Get on your butt and into gear.

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“The bicycle can be a daunting road machine for newcomers, but in the hands of Dawn Dais you won’t be intimidated; in fact, you will be inspired to get rolling. She deftly approaches key topics of the two-wheel sport with creative flair, personal humility, and much-needed empathy for all beginners.”

—Bill Katovsky, founder of Tri-Athlete magazine and coauthor of Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100

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Order the book:

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Powell's

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After the success of The NonRunner's Guide I was looking for another way to torture myself for the sake of my readers' entertainment. Because the marathon training had jacked up my poor knees so badly I was hesitant to do anything that was going to further cement my need for prosthetics before the age of 35. Cycling seemed like a great fit because of its limited pavement-pounding (there was still pavement to be pounded in cycling, but most of the pavement was pounded by my hands and/or shoulders when I went flying off the bike and onto said pavement...)

I started off my cycling journey with the intention of simply riding a bunch and completing a 100-mile bike ride at the end, wherein I would once again be basked in the glory of a hard-earned finish line (I was so hoping that this would be one of the few finish lines I crossed without shedding any tears).  But as I got more into the cycling world the more I realized that Century Rides (a 100-mile ride) were just a teensy tiny part of the cycling world. When I found out that some of the other parts could take me on a bike through Europe, on a pub crawl in my own city and to work I started to sense that maybe this sport was about more than just torturing myself. This was a revolutionary revelation. A sport that I didn't dread? Who woulda thunk it?

Just like during my marathon training I kept a journal throughout my cycling and have included these priceless insights in the book. Along with those witty glimpses into the mind of the laziest active person in the world, I've also included everything you need to know to get started on your journey to the Tour de France (or at least the Tour de Down to the local Mini Mart).

 

Although the title of the book mentions training for a Century Ride the book actually contains information and all sorts of cycling - from riding to work, to cycling vacations and short fun rides throughout the country.

You can go to Amazon.com and read sample pages of the book, to get an idea how side-splittingly funny and life-altering it really is. You can read more pages if you are signed in to your Amazon account, I believe.

And I think the sales department says it best, because that's what sales departments do, really:

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Sales Blurb
Get off your butt, get into some spandex . . . and get back on your butt again! Dawn Dais, author of The Nonrunner’s Marathon Guide for Women, is back and ready to take new cyclists from the bike store floor to the finish line. Dawn covers everything that newbie racers need to know: selecting the race that’s best for you, choosing a bike that offers both performance and comfort, creating a training schedule (and sticking to it), getting to know the cycling community and actually participating in the big event, plus information on planning cycling vacations and more. With hilarious, true-life accounts of cross-training and crotch rashes, The Noncyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races is a fun and informative guide that’s perfect for both athletes and non-athletes interested in getting their butts into gear.

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