Cycling books

Recently finish Phil Gaimon's book (the fat kid to euro pro one). Quite enjoyable.

Currently reading Peter Cossins' book about the first TdF; some interesting untangling of the various legends of the early Tour.

That ^^ book about early women racers looks interesting; isn't Rapha also meant to be publishing something about women racers soon (Queens of Pain - think it's going to be a coffee table book)?

Full Gas by Peter Cossins is excellent lots of good insights into tactics in the current pro Peleton

Boulting £50 one year late ripping off the cycling podcast book.

The Midlife Cyclist by Phil Cavell (from Cyclefit). Saw it mentioned in the middle aged thread. Quite enjoyed the book and it's levelled my fitness expectations of myself in quite a positive way, I'd say. A few bits of opinion where there should be science, but overall pretty good and lots of sensible advice.

I need to re-read The Pain-Free Cyclist.

I've been meaning to take a look at this - is it likely to be of interest to non-racers/non-serious-training cyclists?

I wrote this for the Pedal Club newsletter, I don't think it's out of place here.

A Golden Age of Cycling
Charles James Pope, edited Shaun Sewell

This book gives an insight to a lost but attractive era of cycle touring, but it has many flaws.

Let us begin with the problems. The production looks OK superficially, but just a first glance inside tells you that the cyclists on the cover illustration have nothing to do with the style of riding practised by the author; they are racing men, Mr. Pope was very much a tourist. This may seem a petty criticism, but it suggests the editor did not really have a feel for his subject.

Just to give one example of this weakness, page 270 has a mention of some one who “pushed up hill and downhill on a top gear in the nineties” You would have thought this needed no explanation, the ‘nineties’ here referring to inches, but the editor gives us a footnote ‘explaining’ that this refers to cadence, that is 90 rpm. Well, ‘if in doubt, leave it out’ would have been a good strategy here. If this were the only error it could easily be forgiven, but I’m afraid it is just one among many.

A more fundamental problem is that the book is a diary which does not appear to have been written for publication, rather more as a memory aid. The great majority of the content is about where the author made his very frequent refreshment stops, where he stayed overnight and what he ate. Places he passes through are usually described as ‘pretty’ or, rather too often, ‘very pretty’ – it seems the only place he really doesn’t like is Watford. It’s like a collection of holiday snaps which are mainly intended to remind the owner of an enjoyable holiday, rather than inform or entertain the viewer.

And yet even the dullest holiday slides can reveal, unintentionally, matters of great interest, especially in the background – so it is with Charlie Pope’s diary. Just one example – a ‘cattle drover’ in South Wales told Charlie that he had once travelled as far afield as England, by which he meant Ross on Wye! The main attraction is the atmosphere of the time which comes across to the reader through small incidents, insignificant in themselves but when combined begin to give the reader a feeling of what it was like to ride on the roads of the twenties. This was a world where travellers expected to make frequent stops for refreshments, and these were provided by individual establishments which reflected the character of the area and the proprietor. There were no chain restaurants with tedious logos and factory produced food; this in itself made travelling more worthwhile and interesting than it can be today.

Pope lived in Hammersmith and generally chose to ride westwards – this gives an added interest to any west Londoner since he often uses routes that we might follow today. Twickenham, Maidenhead, Henley, Benson, Oxford – he refers to ‘the long pull up to Nettlebed’ which I’m sure will be familiar to many of us.

A frustrating aspect for many readers will be the skimpy references to the bikes that were used. He mentions a James, a Chater Lea and three Merlins, but says almost nothing about them. They seem to have been equipped with Sturmey three speeds, but even this has to be inferred from mentions of ‘a 48” bottom gear’, or ‘an 84” top.’ The editor suggests that Charlie was ‘a dab hand at roadside repairs, but my impression is he was not very interested in the bikes themselves – at one point he mentions that the Merlin needed some minor repairs and adjustments, so he took it back to the maker’s shop in Goswell Road. I guess most of us would have dealt with such things ourselves.

If you want to gain detailed knowledge of 1920’s cycle touring this book may disappoint you, but if you enjoy soaking up the atmosphere of this lost age, rather as the typical Sherlock Holmes reader does, then it has plenty to offer.

Just ordered Patrick Field's new book The Cycling Revolution: Lessons from Life on Two Wheels. Saw it mentioned in the CTC mag and was reminded of riding a few bits of LEL with him in 2009.

It's good, very terse short texts, admirable writing. It is to some extent aimed at beginners, but you'll still enjoy it.

I wrote this review for a club magazine, I've posted it here because I think it has an interest for some forum users.

If anyone wants a copy, it's available at £12.99, just over half the original price, from this email:

michael.clark37@ntlworld.com

Ride and Be Damned
Chas. Messenger, Pedal Publishing, 1998. (150pp)

A retro review.

There are a number of excellent stories which have come out of cycle sport: the Coppi/Bartali rivalry, Christophe and his broken forks, Pelissier as a forcat de la route….and from Britain we have the National Cyclists Union / British League of Racing Cyclists conflict. The best aspect of our story is that everyone nowadays would agree that the good guys won.

For the benefit of any reader who does not happen to have already been immersed in the history of British bike racing over the past eighty years or so, it should be explained that the National Cyclists Union (originally founded 1878) was a stodgy conservative body opposed to any form of racing on the road because it believed such racing would cause the government to act against cycling in general and the sport in particular. The British League of Racing Cyclists (founded 1942) was the exact opposite of the Union and believed (correctly as it turned out) that massed start road racing was not just possible but essential, and that the reduction of motor traffic caused by the war made 1942 an unmissable time to start a road race programme. The NCU tried to ban anyone supporting the League from the sport – hence the book’s title. In brief it is an account of the rise of the League from one man’s obsession to an organisation which was recognised by the UCI and effectively took over from the NCU.

Chas Messenger witnessed much of this struggle at first hand, so a great story from the pen of the man who was there: what could possibly go wrong? Why didn’t Ride and Be Damned fly off the shelves and why is it worth re-reviewing today?

It’s worth taking a look at the book’s own story. It does undeniably have defects and was rejected by the main stream publishers; it only exists because Ron Gray took it under his wing and made it, in effect, a Pedal Club publication. It was financed by a subscription from club members (who probably never expected to see their money again) and was essentially an amateur production. It should be mentioned here that the book does not look amateur – it was designed by the Pedal Club’s expert layout man, Ivan Dodd. A professional publishing house would certainly have been able to market the book more efficiently and so would have achieved far greater sales. In the end about half the print run was sold which meant that the subscribers did get their money back and even gained a small profit.

One of the defects of this amateur work is poor editing and there are some glaring faults: to give just one example, Victor Berlemont’s name is spelt differently in two consecutive lines. However, a non trivial problem is Messenger’s way of mixing accounts of the racing into the story of the politics. It would have taken radical editing to separate these two themes which are entangled in a way that makes the book harder work than it should be. It must be true that the League’s successful promotion of big events like Brighton – Glasgow gave it the status and impetus to challenge the NCU so effectively, but the over detailed, blow by blow accounts of these races are a distraction from the politics, which are so complex that a sharp intellect is needed to penetrate them. Let’s hope some clear minded person can use Chas’s text in the future to simplify this story.

This brings us to the reasons why it seems worthwhile revisiting this book now. First there is a certain similarity between British Cycling today and the NCU in 1941. Although BC can claim international successes there is a strong feeling at the grass roots level of cycling that they are not well represented by the organisation which is only really interested in a small elite of potential medal winners. This is particularly noticeable as an apparent lack of enthusiasm for road racing at club level, eerily similar to the NCU, and it was exactly because there was a great desire and enthusiasm for road racing that the League came into existence. Surely it’s a natural instinct for any sporting cyclist to want to race, preferably on the road.

A completely different reason for another look is that since its publication in 1998 a new generation of vintage bike enthusiasts has appeared and many of them are passionate collectors of the bikes and equipment which feature in the many excellent photographs. Here these bikes can be seen being used as their creators intended – in anger.

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Apologies - I completely missed this:

is it likely to be of interest to non-racers/non-serious-training cyclists?

Yes it is. It was most useful to me for managing my expectations of what I should still be able to do, physically.

Most of this book isn’t about bikes, but there’s a mention about bike racing at Brooklands. Several early Brooklands personalities (pre 1910 era) were also competitive cyclists. I knew there were mass start races held there, but I don’t think I realised Brooklands hosted about 20 race meets a year in the 1930s. There was a 100km world championship TT in 1933 which used the outer circuit, part of the finishing straight and a climb up the test hill on every third lap!

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This is a good read if you like a bit of ‘cross.
It doesn’t fall into the trap of just going on about the history of the racing and being all serious about it.

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Controversial Team Sky doctor aside, this was an interesting read. It’s kind of set out with chapters like an introduction to his entry to cycling with British Cycling and Team Sky; the types of changes they made for marginal gains; cycling-related health and medical stuff; a day in the life, on a grand tour; interspersed with chapters which are basically stories and anecdotes. The anecdote chapters weren’t so interesting to me, but some of the non-mechanical related marginal gain stuff was. There was also a chunk dedicated to Jiffygate, which I guess was inevitable, but sort of dragged the book out a bit towards the end. Overall, worth a read IMO.

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Also, didn’t realise Steve Peters, author of The Chimp Paradox, was closely connected to cycling. Been meaning to read that one for best part of a decade, so I might pull it out the library next time I’m there.

Just started this. Immediately, lots of bitterness so I think it’s going to be hard work. So much moaning in the first few pages. I’m about 10 pages in and I’m pretty sure he’s already given enough information away that you could identify him. Which I’m tempted to do.

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I’ve hardly been out of my borough in recent months.

So this morning, I decided to grab a mask, hopped on my fixie, to donate a few cycling books to Look Mum No Hands in Old Street.

Books were all gratefully received, it remains a tough time for businesses in town. Like many of us on this forum, I have known LMNH since day one. These books are accessible to anyone that visits our favourite bike cafe.

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Nice gesture dude.

Would anyone like any of these? Failing which perhaps some kind soul would drop them off at LMNH for me? I can just post them there I guess.

All VGC except the power meter book, which I think was Hippy's and seems to have a light dusting of white powder and very small handprints all over it...

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Those little buggers never clean up after themselves!

If you don't find any takers and end up posting them, I'll take the others off you. I have the PM book and the Obree book already but I'm always trying to grow my bike book collection.

The Ipswich branch of LFGSS never took-off, so they'll be posted either way and no-one else has expressed an interest, so you're welcome to them: let me have your deets.

I could have sworn I got the PM book off you, hence the coke & midgets...

I had two copies of it so it seems likely it was mine. My point is, I don't want it back because I already have it. Same as the Obree one. Although if you're sending them out maybe it'd be easier for me to get rid of them in London?

Ah!

Yes it probably would be, if you don't mind: ping me your deets and I'll get them all off to you.

Fucking books about cycling can fuck off I hate them. I’ve been given some right mingers by ‘well meaning’ family over the years. ‘It’s All About The Ride’ meh, some really bad ‘coffee table’ efforts, some roadie douchebaggery. Someone gave me The Escape Artist years ago, can’t be arsed, and now this: recommended to my mum by my brother that I’d like it. Happily my dog has immediately chewed the corner so I can’t conscionably give it to another victim…

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Bah humbug. There's always a nugget in those books, even for cynical nerds!