{"product_id":"2940173398550","title":"The First Tour de France: Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first Tour De France was a far cry from the polished international sporting event we see on television today. Organized by the financially free falling \u003ci\u003eL'Auto\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, the desperate editors thought that organizing a grand cycling tour was the only thing that could save their publication. But in 1903, cyclists weren't enthusiastic about what was pitched to them as a heroic race through roads more suited to hooves than wheels, with bikes weighing up to 44 pounds, on a single fixed gear, for three full weeks. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAssembling enough riders for the race meant bribing unemployed laborers from the suburbs of Paris, including a butcher, a blacksmith, a chimney sweep, and a wrestler. Through these characters' backstories, Cossins paints a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s. The race itself is packed with mishaps and adventure amp;ndash; in part due to the fact that water was scarce at the time, so the men drank wine and beer throughout, often keeling over from their bicycles in a drunken stupor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere was no indication that a ramshackle cycling pack would draw crowds to throng France's rutted roads and cheer the first Tour heroes. But they did, and cycling would never be the same again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Hachette Audio production.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hachette Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47179891048688,"sku":"2940173398550","price":25.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940173398550_p0.jpg?v=1763848063","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940173398550","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}