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chased by pandas. my life in the mysterious world of cycling. dan martin. quercus publishing hardback. 325pp illus. £20

chased by pandas - dan martin

the career of a sportsperson of any particular discipline, must surely be comparable to that of the aspiring musician. when a complete naiveté at college, though at one time responsible for providing the beat in four bands, the notion that at least one if not all of those would be touring the world and selling copious numbers of albums, was taken for granted. it's only after several years of playing the same songs in the same venues to the same audiences for the same remuneration, that reality began to make itself known.

and how.

it is a salient fact that 'making it', relies every bit as much, if not more, on being in the right place at the right time, as it does on having the musical ability to take advantage.

the same can surely be said of the 'mysterious' world of cycling, as it is described on the cover of dan martin's autobiography. there are surely more cyclists who apparently possessed the the necessary cojones, stamina and skills who now 'enjoy' the sedate perambulations of the sunday ride, than there are those who subsequently performed on the international stage with the security of a contract in a jersey back pocket. it therefore behoves those who reach the even the foothills of the professional milieu to maximise their recognised potential. enter dan martin.

the book's title refers to the circumstances at play during the final metres of martin's major claim to fame as winner of the 2013 edition of la doyenne'; liege-bastogne-liege.

"It was here that I was chased by a giant panda. Well... by a man dressed as a panda.
"Why was he chasing you?
"I don't know."

the incident is illustrated on the back cover and attested to in the book's photo section. there is also the faint suggestion that martin spent the remainder of his career attempting to discover the identity of that man in a panda suit. sadly, no satisfactory result is revealed.

it seems to be a continuing trend amongst cycling biographies, to commence with the rider's highest profile victory, before settling down in later chapters to relive the life events that led up to that point. i do comprehend the tactic, but i do feel it's a device that has had its day, particularly when there is a more than a soupcon of melodrama included for good measure.

"On the morning of the race, a thought popped into my head: 'I'm going to win today.' [...] This thought, this vision, wasn't an attempt at self-persuasion on my part, and certainly not a moment of misplaced pride. It was a premonition of what I was going to experience. I accepted this omen that sprang from within me."

this approach continues to the introductory paragraph of chapter two; "When I felt the rear wheel slide away in the final corner, I had no idea what was happening. Time seemed to slow as the catastrophe unfolded. I registered the microsecond when the tyre lost its grip on the road surface..."

thankfully, from that point onwards, the book gains a firm grasp of reality and regular prose, redeeming its import in the eyes of this reviewer at least (though i do harbour a few qualms over the chapter headings).

as a noted climber, with the enviable ability to let loose on the steepest of ascents, martin appears keen to instil this first and foremost in the mind of the reader, dividing several pages of chapter two to enlighten us of the climbs that helped shape his psyche and ability to head upward at speed. ("In those beautiful early years, the mountains were already on my horizon.") the first of these is the 65 metres that constitute tamworth pass near birmingham, the city in which martin was born in 1986. this is followed by alpe d'huez, the 21 hairpins of which were experienced by martin junior and senior when on a french holiday at the turn of the century. the alp's 1850 metres are closely followed by the comparatively fewer 121 metres of the mallory park climb, on which a young dan martin clambered through his first race to second place. two years later, he clambered once again, but this time to the top step of the podium.

martin makes no bones about the fact that his cycling hero was dad. "I was my dad's most fervent supporter almost from the moment I was born. [...] He was my role model. My father taught me all about hard work, honesty and courage."

with a distinct predilection for road racing as opposed to the track, despite several successes, an early meeting with british cycling supremo, dave brailsford, brought the realisation that this distaste for riding in circles would mean no official support for his nascent career. it seemed the sole means of help would be to adopt irish nationality, a practical reality due to his parents originating from the two countries. john herety was astute enough to provide contact with frédéric rostaing, manager of vélo club la pomme marseille, a team coincidentally featuring martin's cousin, nico roche, son of tour winner, stephen roche.

the year was 2005 and the beginning of martin's professional vocation.

written in conjunction with pierre carrey, 'chased by pandas' eventually becomes an intriguing read, detailing the twists and turns of what turned out to be an intriguing career, if not definably mysterious. martin was a member of jonathan vaughters' slipstream world tour team, riding alongside current itv4 commentator, david millar, instantly enamoured with this entry to the upper regions of the professional sport, following a self-imposed extra year in the ranks of the under 23s.

"You'll start at the Tour of Ireland. Your first pro race will be in your home country."

as has become commonplace in many cycling biographies, there's comes the necessity to deal with the elephant in the room: drug-taking. martin deals with this through his close friendship with the aforementioned david millar, who served a two year ban for epo use prior to a time-trial in which he was predicted to have taken a drug-free victory. martin expresses not only a distaste for so-called medical assistance, but even for taking painkillers for everyday ailments such as headaches. thus was the encouragement for joining team slipstream who proposed to race clean and eschew use of injections for any purpose.

'chased by pandas' is a self-effacing account of a successful career as a professional cyclist. martin's palmares includes stage wins in all three of the major tours, the tour de france combativity award (2018), the liege-bastogne-liege victory in which the panda first appeared, along with the tour of lombardy and british road race champion of 2008. the book may be a tad on the long side, but few readers could accuse him of self-aggrandisement. and his disappointment with pogacar's team emirates ("It's fine like this, we've always done it this way, for twenty years.' That meant we were twenty years behind our rivals.") was possibly magnified by comparison with his previous position in the well-prepared and self-described 'wolfpack'; patrick lefevre's quickstep.

if you harbour aspirations to become a professional cyclist, this book will not only educate you to the realities, victories and disappointments you'll likely experience, but inspire you to welcome them with open tri-bars. despite its overly melodramatic beginning, 'chased by pandas' is a good solid read, and an excellent testament to a successful career.

dan martin's 'chased by pandas' is published by quercus on thursday 13 october.

wednesday 13 october 2022

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................