Grab My Time Authored By Bradley Wiggins Contained In Manuscript

I found most interesting about 'My Time' was Bradley's take on doping and drugs in cycling, particularly given the fact that I have recently read Tyler Hamilton's compelling autobiography and followed the whole Lance Armstrong implosion of the past few years.
At various points in the book, he reprimands the hopefully'searly's trend of 'not normal' cycling, as Lance would probably put it.
The most interesting part of the novel, possibly discounting the recounting of the BonnevalChartres time trial, is his take on Armstrong's drug taking.
His anger stems mostly from the fact that not only was he robbed of a podium spot by Lance in 'but also how, as the wearer of the yellow jersey now, Wiggins is left to field all the questions from the media and critics about the widespread doping prevalent in cycling for the past two decades even though, as Wiggins elaborates, he has never doped.
Not many who have possibly seen the interview during the Tour on Youtube where doping is insinuated by a journalist to Wiggins would be unsure as to what his views would be on the matter:

"We are the ones here, in this sport, right now, who have to pick up the pieces.
We are the ones trying to race our bikes, the ones sitting there in front of the press trying to convince them of our innocence, continuing to do things in the right way they've trashed the office and left we're the ones trying to tidy it all up".


As Wiggins moves on to tell the story of theLondon Olympic Games, in the weeks succeeding the end of the Tour, even Alexander Vinokourov fails to escape his wrath.
"As the gold medal was presented to Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan he of the blooddoping positive fromwe sat in the tents in the pits for an hour after the finish with our skinsuits unzipped".
Wiggins' contempt for dopers in the sport is highlighted again, After the accomplishment of winning theOlympic Road Race, Vinokourov's success is undercut by Wiggins as the Kazakh cyclist's previous transgression of doping is noted, even though it was five years previous.
In Wiggins' eyes, Vinokourov is one of the minority who have "trashed the office" with the rest, including himself, left "trying to tidy it all up".
Perhaps Wiggins believes that Cavendish was more deserving of the gold medal and that the Manx cyclist would possibly have triumphed it if the race had of gone more to plan.


Outside of the whole doping issue, the book is still a worthwhile read and truly inspiring story of the most successful year for British cycling even if, at times, it seems to chronologically leap almost incomprehensibly from pillar to post.
As a big cycling fan and a fan of Sir Wiggo, I absolutely loved this book though I'm perhaps a bit biased.
The events in the book are just as exciting to read about as they were to watch, You get the feeling the book was written exactly as he would have spoken it out loud in conversation which means there is a slight bit of repetition in places, but I still didn't mind as I could hear him say the words in my head, as if he were describing to me in person.
I particularly enjoyed the sections about his team mates and his relationship with Cav in particular, but again I'm a big fan.
I'm not certain the book would be as entertaining to a non cycling fan, though you would definitely learn a lot about the sport and some of the science behind it.
Definitely staying on my bookshelf at home, 'My Time' tells the story in his own words of Bradley Wiggins' 'Golden Year'

ofwhen he won both the Tour de France and the Olympic Cycling timetrial in his home city of London.


I can't help but compare it to the other cycling book I read this year 'Life According to G' by Wiggins' fellow Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas.
On that basis it lacks the breadth, human interest, technical detail and humour of Thomas' book, And also unlike Thomas' book in places it seems very 'it's all about me' but then it is more of an autobiography for the period leading up to an including.


Having said all that it does provide a good insight into Sports Psychology, and Wiggins' character, His lack of confidence when put in a pressurised leadership position, and his ability to ask for help, work with others, and ultimately bounce back to take the most prestigious and hardwon titles in sports.


It's also a good insight into the team dynamics and tactics of a sport like Grand Tour cycling a whole new dimension to those of us that cycle alone or in small groups just for fun.


Overall an average read in comparison to the Thomas book, but a a good insight into Wiggins and a specific time in sports history.

Skip the firstpages, Hardly any detail or feeling, This guy is not a writer, This isnt something I would normally read,
Iam not a fan of cycling , even though I have a few friends who are serious cyclists and travel the world competing.
I grabbed this book from thebox
In the charity shop thinking well if I dont like it I have a few people I can pass it on to.


The book surprised me, It was a good insight into how competitive cycling operates, Its well written in plain English , I did have to google a few terms I was unfamiliar with, But not many, mostly things were explained so us non cycling people could understand,

Its a light read and I learnt something, Wow,months to read this! To be fair there's much time for reading at Rotherham Fire Station,

As much as I love cycling and have a healthy respect for Bradley Wiggins he doesn't come across well in the book.
I suppose you just hope for some personality but that does not come across whilst reading, He goes on to talk about his awkwardness with fame and recognition and, I suppose, this is translated onto the page.
The same reluctance to engage with the fame on screen is the same reluctance in this autobiography, I never felt as though I'd learnt anything outright about the Bradley Wiggins I'd hoped to, that is, without reading between the lines.


I started reading this before the doping allegations really took hold, but even before the nature of the controlled substances he has been revealed as taking within the laws of cycling there was a disingenuous anger in his words on cheating.
I really hope he was not a full cheater as that would be awful, but the way he speaks about the accusations made me cringe.


All in all, an intriguing insight into what was going through the mind of Britains first Tour winner and great Olympian.
I only got into cycling a few years after wiggins won the tour so didn't know a lot about him and his victory.
I expected this to be more generally autobiographical but it was clearly rushed out and only focuses on the tour, his training for it and the actual race.
Still interesting in parts but pretty boring in others and more one dimensional than I'd hoped, Great view into the life of Wiggo, There wasn't much substance to it infact it seemed a little brief, But that's his style. He is a straight shooter,

From a cycling perspective, its interesting to draw comparisons between his disasterseason and his special year of.
The planning, and the meticulous nature of Sky, as well as a clear understanding of his role and his goals seemed to make all the difference.
Just couldnt finish it. Repetitive and a bit arrogant This book took me an absolute age to read, It usually takes me anywhere between a day or two to a month to work my way through a book.
But this book to me months to read, I'm not saying it was a bad book, infact far from it, but the book just didn't pull me in and I found myself having quite little interest in it.
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm quite OCD and can't give up on something once started I'd have stopped reading this book ages ago.


I haven't exactly been following Bradley's career since the begininng but became a fan of his after Beijing.
After his phenomonalyear I thought I'd like to read about it from his perspective so gave the book a go.


Like I said the book wasn't bad, Reading in great detail about the tour from start to finish was very interesting, The chapters on Londonwere what I really wanted to read sboput though and whilst what was included was well written it just wasn't the priority compared to the detail the Tour win recieved.
What was most interesting was Bradley's stance on drugs following the Lance Armstrong scandal and Bradley, as always, is brutally honest in his opinions on this subject.


But despite being an interesting read, when compared to Victoria Pendleton's book this just isn't the warts and all account that I have come to like about autobiographies.
Now I understand that this book concentrates on only one year and Bradley's earlier book depicts more of his earlier life so I was never going to read about some of the examples I'd expect in other autobigraphies.
But parts of this book just seemed quite impersonal and where Bradley was recounting certain stages of the tour he might as well have just been reading off a map.
For someone who wears his heart on his sleeve as Bradley does I would have expected a more insigtfull account than this.
But the only part of the book where Wiggins did seem to bear his soul was when talking about doping.


I did enjoy reading about how Team Sky came together though, This is something that is also documented in Pendleton's book, But she tells it from the perspective of an outsider looking in and Wiggo tells it from someone at the heart of it all and the contrasting accounts are quite interseting.


In all a nice little account of Bradley's record winning year from his point of view, but generally quite impersonal and thus not very captivating.
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