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Title details for Ten Points by Bill Strickland - Available

Ten Points

A Father's Promise, a Daughter's Wish--How a Magical Season of Bicycle Riding Made it All Come True

by Bill Strickland
Chuck Kourouklis
Audiobook
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1 of 1 copy available
“When Bill Strickland writes about cycling, he takes you on one of the most intense, most unforgettable rides of your life.”–Lance Armstrong

Bill Strickland believed he was cursed. No matter how secure his life outwardly seemed, the happiness he had attained with his wife and daughter hung by a thread–threatened by the monster Bill lived in constant fear of, a demon inside him that had been created by horrific childhood abuse.
A lifelong but decidedly average bicyclist, Bill was challenged by his daughter to score ten points in a series of weekly races dominated by pro racers, national champions, and legends of the sport. He hoped that if he could achieve this impossible feat, he might similarly triumph over the indestructible demon that haunted his life. Weaving together the story of the races and Bill’s struggle to overcome a legacy of abuse, TEN POINTS is an insider’s look at the world of bicycling and the healing power of sports.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 3, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415941607
      • File size: 198029 KB
      • Duration: 06:52:33

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Chuck Kourouklis is a pro and so can handle the clash of generations in this memoir by the executive editor of BICYCLING magazine. Running his voice plaintively up the scale, Kourouklis characterizes Strickland's 5-year-old daughter and convincingly portrays her mother and the author, as well as Strickland's own father, a sadist who is gone but by no means forgotten. Bill Strickland promises his little girl that he--an amateur--will score 10 points in the Thursday night Criterium, a bicycle race in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, that is clotted with professionals. The brutal extremes of sport as well as the tenderness and demands of fatherhood excite memories of his own father, who broke his son's nose with a hammer and made him eat dog feces. The story will turn your stomach. It will also break your heart. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 31, 2007
      The executive editor of Bicycling
      magazine explores childhood, fatherhood and cycling in this moving memoir about the legacy of child abuse and the healing power of sport and family. In Emmaus, Pa., in 2004, 39-year-old Strickland decided to take up a near-impossible challenge proposed by his preschool-age daughter, Natalie, to score 10 points in a single season; to do so, he has to place among the top four—10 times—in a local weekly race populated by Olympians and cycling legends. Alternating between present-day life and dispatches from his horrific childhood, Strickland introduces his sadistic father, a man who put a loaded gun in his son's mouth, made him eat dog feces and encouraged him to have sex with his babysitter, among other outrages. Strickland juxtaposes these episodes with scenes of his own shortcomings: unbridled anger with his daughter and marital infidelity with a colleague. It's only through numerous races (and missed points) that he learns to tame the inner demons that threaten his new family. Strickland's lyrical prose and swift pacing lighten the material's weight, but it remains a necessarily brutal read that goes several shades darker than most sports memoirs; though noncyclists may get bored during the race scenes (and there are plenty), anyone dealing with familial abuse will find Strickland's journey an inspiration.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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