A Peiper's Tale

Authors:

By Allan Peiper, Chris Sidwells

Format:

Paperback

Availability:

In print, usually dispatched within 3-4 days.

Price:

£12.95

Tagged with:

Cycling, Biography, Allan Peiper, Advert, Sport & Publicity

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Further Details

• Published: 8th Nov 2005
• ISBN: 1874739390
• Pages: 180

From the Publisher:

This book is no ordinary sporting biography, for Allan Pieper has written A Peiper's Tale straight from the heart. His description of his difficult early years, his cycling career and his life when his career finished is remarkably and refreshingly candid.

Peiper was just 16 years old when he took the extraordinary step of leaving his shattered family in Australia and moving to Belgium to become a professional cyclist. In Europe he fought prejudice and deceit, made friends and won races on the way to riding the Tour de France and becoming one of the most respected cyclists of the 1980s. Part of the cycling culture Peiper found revolved around drug-taking, and these issues are discussed with honesty and even an optimism for the future.

Each chapter revolves around one of the many varied and colourful characters he met - men like Jan 'the Papers', who gave him his first accommodation in a run-down Ghent boarding house; Peter Post who ruled the Panasonic team with a rod of iron; Eddy Planckaert, the youngest of the Flandrian cycling dynasty; Robert Millar, Britain's most successful ever stage racer; Sean Yates; Robbie McEwen; Cadel Evans; and the legendary fellow-Aussie, Phil Anderson; and many others.

It's all here - cycling from the saddle and now from the team-car, and all the trials and tribulations in between. Peiper talks freely about every aspect of his life, and every aspect of professional cycling. Quite simply, this one of the very finest sporting biographies ever published.

From the Book:

“Foreword by Sean Yates

I was out running with Allan during the Tour of Romandie this year and, chatting away as we were, I reminded him about the time, long ago, when he sat with his bare feet in a bowl of hot water ten minutes before he was due to ride the prologue of the Tour of the Med. Laugh not - he won! He told me that that was the sort of stuff I should put in the foreword I was writing for his book.

We first got to know each other in 1983 when he joined the Peugeot team, which I was then a member of. Straight away he struck me as a man who knew exactly what he wanted, and that came as a real shock to me, because at that time I was just cruising along, not really knowing were I was going. His thoughts and ideas gave me a kick up the backside. Many of them I still have firmly embedded in my mind to this day - like the almond milk he got me drinking, and liking. 'Very good for you,' he said. Get a ton of almonds, drop them in boiling water for thirty seconds, peel them, grind them with a coffee grinder, tip into a blender, add a liberal dose of honey, top up with water and blend. Hey presto, almond milk. And absolutely delicious. Also about a million calories, which he forgot to tell me about; hence the Mister Blobby look-alike who used to go riding around in Peugeot kit.

But it wasn't just his concern that a racing cyclist needed to eat properly: I also got a taste of his discipline and dedication when I stayed with him in Belgium. His bike was always immaculately clean and his clothes perfectly folded. Training was at nine o'clock sharp, come rain or sunshine, and the tempo was always high. Once back we had a shower in a bathroom which had a little electric heater, and the water used to literally dribble out. There was no heating in the bedrooms, so we slept under a pile of about ten blankets, which just about crushed me.

I have so many fond memories of the times we have spent together, since those early years when we were trying to make our way as young pros. All great memories that I will cherish for the rest of my days. Like the mini-Olympics we set up when we were both staying at Surfers Paradise - he couldn't get over how good I was at tennis. And what was left of the tyres on that V8 Holden we rented. And what about the time I led him out for a time bonus sprint in the '84 Tour? He had the white jersey of the best young rider on his shoulders after coming third in the prologue and third in the first stage bunch finish - although how he managed that I still can't figure out. Anyway, he didn't come off my back wheel, like he should have done, but Jan Raas did. I turned round to Allan and snapped at him, 'That's the last bloody time I'm leading you out!' It was a bit cruel, and I don't know why he didn't hit me. The fact is, we complimented each other really well - the Little and Large Show. We lifted each other, especially when it came to time trials. And now, more than twenty years since we first met, we are back together on the continental circuit, trading wins and champagne like in this year's Giro.

In all the years I've known Allan I've never ceased to be amazed by the stories he tells of his upbringing. It was a tough one compared to mine, and it definitely shaped him in later life. Hearing those stories again made me - and I am certain many of you who will read his book - realise just how lucky we have been. What I am sure you will also get from A Peiper's Tale is a sense of the passion and feeling that Allan has for life, and for this sport of cycling.”