Ebook: Racing Through the Dark: Crash. Burn. Coming Clean. Coming Back.

A portrait of life as a professional cyclist by the author, an international champion of the sport, this candid memoir follows his rise as a young racing star, his fall to the pervasive influence of performance-enhancing drugs, and his subsequent redemption. By his 18th birthday he was living and racing in France, sleeping in rented rooms, tipped to be the next English-speaking Tour de France winner. A year later he had realized the dream and signed a professional contract with the Cofidis team, who also had Lance Armstrong on their books. He perhaps lived the high life a little too enthusiastically; high on a roof after too much drink and too many sleeping pills, he broke his heel in a fall, and before anyone could utter the words blood booster, recreational drug use had tipped over into doping. Here, in this autobiography, he recounts the story from the inside: he doped because 'cycling's drug culture was like white noise', and because of peer pressure. 'I doped for money and glory in order to guarantee the continuation of my status.' Five years on from his arrest, he is clean and reflective, and holds nothing back in this account of his dark years.;Biarritz, 2004 -- Barcelona, 2009 -- My early years -- The mess -- Flying ball bicycles -- Chasing a dream -- "Quoi?" -- The professionals -- Childhood's end -- Tour de dopage -- The VDB show -- 19:03 Millar time -- La vie en jaune -- The fall of Dunkirk -- 2001: an odyssey begins -- La vida dopado -- My personal Jesus -- Chains and rainbows -- Game over -- Cote de Basques -- Judge dread -- Shaken, not stirred --Terry across the Mersey -- Life in the hgh peak -- La roue tourne -- Time trials and tribulations -- July 2007 -- The persuader -- Keeeping the faith -- July 2010, stage nine of the Tour de France -- Dave the brave.