October 30th, 2005
Rough Ride
There’s been an argument over at Cheeky Trails about why climbing has better books than cycling. I can count on one hand the number of cycling books I’ve read. And indeed some of them have been dull.
Then again I can’t stand the bravado of todays climbers either.
Yesterday I was lent a copy of Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage. As someone who started my cycling career on the road and quickly had any ideas of natural ability quickly destroyed by Cat 3 racing it’s a bit of an omission that I’ve never read it. Well, I read it from cover to cover last night.
Looking back on the days when drugs meant brandy, caffeine suppositories and syringes of speed seemed almost genteel.
I don’t know that it beats many climbing books for thrills.
I’ve never felt the urge to go for artificial enhancement to improve my race results. Instead I’ve gone for more and more obscure categories. Clydesdale tandem downhill, sir? Second in the UK Nationals back in 1996. Heck, there was once a day when I managed fifth in the UK singlespeed championships. No chance of that these days.
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