Draft Animals Living the Pro Cycling Dream (Once in a While) [Paperback]

From the author of the cult favoritePro Cycling on $10 a DayandAsk a Pro, the story of one man’s quest to realize his childhood dream, and what happened when he actually did it.
 
Like countless other kids, Phil Gaimon grew up dreaming of being a professional athlete. But unlike countless other kids, he actually pulled it off. After years of amateur races, hard training, living out of a suitcase, and never taking “no” for an answer, he finally achieved his goal and signed a contract to race professionally on one of the best teams in the world.

Now, Gaimon pulls back the curtain on the WorldTour, cycling’s highest level. He takes readers along for his seasons in Europe, covering everything from rabid, water-bottle-stealing Belgian fans, to contract renewals, to riding in poisonous smog, to making friends in a sport plagued by doping. Draft Animalsreveals a story as much about bike racing as it is about the never-ending ladder of achieving goals, failure, and finding happiness if you land somewhere in-between. A Ball Four for cycling,Draft Animals [is] full of observations about cycling’s less glamorous side. —Jason Gay,The Wall Street Journal

As a cycling fan, I was completely captivated by Gaimon’s book, and I churned through all 320 pages in one day...[Gaimon] has tremendous insight into this very strange period in the sport’s history and recounts the emotional and psychological fallout from each success and failure...Draft Animals is a blatant attack on cycling’s culture of silence. —Velonews

Draft Animals is written with raw honesty. . . More than anything else, [Gaimon] makes you want to go jump on a bike right now. —Sports Illustrated

An easy read that had me laughing and crying . . . At the enlc