M
Matthew Haigh
Guest
As some of you may know, I'm a bit of a born-again cyclist; very keen
during the 80s, dropped off in the 90s, and back in the saddle again now
with 100k, 150k and 200k Audaxes in the last couple of months ridden on
my 24 year old bike. Distance has always been my thing, I've never been
interested in the racing side of it; other than knowing a few names like
Mercx and that yellow jerseys at the end of the TdF mean you are likely
to be rather fast, I've not followed anything. I couldn't even have told
you precisely what a time trial was.
For Father's Day my daughter bought me this book (subtitled "Sporting
immortality the hard way"). Picking it up I realised I had no idea who
the author was, or what The Hour was (if you have a similar level of
ignorance, in a nutshell it is getting on a bike on your own on a track,
and seeing how far you can ride in an hour).
The book is a very well written and humourous tale of obsession. Michael
was late into cycling, becoming an accidental athlete; he recounts his
childhood cycling, how he ended up doing time trials and getting
sponsorship, then how he became interested in The Hour.
The record itself has a long history; a large part of the book is spent
describing how it came into being, the colourful characters who have
held it and the UCI wranglings over how it should be run. These are all
interspersed with the tale of his preparations - in a simplistic view
you'd think all he had to do was turn up on his bike and ride for an
hour, but that is far from the truth.
Training, optimisation of the equipment, trying to source a bike that
would match the new rules (brought in to stop technology becoming a more
important factor than the rider; you effectively have to ride on a 1970s
spec bike), nights in cheap hotels and his encouters with the jobsworth
"Blazers and Shoes" UCI man make for an enthralling read. As the end of
the book comes into sight, it isn't clear if he will ever make it onto
the track, let alone break the record (held by Chris Boardman). I won't
spoil the ending if you don't know what happened.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, my wife (who is an extremely reluctant
cyclist and certainly has no interest in sport) is reading it now and is
also enjoying it. It is very funny in places, but perfectly describes
the stresses of building up to an event like this in a self-deprecating
way. I can definitely recommend it.
Matt
during the 80s, dropped off in the 90s, and back in the saddle again now
with 100k, 150k and 200k Audaxes in the last couple of months ridden on
my 24 year old bike. Distance has always been my thing, I've never been
interested in the racing side of it; other than knowing a few names like
Mercx and that yellow jerseys at the end of the TdF mean you are likely
to be rather fast, I've not followed anything. I couldn't even have told
you precisely what a time trial was.
For Father's Day my daughter bought me this book (subtitled "Sporting
immortality the hard way"). Picking it up I realised I had no idea who
the author was, or what The Hour was (if you have a similar level of
ignorance, in a nutshell it is getting on a bike on your own on a track,
and seeing how far you can ride in an hour).
The book is a very well written and humourous tale of obsession. Michael
was late into cycling, becoming an accidental athlete; he recounts his
childhood cycling, how he ended up doing time trials and getting
sponsorship, then how he became interested in The Hour.
The record itself has a long history; a large part of the book is spent
describing how it came into being, the colourful characters who have
held it and the UCI wranglings over how it should be run. These are all
interspersed with the tale of his preparations - in a simplistic view
you'd think all he had to do was turn up on his bike and ride for an
hour, but that is far from the truth.
Training, optimisation of the equipment, trying to source a bike that
would match the new rules (brought in to stop technology becoming a more
important factor than the rider; you effectively have to ride on a 1970s
spec bike), nights in cheap hotels and his encouters with the jobsworth
"Blazers and Shoes" UCI man make for an enthralling read. As the end of
the book comes into sight, it isn't clear if he will ever make it onto
the track, let alone break the record (held by Chris Boardman). I won't
spoil the ending if you don't know what happened.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, my wife (who is an extremely reluctant
cyclist and certainly has no interest in sport) is reading it now and is
also enjoying it. It is very funny in places, but perfectly describes
the stresses of building up to an event like this in a self-deprecating
way. I can definitely recommend it.
Matt
