French Revolutions
A review of one of our old favourites, French Revolutions.
0.3
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Every June I begin my annual Tour de France preparations - purchasing the English language version of the official Tour guide, seeking out June's Velo magazine and the official Tour guide in its native French (especially if I'm not actually a spectator that year) and re-reading Tim Moore's French Revolutions.
Published several years ago, this has become something of a cycling classic. It tells the story of the author's attempt to ride the route of the 2000 Tour in the 6 weeks prior to the actual "Grand Depart".
Not unexpectedly, the book opens with Moore's own cycling background and his early Tour recollections (Phil Liggett's unforgettable commentary on Stephen Roche's ascent of La Pagne in 1987 was his first although he first heard of the Tour a decade earlier through a French exchange student). So there are a few pages on how he learnt to ride a bike, the various machines he rode and lost and two-wheeled brushes with authority. Years later, at a moment of weakness (and a realisation that middle age was fast approaching) he announced he was going to ride the Tour de France.
We are then treated to an account of his planning (a map of the route from the previous October's Procycling, the help provided by the people at the very same magazine and on-going frustrations with the Tour's press office), his training (the gym and Chris Boardman's Complete Book of Cycling) and the purchase of a new bicycle, getting the hang of cleats (brings back memories) and how attaching panniers to his new machine was akin to "putting a roof rack on a Ferrari".
Although his tour begins the day after the route of the 2000 Tour was announced, the Tour's press office seemed determined to thwart his journey and protect the secrecy of the route. So his journey involves a great deal of guesswork and plenty of short cuts, both accidental and otherwise (In the end, Moore completes 3,000km of the 3,630km route). It is not the only account of "shadow riding" the Tour de France either. Paul Howard's Riding High describes a similar journey, but French Revolutions is the better read.
Each chapter covers a stage of Moore's tour and every stage brings its own amusing highlights: how many calories need to be consumed to avoid bonking (so to speak), savlon, boils and other intimate discomforts, those strange whirls and clicks coming from the gears, what is the daily alcohol consumption for optimum performance, and finally, all those towns that the Rough Guide to France fails to mention. Anyone who has ever cycled long distances, day after day will relate to the author's experiences - it certainly brought back memories of my first visit to the Pyrenees 18 years ago.
Tim Moore is a travel writer first and cyclist second, a fact reflected in French Revolutions. It is continually amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny. At the time of its publication, the Sunday Times said that Moore was "A contender for Bill Bryson's crown as king of comic travels". An unfair comparison I feel, but then again at the time it seemed like virtually every travel writer was being compared to Mr. Bryson! Nether-the-less, this book is full of witty observations, especially on how rural France prepares itself for the "15 seconds of fame as the Tour careers through at 50kmph". Each chapter is interwoven with a history of the tour, particularly its more infamous and bizarre moments.
Initially a solo journey (but Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride and the ghost of Tom Simpson are constant companions), Moore is joined in the Alps by his own support vehicle, crewed by his family including his vertigo-suffering wife. It is a voyage of discovery: not only in terms of the author's own abilities and fitness, but also finding answers to such questions as "why do cyclists save their legs?" (you have to wait to chapter 16 to get the answer to this one), "why wasn't Chris Boardman even more successful?", "can hayfever tablets enhance your performance?" and "what happens when you fail to adequately clean your bidons?" There are several standout moments: the ascent of the Col D'Aubisque, the stage into Evian and the challenge of completing a circuit of the Champs-Elysees before Paris awakes. But the highlight of both the journey and the book is Mont Ventoux.
Any criticisms? None really. A few photographs would have made a nice addition, although this by no means detracts from the book. It is an excellent book and a personal favourite. A cycling classic and one that I have no hesitation in recommending.
About This Entry
‘French Revolutions’ was posted by Liam Doyle on Fri, 27th June 2008 at 11:17:47 BST and filed under book reviews.
