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Home > Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World - and Won
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Team 7-Eleven: How an Unsung Band of American Cyclists Took on the World - and Won
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By Geoff Drake
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 (19 Reviews)
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List Price: $27.95
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Publisher:
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Velo Press
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Date:
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December 31, 1969 |
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Binding:
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Hardcover
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Pages:
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352
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7-Eleven: America?s Greatest Cycling Team is the first book to tell the full story of America?s first and greatest pro cycling team.
Founded in 1981 by Jim Ochowicz and Olympic medalist Eric Heiden and sponsored by the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores, the team rounded up the best amateur cyclists in North America and formed them into a cohesive, European-style cycling team. As amateurs, they dominated the American race scene and won seven medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. As professionals, beginning in 1985, the team went to Europe and soon received invitations to the Tour of Italy and then the Tour de France, putting Americans on the podium in landmark victories that would change the face of American cycling forever.
Prepared with the enthusiastic cooperation of the team members and co-authored by the team?s founder, Jim Ochowicz, 7-Eleven is not only the most important missing piece in the story of American cycling, but the book that American cyclists have been waiting for ever since the 7-Eleven cowboys snagged that first yellow jersey.
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Customers' Reviews:
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 Poorly written, September 6, 2011
By A. Simon
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This is a poorly written book. It fails to capture the reader in any sort of way. Sadly, it reads more like a high school text book. The 7-Eleven story could have been very riveting in the hands of a master story teller, unfortunality Geoff Drake is far from that.
6 of 13 people found this review helpful
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 A reminder of how modern U.S. cycling began., September 15, 2011
By Rick B
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This story began at a time I started cycling. During the 80's and 90'sI remember seeing most of these guys at races in Southern California and New England. They were bigger than life. I really enjoyed reading about the learning process Och and his gang went through to build such a large, successful, iconic team. I always admired Eric Heiden. Now he is one of my heros.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful
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Great Book!, October 5, 2011
By FLY
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A great insight into the genius of Ochowitz. After reading this, it's no surprise in seeing how he's built BMC to what it was this year and what it will be next year.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Very dramatic, September 27, 2011
By Bob
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Well written by someone who has racing experience and reporting on it. I especially liked the character development of the riders and the details of the lives of competitive cyclists. Very dramatic and hard to put down.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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A Rough Read..., September 19, 2011
By Mr. K
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I'm trying to put together a stategy for finishing this book. The facts I already know pretty well but the style in which it's written doesn't inspire me to turn the page much if at all. I think having each rider through the 7-11 years provide his own chapter could have made for an awsome book.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Good story, great history, but poorly written..., October 10, 2011
By Tom Ezell (Scott, AR USA)
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This is a good book to cover the start of professional bike racing here in the U.S., but the writing leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of info on the startup, but once the story moves to Europe, it gets very spotty, and like many sponsorship breakups, it ends very abruptly and without a great deal of anaysis.
I enjoyed the reading, but it was very hit and miss. Would like to have seen a little more description of the racing history through more of the years the team was together. I think I was expecting something a little more like Bob Roll's or Chris Carmichael's memories; but the sudden wrap-up here leaves you a little confused and disappointed.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Great Read, November 2, 2011
By Mad Monk
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This is a must read for anyone interested in cycling as a competitor or a recreational cyclist. It not only gives you historic results of the races they entered but the teams personalities.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Excellent, December 6, 2011
By Ken S. Sato
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When I purchased this book when there were only 2 negative reviews on Amazon. I totally disagree with the negative reviews, the book is very well written. It seems to be somewhat of an authorized biography of Jim Ochowicz focusing on his 7 Eleven years. There is a factual error in the first sentence of the preface, wrong location for the 1992 Olympics, and a few typos but these are minor distractions. This book was extremely nostalgic for me having grown up and started racing in the early 1980s in the Midwest and moving to Boulder Colorado in 1985. You may not find this book quite as fascinating if your interest in bicycle racing did not start until the 1990s or later.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Team Seven eleven, December 1, 2011
By valley rider
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Always wanted to know more about this team of Americans but only got snippets here and there. This book was what I hoped it would be. If you like bikes and think that in the earlier days we had b---s well we did. Read and have fun.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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A worthy read..., November 28, 2011
By CH (Cape Cod United States)
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I reviewed this for my podcast (ESP Podcast) and enjoyed the history of the book, but I would generally agree with the 3 star reviews here. I found the book disjointed at times, often repeating itself in spots. I also feel that it does a great job filling in details from the 1970's to 1986, but just falls flat after that. It lacked a lot of the meat in those years. So why not 3 stars? I think that anyone looking for the backstory of Team 7-Eleven, especially those who were inspired to take up racing or by the team while racing, it is worth the read. If you know most of the whole story, then I would save your money.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Never Takes Off The Training Wheels!, January 16, 2012
By Mark
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Author Geoff Drake's prose shines, as you would expect from the former editor of Bicycling magazine, but overall the book under-delivers on what should be a fascinating tale.
Did the team's former PR department write this? Time after time, interesting topics are introduced but not developed.
A rider is described as "occasionally troubled" but that is never explained. We learn that the Tour of Texas race week was a "smorgasbord of physical indulgences," but no more is said. Andy Hampsten spends the winter of 87-88 at a "survivalist boot camp," but we learn nothing about what was done at the camp, who ran it, or even where it was. Bob Roll was, by all other accounts, a bad-boy walking storybook, but the only anecdote about this key rider is a trivial remark emphasizing his team-player mentality.
Every rider is talented. Everyone does his best. Everyone gets along. Please! Nothing in real life is this syrupy.
Jim Ochowicz, the team's founder and manager, certainly deserves praise for his vision and tenacity. But placing him at the center of the narrative, and coating page after page with continuous, hyperbolic praise of his personal background and managerial genius, puts a non-racing character in the middle of the story and robs the book of potential drama.
The book really breaks down where it should shine brightest--the team's foray into European cycling. A timid and incomplete narrative fills the books final chapters.
As the team goes to Europe, an Italian sponsor brings a young doctor, Massimo Testa, aboard. Much is made of Andy Hampsten's initial resistance--though suffering from an intestinal illness--to getting an "electrolyte" IV from Doctor Testa. Eventually Andy agrees after being shown the bottle's label. No more is ever mentioned about IVs or medical assistance, except that Testa remained with the team throughout its life.
While it's implausible to think that a book of this nature would finally open the door to the truth about the technology of performance enhancement, as practiced in the European peloton, more needs to be said on the subject. What did the riders observe other team's riders doing? Were electrolyte IVs common for team 7-Eleven? What other measure were taken to boost recovery? There must have been a more sophisticated strategy than "eat well and get plenty of rest."
At the team's first Tour de France, rider Alex Stieda breaks away in the early minutes of the first road stage and gets a win. He says that the peloton was going slowly and that some guys were going ahead to pee. So what did the peloton think of his stage win? There are no interviews with opposing team riders, race officials, or journalists, so we don't know whether it was an impressive breakaway or a gross breach of peloton protocol.
Finally, the book fails to define Team 7-Eleven's place in history. While the team was learning how to ride in Europe without embarrassing themselves, Greg Lemond was winning the Tour, in the most dramatic circumstances. What does Greg think about the team and its role? Eddy Merckx, we learn, was associated with the team in its later years, but we hear nothing from him about how Team 7-Eleven brought respect to American cycling.
In short, missed interview opportunities, an exaggerated focus on team management, and a failure to take off the training wheels and dig into some potentially negative material, all serve to undermine the promise of this book as a historical account and rob the story of interest.
I pre-ordered the book and read it almost straight through, but came away disappointed.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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A Great Read for the Cycling Fan, January 1, 2012
By Marlborough (San Rafael, CA)
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There was American pro cycling before the Lance Armstrong era, and if you want to know about it, here's your passport.
From Eric Heiden to Andy Hampsten, Ron Kiefel, Alex Stieda, Davis Phinney, Chris Carmichael, and Bob Roll, all the members of the first American cycling team to make it in European professional cycling are here, orchestrated by Jim Ochowicz. Eddy Merckx and Greg LeMond appear, along with other members of the peloton interacting with the 7-Eleven team.
The writing flows smoothly, holds your attention, and there are plenty of quotes from the riders. This history is personal: it's about the riders, rather than the abstract forces of cycling history. Some nice photographs as well.
You can read it in a few hours, and you may well go back and leaf through for favorite passages from time to time.
When you finish this book, you'll certainly know a lot more about where all these people in cycling came from.
Six stars!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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AWESOME READ!, March 2, 2012
By J. Floyd (Orlando)
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Having worked my way up to a Cat 3 in the mid '80s, I was always partially dialed in to what was going on with the 7-Eleven team, especially being from Iowa and having attended a couple races where Jeff Bradley absolutely dominated. I read the book in two sittings- Some awesome background stuff on Heiden, Phinney and Hampstead. Now I'm obsessed trying to find a good vintage jersey!!!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Great book on the history of the team, December 21, 2011
By Whak-E Man (Twin Cities MN)
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It was a good book and I learned a lot about the history of the team and American cycling in the 80s and 90s. I really didn't get interested in cycling till about 99 so allot of the information was new to me. That being said it was written more documentary style then anything else so its not a real page turner. I would still buy it again though.
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Fun read, February 4, 2012
By CR (Austin, TX)
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Quick, fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought I already knew most of the story of team 7-Eleven having followed them directly during their prime. I did not. No spoiler, but the brief section covering Lemond was news to me. There are some good color photos in this -- if you have only an e-ink Kindle, you won't see them in full detail. Fortunately, I was also able to view them on the Kindle reader on my iPad. I wish it was longer and more detailed in a few areas, but would still strongly recommend to anyone interested.
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Like being inside the peloton for the first time, January 6, 2012
By beherenow
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A great story very well told. Lots of us ride but few of us race. Team 7-Eleven pulled me irresistably into the arcane world of professional cycling at the time and just what it took to make the seemingly absurb real. It was a bit like being invited inside the peloton for the first time. Thanks to Drake and Och for letting us draft on your remarkable tale.
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 Great story would benefit from a better author, January 4, 2012
By bradleypjohnson (Chicago, IL USA)
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This book reminds me of the way I write - which isn't exactly a compliment since I'm not an author and avoid writing at all costs. The fact that I'm writing this review is a bit surprising!
Totally agree with the two star reviews except I thought the book was OK - Jim Ochowitz autographed my copy but Geoff Drake tried to squeeze in too many quotes instead of crafting something that read smoothly and made me want to keep turning the pages - I had to force myself to finish it, but am glad I did.
The photo and story of Davis Phinney after he crashed into the Isoglass car at the 1988 Liege-Bastogne-Liege race is pretty graphic, but a quick Google Image Search turned up an even better one: [...]
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
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A good read but potentially could have been a great read, April 3, 2012
By SWaithe
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Geoff Drake spends too much time on the build up with far too many repeated topics in the first few chapters. Once we get to the chapters where the team is up and running the book fleshes out nicely. There is great detail regarding the intracacies of running a bike team and behind the scenes info on potential transfers and the teams biggest wins in Europe. Where Drake shines is in providing the details of lauding the sponsor and then convincing them to take the big step into Europe.
However, Drake makes the glaring mistake of stating that Davis Phinney's win in the 1988 Coors Classic was the teams first win in its most sought after race on home soil. Given that the correct statistic is that Raul Alcala won the race for 7 Eleven in 1987, leading a team clean sweep, this error is unforgivable. The book is a decent read but perhaps only because there are no other books written on the subject matter.
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Great look at the last days of cycling, March 18, 2012
By Andrew C
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Great read for cycling fans, especially those who can remember Eric Heiden and the 7/11 guys. Alex Stieda's yellow jersey and other great moments from (just) before EPO and other drugs changed things. Some classy riders from this time were on the team and the book had good collaboration from them, so things are first hand and informative. Absolutely, read it!
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