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time trial. a film by finlay pretsell

way back in the 1990s, we organised (a loose interpetation of the word), time-trials from bowmore's round church, out to the airport at glenegedale and back. to all intents and purposes, the distance was as close to ten miles as makes no difference; at least not on this side of the ferry terminal, but to fulfil the implications of the term time-trial, i acquired a deep-section carbon front wheel fitted with a tubular, a carbon time-trial helmet and fitted a set of tri-bars to the colnago.

ageing memory prevents recall as to where i placed in the local standings on the hypothetical podium, but rest assured, graeme obree had nothing to worry about. we even had a bona-fide 'pusher-offer' to ensure there was no faffing with trying to clip in at the start of these (nowhere near) record-breaking rides. the only thing completely missing was a proper time-trial bike, machinery that, to this day, i have yet to swing a leg over.

but now that we're well into the noughties, it's no longer graeme obree that is uppermost in the time-trial stakes and, in fact, neither is another adopted scotsman, david millar. however, much of milllar's early career centred around his ability in the tour prologue and similar events against the clock. whether this prompted scots film producer, finlay pretsell to make this documentary about the latter part of the rider's career is somewhat unclear; in truth, the only (scarily fast) time-trialling evident in this superb movie is confined to the backdrop to the opening credits.

it is dramatic footage nonetheless, seen from varying angles, including from a bar mounted camera facing towards millar's head. the next one hour and ten minutes features millar's final year of racing, pretty much excluding time-trials, but in the voiceover he gives indication of his tenacity in reaching for victory by recounting his attempt to ride through a fast corner without pulling the brake levers.

"I remember when I was fifteen and I got my first road bike, there used to be this road that I'd go up and down, up and down, because there was just one corner that i couldn't get through without braking. I decided I had to do it, had to get through that corner without braking. And every time I came down it, I had to make sure I took that corner at 50kph and not below.
"I just kept practising and practising and eventually i did it. [It] took me two weeks and I never braked again for it. Ever."

it's well worth my pointing out at this point, that dan deacon's original music score for the film is exemplary; there when you need it and silent when you don't, but the film would be far less effective without it. and whether deliberately or not, there are a couple of sections reminiscent of scotland's the blue nile.

sensibly, if not entirely predictably, millar's doping infraction is dealt with as the time-trialling fades to a shot of him in cofidis colours and phill liggett's commentary. it would surely be the elephant in the room were it ignored altogether and arguably seen as an aferthought if left until later. one interviewer states that a winning tour result was a bit "cat and mouse" to which millar instantly replies "Yeah, but I was the cat." after the victory, he states to another interlocutor "I don't know how I did that", while the footage cuts to a suited millar entering a courtroom to the sound of a voice recounting his victories apparently achieved while using drugs.

however, the film is more of a reality check as to just how hard it is to make a career as a professional cyclist at the top level and how the ageing process begins to rob him of his top line speed. it would be naive to pretend that david millar doesn't come across as a bit of a moaning minnie in the peloton. in one notable scene, he rides alongside geraint thomas, bemoaning the fact that there are riders who ought not to be at the sharp end of racing, a monologue during which thomas simply rides on, as if to get away.

this propensity to look on the pessimistic side is almost comically offset by his garmin directeur sportif and former pro, charly wegelius. when the team mechanic points out that the peloton is getting strung out, wegelius says "They're just going to have to toughen up. You kow what it was like when I was racing? Uphill both ways. Had to take the train to races. Ride to the hotel. Share the toilet. 16 of us. 25 teams in a school. But we loved it, you know? We had passion. We didn't race for the money. We raced for the pride of the jersey we were wearing." shades of Monty Python, methinks.

with hindsight, and rather unfortunately in the light of millar's reformed doper stance, he rooms with thomas dekker, who subsequently published an autobiographical exposé of his own extensive doping regime. millar's transgression, however, is not left alone, with the occasional reminder from commentary or millar himself. in a direct to camera piece, director finlay pretsell asks millar if he would talk about the process of coming back from his two-year drugs ban, to which millar replies, quite matter of factly, "I've said it already hundreds of times. I'd have to think about that...I don't think I can even talk about it anymore. I've literally exhausted it."

'time-trial' is, on at least one level, a highly abstract film, both in view of the overall concept and the footage, of which a very wet and cold 2013 milan-sanremo plays a significant part. and i mean that in highly favourable terms. it's a movie that bears comparison with jorgen leth's 'sunday in hell'. despite millar's apparent dissatisfaction with his vocation, the final piece to camera shows a distraught scot in tears after wegelius drops him from garmin's tour de france squad, claiming that he wanted to ride one more tour before he retired.

though the film's title had me believe i was about to watch a discourse on the art of racing against the clock, but in truth, i had no preconceptions about what i expected to see. what i did see is exceptional; when it reaches a cinema near you, do not dither or prevaricate. just go and see it.

twice.

time trial is part-funded by creative scotland and the scottish documentary institute. it will be released in uk cinemas on june 29. time trial film website

saturday 9 june 2018