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king of sports: cycle road racing - peter ward mbe. pendle press paperback. 158pp illus £15

this year's eurosport coverage of the giro d'italia has been enlivened recently by the addition of education first/easypost chief executive, jonathan vaughters. in addition to his laid-back colorado drawl, mr vaughters is remarkably well appraised of modern nutrition methods, training schedules, power outputs, bike technology; all the minutiae with which you'd hope a man in his position would be acquainted.

the information with which he has regaled us during stage commentary has been most enlightening, but several aeons removed from fausto coppi's advice to ride a bike, ride a bike, and ride a bike. only a few decades later, eddy merckx, though possibly phrasing it a tad differently, essentially said the same thing. it was probably during the era of chris boardman that suddenly, quantity was no longer the master of all it surveyed, having begun to be supplanted by quality. depending on your point of view, things have either become worse or better since then.

there is now a well-heeled industry surrounding the modern world of competitive cycling, one that has inveigled its way into almost every aspect of the sport/activity, even those in which no real demand exists. only the other day i was on the receiving end of a press release informing me that two members of aerodynamics company, aerotech had succeeded in considerably reducing the time taken to cover the 55 mile route in the annual etape caledonia. thereby hangs an intriguing story, but i'll save that for another day. however, for what i will categorise as the rest of us, the sporting life may consist of a slightly different hue.

staying with the competitive realm for the time being, however, some six decades past, matters were a tad more straightforward and, dare i say it, simpler. and there's no need to simply take my word for it: pendle press director, sherif dhaimish, having found an original copy of peter ward's 1967 book king of sports, effectively a manual for the aspiring road cyclist, opted to revive it for the modern age. and mr ward, later made an mbe for his services to cycling, had excellent credentials for so doing. a stage winner at the 1956 tour of britain, winner of over 30 first class races and a regular cycle commuter to his job as a british aerospace engineer. king of sports, was, in fact, the first manual of its type to be publshed in english.

the mighty dave-t, a man with a wicked sense of humour, told me shortly after moving here to the centre of the universe, that in his day, it was not encouraged to carry a water bottle on the bike if the ride was likely to be of 60 miles or less. this in direct contravention of the current belief that even office workers ought to consume several times their own body weight in water throughout the working day. i was never too sure whether he was winding me up or not, but i need only look at page 29 of the chapter that concerns itself with training.

"When your distances are over 60 miles you can carry food and one bottle of liquid refreshment. take a few extra biscuits or sandwiches as it is far better to arrive home with them in your musette than to die of hunger 20 miles from home.
"Your body's reserves are ample for training under 60 miles."

note the complete lack of mention of isotonic drinks, gels and carbohydrate nutrition bars. just ask tadej what kind of biscuits or sandwiches he prefers on the passo di gavia. however, as mr daimish refers in his publisher's note "Peter's work strips cycling back to the foundation of what it takes to reach your potential on a bike, which isn't the latest gadgets - it's your health, wellbeing and a love for riding." this is not the re-publishing of an ancient work purely for curiosity's sake. many, if not all of the contents of this book were hard won by the premier cyclists of the day. and to risk the overuse of a cliché 'it never did them any harm.'

the contents alone demonstrate that matters have not changed entirely from the 1960s; the subject headings are essentially the same - only the methodology may have changed out of all recognition. aside from the previously mentioned training procedures, mr ward enlightens upon diet, exercise, preparation, clothing, tactics, and good sportsmanship, amongst others. however, perhaps the only one of those that still persists in its original state, is that of sportsmanship. for that reason alone, cycle sport might still be referred to as the beautiful sport.

and as if to prove my earlier point that this is a book for you and i, "It is time all riders realised that if everyone stops correctly at halt signs, police controlled or not, no one will gain an unfair advantage in bunch or breakaway." a book of which the entire contents are firmly rooted in daily reality. and lest we forget that the great champions of the past achieved such deserved adulation for a reason, mr ward quotes fausto coppi as saying "Always remember that the other chap is suffering as much as you are."

though i have no wish to impose my hard-won luddite tendencies upon even those who ought to know better, despite the intervening sixty years since this book was originally published, there is much within that would benefit the current crop of sunday morning pelotons. jonathan vaughters may allude to the current professional riders' ability to consume 120g of carbohydrate per hour, but neither you nor i can or need to do likewise. that said, i cannot say that i have much truck with his advice to consume a plate of uncooked porridge. he's more than welcome to that.

thankfully, within the chapter concerning mechanical equipment, there is no mention of tubeless tyres, one reason, i'm sure, that i favour that era over the present. and it's nice to read of the freewheel (remember them?) referred to as 'the block'. though i now ride a twelve-speed groupset, i still refer to my collection of sprockets in that manner. as does the mighty dave-t. and while there will doubtless be overwhelming public disparagement, mr ward's contention that the racing bicycle frame "...must be built of 531 double-butted or Kromo tubing throughout." is actually as sensible today for the regular cyclist, as it was in 1965.

there is brilliance and worth on every page, but not everyone will realise it.

wednesday 15 may 2024