a bike., 03 Aug 2008
Loved it. The latter edition has some articles and interviews which reflect on the ethics of the peloton not having changed from 89. Many people complain about Kimmage's partisan ire and lack of impartiality, but in the initial book it is nothing of the sort. The book is essentially a diary of his personal sporting troubles, and the acceptance that the organisations of cycling force nearly all young riders to reflect that to compete for any length of time doping is a necessity. He talks about his teammates drug use, but in the main it is a general look at the pressures and reality of doping during the tour/season.

It's full of contradictions that nearly all of us have apart from the Merx's, Hinault's and Armstrong's. Kimmage doesn't avoid the accounts of multiple failures and retirements from races. It's clear that he doesn't have the single-mindedness mentality and dedication for winning but also that he had the talent to compete in stages. Without performance enhancers he would never compete on his favoured routes.

The bitterness froths on the subsequent cycling & media aggression towards him. Was he right? Yes. He wasn't attacking his fellow cyclists, bombastic idiots like McQuaid saw fit to undermine him at every turn. It's a shame that McQuaid didn't put some effort into preventing the systemic drug abuse, that led to so many lives being destroyed by EPO in the 90's.

To all the people criticising Kimmage for his lack of proffessionalism, take a moment to think if you ever could get anywhere near finishing the tour. Then think if your true love of cycling would sustain through having to waste yourself for the team, whilst knowing you were racing
against doped up rivals. Yes he becomes very bitter, mainly after the abuse he receives from the cycling administration that should be ensuring a clean peloton.

Interesting insight, 02 Jul 2008
I've read this book twice now.

I agree with some reviewers that there seems to be hypocrisy in Kimmage's accounts - he claims some of his friends and himself are victims of the pressure to dope just to survive however put Landis and Rasmussen up there in the same situation and they are villans.

However what must be remembered is that the villification of Landis et all by Kimmage happened a full 14 years AFTER the first part of the book.
By this time Kimmage has seen countless sabre rattling false dawns of "we'll clean this up" and each time it comes to nothing.

It needs to be remembered that Kimmage's peers that doped in the 80's are running the sport now.

I've read some of his comments in his newspaper articles and it seems has been left betrayed that the sport he loved could harbour so many
years of cheats. Even the great Jacques Anquetil said "Do you think we did all that with just water in our bottles?"

Even the new holier than thou brigade (David Millar) don't come out of this clean on his return to the Peleton he takes advise from the very doctor who 2 of his clients have been implicated in the Peurto scandal. So you can understand Kimmage's "will they ever learn" attitude.

Ironic as i write this that Spain have just won Euro 2008 and yet in the Puerto scandal of 100+ samples seized 24 are alledged to come from La Liga footballers.... Football has no EPO or blood doping controls just amphetamines and class A drugs......

A good enthralling read.

Shocking account of how bad things are, 27 Jun 2008
This book provides a shocking account of Willy Voets experience in his many years in professional cycling. For someone that has no idea about cycling, I'm sure the contents of the book would be almost inmpossible to believe. For those that follow cycling (like myself) it's still a shock.
The book isn't all that well written, its written in a very informal tone, with the occasional use of bad grammer, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.
I think there are better books out there which give a more detailled acount of life in the proessional peleton, but for the price of it, I'd recommend this book to anyone.

Badly written, but still interesting!, 04 Sep 2003
I'm not a cyclist and never have been. I have watched the Tour De France for years though, amazed at the strength and stamina of the riders. Now I know how many of them have done it - through the comprehensive and systematic use of a huge range of drugs.

This book is written by a masseur who worked with many top teams and riders for years and was heavily involved in the drug culture in professional cycling.

It's badly written and it's hard to follow in places. I guess if you know your cycling history and names, it would be easier. But it is also full of stories and anecdotes about drug taking, told in such a casual way that makes it both shocking and fascinating for anyone interested in sport.

The writer tries hard to elicit your sympathy for the fact he got caught and had little choice but to own up. He is angry with others in the sport whom he helped cheat, for abandoning him. Yet I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. It's clear that getting caught was the only thing that stopped him being there today doing the same thing.

The sheer scale of the cheating is what made this an interesting read. It leaves you wondering if every rider or every sportsperson for that matter is a cheat. For me it reaffirms the need to leave no stone unturned in ridding sport of drugs.

I need to know that Lance Armstrong is naturally as remarkable a sports man as he appears, so that you can continue to marvel at what is possible.

Willy Voet, 10 Jun 2003
If you can read some french get the original and a dictionary.
I read it when it fisrt came out, in between watching the tdf in the alps, which gave it more impact.

yes its not written brilliantly, but reads more like the man telling his story, rather than trying to make it into a hollywood movie!

it incriminates some very famous cyclists and makes you wonder to what level doping is currently happening in sport.

recommended to anyone interested in cycling/ athletics etc.

A strangely unengaging experience, 15 Jan 2002
Willy Voet was most definitely not born to be a writer. The book has - of course - been translated into English, but even after making the necessary allowances it is still poorly structured and very poorly written. I really wanted to feel sympathy for this man but his literary style - I would describe it as "blow the whistle and run" - makes it near to impossible.
Read it on a train...

Shocking but a great read., 30 Oct 2001
Willy Voet worked for many years as a soigneur for some of the world's top professional road racing teams. A soigneur is a person who takes care of other people and that is just what Willy did. Making sure that everyone had the right food, massage regime and drugs.

In 1998, he was arrested as he entered France with the supply of drugs to be used by the Festina team in that year's Tour de France. At first, the French thought that they had picked up another drug dealer bringing back supplies from the Netherlands but when they realised the true significance of their find, the consequences for the tour were severe.

The 1998 tour was almost scrapped and serious damage was done to the reputation of the event, the teams and cyclists. Voet himself was briefly imprisoned and then kicked out of the sport which was quite prepared to sacrifice him as a single rotten apple. That led directly to this book in which Voet tells of his own experiences of the drug taking within the world of professional cycling.

The scope of those revelations is shocking indeed. Not just the fact that drug taking occurred but the degree to which it spread across the whole sport and the lengths to which teams went to ensure that riders had the best set of drugs for their individual needs and the measures taken to prevent the riders from testing positive for banned substances. If you want to know exactly how to give a sample of somebody else's urine when stripped and made to give that sample in the presence of a doctor, read here.

The book has it's lighter moments too. The rider caught because the mechanic, who had provided the specimen that the rider later produced, had been taking amphetamines. Another rider who was prepared to buy a dose of rocket fuel, contents unknown, from a stranger who promised that he could win a stage.

Voet's motivation in writing this book is, at least in part, to justify himself by explaining that he did nothing that was not common practice throughout the sport. As such, some will doubt his veracity but he does not mince his words. He names names and gives considerable detail and yet nobody is queuing up to sue him for defamation.

The book does not pretend to be a far reaching survey or to tell the whole story. The author simply writes about his personal involvement in and knowledge of the field. William Fotheringham's translation is very good indeed. He writes fluidly and clearly understands what he is working on. Together, the two men have produced a fascinating book which is really an essential read for anyone interested in cycling or the effects of drugs on sport in general.

Inaccurate, easily out of date, 31 Dec 2007
The author has tried their best, but this book has many better and more researched rivals. I would go for the far better Anabolics 2008 or The Manifesto of Mass 3rd Edition for more up to date and 'from the front' information on these products and how the pros and bodybuilders REALLY use them.

Steroid Handbook, 10 Jul 2005
Service was fast and accurate...the book described does as exactly as said buy the seller...I recomend this book for anyone thinking about steroids and even for people on them. The information is frank but honest and will give you a good insight and back ground knowledge on the world of steroids....for the sake of a few pound invest in this book and save yourself a lot of possible problems from little knowledge and shower room information.

Good read, 27 Dec 2008
Very informative. Does not choose a side on the debate, just tells the story as it is (was) Excellent read if you are interested in Chemical enhancement and its history.