This is a pretty good book - though it's more of a set of short little blog posts combined into a book. It's nice to read the very opinionated thoughts of someone who's been dealing with bicycles for a very long time.

The whole time I was reading this, I felt like this is the type of stuff that my pal Jon G would have said, and in a similar style to the way he would have said it. I look forward to reading Jon's treatises on cycling in the future.

Reading this book made me proud to and convinced me to continue to never wear clipless pedals and cycling shoes (I have toe clips), and having a kickstand on my roadie. I'm an unracer - and to quote the title of one of the little chapters: "Racing ruins the breed".

I also learned how to corner and turn properly - which has been invaluable in my windy descents lately. Finally, I was reminded to not just count miles, because every ride counts ("No ride too short"). Also it makes as much sense to count time spent on the bike, and the amount of elevation gain, and the number of days biked, period. Thanks to my commute, this means my days biked per week stays above 5 during the most of the year in California.

I also learned a new word: Beausage (byoo-sidj). My current bike doesn't have any, but my last laptop certainly does.

It also felt kind of cool that the author is local. Grant Petersen founded and still runs Rivendell Bicycle Works in Walnut Creek, CA.