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the call of the road: the history of cycle road racing. chris sidwells. william collins publishing hardback. 426pp illus. £20

the call of the road - chris sidwells

for the majority of time with which i have been enthralled with road cycling, particularly the racing aspects, it has been impressed upon my psyche that it is not only the 'beautiful sport' but possessed of an enviable heritage. stories and anecdotes abound, many of which owe their origins to the lack of official scrutiny applicable to many of the sport's early races. with several arising as a result of a desperate need to sell more newspapers. it's no wonder that journalists were somewhat liberal with their hyperbole. why let the truth stand in the way of a great story?

but separating fact from fiction when related to the history of road racing can be a somewhat thankless task; there is no dvd with phil and paul to place everything in some form of logical order. but many of those stories have been reiterated so frequently in the years since i first clambered aboard skinny wheels, that one could seriously question the need to offer just one more reprise. i confess that such was the frame of mind with which i approached chris sidwell's 'the call of the road', only to be more than pleasantly surprised.

yes, many of those stories are repeated here, but when placed in a historical context such as this, they no longer feel like watching an episode of the big bang theory just one more time. sidwells has also contrived to arrange his chapters thematically, mostly in some form of chronological order, but perhaps in more of a relational manner; perfectly justifiable as far as i'm concerned.

my subsequently undermined misgivings were not immediately quashed, however, on reading the author's openng chapter, one which begins with a loose description of just how cycle road racing might be defined.

"A road race is many things. It includes many aspects of life, but magnified; a maelstrom of ambitions, plans, desire,co-operation and treachery. A road race ebbs and flows through the countryside like a living thing, a kaleidescope of colour [...] a chess game played on wheels."

sidwells goes on to appraise the earnest reader of the variations of which road-racing is comprised, essentially that of the single-day event and stage racing "Some single-day races have more history or more notable terrain, and they are called the classics." maybe a tad simplistic, but essentially true. yet rather disappointingly, though probably inevitably, before the second page has ended, we have already entered the three weeks in july that are the tour de france. granted, it probably is one of the greatest single sporting event in the world, but i had hoped it would be subsumed into the greater definition of the sport, rather than being singled out quite so soon in the narrative.

the remaining eleven pages of this introductory chapter are concerned with little other than le tour, but thankfully, that is more or less where this over emphasis ends. without appearing disrespectful, 'the call of the road' seems intent on educating the less knowledgeable as to the arcane nooks and crannies of our sport. thus, it's hard to argue against introducing the tour de france quite so early in the book, possibly the sole race that appears on many folks' horizons. however, despite arrogantly placing myself at the head of the line of road-racing cognoscenti, allegedly well-versed in all aspects of the sport, i found the book far more interesting and intriguing than i had expected.

the author begins with the historical aspects in chapter two, entitled 'the first road races', perhaps betraying the smugness that most of us in the uk can muster when relating that "The first proper road race of which there is a record happened in November 1869. It went from Paris to Rouen on normal roads. But since (Englishman) James Moore also won that race (an earlier victory in paris the previous year has already been mentioned) he is the father of road-racing".

it would be hard to trace the history of road-racing without bringing into play, the parallel history of the bicycle itself, commencing with the ordinary or penny farthing, alongside the so-called boneshaker, which also sported differing sizes of wheels, to the eventual invention and acceptance of the safety-bicycle with its equally dimensioned wheels and eventual pneumatic tyres. in weight and athleticism, these machines were a far cry from the carbon lightweights of today, yet it is surely testament to the grit and determination of their riders that they managed such impressive speeds over terrain that would scarcely qualify for the definition road in modern parlance.

writing about paris-roubaix: "...a lot of the roads in Picardie were cobbled, and the cobbles and weather conditions grew worse as the riders went further north. [...] The reason they were worse... was that the north was the heart of heavy industry in France.
[...]"Josef Fischer won the race in a time of 9 hours and 17 minutes, an average speed of 30.162kph (18.742 mph)"

to illustrate chris sidwells' agreeable manipulation of historical chronology, we need only take a look at chapter 5, entitled 'growing the roots of tradition' which commences in the second decade of the 20th century and ends with robert millar's 1984 polka dots and the troubles in spain the following year. yet, there are 14 more chapters to go. to my mind, this is a logical way to deal with road-racing's history, for what better means of underlining the scot's climbing prowess than to follow it with the introduction of mountains to the grand tours?

father of the tour de france, henri desgrange, was perhaps the instigator of the grimpeur, but his faith in adding the spectacle of the alps and pyrenees seems not to have initially been widely shared. "...people who knew the mountains said that sending raceing cyclists over their high passes was crazy. The mountain roads were blocked with snow for most of the year." [...] "But Desgrange was more intrigued than put off."

and so the narrative continues, offering the reader an immensely readable story, featuring all manner of road racing stories, facts and figures. sidwells has even the nonchalance and wit to entitle his chapter introducing the brits to the european racing scene 'Brentry, Britain Joins Cycling's EU'. he has preceded this with an explanation as to why the time-trial had become almost the sole preserve of british riders under the umbrella of the national cycling union, before the british league of racing cyclists began to entice riders with the prospect of massed start road events and their eventual slow and painful incorporation into european road racing.

neither is women's racing excluded from the discussion, reiterating what we've all known for years "Women have had a bad deal in sport, and there are generations who never got the chance to fully explore and exploit their talent. [...] It's almost unbelievable, but there were no official women's world titles at all until 1958...". sidwells points out how strange a set of affairs this is, "...when you consider that a woman took part in the first ever proper road race."

if you find yourself sitting mute within the sunday morning peloton when the discussion turns to the ubiquitous great heritage that is an integral part of road riding (competitive or otherwise), or perhaps have need of finding the year in which the aforementioned james moore won at parc st. cloud in paris (via the extensive index at the back of the book), then this would undoubtedly be £20 well spent. even if it's simply a case of re-appraising yourself of the context in which your random knowledge exists, chris sidwells offers a comprehensive and enjoyable read before bed each night.

however, my one serious request to the publishers would be that they dispense with the appalling typography featured on the cover and spine when printing the paperback. it really is a worry that someone thought that was a good idea.

'the call of the road' by chris sidwells is published on 28 june'

wednesday 27 june 2018

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................