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The Year
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- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 174
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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- Narrated by: Vassos Alexander
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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1 out of 5 stars
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Sounds like it has been computer generated.
- By Alan Purvis on 14-03-18
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Just off for a Walk
- By: Stephen Reynolds
- Narrated by: Geoff Cummings
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
What happens when a 37-year-old office worker, who exercises marginally less than the average cheese sandwich, decides to walk 630 miles of challenging coastline in one go? Will he go on an epic voyage of self-discovery...or just get really knackered? Find out the answers to these important questions, and many more, by joining him on a grand adventure that takes in 26,719 steps, 921 stiles, 302 bridges, 91,000 feet of climbing and descending, one seal, zero basking sharks, lots of chips and one overweight, oversize backpack.
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5 out of 5 stars
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- By Book Worm on 14-03-19
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The Racer
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- By: David Millar
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 346
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 319
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 320
What is it really like to be a racer? What is it like to be swept along at 60kmh in the middle of the pack? How does it feel to be reeled in from a solo breakaway metres from the line? What happens to the body during a high-speed chute? What tactics must teams employ to win the day, the jersey, the grand tour? How does a domestique keep going to the end of a stage once his job is done and his body exhausted?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!
- By H. Bacon on 09-11-15
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Set the Boy Free
- By: Johnny Marr
- Narrated by: Johnny Marr
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 483
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 481
Johnny Marr was born in 1960s Manchester to Irish immigrant parents and knew from an early age that he would be a musician. Forming his first band at 13, Marr spent his teenage years on the council estates of Wythenshawe playing guitar, devouring pop culture and inventing his own musical style. It wasn't until the early '80s, when Marr turned up on the doorstep of a singer named Steven Patrick Morrissey, that both a unique songwriting partnership and the group recognised as one of the most iconic bands of all time were formed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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exactly as you would expect from Johnny Marr...
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Summary
In 1939 British cyclist Tommy Godwin cycled 75,065 miles in a single year. Think about that for a second: it’s an average of over 200 miles each day. And it’s a mark that still stands after almost 80 years. In The Year, Dave Barter resurrects the legend of the year record - a challenge nearly as old as bicycles themselves - and the cyclists who pushed themselves to establish and break it.
Barter uncovers the stories behind these riders who would routinely cycle over a hundred miles a day in the race to set new records. Americans such as John H. George who recorded over 200 "centuries", 19 double "centuries" and three triple "centuries" in the late 1800s. The British advertising executive Harry Long, whose annual tallies of over 20,000 miles in the early 20th century led to the founding of the formal cycling year record and Cycling magazine’s Century Competition.
The Englishman of French descent, Marcel Planes, whose 1911 record of 34,666 miles stood for over 20 years. Not forgetting the legends of the job-seeking Arthur Humbles, the one-armed vegetarian communist Walter Greaves, the "keep-fit girl" Billie Dovey and the staggering mark set by Godwin who left a youthful Bernard Bennett trailing in his wake.
Meticulous research through the annuals, archives and news stories of the bicycling world is backed up with insights from the families of these legendary cyclists, as well as Dave’s own analysis of the riders’ years in numbers.
There is no more difficult challenge in cycling. The Year is the definitive story of these phenomenal cyclists.