Scott Martin

Ever have trouble explaining your cycling obsession to non-riders ?

"Well, the reason I spent four hours riding in the rain last Saturday is the challenge of flogging, er, pushing myself and the great feeling of, you know, physical fitness that comes from being, uh, cold and miserable and exhausted."

Next time, I'll merely hand 'em a little book I've just come across called The Rider. This 148-page gem does a better job of unveiling the mysteries of our beautiful, painful sport than anything else I've read.

The Rider was written in 1978 by Tim Krabbe, a Dutch author, journalist and chess expert. (Translated into English in 2002, it's available from www.bloomsbury.com )

Krabbe's other books include one on which The Vanishing, a 1993 movie starring Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock, was based.

Krabbe caught cycling fever in his 30s, when he started riding, then training, then entering amateur races. The plot of The Rider couldn't be simpler. It's Krabbe's account of a 150-kilometer road race he did in France, from warmup to final sprint.

Instead of chapters, the book is broken into sections of the race : Kilometer 75-78, Kilometer 134, and so on. Sounds boring as hell, but it's not.

Weaving cycling lore and personal flashbacks into the race action, Krabbe creates a gripping and funny tale. His dead-on descriptions of cycling's quirks, glories and indignities made me groan in sympathy.

Here he's descending in a chilling rain : "The cold skips all kinds of phases, it's in my bones right away. My hands ! My handlebars are an operating table where the cutting is done without anaesthetic."

Read The Rider, then lend it to friends and family. They'll still call you crazy, but now they'll say it with respect.

______________________________________

Tell Scott your gripping and funny tale at scottmartin@roadbikerider.com

page mise en ligne le 10 juin 2004 par SVP

Qui sur SVP?