Product Description

"Tomorrow we ride. that's what my brother Louison and I used to say as we arranged to meet: every day while we were racing cyclists, and then just on Sundays when we weren't competing any more. We kept on riding until the end of his life, because even then - especially then, perhaps - we always understood each other best on bikes. We had always needed a bike beneath us. In the words of the song, we took the high road and the low road: in cycling, the glory days always have less glorious ones on their tail. Thanks to Louison, I had the good fortune to ride with him through the golden years, the 50s: the years of post-war reconstruction, of Coppi and Bartali, of Kubler and Koblet, of Gaul and Van Steenbergen, Anquetil and Darrigade. These are names that speak of the aristocracy of cycling, and the fierceness of the competition. Every day, Louison and I took pleasure in cycling together, whether on our intimate journeys through Brittany or the Alps, or in the frenzy of the Tour de France or Giro d'Italia." Jean Bobet. Jean Bobet's book is not so much a biography of his superstar brother Louison, nor his own autobiography, but rather an account of the intermingling of their two lives. And what lives - Louison, triple Tour de France winner and World Champion and Jean (no mean rider himself) who gave up an academic career to ride in the service of his brother in pursuit of sporting glory. Set in the period after the war, this story brings alive the romance of the great races and the star riders of the day whose exploits lifted the public spirit after years of conflict and economic hardship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10489 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 179 pages

Review
"A moving account of how two lowly Breton 'ploucs' upheld French honour during an era of great champions, epic Alpine battles, and the hard realities of postwar Europe." Luke Edwardes-Evans, Cycle Sport; "His story is of courage and disappointment, of highs and of lows and of two young Breton brothers who set out together on a road to cycling glory. It's a wonderful read that's just as inspiring as all those superb old Tour mags from years ago." Roger St Pierre, Cycling Plus

Customer Reviews

Tomorrow We Ride
Jean Bobet is a cultured and articulate man. His book is an evocation of his famous brother, Louison, and a memoir of the traditions of the peloton and the workings of pro cycling in the fifties, the Golden Age of Continental road racing. The brothers' lives intertwined, the clever academic and the iconic champion. Everyone wanted to see Louison, to touch him, to read about him. He was the first to win the Tour de France for three consecutive years. Flamboyant, for some he could do no wrong. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the writing is largely uncritical of its main subject, but he was not beyond rebuke from his younger sibling.

Louison Bobet's career ran in parallel with French society as it came to terms with occupation and collaboration together with post-war social and economic modernisation. However, by the end of the decade there was a shift in cycling hierarchy. Koblet and Kubler were gone. Coppi died in 1960 and Bobet retired not long afterwards. Jean Bobet himself quit cycling in 1958 disillusioned by the influence of drugs on the peloton. He became a journalist, kept the secret until he could stand it no more and joined his brother in his thalasotherapy institute.

Jean Bobet offers unique insight into the mores of pro cycling when in its pomp. His book is memorable and emblematic of the period yet, more than that, it overflows with the intimacies and delight of cycling for its own sake

Very evocative of the era
I enjoyed this book a lot, as it was a wonderful evocation of cycling in the golden era of the 50's. All the great names are here, and lots of good yarns about Coppi (who Bobet along with all other ex-pros reckons to be godlike), Gaul (a great story about the battle in the Giro in '57), and Geminiani, who is rapidly emerging (to me) as a great character. The story about him bashing tifosi with his bike pump is a classic!

It is unusual mixture of autobiography about Jean Bobet and biography about his brother Lousion, falling exactly half way in between the two. This works well, as the two brothers stories are so closely linked anyway, and Jean adds quite a few telling insights without labouring the point, or writing about his brother at huge length. The final chapter is very touching as the two continue to cycle every Sunday into their old age, until Louison's death. Worth the money, for sure.

Great nostalgia for cycliing buffs
"Tommorow we ride" by Jean Bobet, brother of Louison Bobet.
This short book by Jean Bobet recaptures the excitement and thrills of competitive cycling in its heyday, the time of Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet, Koblet and Kubler and all the post WWII aces that rode in the Tour de France. He also describes the sheer physical joys of cycling in ways that I have not read before. As a piece of recorded history it is unbeatable, not least because so few professional sportsmen have the ability and training to write well.