Peter Joffre Nye - Hearts of Lions: The History of American Bicycle Racing

If there is any one book fans of cycling and American sports should read, its Peter Nyes second edition of Hearts of Lions. Updated to cover the male and female cyclists who stormed the roads of Europe in the era after Greg LeMond won three editions of the Tour de France, Nyes latest edition of the definitive history of American cycling is a must-read.

Mark Johnson, author of Spitting in the Soup: Inside the Dirty Game of Doping in Sport

Hearts of Lions is the most important book on American cycling history, essential reading for everybody who wants to understand the USAs long and important role in a global sport.

Feargal McKay, Podium Caf

The definitive history of bicycle racing in the United States. Its also a terrific read, and youll marvel at the full reach of the cycling sport in your great-grandparents era. Learn about Major Taylor, the first African American to claim a major championship in any sport, and Frank Kramer, a man of such athletic renown that he earned more than Ty Cobb.

Daniel de Vis, author of The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France

Hearts of Lions tells the poignant and inspiring stories of the men and women who made American bike racing history. Impressively researched and alive with the voices of its many protagonists, it will sweep you up in their compelling stories.

Isabel Best, author of Queens of Pain: Legends & Rebels of Cycling

Like a slow-motion replay of a Tour de France sprint that went by in a blur, Hearts of Lions brings into focus the colorful characters of a complicated sport in a country that doesnt always recognize the grit behind the glory.

Lynne Tolman, president of the Major Taylor Association

Peter Nyes chronicle of the great lost history of early American bicycle racing, its near death and final resurgence, is as captivating, as full of unexpected swerves, heartbreaks and triumphs, as the sport the author so clearly loves.

Reed Karaim, author of The Winter in Anna

Nye crafts meticulous research into a narrative of the forces and characters who ushered cycling from indoor tracks in the late nineteenth century onto todays international stagea trajectory shaped by small-town heroes and presidents alike. A thorough and absorbing read.

Carrie Hagen, author of We Is Got Him: The Kidnapping that Changed America

Peter Nye blends decades of research and interviews with more than a thousand cyclists into a fast-paced and engaging narrative that puts the story into the history of American bicycle racing. The herstory is here, too, with impressive coverage of womens racing throughout.

Roger Gilles, author of Women on the Move: The Forgotten Era of Womens Bicycle Racing

Hearts of Lions is not just a title but a perfect description of the determination and passion pulsating from these pages. Our love of bicycle racing is rooted in this lifetime labor of love from Peter Nye. Reading the first edition of this more than a quarter-century ago launched me into a life of cycling. This new version is like a tailwind pushing me home.

Daniel Lee, author of The Belgian Hammer: Forging Young Americans into Professional Cyclists

How can we know where we are going without knowing where we have been? This book tells it all and should be required reading for everyone in the sport.

Connie Carpenter Phinney, 1984 Olympic gold medalist

A sumptuously detailed account of American bicycle racing.... A loving tribute to those athletes who race bicycles for a living.

New York Times

With this book, cycling aficionados everywhere have been given back something that was lost.

Outside

Highly readable, even gripping.... Nye has brought back the long-forgotten heyday with its host of marvelous characters, and done it in a manner that will fascinate enthusiasts and beginners alike.

Toronto Globe and Mail

A significant contribution to American sports history.

Publishers Weekly

It is what any wonderful history book should be. Factual about its subject. Poetic about its heroes. And visual when it comes to the great battles that took place. Nye obviously loved writing it, and I loved reading it.

Steve Tesich, Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay for Breaking Away

A rousing, rollicking history.... A labor of love told with as fast a pace as a speeding cyclist.

Kirkus Review

Peter Joffre Nye

Foreword by Eric Heiden

University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln

2020 by Peter Joffre Nye

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image by Graham Watson Publishing Ltd.

Author photo by John Pendleton.

First edition published by W. W. Norton in 1988.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nye, Peter, 1947 author. | University of Nebraska Press.

Title: Hearts of lions: the history of American bicycle racing / Peter Joffre Nye; foreword by Eric Heiden.

Other titles: History of American bicycle racing

Description: Second Edition. | Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. | First edition published 1988T.p. verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019032794

ISBN 9781496219312 (hardback)

ISBN 9781496221346 (mobi)

ISBN 9781496221339 (epub)

ISBN 9781496221353 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : Bicycle racingUnited States. | CyclingUnited States.

Classification: LCC GV 1049 . N 84 2020 DDC 796.60973dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032794

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Valeriemy first reader, first in my heart

If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.

Rudyard Kipling

The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden. It cant be shirked. You carry it everywhere. Theres nothing for it but to get to know it.

Jill Lepore, These Truths

Eric Heiden

During the cycling season, racers are bombarded with all kinds of questions, from both the press and the public. The gamut of questions is infinite, but there are a couple that regularly pop up as people try to understand the character that makes a bicycle racer: Why did you become a cyclist rather than some other type of athlete? Whats the motivating factor behind your athletic career?

The variety of responses to these types of questions is broad, but a common thread runs through each, and a person can gain much insight into the mind-set of a bicycle racer by understanding this common desire.

You see, bicycle racersmen and womenlove living on the edge. They need to know the extremes of their physical limitations and often enjoy living beyond them.

How else could you explain the thrill a racer experiences flying down a narrow mountain road sandwiched within a pack of other racers? Racers constantly strive to go faster, to feel more wind on their faces. Occasionally on a descent a racer will see a friend miscalculate a corner and disappear into a cloud of dust. Never in any racers mind are thoughts of what the consequences would be to have an accident at speeds of more than 60 mph. A racer knows there will be no mistake, no crash.

How else can you explain the excitement sensed by a racer sprinting for the finish line elbow-to-elbow with a worthy rival? Both racers feint and dart from one side of the street to the other while in a full-out sprint. They may touch wheels, but neither will hesitate or back off. Each believes that there is no one faster.