Book Review- The Secret Cyclist (Yellow Jersey Press, 2019)

The Secret Pro over on Cycling Tips has been a constant go-to for quite some time now. Its insight from the male and female pelotons appears on a very irregular basis, (so it can be disappointing when no article is posted following some big or controversial developments) but as soon as one surfaces, I click over immediately. Of course part of the attraction is trying to piece together details in the articles to try and work out who is behind the keyboard, but the strength of the Secret Pro is that the content is informative and well (ghost) written, so that this is not the overwhelming focus. There have been suggestions that it is the product of more than one pro and their stories merged and the writer often clearly admits to throwing in the odd red herring to frustrate the amateur sleuths, but no matter what the theories, it is always worth a read - it is just a shame that the dispatches from the SHEcret Pro who reports from the women's bunch are even rarer than the male one.

That lead me to this book, which arrived with no fanfare last month- in fact I came across it when browsing in a book shop next to work one lunch time. I normally am quite alert to new books (for example I'm looking forward to William Fotheringham's Beryl Burton offering) so to just happen upon it was a bit strange. It should also be clearly noted that this is not the Cycling Tips Secret Pro- it is generally recognised that he is an antipodean whereas it is more probable-than-not that the unnamed author here is European. But you would expect a book, based on an insider view of the world of pro-cycling to have more of a buzz about it- particularly when thinking about some of the more recent issues that most of us would dearly love to know what the pros really thought- eg Froome and Wiggins' TUE shenanigans, mechanical fraud, DSs and coaches with links to the bad old days etc.

So of course the obvious question- who is the secret cyclist? Did I work it out? Well we will come to that- at the end...

The writing style is quite simple and clear- either this is mostly the work of the cyclist himself or the ghost writer avoided the temptation to avoid any stylistic flourishes. It is basically "this is what happened, this is what I think about it" and to be fair this is probably a strength- this is basically gossip and it is the what happened and why that readers will be interested in, not a more up to date Krabbé or Jean Bobet masterclass in writing about cycling.

Rather than add too many spoilers, it probably makes sense just to briefly summarise some of the topics touched on by the Secret Cyclist, rather than go into detail about what he thinks about them. Phil Gaimon, famous now for his cookie makin', KoM takin' post-retirement antics actually gets a bit of a hard time in the book. Sky/ INEOS are discussed, as well as various controversies over the past few years. Certain equipment brands may not be pleased with the less than glowing (no pun intended) references but then that is the benefit of anonymity ( though some folk may take umbrage with Gaimon's treatment since he actually puts his name to his output).

There are more personal reflections too- about the day to day life, and the need to balance family and relationships alongside training and competition. The SC discusses the decision he and his wife made as to where to actually live, and how work-life balance was key to that. One chapter is actually written by his wife, to give another interesting perspective but one thing that underpins the whole book is the high level of self-awareness exhibited by the author. He is very aware of the bubble in which he lives, and discusses his attempts to have a sustainable life that keeps him in the right place mentally, as well as his preparations for retirement (the Phil Ochs fan in me struggled to avoid using "Rehearsals for Retirement" there...).

The book is easily and quickly read, and may be of a wider interest than just die-hard fans- for example my wife picked it up and was quite interested to read through quite a few chapters. While not choc-a-bloc with earth-shattering expositions, it does sate the desire to find out what (at least some sections of the) World Tour pros think about outside of dull, media trained interviews. However they did have to be careful in case his identify became known because some DSs and equipment manufacturers might not be very pleased with their portrayal. And that leads back to the first point I raised- can the identity of SC be worked out? Actually I think it can, and quite easily with a wee bit of effort. About 20 minutes on Procyclingstats and picking up on a few comments that were designed to be throwaway but reveal more they seem and I am convinced there is only one person who fits the bill. Who is it? That would be giving the game away but if I put on my cryptic crossword hat all I will say is "that options are initially limited...". 😉😎

Book Review- Magic Spanner: The World of Cycling According to Carlton Kirby

Carlton is a commentator on who people have definite opinions- there is a well worn cliché based on a certain yeast extract that I could drop in here but won't. Personally I like Carlton- yes, occasionally he can be infuriating but he knows his job and he does it well- his passion for cycling is real and he isn't afraid to show it (listen to his commentary on Keisse's famous Tour of Turkey stage win or him audibly welling up as he described Stijn Devolder continually battling to come back to the head of the leading group despite countless incidences of bad luck during Paris-Roubaix a few years back). His mastery of language, puns, and stream-of-consciousness verbiage, often in the heat of the battle is to be admired as well as his irreverent lifting of the curtain showing us back stage at the world's biggest cycling races.

So I was looking forward to seeing if this book would reflect his on-screen (or at least on-mic) personality, and it does. The content is strewn with Kirby-isms (probably the most Kirbylike of all being the one about Henri Cornet- I won't spoil it!) so reading it, can at times be like listening to him calling a close GC-shaping summit finish. The tempo throughout seems to reflect that of a stage- sometimes flowing along then suddenly a burst of action, followed by some more calmness before a final flurry. He covers incidents in the race, on the road, in the booth and in media circus and a lot of the tales that involve Sean Kelly, Brian Smith or Daniel Lloyd seem to match up perfectly with the personas they project on screen. In fact they are such central characters they could almost qualify as being credited as co-authors.

One of the things you can definitely say about Carlton is that he has got a high level of self-awareness and this comes through- he is confident in his abilities and at times it may veer a wee bit towards Milwall-esque "No one likes me and I don't care" it is clear he has no misconceptions as to where he sits in regards his profession , almost taking on and relishing the role of the confident pub raconteur, holding court on many subjects and professing on them without fear of contradiction.

The actual content of the book is on the whole every illuminating and humorous. However some of this is lost when he insists on falling back onto lazy, national stereotypes when describing the actions of others- in many cases he refers to them by nationality rather than name, as if that was some kind of explanation as to why they acted the way they did. On the other hand when he is talking about British riders, he goes into great detail to highlight their differences in character and personality and portrays them more as whole people rather than the other Europeans who are often reduced to hackneyed descriptions. Also his clear love of Team Sky/ INEOS and their riders seems to prevent him from criticising them at all, unlike other individuals or teams in the book. Carlton is probably the only person involved in cycling who thinks Sky PR played a blinder in relation to the scandals and situations they have found themselves embroiled in. His profile of Froome plays up some rather unattractive personality traits but presents them as laudable, and doesn't even mention the Sabutomol case- it is only mentioned later in passing in a different part of the book, and when he profiles Wiggins, there is no mention of the TUE stuff either. There is a blind acceptance that Froome was cleared in regards his difficulties despite the fact that he was not vindicated- a rider with fewer capital resources behind him would still currently be serving a suspension. 

Maybe this is the difficulty with producing a book while still working in the media around cycling- it is clear that anything touching on criticism of Sky/Ineos would run the risk of him impacting Eurosport's access to them which they can't afford- see Brailsford's reaction to other media outlets in the past and indeed Carlton admitting here about having to apologise on-air to Froome who had texted him following coverage of an incident at the Veulta- despite Kirby being in the right saying what he said. It is unfortunate because this does spoil the behind-the -scenes no holds barred view that this book is being sold as. Also he gets a wee bit "Little Englander" towards the end when saying that he gets great pleasure about the fact the British riders have been so successful to the detriment of the traditional cycling powers in Europe- an element of exceptionalism normally found in the letters pages of the Daily Mail that doesn't seem to sit so well particularly taking cycling's more internationalist outlook into consideration.

So in summary, some very nice anecdotes, an interesting reflection on elements of life in the cycling bubble but just a bit too much "Johnny Foreigner doesn't like it up 'em" and granting full absolution for Team Sky despite their sins not necessarily having been fully disclosed in the confessional.