Entries Tagged 'books' ↓

- Chris Hoy and Britain’s Track Cycling Revolution.

Heroes, villains and velodromes is a fascinating insight into Chris Hoy and the emergence of Britain as a great track cycling nation.

Considering his Olympic medals and success at World Championships, Chris Hoy has a relatively low profile in British sport. The book helps to portray the struggle for success. It includes chapters on Chris’s attempt on the Kilo world Record in Bolivia. (Chris missed out on the kilo record by an agonizing 5000th of a second - an example of the tiny margins that can often decide track racing). See video of record attempt in Bolivia.

It also examines the attitude of the British track team and in particular the enthusiastic direction of David Brailsford. David Braislford can claim a fair percentage of the credit for producing an impressive track record, whilst maintaining a firm anti-drug stance. Team GB conduct their own internal blood tests, which they say give them a good idea about whether anyone might be trying to cheat. Rather revealingly, it is said in the book about 3 continental pro cyclists were told that they were not wanted because their blood tests showed ‘anomolies’ - their names have never been revealed. Their is also an insight into David Braislford’s ‘compassionate ruthlessness’ I guess an important part of building Olympic success.

Richard Moore is an author and journalist. His first book, In search of Robert Miller, was a best seller and won best biography at the 2008 British sport book award.

• Heroes, Villians and Velodromes at Amazon.co.uk
• Heroes, Villians and Velodromes at Amazon.com
• British track cycling Gold

I have begun reading “This Island Race” by Les Woodland which covers the chequered but fascinating history of British cycle racing. (thanks to Ed, for lending)

The history of British cycling is one of many missed opportunities. In a nutshell British cycling was never allowed to develop like continental cycling because road races were outlawed. Even when it is was possible to have mass start races, the British cycling establishment were quite hostile to the ‘professional’ scene. This created an artificial barrier between the different disciplines of cycling. Any British cyclist who wished to make it on the professional scene has, by and large, had to move across the channel.

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‘The classic races and legendary Champions’

• Century of Cycling at Amazon.co.uk
• Century of Cycling at Amazon.com

A century of cycling provides an intriguing overview to the different races in the professional cycling calendar. Quite often books tend to focus on a few big races like the Tour de France. However, this ignores the great classic one day races such as Paris-Roubaix and Milan San Remo.

The author, William Fotheringham, has a clear passion for the sport of cycling. The book takes the time to research some of the fascinating characters which have dominated the sport and some of the more bizarre editions of the race. For example, in the 1949 Paris Roubaix edition, the leading cyclists were sent on a wrong turn and ended up entering the track via the press box. Continue reading →