‘I ride to rest and to tire myself out; I ride to do myself good and to do myself harm.’

… one of the many cycling paradoxes explored in this unique and delightful book.

‘I’ve never got over this miracle.’

Starting with the childhood joy of learning to ride a bike, Need for the Bike goes on to relate the agony of climbing, the angst of crashing, and all the other universal moments and feelings which all cyclists will recognise.

‘To get on a bike is to take possession of the landscape.’

The sounds, smells, pains and joys of riding with friends or alone, finding things on the road; getting lost, ‘re-reading’ familiar routes; Paul Fournel’s classic comes as close as any book has to an encapsulation of why we all need the bike …