Books by Max Leonard
“The mountains in cycling, in competitive racing, hold a particularly prominent position. In grand tours like the Tour de France, it’s the mountains that separate the overall contenders, the people who are apt to win the race from everyone else…But Higher Calling is not just a book about climbing or climbers, it’s also about the continental European mountains. Leonard does this beautifully. He opens the book with the snow being cleared on this mountain pass and closes the book with it being snowed in again. This road is only available for a very limited number of months during peak summer so there is this finite temporal element to it. Riding on these roads, he is a reflective enough person to raise the basic question, ‘Why is this road even here?’ So, very quickly, you see concrete and battlements from World War II. You unpack the history of the Alps as a border between France and Italy going back to the Napoleonic Wars, when many of these roads that were initially dirt tracks were paved or became passable.” Read more...
James Hibbard, Sportspersons & Sportswriter
Interviews where books by Max Leonard were recommended
The Best Cycling Books, recommended by James Hibbard
As a professional cyclist, James Hibbard looked to philosophy to provide some of the answers he was looking for. He describes that quest in his book, The Art of Cycling. Here, he shares some of his own favourite cycling books, from the best cycling novel to the true story of cyclists who aim to ride the entire length of the United Kingdom in 40 hours. These are books that you don’t need to be a professional cyclist or die-hard fan to appreciate.
