Back in 1996 I’d quit my magazine job and was trying to make a living as a writer. A friend of mine had compiled a collection of stuff people had said about his favorite sport — The Quotable Runner — and he gave me permission to rip off the idea. I did, and sold it to the same publisher, Breakaway Books, which is run by Garth Battista, one of those admirable people who give up the big time — New York City publishing, in his case — to create and run their own thing. I don’t think we ever signed a contract, or even shook hands. Once a year, Garth sends me accounting statements, usually with handwritten corrections and notes, and jots a quick note about his latest sporting obsession. • Although I ended up going back to a real job after my daughter was born — insurance seemed like a good idea at the time — QC and Garth helped me understand what it is I really want to do with my life. And now, more than decade later, every year around the winter holidays Breakaway sells out its tiny print run of QC. I think families and friends of cyclists are too intimidated to even attempt to buy gear or clothing as presents, so they end up with my odd little book. • A lot of people ask me what my favorite quote about cycling is. I wish it was Stephen Crane’s, “Everything is bicycle,” because that really says it all and, as well, is something I believe and live. But, in fact, this quote from Teho de Rooy has lodged itself into me: “Paris-Roubaix is a pile of shit. You’re up to your neck in mud and you’re riding in mud and you don’t have time to piss. It’s a pile of shit. It’s the most wonderful race in the world.”
