Book review and 15% off at Cycle Publishing - 'They'll Never Catch You Now'

They'll Never Catch You Now was published late last year, 25 years after the lead character Terry Davenport rode in his last Tour De France in the novel The Yellow Jersey, both books written by author Ralph Hurne. Terry is back and once again rides his final Tour.

Full disclosure: I wrote to the publishing company, Cycle Publishing / Van der Plas Publications, and asked if they would send me a copy to review as it had recently piqued my interest, having confused it with a sequel to Tim Krabbe's The Rider (a figment of my imagination). My review is really about both books as I thought I should read The Yellow Jersey first.

I have to be honest, I think there are two problems with the books.
Firstly, Terry Davenport is the most unlikeable lead character I have read and I totally fail to empathize with him. I am not sure when the book is set but it's no excuse. Every female 'conquest' is referred to as 'it' and it's no spoiler to say he has an affair with is fiance's daughter who's engaged to his protege. Terry's passion for racing is his, and the book's saving grace, that and his care for his student almost win me over, but he really is an ass. Despite my dislike for Terry's lack of morals, his passion does carry me through the book as I turn pages waiting for the next bit of cycling.

The second problem, though, is that it appears this book is trying to be a cycling book for non-cyclists too. In particular, Mr. Hurne has written paragraphs of dialogue which seem to exist purely to explain cycle racing to the uninitiated. It's obvious and it seems clumsy. Unfortunate really.
Maybe without these interruptions the book would flow more smoothly.

Once you accept the 'cycling-tutorials' the story develops and some of the plot twists, though heavy handed, are pretty tongue in cheek. Maybe these novels aren't meant to be taken quite so seriously. The written descriptions of the training and racing are well done and certainly drew me into the action and encouraged me to keep reading.

So, although not really classics, I am glad I read them both.
This feels like a disclaimer, but if you are interested in reading about cycling, read these two.
They are fun. They are worthwhile.

At Cycle Publishing / Van der Plas Publishing you will find a whole array of cycling titles and more, including Bicycle Repair, The Six Day Bicycle Races, Armstrong's 6th, The Birth of Dirt and the proceedings of the International Cycling History Conferences.

During March you will receive 15% off your order when you enter 'Velopaint' at checkout.

Thanks so much to Ray at Cycle Publishing for the book and for offering this discount to all.

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'Shaver Sport' is Fact!

Here is a cultural difference for you.
Years of watching "American Flyers' and I never knew Shaver Sport is a real company.

Shortly after retiring from competitive cycling, Bob Shaver created ShaverSport, in 1980. He applied his design skills, manufacturing knowledge and racing experience to produce high quality cyclewear fro serious cyclists. The passion to design and produce the best cyclewear available continues to this day.

The movie connection.
In 1985, Warner Bros. asked ShaverSport to produce clothing for the hit cycling film, American Flyers, which included the privilege of featuring the ShaverSport brand on the jerseys of the leading actors, Kevin Costner among them. - taken from ShaverSport site.

Their site is currently under reconstruction so there is not a lot to see right now, but you can get the iconic Team Shaver Sport and Hell of The West Leader's jersey.

It's one champion's jersey you can wear without guilt, after all it is a fantasy.

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Emma Pooley interviewed on Garmin-Cervelo

We caught up with Pooley to see how she’s balancing pro cycling with the demands of a Ph.D. in civil engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Though a towering cycling talent and Olympic silver medalist in the TT, in person Pooley comes across as a humble 28-year old grad student who fell into cycling on a lark.

Taken from an interview with Emma Pooley over on Garmin Cervelo:
http://www.slipstreamsports.com/2011/02/23/catching-up-with-emma-pooley

Rhubarb

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who made a seemingly outlandish claim: The cedar planks that make up the roof and ceiling of the structure got their amber color after being rubbed with rhubarb.- 'Universal Sports.'

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/boris-johnson-reveals-some-velodrome-secrets/NMYceGhoNKgboFJajy93TA

You have to love him!


The Mayor of London displays his PRO qualifications at the London Olympic Velodrome.
photo from sportfeatures.com

Cycling on today's roads.

Today's climate sees US states either clamping down on cycling, including NYPD's recent iron grip in NY's Central Park, or their public servants using cycling as a selling point in local elections, see Chicago's mayoral race (Rahm your 'text me now' placards don't suggest to pull over first). What is a modern cyclist to do, it's a car centric jungle, where do we fit in vehicular law, what are our rights?

According to this children's book it was so much simpler in 1971.
The following pages are a selection from the book 'A Tale of Two Bicycles' by Leonard Kessler.

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Gordon Singleton wins Keirin World Championship in 1982

And he didn't take any nonsense....

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Popular media

If I didn't know better it would appear that Ricco was fired because he 'botched' the transfusion and wasted 12 work days in hospital......

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More gems from British Cycling's You Tube Channel

I have to post these.
I recommend you head over to the British Cycling channel for great videos of action and interviews from this weekends track World Cup and other events.

http://www.youtube.com/user/britishcyclingvideos

Good to see someone found a good use for Segways finally, sick of seeing tourists and cops rolling around Chicago.

Hoy - Keirin boss.

Watch how he rode the final today.

Lets himself drift to the back and lets a gap grow, Gascon from Spain wisely decides to stay in his wheel regardless and follow. 1.5 laps to go and Hoy ups the pace and.... the additional carnage was just eye candy - he had it won anyway.

I don't mean to be dismissive of the crash victims, sure it's exciting tv, it's human nature to watch, but I do know what it feels like and these guys careers depend on not crashing, so no offense intended.

EDIT: Prolly has just posted another BBC view of the Keirin and it's crash which shows the riders desperately trying to get to the line:

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2011/02/2011_track_cycling_world_cup_m.php

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Ron Webb - Six Day rider turned Six Day builder.

There have been a few posts out there recently regarding velodrome builders etc but I haven't seen one for Ron Webb yet....

Cycle tracks constructed by R.V.Webb Consultants

Since 1970 R.V.Webb Ltd has installed 46 small temporary indoor tracks for the promoters of professional 6-Day Race promotions and also as training tracks for local cycling organisations. Many of these installations have been repeated annually in well known European cities, London, Herning, Hannover, Genevé, Bremen, Maastricht, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Leipzg, Bologna.

The first permanent track construction by R.V.Webb Ltd was the Commonwealth Games track in Edinburgh. Further construction and supervision contracts followed in Seoul, Launceston, Ipoh and Perth.

In 1989 R.V.Webb Consultants launched a new concept for design & construction. This design has resulted in record breaking tracks in Athens, Adelaide, Manchester, Wanganui, Taichung, Sydney, Melbourne and Newport. The centenary rebuild of London Herne Hill and the indoor regional training track at Calshot.

This combination of temporary and permanent track venues has given the Company construction experience with 62 tracks to date.

Here is a slideshow showing a track in construction, it looks back breaking.

http://ronwebbcycletracks.com/showreel.html

Cycling Weekly had an interview with Mr Webb in December 2010.

Click on the image below to visit their site to read it.

Scene in Chicago

I saw this very sweet looking machine parked up outside Starbucks at the corner of Lincoln/Damen and Irving Park on Sunday evening. Quite a piece of eye candy. If you know more about it, share it with us.

Also I have a few drawings in progress hoping to get something into a magazine pretty soon. The subject mater is a bit of a departure for me, still bikes, but different.

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Olympic Road Race

There will be discussion about whether or not this course is tough enough - there always is.
I can tell you this it will be pretty spectacular to start in the heart of London on The Mall and ride past so many historic and scenic sights as the race leaves the city. Once into the Surrey hills, the pros will be tackling the climbs that all London amateurs train and race on year round. And years from now young aspiring club racers will hear stories of how, in the Olympics back in 2012, even the big sprinters stormed up those climbs in the big ring. Box Hill isn't hard even by my non-climbing standards, there is at least one steeper climb on the initial loop. It's bloody beautiful though and on Sundays the cafe at the top is a hive of cyclists, the one not far from the bottom is alive with the roar of motorbikes. LondonCycleSport does point out that:

The Olympic committee will now begin a dialogue with local interest groups and stakeholders, including the protection of Box Hill's fauna and flora.

Good point, London's cycling fans will flock to Box Hill, if it is treated like an Alp there will be much trampling of fauna and flora. The National Trust which owns Box Hill is notoriously a stickler for the rules, let's wait and see.

Riding Box Hill, Surrey, UK, September 2009 from LondonCycleSport on Vimeo.

If you do get out there to see the race, the National Trust Cafe is overpriced and I would instead insist you head directly on your bicycles to Fanny's Farm. The finest homemade cakes in all of England.

I'll leave the last word concerning Box Hill to the genius Richard Thompson.

'Domestique'

Here's a shout out to the blog called Domestique.

Domestique is a historic cycling journal. You will find clippings, images, random filings and general romantic cycling non-sense filling these pages. Most likely you won’t find much about carbon, expensive modern components or the like, but once in a while we get a little self-indulgent. Think of it as a history book, but a hell of a lot less boring.

Full disclosure I discovered Domestique after seeing that it featured as a source of incomming traffic to my website, due to a post concerning my American Flyer's drawings. In fact 'Flyer Friday' is one reason to to check out the blog, every Friday he posts something related to American Flyers, what more could you want? It's the perfect companion to Merckx Monday's.

There is also a great article about one of my favorite riders of all time, Fignon.
And the blog just 'looks' great.


Here are a few borrowed screengrabs, please do yourself a favour and visit Domestique.


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it' Snow weather for riding