This book is one mans attempt to make peace with a world that was on the brink of mutually agreed upon destruction. He chose a bicycle as his medium of expression and named it Friend. His intent was to go from California and head east until going to The Soviet Union. He wanted to meet Soviets and show others that they were alright. He made it as far as East Germany but was not allowed travel any farther east. From there the traveling cyclist heades for the Mediterranean and the Middle East. And then onward around the world. He ran out of money after one year of traveling. He traveled across large continents like Australi and China and circumvented the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. In all he comes away with a world experience and a new way of looking at the planet.

As 2018 drew to a close I embarked on what was to be my grand odyssey, a North - South walk of Aotearoa. Following the Te Araroa route, I was to walk 3,000km over the next six months. Spoiler: I didn't. After some ups and downs, I binned that idea and had a crack at biking it instead. Broken Heels and Bicycle Wheels is my tale from that six month period. It's a fairly raw retelling of my trip as I lived it, warts and all..."--https://lawrenceblair.com.

As 2018 drew to a close I embarked on what was to be my grand odyssey, a North - South walk of Aotearoa. Following the Te Araroa route, I was to walk 3,000km over the next six months. Spoiler: I didn't. After some ups and downs, I binned that idea and had a crack at biking it instead. Broken Heels and Bicycle Wheels is my tale from that six month period. It's a fairly raw retelling of my trip as I lived it, warts and all..."--https://lawrenceblair.com.

The harrowing, triumphant tale of a cyclist's journey to Olympic victory and the price he paid to achieve greatness. Marty Nothstein, one of the greatest cyclists of all time, arrived at the 1996 Olympic Games a heavy favorite. In the match sprint at the Atlanta Olympics, an event akin to prizefighting on a bicycle, he raced around a banked, oval track. Nothstein lost by a hair's width on the finish line and vowed to win the gold at the next Olympics, saying, "I didn't come here for a silver medal." In The Price of Gold, Marty Nothstein eloquently and honestly tracks his journey to the games in Sydney and the events that molded him into the world's fastest man on a bicycle—from his tough-love upbringing in a blue-collar, split home, to the "borderline outlaw" cast of cycling characters who helped guide him through the ranks. "I had to become the worst, to become the best," Nothstein says of the single-minded determination that turned him into a veritable monster on his bike, but often forced him to neglect his own family. Sure to become a sports classic, this book will be published in time for the 2012 Olympics, when the world's eyes are trained on London and international conversation will turn to the question of what it takes to win the gold.