Just Ride - BookRaptor

No cover — Grant Petersen: Just Ride (2012, Workman Publishing Company, Incorporated)

256 pages

English language

Published Nov. 22, 2012 by Workman Publishing Company, Incorporated.

ISBN:: 978-0-7611-7127-0

View on OpenLibrary

(2 reviews)

2 editions

Sam reviewed Just ride by Grant Petersen

Not bad, but the tone rubbed me the wrong way

3 stars

I ended up giving this book three stars because I agree with the general idea: we need more people who want to just get on a bike in simple every day ways without feeling pressured away from bicycles by people insisting that they need to be buying the latest-and-greatest gear or wearing lycra and cleats.

That being said, the author couches the entire book in terms of the "Unracer", which, while amusing, also feels a bit like the same gatekeepy behavior he's railing against. At the same time, he starts out talking about how many people he's going to offend in a very dismissive way that rubbed me wrong. If you have to start out giving a disclaimer, it seems worth just changing your tone. It's a bit arrogant to throw in the disclaimer in a "their feelings don't matter to me, so this is fine" sort of way. This …

I ended up giving this book three stars because I agree with the general idea: we need more people who want to just get on a bike in simple every day ways without feeling pressured away from bicycles by people insisting that they need to be buying the latest-and-greatest gear or wearing lycra and cleats.

That being said, the author couches the entire book in terms of the "Unracer", which, while amusing, also feels a bit like the same gatekeepy behavior he's railing against. At the same time, he starts out talking about how many people he's going to offend in a very dismissive way that rubbed me wrong. If you have to start out giving a disclaimer, it seems worth just changing your tone. It's a bit arrogant to throw in the disclaimer in a "their feelings don't matter to me, so this is fine" sort of way. This tone of superiority pervades the entire book, so while I agree with his premises generally I didn't enjoy reading it all that much.

Finally, in at least a few parts (the fitness chapter in particular), he goes off the rails a bit and insists that people should, eg. buy a blood glucose meter. That doesn't seem like something to recommend to the people we're trying to convince to just hop on a bike and ride without all the fluff. That being said, arguably that's just in the fitness chapter for the fitness buff who wants to use a bike for actual fitness, so maybe it's fine. It just felt out of place with the rest of the book.

Overall I lean towards two stars except that the general idea is great. Get on a bike and ride (just maybe grab a different book inspire you).

Ride Theory reviewed Just ride by Grant Petersen

Sage advice, some of which you won't agree with.

5 stars

This is a well-considered manifesto about the absurdity of allowing bike racing culture to dominate the thinking of the everyday bike rider. I can see how this little book would upset a lot of the high priests and acolytes of the bicycle world, but for the rest of us, it's a good, common-sense guide. Ride in everyday clothes, carbon fiber works for racers but can fail spectacularly and suddenly for everyone else, exercise doesn't help you lose weight, use steady lights instead of blinkers, baskets are a good thing, etc. You won't necessarily agree with everything Petersen says, and that's fine. Take what works for you.