Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France

by Nancy Brook (Goodreads Author)

3.58 of 5 stars 3.58 · rating details · 36 ratings · 20 reviews

With one bounced check, Nancy Brook’s world collapsed around her. She was charged with a felony and thrown in jail even though her husband had pilfered money out of their business account. Eventually, the charges were dismissed, but her marriage and business were over. A decade later at age forty-three, Nancy thrived as a bank vice president and single parent. Still, she c...more

Paperback, 270 pages

Published February 8th 2011 by Morgan James Publishing

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

What Should I Read in 2011?

435th out of 564 books — 751 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 121)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 20, 2011 Rick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sorry "EX" it is a factual account.
I have read Nancy's book and was actual witness to it all. I was there and took in their daughter when Nancy was taken into custody because of the money "ex" had taken to pay the printer. "ex" had no concern for Nancy or his daughter at the point I contacted him. Detached, unemotional and self-protecting. No intention of returning to help straighten this out and no concern whatsoever for his daughters well-being at what was happening with her mother. I was surp...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jan 30, 2011 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookpleasures-com

The story of one woman’s journey to reconnect with herself. A story told from the heart with a refreshing honesty. In her early forties, Nancy Brook finds herself feeling as though something is missing from her life. She feels certain that finding Mr. Right would be the solution to her problems, but after a string of unsuccessful dates and broken relationships, she is disillusioned. Once married, now a single mother, her daughter away studying, Nancy finds herself alone. One of her passions is c...more The story of one woman’s journey to reconnect with herself. A story told from the heart with a refreshing honesty. In her early forties, Nancy Brook finds herself feeling as though something is missing from her life. She feels certain that finding Mr. Right would be the solution to her problems, but after a string of unsuccessful dates and broken relationships, she is disillusioned. Once married, now a single mother, her daughter away studying, Nancy finds herself alone. One of her passions is cycling, and she had always wanted to visit France. Somehow that youthful dream of visiting the faraway picturesque country had escaped her as she climbed the career ladder and brought up her daughter. Wanting to get away from the monotony of her life, she decides to sign up for a cycling trip across France. We follow Nancy on her journey through France.

Nancy resolves to make the most of her trip to the country she has always dreamed of visiting, and along the way she takes many photographs (some are included in the book), talks to many of the French people she meets along the way, and tries to immerse herself in the culture. During her journey, she begins to become more comfortable being alone, less judgmental of other people’s life choices, and her own problems are put into perspective. By the end of the tour she feels rejuvenated. Her view of life has shifted. She begins to appreciate her own life so much more.
The tour across France is over 700 miles by bike, including some of the steepest mountains, some of which are tackled by professional cyclists along the route of the Tour de France. Nancy Brook’s story includes interesting historical detail about each town that is visited on the tour. Also, there is information on the wines of France. There are many tips included in the book for people who would like to follow in her footsteps and undertake such an adventure, including what type of gear a cyclist should take, camping and climbing tips.

There are many words of wisdom scattered throughout the book, things that the author has learnt from her journey through life. Her French adventure opened her mind to the world of possibilities waiting for her outside the everyday mundane matters that she had become used to focusing on.
This memoir reminds us all that it is good to stop once in a while and take a look around and appreciate the gifts we have been given, rather than concentrating on what we don’t have.
An insightful and inspirational book.

Reviewed by Maria Savva as a reviewer for Bookpleasures.com(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Jun 20, 2011 Katherine L. rated it 5 of 5 stars

My review at Amazon.com:

Nancy Brook has chronicled both the challenges of middle age relationship and athletic endurance in this delightful book. It is a ride to take, the strenuous mileage of her cycling while she works out personal dilemmas and proves that she can pass her own test - riding up mountains in France. This is a tour of France with the underpinning of purpose.

While I could imagine this exciting trek like a viewer of athletes on television, she has provided tidbits on the French vil...more

like · see review

Nov 24, 2011 Linda added it

I have just stepped into this book today. I went to a Meet the Author book reading this past week and bought Cycling, Wine and Men: A Midlife Tour de France - anything with France in the title usually has me hooked. To be honest I'm not too interested in the author's reminiscences of the men in her life, but I am definitely interested in reading about how she "reconnected with herself" while cycling in France. I'm not there yet.

The prologue made me smile though - sort of a "shared experience" (n...more

like · see review

Jan 30, 2011 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: in-france, first-reads-favorites, published-in-2011, montana, wine, vineyards, descriptive-places, descriptive-scenery, in-historic-villages-and-towns, read-in-2011, non-fiction, reviewed

I had so much fun reading this book. It's a very quick read (because it's so much fun!) Nancy Brook is a great writer and really takes the reader on a cycling trip through France right along with her. In this memoir, Nancy is so honest about her relationship issues as she leads us up to her decision to take a 15-day cycling trip through France, from Bordeaux to the Alps.

Nancy takes us along as she bikes from one French village to the next, pitching a tent at a different campsite each evening an...more I had so much fun reading this book. It's a very quick read (because it's so much fun!) Nancy Brook is a great writer and really takes the reader on a cycling trip through France right along with her. In this memoir, Nancy is so honest about her relationship issues as she leads us up to her decision to take a 15-day cycling trip through France, from Bordeaux to the Alps.

Nancy takes us along as she bikes from one French village to the next, pitching a tent at a different campsite each evening and enjoying local wines and dinners at local restaurants, chatting with the people who live in each of these wonderful little towns. I love the way a map is included at the beginning of each chapter, showing us the destination of the day, which includes the amount of miles to be cycled that day. We get amazing descriptions of the scenery as we go from Bordeaux to Saint-Emilion to Limeuil to Sarlat and so many other wonderful French towns, and we root for Nancy as she cycles up Mont Ventoux, "one of the hardest, hottest, and windiest mountains that you can climb by bicycle." Nancy somehow managed to climb this "legendary mountain" with one very nasty, wicked hangover from the evening before.

We get amazing accounts of the history of the very old villages that Nancy stops in each day for a lunch or wine break. We stop at The Chateau de Monbazillac, which is one of the many fantastic photographs included in this memoir. The Chateau de Monbazillac is a 16th century castle which is surrounded by glorious vineyards. We cycle through the beautiful Perigord Noir forest, dine at the Hotel Victor Hugo in Saint Cere, visit caves, visit the Musee de l'Olivier (Museum of the Olive Tree) in Nyons, enjoy the "green mountain meadows and wildflowers" of the Alps, and so much more. (You really need to read this book -- This review is not doing any justice to all of the fabulous sights, wines, views, and people that are included here. Not to mention that I've completely botched the names of some of the towns because I can't get the apostrophe mark above the letters -- my sincere apology to the author, publisher, and all of the French people who are probably cringing as they see the way I misspelled their towns!!!)

I've always wanted to take a cycling trip through France and/or Italy, and now that I've read this book I REALLY want to do it. However, I'm a wimp in comparison to Nancy. The fact that she was able to cycle roughly 50 (or more) miles each day and then pitch a tent in the evening and sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground of a campsite just amazes me. To cycle all day long and then rest your sore and weary body on nothing more than a sleeping bag? Not for me!!! I am definitely too much of a city girl (and a wimp) for that -- I would love the cycling part, but I'd need to sleep in real beds AND in somewhat decent hotels every night. And even then, I don't know that I'd be able to wake up so early each morning after a whole day of riding and an evening of drinking wine -- I would be the person on the tour who rides in the support van every two or three days, and I'd probably be made fun of by the other cyclers in the group. But, for now, it was just so much fun enjoying this trip from the comfort of my sofa, or a local coffee shop here in NYC.

Another wonderful aspect of this book is the way Nancy shares her thoughts of her failed relationships with us, and the way she shares how this trip has helped her to realize that life can be enjoyed on your own -- that you don't always have to have a man in your life in order to find yourself and the beauty the world has to offer. I honestly do not know a woman who would not be able to relate to Nancy's situations with the men in her life.

I also want to add that Nancy has a fantastic sense of humor, and knows how to laugh at herself, which is just one more thing that I loved about this book.

Thank you to Goodreads for choosing me as a First Reads winner of this book, and thank you to Nancy Brook for writing such a fun and wonderful memoir!!

To all who read this review -- Although I won this book through Goodreads' First Reads' contest, there are no requirements to write a review, and certainly no requirement to write a positive review. I truly loved this book.

NOTE: The parts of this review in quotation marks are quotes directly from this book, Cycling, Wine, and Men, by Nancy Brook.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 13, 2011 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, wbc-11

This was a fast read and I felt like it had a lot of potential to be good but it just didn't measure up to my expectations. I expected this to either be a) a fun travel about what it was like to cycle through France or b) a fun memoir that gave you a look at cycling as a sport. I felt like too much was crammed in to accomplish either - including nearly every glass of red wine she drank and random details (missing cat!) that didn't seem to add anything to the story.

Also, I felt like the author wa...more

like · see review

Mar 31, 2011 Alix rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel, biography-memoir, non-fiction

This was a fast and relatively enjoyable read. As a memoir, it's great; as literature, it's so-so. I was intrigued by the book description - particularly the travel part - and thought it would be fun to read about Nancy Brook's traveling adventures through France. In general, I liked the flow of the book (basically a synopsis of her bicycle jaunt) and the story location was interesting. I liked that she included enough travel trivia to pique your interest about the location, but I could have don...more

like · see review

Mar 27, 2011 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love france, bikes, wine, and men, so I should have loved this book. Instead, I loved the idea of this book. It's a bit of escapist fantasy a la Elizabeth Gilbert. Of course I could go and bike though france for two weeks, and I could write a book, and it probably would be about as deep as this one.

But, i admire the author for having the guts to just to do it and then share it. And really, that's what these books are all about. And she biked up mountains. So cool.

like · see review

Mar 06, 2011 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cycling, Wine and Men - three of my favorite things! With a title like that, how could I not read it! This was a really good first memoir/travelogue by a woman who needed to spend time with herself, learn about herself and step out of her comfort zone. She got the courage to bike for 2 weeks in France and it wasn't easy. She did about 60 miles a day, quite a few with steep ascents that the Tour de France riders do!

like · see review

Jan 15, 2011 Laurie Jackson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: recievced-good-reads

Good Reads winner.... Nancy Brooks does a great job of making you a part of her own trip of self discovery and pulls you into her story with realism, honesty and plain old good fun. She makes cycling a ride that takes you to all the emotions, highs and lows and every stop in between. Nancy Brooks makes this journey better then EAT PRAY LOVE.....and with a little less whine.

like 3 likes · see review

Mar 06, 2011 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Mar 25, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel-literature, american-lit

I just finished "Cycling, Wine and Men: A Midlife Tour de France" by Nancy Brook. This Montana based writer shares with us a story of her cycling adventure through the mountains and valleys of France during which she also tries to come to terms with her inability to secure a lasting relationship (ten in ten years). It was fun to read and gave me lots to think about in my own life. Securing friendships, finding the right relationship, seeking satisfaction and joy in small, everyday life events an...more

like · see review

Jan 22, 2011 Naomi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am so happy I won this book on First Reads. It is just a really, really cool book. I consider it a life reflection book mixed with a French travel book. Some may have a problem with this author's writing as she is incredibly concise and gets to her points very quickly. This happens to be one of my bigpositives, as authors who ramble on drive me insane! I consider it a better written and less "artsy" version of Eat, Pray, Love. Just a very different, fun, insightful book. I don't think it quite...more

like 1 like · see review

Jul 07, 2011 Ruth Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a great book on the struggles that us women over 40 go through and learning how to identify with ourselves. It puts things into perspective and teaches how to muddle through midage. Loved the book!

like · see review

Mar 23, 2011 Birgit rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, biographie, travel, non-fiction

Well, definitely no page turner for me. Which is notable because I love cycling too. Nancy Brook must be a very nice and sympathical woman, because she got in touch with the french people very easyly. I´m very sorry about her cat Oreo - if I ever have a cat myself I´ll name it Oreo.

like · see review

Mar 23, 2011 Tiffani Gee rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was ok. thats all it sort of seemed like Eat, Pray and Love but written differently and the same story but written along the same lines.

like · see review

Jan 06, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, memoirs, read-in-2011, non-fiction

3.5 stars. Despite a title that sounds like it's a romance novel, this is the account of Nancy Brook's bike tour through France. A 43-year-old single mother of a college-age daughter, she decides to do something for herself and heads out, reflecting on past relationships and learning a lot about herself along the way. Okay, that's a corny summary, but it was an enjoyable and informative read, including some history of the areas of France that she visited, as well as tips on cycling and quite a b...more

like · see review

Sep 17, 2011 Hilary rated it 2 of 5 stars

Fast read. Better than expected in the beginning, but ended up like a dry travel journal at the end. Appreciated the conclusion of taking responsibility for fulfilling yourself to be whole and not relying on someone else for that. Disagree on why the triple is called the granny gear.

like · see review

Dec 31, 2010 Kathy marked it as to-read

I just won this in a Goodreads giveaway - should I have Joe read it too? On deck...

like · see review

Feb 20, 2011 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: tour-of-france

Thank you Goodreads for this wonderful, inspiring novel.This is the story of one womans act of courage, to journey across France, and try to find herself.After not being able to get her dating act together, she sets out on a life changing journey, to find herself.Her journey taught her to embrace time alone, and to answer only to herself.A must read.

like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 Iroulito91 marked it as to-read

Feb 11, 2013 Caroin Sundvik rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jan 30, 2013 Ayesha Bashir added it

Jan 22, 2013 Queenlisa1969 marked it as to-read

Jan 18, 2013 Oreo Eulalia marked it as to-read

Jan 03, 2013 Erap Estrada rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dec 09, 2012 Rachele DVM marked it as to-read

Nov 28, 2012 Lynn Lawless marked it as to-read

Nov 18, 2012 Courtney Giffin marked it as to-read

Nov 18, 2012 Miranda marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-find

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 next »

Non Fiction

4 users

See top shelves...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Cycling, Wine, an...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Cycling, Wine, and Men...

“That's how it can be on life's journey. Some people share your path for a moment, leaving before you've had a chance to even become acquainted.” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France
avg rating	preview: Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France Goodreads rating: 3.58 (36 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9858605-cycling-wine-and-men?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328745374l/9858605.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9858605-cycling-wine-and-men?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France by Nancy Brook[/url]

Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)

Genres

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Cycling, Wine, an...

Quotes from Cycling, Wine, and Men...

Cycling, Wine, and Men: A Midlife Tour de France

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (1)

Genres

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Cycling, Wine, an...

Quotes from Cycling, Wine, and Men...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)