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the extra mile - rapha editions softback. 395pp. illus. £35

as mentioned occasionally, when it seems a relevant point to make, my formal education ended in aberdeen, studying graphic design. though to no extent does this confer a verifiable critique of my design skills, it does allow me to officially declare myself to be a graphic designer. these skills, such as they are, have been used occasionally to good effect, but what i believe i possess, is an ability to appreciate good design, wherever it deigns to turn up. so before i begin to review the contents of rapha's 'the extra mile', i really must comment on the impressive design to be seen on the cover. this features a single image which wraps across the front, the extra thick spine and the back cover. the only immediate text to be seen, consists of seven block characters: rapha.cc.

the clever bit, other than the epitome of grit and determination portrayed in ben ingham's closely cropped monochrome image of a rapha capped rider, is the rapha logo embossed into the front cover. sat on a book shelf, you might not even know it's there (you can't see it in the image above, but it's there). the alternative might have been to overprint the logo in rapha pink, possibly what i might have done. but the way this branding has been carried out, while risky, shows the same innate understanding of its intended customer as did those adverts appearing on the inside cover of early issues of rouleur: the peanut butter spanner and the leather brogues with red look cleats on the sole. published by bluetrain publishing for rapha editions, the book's design was carried out by former rapha designer, ultan coyle, alongside tim tauschek.

whatever you might think of rapha, it would be hard to deny that, even after twenty years, they still understand the market.

for yours truly, this substantial and beautifully produced book offered a ride down memory lane, mostly to perren street in which imperial works, a former piano factory, sat solidly in london's kentish town. there's the iconic pink sofa on which i sat examining the prototype of the first rapha backpack, imperial works' first venture into luggage and which, in true rapha style, had already been in development for almost a year. and there's the wall of pain which bordered rapha founder, simon mottram's desk. of course, that's all gone now, the cycling apparel purveyor having moved twice since departing perren street in 2014.

and a bike ride down memory lane is, to a great extent, the very raison d'etre behind the extra mile. for all rapha's considerable successes that have populated the intervening twenty years, getting the first jersey over the start line took a great deal of hard work, tenacity and quite literally pain and suffering.

in his introduction, simon mottram offers the first of many insights and admissions.

"...I make no apologies for this book having some of the characteristics of rapha itself: it's quite complex, sprawling, an outpouring, passionate and done differently. [...] The book is part archive, part memoir, part design exercise. It's not designed to be read from the first page to the last."

for those less than in thrall to the characteristics exhibited by imperial works, those words will probably not offer any persuasions contrary to their currently held opinions, but it would be foolish to deny the contribution made by rapha to road-cycling in the past 20 years. but convincing investors to put their money where simon's cycling enthusiasms lay, was hardly a ride in the park. there's no denying that cycle clothing in 2004 was hardly what might be termed 'state of the art', but there's also no denying that cycling was also the very nichest of niche sports, and quite probably not viewed as a portion of industry in which a decent return on investment might be realised.

"In 2003, I was still raising funds for the business and we had not yet designed any products in detail."

when i first engaged with rapha, there was simon mottram, luke scheybeler ("a talented designer and a friend and colleague") and claire wilson, shortly followed by rene groot, all occupying half of one floor in imperial works. on my first visit, guy andrews had joined the party as editor of rouleur; his idea, and published by rapha. i believe clothing technology specialist, simon huntsman, was also working away in the background. i have since visited one or two other cycle clothing companies, and i think it safe to say that, in the perren street days at least, none of them resembled the way rapha worked.

simon has admitted in years gone by, that there is still a core of cyclists who believe that rapha is simply a 'marketing exercise' and not really a clothing company at all. his contention that, if that were true, they'd deserve an award for keeping the charade going for twenty years, is surely answered in the extra mile. it is a book that features comment from many of those who were involved from the beginning, or who have joined in one way or the other, as the years rolled by. this is anything but a founder's monologue with no supporting evidence, even stretching to admitting where mistakes might have been made. perhaps the greatest testament to simon having pushed his vision with singular intent comes from former north american manager, slate olson. "I've worked for some amazing humans. Simon Mottram's probably up there as number one. I had the hardest time beating Simon on both sides of the brain. It was a fun challenge for me, because I'm a bulshitter too. He was a great marketer and also a trained certified accountant so you just couldn't fuck with him on business either."

rapha's spread across the world would surely demonstrate that they have an entrenched customer/fan base, many of whom are probably unaware of the company's origins. in truth, that really doesn't matter; you can appreciate the quality of a jersey without knowing how it came to be delivered to your door. this might appear to be a rather roundabout and potentially expensive means of finding out, but there is a wealth of information in here, some admittedly more relevant than others, stretching from the clothing sponsorship of team sky, to the emergence of north america's rapha continental. the journey, however, is surely every bit as interesting and enticing to those who are relatively new to rapha, as it is to folks like me who were already aware of at least the majority of the story, predominantly because rapha has always been a brilliant storyteller.

yet, as i stated in my opening paragraph, i like good design, as indeed, do the folks at rapha, something we obviously both share with guy and taz at bluetrain publishing who have produced an excellent and often intriguing testament to - love them or loathe them - an innovative strand of present-day velocipedinal life.

the extra mile is also available in hardback at a cost of £55.

monday 4 november 2024