PIC No. 14: Pails in Comparison (July 15, 2022, with 2026 updates]
• Title: Tour de France for Dummies®
• Author: Phil Liggett, James Raia, and Sammarye Lewis
• Publisher: For Dummies® (May 27, 2005, 284 pages)
• Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket
ME: "Read the book!"
Back in 2019 (you remember those “BC” years—Before COVID?), my wife and I became serious fans of the Tour de France. Serious? Well…if you mean getting up early in the morning and watching every stage on television—with dark roast coffee and croissants. Yes—serious! Those were the days!
Yet…Joanne would pester me with questions. (How would I know the answer? I’m not a professional cyclist!) Finally, I bought the book. Now you’ll hear this every morning during the tour:
HER: “What’s with all the jersey colors?”
ME: “Read the book.”
HER: “Wow! Those crazy French fans are surrounding the riders! Why?”
ME: “Read the book.” [Or...watch this 9.5-minute video. Yikes!]
View "Cycling Crowds Are Getting Out Of Control," a 9.5-minute documentary.
HER: “Why doesn’t every team member try to win every day?”
ME: “Read the book.”
Just like any other good “Dummies” book, you’ll appreciate the format, the details, and the humor:
• Chapter 5: More Tour Rules Than You Ever Want to Know
• Chapter 8: Spending a Day in the Life of a Rider
• Chapter 12: Ten Greatest Riders in Tour History (Written in 2005, “L.A.” was still a hero.)
• Page 66: “Oh, no, we’re wearing the same outfit.”
• Page 92: “Shaving legs and getting road rash.”
• Page 135: “Watching in your pajamas”
“Joanne, please read Chapter 6, ‘Understanding Race Strategies,’ and then you won’t need to ask me all these questions.”
I pointed her often to pages 80-81 and why every team determines—in advance of each stage (the daily race), what their strategy will be for that specific day (mountains or not?). See the sections: “Chasing down the competition,” “Pulling and sacrificing,” and “Sacrificing for the leader.”
HER: “But I still have more questions.”
ME: “Read the book.”
[ ] 5-Part Series on YouTube! (Must-see!) - "The Phil Liggett Story: Part One - Beyond the Podium" (View Part 1.) Note: Phil Liggett is the acclaimed commentator for the Tour de France and most of cycling over the decades. You'll love it.
[ ] The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (read my review)
[ ] Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys, by Joe Coulombe with Patty Civalleri (read my review)
[ ] Nonprofit Kit for Dummies® (4th Edition), by Stan Hutton and Frances N. Phillips (includes a CD-ROM with 100+ documents) - Order from Amazon.
[ ] Leadership for Dummies®, by Marshall Loeb and Stephen Kindel - Order from Amazon.
[ ] Managing for Dummies®, by Bob Nelson and Peter Economy - Order from Amazon.
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Tour de France for Dummies®, by Phil Liggett, James Raia, and Sammarye Lewis.
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NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.
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