Episode 94: “Chewing Glass” or Tim Krabbe’s The Rider

Episode 94: “Chewing Glass” or Tim Krabbe’s The Rider

From Upper Middlebrow by Upper Middlebrow

September 22, 2025 · 1h 15m · Season 3 · Episode 25

About this episode

The episode discusses Tim Krabbe's novel 'The Rider' as a blend of autobiography and fiction, exploring its themes and narrative style.

Tim Krabbe's novel is barely a novel. It is a thinly veiled autobiogrpahical essay, with fictional details and composite characters, allowing the author to navigate his story just to one side of the fiction/nonfiction divide. The lads ponder why it does not fall into the "bike porn" genre, and why the images of teeth and glass continually emerge.

People in this episode

Host: Upper Middlebrow

Topics covered

  • autobiographical essay
  • fiction vs nonfiction
  • cycling literature
  • narrative style
  • literary analysis

Keywords

  • Tim Krabbe
  • The Rider
  • autobiographical essay
  • fiction
  • cycling
  • literary analysis
  • bike porn
  • narrative style

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Rider

More episodes of Upper Middlebrow

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Upper Middlebrow podcast page.