Book Reviews - by Graham Thompson

Flying Scotsman by Graeme Obree, a cyclist whose achievements range from national records and championships at 10 and 50 miles to being world pursuit champion and holder of the world hour record. He will be long remembered for is extreme position on a machine constructed by himself, and for his life of highs and lows: highs of exhilaration when winning and lows of depression when his ventures failed, ending in attempted suicide and in court. He was very much his own man: mad, brilliant and very human. Read his book, an honest account of his life, and judge for yourself. I have met him twice and he seemed a nice ordinary person.

Lance Armstrong has written two books about his life. Firstly, It’s Not About the Bike and secondly Every Second Counts. Cancer nearly killed him, he fought back and went on to win the Tour de France seven times in a row with the tantalising prospect of more to come. Who knows! Not a great all round cyclist in the mould of Eddy Merckx, but still a great rider who fought back from overwhelming odds to confound the world. If being a great cyclist takes guts and determination, Lance Armstrong has them both in full measure.

In 2003 Les Woodland published The Yellow Jersey companion to the Tour de France, and this is the ideal book to settle arguments about the facts and figures of the best loved cycle race in the world. This is the A–Z of the Tour from the Russian Abdoujaparov (one victory in the classic single day races and seven starts in the Tour) to Zoetemek (sixteen finishes including six second places and victory in 1980). Who was Georges Goffin? Not much is known about him except that he was a Belgian from Liege, rode under false names and has the unenviable record of starting in three Tours and each year abandoning on the first day. At least he could claim to be a Tour de France rider which relatively few people can boast. I have not read the book from cover to cover but it is a fascinating book to thumb through.

Edward Enfield, father of a comedian Harry, has taken up cycling in his retirement and has written two books about this adventures on two wheels. His first book, Downhill All the Way, relates his adventures on his retirement ride from the Channel to the Mediterranean and is more interesting than his second book Greece on My Wheels. Both books are full of quiet humour and gentle observations. Enfield senior did not grow up as a cyclist but probably now wishes that he had discovered the joys of cycling at a younger age. Enfield junior probably thinks his father is a silly old fool, but I take off my hat to his father.

Now for three books written by cyclists about cycling! The TLS has given a good report for Bikie by Charlie Woods and The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton. The latter is a sad and poignant but true story about love, marriage, children and cancer with the author’s life as a cyclist as the common thread throughout the story. This is my favourite of the cycling books recently. Tim Hilton, a journalist, is a life long cyclist who has written One More Kilometre and We’re in the Showers: Memoirs of a Cyclist. This book is 378 pages long: well written, quirky in parts, some facts not quite right with honourable mentions of F. T. Bidlake and the North Road. I am happy to report that it is good to read books written sensibly and sensitively about our sport and pastime. We can say that we have been there and done that when we close these books.

And whilst on my travels returning from Scotland I stopped for tea and cakes at Middleton in Teesdale and there just happened to be a second hand bookshop opposite the tearooms and they just happened to have Bicycles up Kilimanjaro by Richard and Nicholas Crane. There in one book was an exploit involving two bicycles and a hill, albeit the highest in Africa, and so far I have reached the tree line with the two brothers. Now this is a story of two mountain bikes being put to the test of a real mountain: not just a ride through the woods or off road in deepest Hertfordshire.

I have another book by a Dutch amateur cyclist who rides a race in La France Profonde, and in the book he describes his experiences during the race: he finishes about fourth. A complete book about one race with digressions into continental cycling, its heroes and its races translated into English. I think the translation from the Dutch or French into English loses much of the flavour and nuances of the original – I cannot remember the title, the author or the name of the person who has borrowed it. But I would like it back!