What's Cool In Road Cycling

Author

Leslie Reissner

Growing up in the two-wheel desert that was Canada decades ago, Leslie Reissner discovered the joys of cycling when he and a friend rode from London to Munich one summer after high school. Since then, he has done some long distance riding in Europe, including the Camino de Santiago (which apparently entitles him to reduced time in Purgatory), dragged himself over major climbs in the Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites, Vosges and Appalachians, and even done some racing. In spite of owning 11 bicycles and a cool sports car, Leslie still stays indoors for six months of the year due to the lousy weather and terrible roads in Ottawa but at least he has time to listen to classical music and read a lot of cycling books.

PEZ Bookshelf: The Big Climb

Leslie Reissner
Bookshelf: As we all know, Europe is the Promised Land of Cycling and as a professional athlete if you want to make it big you need to make it there. 2019 saw a Colombian, Egan Bernal, victorious, and a fascinating book, “The Big Climb,”…

PEZ Bookshelf: The Road Book 2020

Leslie Reissner
The Cambridge Dictionary defines an almanac as “a book published every year that includes information for that year such as important days, times of the sun rising and going down, or changes in the moon.” “The Road Book 2020” may not…

Best Cycling Books 2020: The PEZ Picks

Leslie Reissner
The wonderful words and pictures on the printed page made these books a welcome respite to reality in 2020.  My selection of the best cycling books for 2020 are diverse, reasonably priced, and, for those with awkward motor skills, easy to…

PEZ Bookshelf: Ride Inside

Leslie Reissner
What hath Covid-19 wrought? While the pro bike racing season was on-and-off-again outdoors, there was a surge in the popularity of e-racing, even with some virtual races actually contested by top riders, inside riding is now clearly A Big…

PEZ Bookshelf: Racing in the Year of Covid

Leslie Reissner
In mid-May a new website was launched to provide a venue for some well-known journalists to provide quality writing for bike racing fans. The site has delivered on its promise and the collective efforts of those involved has now become a…

PEZ Bookshelf: 48 Days

Leslie Reissner
The strange bike racing year that is 2020 has seen some confusing things like races with no spectators and Spring Classics in autumn but the weirdest is the overlapping of two Grand Tours as the Giro's final week coincides with the Vuelta's…