Title/Author:
“Descent: My Epic Fall
from Cycling Superstardom to Doping Dead End" by Thomas Dekker and Thijs
Zonneveld
Tags:
Cycling, memoir, drugs
Publish date:
December 5, 2017
Length:
226 pages
Rating: to
4 of 5 stars (very
good)
Review:
Doping was a part of
the sport of cycling in the early 2000's and there have been several books out
by cyclers or former cyclers about their cautionary tales of the practice. This is another one of those books, this time
written by Thomas Dekker. He was an up and coming Dutch cyclist who won a few
races and had his eye set on bigger prizes when he was caught up in the
scandal.
This book took a different
tone than others I have read on this stain on cycling. Lance Armstrong was
always defiant. Tyler Hamilton repented for his cycling sins and has worked to
clean up the sport, which has been much cleaner in recent years. Dekker, though, seems to beat himself constantly
about doing this. He frequently talks about his excesses – his excess training,
need for that boost, drinking, womanizing. Through it all, he also shows some anger at
agents who led him down this path and teammates as well. By the end, however, he comes to the same
conclusion that all others do – he had no one to blame but himself.
Reading the book was
actually entertaining if not depressing at times. The stories of him out late
with teammates and of how he lost his true love because of his excesses make
for good reading – almost like a novel.
There isn't a lot about his actual races or training, at least not in comparison
to other sports memoirs, especially cycling.
The best passage about his actual performance wasn't during a race but a
solo run in a velodrome in which he attempted to set a new record for cycling the
longest distance in 60 minutes. While he
fell just short of that record, his training and actual run was easily the best
section on the book on the actual sport.
While there is no
earth-shattering material on the well-exposed doping scandal in the sport, this
book is an entertaining, fairly light read that fans of the sport or those who
remember Dekker's career will want to read.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Nook)
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