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full gas: how to win a bike race: tactics from inside the peloton. peter cossins. yellow jersey press hardback. 314pp. £16.99

full gas - peter cossins

there should have been a manual handed out at school, pointing out that blokes and girls like you and me could actually race bikes while we were still teenagers, that speed and competition were not the sole preserve of the professionals. in my case, i seriously doubt it would have made a great deal of difference; i was born without a competitive bone about my person, but others may have followed the way of the numbered back pocket, ultimately swelling the amateur or professional ranks. life could have been so different.

but that manual would have had need of further explanation. there's no point in saying "go west young man", without pointing precisely in the direction of west. therefore, should any of us have entered the competitive realm, then the uci, british cycling, or the local council would surely have been honour bound to provide a manual advising how our potential speed might be used to arguably greater effect. in a single word: tactics; how to reach the front and stay there till the end.

however, with the realisation that none of the above institutions have seen fit to produce such a publication, we must turn to the latest output from the pen of esteemed author, peter cossins. he has been using that selfsame pen in the furtherance of velocipedinal writing since 1993, during which his acute observational skills have dissected the intricate ways and means in which members of the professional peloton augment their prodigious natural skills. these observations have been encapsulated in this manual masquerading as just another cycling book.

except, it's anything but.

'full gas' features a total of nineteen chapters, each concerned with a particular strategy practised by our modern-day heroes. and most commendably, though professional cycling is predominantly populated by the male of the species, cossins has not ignored the faster of the fairer sex. and perhaps appropriately enough, the chapter entitled a tactical showcase opens with a quote from mark cavendish.

"I hope I'm not alone in thinking the Pro Women's race in #Bergen2017 was the most exciting of the whole week. Perfect way to showcase."

however, before asking in chapter one 'what are tactics?', cossins, perhaps unnecessarily, explains just what he means by 'full gas'.

"And why Full Gas? It is the in vogue term for riding flat out, giving absolutely everything left in the tank. It is the most fundamental tactic of all." of course the very basis of his following exposition is all but undermined by the quote from comedian billy connolly: "Ally MacLeod thinks that tactics are a new kind of mint."

explanation of the various means by which professional cyclists enhance their chances of victory are not, in fact, left solely to the philosophies and conclusions of the author. in the course of investigating the myriad means of arriving at the finish in front, cossins has interviewed a veritable phalanx of practitioners. the previously mentioned mark cavendish is joined by thomas de gendt, nicholas roche, david millar, julian pinot, teejay van garderen and several others well-versed in the art of "chess on two wheels"

in keeping with the contemporary nature of the narrative, cossins has not excluded the possibility of a technological enhancement of those strategies. in a chapter entitled 'is technology killing tactics' cossins states...

"Once it was derailleurs, tri-bars and helmets, now it's disc brakes, radios and power meters."

in this chapter, the author quotes team manager cyrille guimard bemoaning modern day racing as 'a PlayStation game' and claiming that 'radios and power meters are preventing [riders to think and improve], and is far from alone in saying so." but the likes of team sky riding tempo with eyes glued to their bar-mounted srm displays, can quite probably be also considered a tactic (of sorts).

and then there's the tactic we'd all like to learn, own or otherwise acquire: 'how to bluff your rivals'. arguably one of the earliest riders to practise the art was the colourfully named 'hippolyte aucouturier' during 1903's inaugural tour de france, after illness had forced him to withdraw from the first stage, aucouturier was allowed to continue in stage two, a stage that he subsequently won. the autocrat, henri desgrange, rather miffed at this state of affairs, then decreed that, although hippolyte would be allowed to begin stage three, he and others would begin one hour behind the gc contenders. an outraged aucouturier, claiming he would thus be forced to race with 'lesser' riders, stated that he "...wasn't going to bother going flat out on the road to Toulouse. What would be the point, he whinged?"

of course, this was a bluff; aucouturier went flat out from the start of stage three, the subterfuge placing him atop the stage podium once more.

discussion of tactics, strategies and cunning plans will always run the risk of being as exciting as maths homework, a risk confidently avoided by mr cossins. i have long practised the thoroughly objectionable habit of folding the page corners of review copies, those to which i may wish to refer when penning discourses such as this. however, the more absorbing publications tend to have me forget so to do, evidence for which is the number of pages in full gas remaining in pristine condition.

now that itv4 and eurosport are in the habit of broadcasting entire tour stages, if you've every wondered why riders do what they do or even why they don't do what it seems obvious they perhaps ought to do, full gas is probably the manual you need on the arm of the chair. either that, or memorise its nineteen chapters before next you pin a number on your back.

full gas by peter cossins is published on 7 june. thanks to the generosity of yellow jersey press, i have one copy to give away to the chosen sender of the correct answer to the following question.
'in this context, what is the meaning of 'full gas'?
please e-mail your answers, along with a full postal address to brian@twmp.net closing date is monday 11 june.

wednesday 6 june 2018

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