Chased by Pandas

My Life in the Mysterious World of Cycling

By: Dan Martin

Narrated by: Matthew Biddulph

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

This is Dan Martin's long-awaited autobiography.

Known, thanks to his racing style and attitude, for being one of road cycling's last romantics, Dan has always shied away from revealing too much about himself and his story. Now, having retired at the end of the 2021 season aged 35 and no longer bound by the constraints of the racing circuit, Dan feels the time is right to tell his story in the same forthright and honest manner that he rode his bike.

This audiobook reflects Dan's generous and outspoken spirit, his resilience to pain, crashes, bad luck and, finally, his acceptance of destiny. Each chapter's title has a sub-title based on a typical cyclist's fear: the fear of losing a race, the fear of retiring from the sport, the fear of mountains or downhills, the fear of doping and, ultimately, the fear of death. Dan also discusses every aspect of the professional cyclist's life—food, discipline, money, dreams, friendship and betrayal. Dan is unashamed when it comes to exposing these dark feelings, his weaknesses and how he tried to deal with them, his attitude exemplifying Mark Twain's quote: 'Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear'.

Written with his long-time friend and best-selling author Pierre Carrey, this is the story of a rider who never sought to conform to modern cycling's norms and someone who, in many ways, embodies an age in cycling which has long since disappeared.

This is the celebration of a true cyclist's career, which will appeal to anyone who's embraced the weekend ride whilst dreaming of the mountains.

©2022 Dan Martin (P)2022 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic reviews

'This is Dan Martin's long-awaited autobiography, full of 'the warmth, sharp insights and vivid colour of his 14-year career' (Guardian)

'[Chased by Pandas] is not a conventional study of wins, losses and conquering mountains but overcoming the mental challenges of a sport into which he was seemingly born' (The Times)

Excellent

Thoroughly enjoyable. Nice to read about a cyclist who (supposedly ) did not dope. I hope that is the case. Restores my hope in the sport.

What a life!

Wonderfully told story. Insightful and entertaining. I wasn’t a big enough cycling fan to know much of his story which made it wonderful discovery.

Disappointing

Dan Martin was a professional bike rider not a writer and it really shows in this book. Neither the ghost writer nor the narrator gave him any help either.
The book seems to fall between two approaches and satisfies neither. As a book on his philosophy of riding it sounds very self satisfied and gives limited insight into how other riders found this philosophy.
As a book on the technical issues of professional riding we are left to wonder what 32-cog or 38-cog wheels are meant to signify. He almost does not touch on the huge technical changes he must have witnessed over his career.
As for the panda…
Least said