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need for the bike. paul fournel. pursuit books paperback. 197pp £9.99

need for the bike - paul fournel

this past weekend, my office colleagues and i visited the machrie hotel for lunch. this particular establishment has been brought back from the dead by a husband and wife who have spent several millions on completely recreating what was once the island's largest hotel. in fact, it holds that honour once again, with a total of 47 bedrooms, a health spa, private cinema and, most importantly for the island economy, a highly regarded links golf course. you will perhaps bear the latter in mind when i inform you that the restaurant in which we dined is known as 18, affording, as it does, a panoramic view of the course.

or, at least, it would have done were it not for the low cloud and drizzle that pervaded most of saturday.

a clue as to the clientele the establishment has been created to cater for, can likely be gauged by my having to ride past five helicopters on the green adjacent to the hotel's front door, when cycling home. suddenly that bright orange and green specialized crux elite leaning against the wall, seemed oh, so insignificant. the second clue as to the hostelry's elite nature was displayed on three posters in the gent's toilet (these may also have been present in the ladies; i didn't ask). each was headed by a view of the golf course followed by a list of the benefits to be gained from the special offer of annual membership for a mere £795.

i can hear many voices in the background, attesting that the value of their bicycles is considerably higher than such a paltry sum, but i would point out that the almost £800 fee is simply to play golf; first one must have the appropriate tools of the trade and preferably, it seems, a helicopter. i seriously doubt any of you are in possession of carbon fibre that retails at higher than that of a bell jet ranger.

in the light of the above information, it would not be too much of a stretch of the imagination to conclude that the cost of entry to the elevated ranks of road cycling is somewhat minimal by comparison. the lowest cost road bike i could find on the website of evans cycles was around £360. i'm not claiming that this would be the choice of a tour de france hopeful, but it would receive no disparaging comments from the sunday morning peloton, at around half the cost of machrie's golf membership. but road cycling (or any cycling, for that matter) is worth so much more than the cost of your first road bike.

were that ever in doubt, you obviously are not in possession of paul fournel's indispensible 'need for the bike'. both the latter and tim krabbe's 'the rider', should be hanging in a tidy cloth bag from the handlebars of each and every road bike sold at evans, halfords, cycle republic and every other cycle retailer in the world. were the trials, tribulations and possibly sheer exhaustion ever to get the better of a cycling newbie, these two volumes would offer the necessary succour to keep going, no matter the adversity that conspires to stop you dead in your tracks.

preceded by a new foreword by the ubiquitous ned boulting, each short, sharp chapter reveals just what a need for the bike actually means. as ned states "My experience of cycling has been captured within the pages of a book written by a man born a generation before me, in another country, whom I have never met."

'need for the bike', particularly in this format, serves as a handbook for the intrepid road cyclist, both those who have yet to experience the joys, pleasures and iniquities contained within, and as a means of reinforcement for those who have. that's not to say that cycling is in need of a manual, because we all know that no-one ever reads those, not even when there's an mdf panel and several screws left over. but, at the risk of arrogance, this isn't that sort of manual.

"When I ride with someone for the first time I immediately cast a glance at his legs to know at which speed we're going to go and to know what my lot will be.
"You can read a cyclist by his legs."

it is perhaps significant that the last of the sections into which this book is divided, is entitled 'ride more', the very essence of the advice dispensed by eddy merckx. 'need for the bike' is highly unlikely to turn you into the next eddy merckx, but that would be very much to miss the point. mr fournel is an author of legend amongst the cycling community, even if a large portion of the latter is unaware of his considerable influence. this book was first published in french as far back as 2001, yet it occupies a timeless space in the velocipedinal firmament. in fifty to one-hundred years, 'need for the bike' will be every bit as essential a read as it is today. james spackman's pursuit books deserves a round of applause for ensuring this part of paul fournel's wisdom persists for all to read.

"You have to know how to make yourself look good for riding. You have to impress your adversary with your elegance. To look good is to already go fast."

monday 17 june 2019

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