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Quercus wheels away with cyclist Dan Martin's 'forthright' autobiography
Quercus has signed cyclist Dan Martin’s “forthright and honest” autobiography Chased by Pandas: My life in the mysterious world of cycling.
Director of non-fiction Richard Milner acquired world rights from David Luxton at David Luxton Associates. Quercus will publish on 13th October. The book is written with Martin’s long-time friend and author Pierre Carrey.
The publisher explained: “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.”
The synopsis says: “This book 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’.”
Martin said: “Writing this book has allowed me to relive so much that happened in my career and it has been a pleasure. I believe that with the help of Quercus we have been able to create a book that delivers an immersive journey through the life of a cyclist providing true insight into the mindset that it takes to succeed at the top of one of the most demanding sports in the world.”
