I can’t say that I have read many books by sports celebrities in my life. There was Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike and that’s pretty much it. However, just having finished Shut Up Legs! by Jens Voigt, it seems I am developing a theme of reading books by professional cyclists. I am glad to say that Jens, or Jensie as his fans sometimes call him, is a genuinely nice guy (happily married and has six—six!—kids and loves being a dad) and has never doped or been suspected of doping and has even spoken out against doping and caught some flak from it. There is also a lack of big ego and a deep loyalty for his teammates and willingness to help the team.
I can’t say that I expected much from the book. I was not looking for stellar prose and literary high jinks. Voigt loves to read (favorites include Jack London and James Fenimore Cooper), it helps him relax and unwind after racing, but he is no writer. He worked with a co-author to produce a chatty book about his cycling career that began in 1997 and ended in 2014. There is a definite chronology to the book beginning with his youth in East Germany and what it was like when the Berlin Wall came down to his hour distance record and retirement in 2014.
At the same time though, the book is not a “I did this, then this, then this” tour through his races. It is more of a highlight reel with side trips into funny stories about his teammates and a few doping scandals in the sport to what it is like to train all the time, travel a lot, sleep in bad hotels and have to eat surprisingly terrible food and how crazy Australian cyclists are. He also talks about how professional cycling has changed over the years not just in terms of the races but the approach to training and nutrition as well.
Voigt comes across as just a regular guy whose job happens to be riding a bike. When he decided to retire in 2014 he imagined he would finally get to relax and go fishing every other day but his retirement has not ended up that way. From the sound of it he is as busy as ever with cycling related work including working with the Tour de France organizers to have greater involvement with women’s racing at the Tour. I was thinking already this Jens guy was pretty ok, but when he mentioned that, he cemented my admiration. I saw the documentary Half the Road about women’s professional cycling recently and have been following a big sexism/harassment scandal in UK women’s cycling. Having someone like Voigt as an ally will hopefully be a good thing.
There isn’t much else to say about the book. If you are looking for an enjoyable book about a likable professional cyclist, Jensie is your guy.
This seems like one of those happy breezy books we all need sometimes!
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Haven’t read a lot of sporting autobiographies. How did this compare, as a book, to Armstrong’s memoir?
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Ian, Armstrong’s book is better written but it is all about how great he is and how it was the cancer treatment that changed his body composition and made him a better cyclist, not doping. Ha! I believed him at the time and found the story inspiring even though Armstrong himself didn’t exactly seem like a very nice person.
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cirtnecce, most definitely!
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I love the book’s title! I’d recently watched a documentary about Lance Armstrong and the doping scandal, so this book sounds like a very good antidote to that.
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Novel project, it’s good isn’t it? A reporter asked Jens once about how he kept going when he was tired and Jens replied with something like “shut up legs you do what I tell you” and it has become a sort of signature phrase. Most definitely this book is an antidote to all things Armstrong.
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I don’t often read sports books either. Well okay I never read sports books (unless you consider yoga a sport). But do have a relative who is a bicyclist/bike fanatic and also likes to read. I may get him this book for his birthday. Thanks for reviewing a book outside my usual book store aisle!
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Carol, yoga is totally an extreme sport with some really impossible poses! 😉 Your relation would very likely enjoy this book.
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Sounds a good read. I’m sure you’re right about him being one of the good guys, from what he’s done. However, I’m not sure I would totally believe all sportsmen who have “even spoken out against doping”. Didn’t Armstrong do that? I think the sports field is littered with people who’ve done that. Hard to know who to believe/trust these days.
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whisperinggums, Armstrong spoke out against accusations that he was doping but not against doping in general, at least not that I recall. I’m willing to believe Jens because he has a good reputation among everyone and he never actually won the Tour de France, only a couple of stages. His job in the Tour was to help someone else on his team win. I think because of the kind of rider he was and given his role on the team, he doesn’t have the big “I’m the best and everyone is here for me” attitude like Armstrong did and I think that accounts for some of the difference.
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I was partly teasing about not trusting him. You have to trust people I believe! (Until they prove otherwise, that is!)
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Ah, got it! Some people are more trustworthy than others though and one must rely on general opinion and reputation which makes it harder.
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Exactly Stefanie. I like to trust, but with my antennae out!
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