From winter training camp on the cobbled lanes of medieval Girona, Spain, to hard-earned stage victories in July's Tour de France, to flesh-shredding crashes at the Tour of Spain in September, Argyle Armada: Behind the Scenes of the Pro Cycling Life delivers an unprecedented look at America's most celebrated cycling team. Embedded with Garmin-Cervélo for its entire 2011 season, writer-photographer Mark Johnson brilliantly chronicles the team's most intimate personal dramas and its public celebrations.

More than a book about racing, Argyle Armada is a portrait of life as a member of a pro cycling team during a time of painful transition for the sport. Johnson unveils the dramatic forces that Garmin-Cervélo must navigate as team founder Jonathan Vaughters tries to push forward his vision of a reformed sport. Along the way, countless difficult decisions must be made to keep the team competitive in the chase for ProTour points, money, respect, and fame.

With all-access insight and spectacular color images, Argyle Armada offers an unprecedented look inside a team battling for the future of professional cycling.

SPORTS/CYCLING

Victory at Paris-Roubaix. Four stage wins, seven days in the yellow jersey, and the team prize at the Tour de France. Stage wins at the Tour of California and the Vuelta a España. Fighting for first place with a budget half that of their main ProTour competitors, the 2011 Garmin-Cervélo team became one of the most admired teams in pro cycling.

Founded in 2003 as a low-key development squad for young American cyclists, by 2011 Garmin-Cervélo had evolved into a fully international enterprise that shook the foundation of the pro cycling establishment. Though the team lacked a lavish budget and the big-name stars of its ProTour competitors, it convincingly won some of the world's greatest races.

Writer-photographer Mark Johnson spent a year embedded with the Garmin-Cervélo professional cycling team, recording its most intimate personal dramas and its public celebrations. From winter training camp on the cobbled lanes of medieval Girona, Spain, to hard-earned stage victories in July's Tour de France, to flesh-shredding crashes at the Tour of Spain in September, Argyle Armada delivers an unprecedented look at America's most celebrated cycling team.

Argyle Armada is a portrait of life as a member of a pro cycling team during a time of painful transition for the sport. Inside the team buses and stage-race hotels, cycling struggles to shake off the hidebound traditions of the past and expand to a global sports franchise. The charge is led by Garmin-Cervélo team founder Jonathan Vaughters and his unconventional band of bike racing revolutionaries.

More than a book about racing, Argyle Armada unveils the dramatic forces that Garmin-Cervélo navigates as team founder Jonathan Vaughters tries to push forward his vision of a reformed sport. Along the way, countless difficult decisions must be made to keep the team competitive in the chase for ProTour points, money, respect, and fame.

With all-access insight and spectacular color images, Argyle Armada offers an unprecedented look inside one team as it battles for the future of professional cycling.

Foreword by Jonathan Vaughters

Mark Johnson has covered cycling as a writer and photographer for national and international publications since the 1980s. His work has been published in cycling titles including VeloNews in the United States, Cycling Weekly in the UK, Velo in France, and Ride Cycling Review in Australia, as well as general-interest publications including The Wall Street Journal and the San Diego Union-Tribune. A category 2 road cyclist, Mark has also bicycled across the United States twice and completed an Ironman triathlon. He has a PhD in English literature from Boston University and has worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the Slipstream Sports cycling team since 2007. His other passion is surfing, which he does frequently from his home in Del Mar, California.