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kings of pain. anniversary edition. rapha editions hardback 240pp illus. £45

yesterday's monologue ended with the question why? relating to our predilection for riding drop bar road bikes with (relatively) skinny wheels, even though so doing stared pragmatism in the face and said "no thanks". asking why, might have appeared as a rhetorical question, but that's not really the case. for in a wholly uncommon strategic ploy, i already had the answer on the arm of my comfy chair.

2024 has already been celebrated as the 20th anniversary of rapha cycle clothing, with a birthday party held recently in london to which i was invited, but sadly unable to attend. and while i have been slightly disparaging recently of additions to the company's range of cycle clothing, in point of fact, there is much to celebrate and be thankful for.

to commemorate such an important birthday, rapha commissioned two books from guy andrews' and taz darling's bluetrain publishing, issued under the rapha editions banner. one is entitled 'the extra mile' a review of which will follow in a day or two, while the other is under consideration today: kings of pain - the anniversary edition. its size, heft and production quality would generally take it into the category of 'coffee table book', though in this case, place a wooden leg on each corner and you'd have yourself a very fine coffee table. but this edition of kings of pain is much too important to leave lying strategically in the sitting room, advertising to visitors, the intellectual quality of your velocipedinal persuasions.

it may cost all your pocket-money to buy, but buy it you must.

i recently broached the subject of the definition of cycling and how that varied between even members of the selfsame peloton. but if i make the not altogether unlikely assumption that we're all prisoners of the same obsession, and that we have even minimal acquaintance with 'cycling's rich heritage', then there's the equivalent of the matrix that effectively binds us altogether, whether we realise it or not. the original kings of pain was titled differently; produced by philippe brunel, as le tour de france intimes, it was a book presented to rapha founder, simon mottram, as a present, a copy of which he subsequently handed to photographer, ben ingham, as a means of informing how he wanted rapha's image to be portrayed. as simon mentions in the extra mile:

"First of all, there were almost no photographs of bikes, it's simply the most fantastic portrait of a dozen or so of the best riders from the 1950s to the 1990s. The author [...] realised that cycling is an intensely human sport..."

the original renaming of brunel's book as kings of pain was published by rapha just over ten years ago. this anniversary edition features updated imagery along with writing by the best of the best; paul fournel, herbie sykes, isabel best, andy mcgrath, marco pastonesi, colin o'brien, and guy andrews. there can be few situations where the above writers are outshone, but with the greatest of respect to all, outshone they are by the beautifully reproduced images throughout the 240 pages. if ever you need to answer the question, why you ride a hopelessly impractical road bike, you need only send your interlocutor(s) in the direction of this substantial volume. as i stated in my review of the original volume, 'this might not be how we roll, but it's almost certainly why.'

though there are any number of reasons why you need (not want) a copy of kings of pain, in my humble but probably seriously prejudiced opinion, the black and white photo which spreads itself across pages 50 and 51, is alone worth the price of admission. it depicts a lean but confident fausto coppi, wearing round dark glasses, almost touching elbows with his great rival, gino bartali at the start of stage 11 of the 1949 tour de france. by the end of the same day, coppi would go on to become the first winner of both the giro d'italia and le tour de france in the same year. perhaps quite apposite in the light of pogacar's repeating the feat in 2024.

for those new to the sport, and for whom very little of this appears to make sense in the era of disc brakes, carbon wheels and electronic groupsets, kings of pain succinctly encapsulates cycle-sport's much vaunted great heritage. it might not make a huge practical difference to the sunday ride, but it might join a few dots, and explain why it is that certain inexplicable etiquettes are still observed. essentially it is cycling's equivalent of darwin's theory of evolution, featuring as it does anquetil, poulidor, balmamion, zilioli, bobet and many other important riders from the past. call it nostalgia if you wish, but it paints an imperious picture of the realities once experienced by our heroes.

"...the Stations of the Cross only had 14 stages, whereas ours has 15" [...] "the day would come when (Henri) Desgrange (would) put lead in their pockets on the pretext that God had made man too light." - Henri Pelissier.

if you want to know where you're going, it's best you know form whence you came.

if £45 is perceived as a tad on the expensive side, ask a well-meaning aunt if she'd get you a copy for christmas. alternatively, starve yourself of the daily starbucks. either way, it will be money very well spent.

kings of pain - anniversary edition

sunday 3 november 2024