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a cyclist's guide to the pyrenees - peter cossins. great northern publishing hardback 240pp illus. £16.99

in the course of my remarkably limited career as a member of the cycling media, i have met many individuals far more conversant with french france than am i. my own experience has been confined to three undertakings of hot chillee's london-paris ride, during all of which i confess i had no real idea where i was until we reached the champs elysees, though amiens cathedral did strike a particularly chord. additionally, in 2014, i spent a fabulous few days at le grand banc in provence, courtesy of the very nice people at rapha. once again, i did glimpse the top of the ventoux on my way to ride the lanesque gorge (the finest day's cycling i have ever experienced), but that's pretty much it.

of course, like many, i do watch the tour on an annual basis, and i will confess to the occsional tv foray into paris-nice. but many acquaintances met along the way appear to have ridden substantial portions of the tour's parcours, with photos of themselves at the summit of many an iconic climb, bragging rights with which i cannot hope to compete. disturbingly, more than i can count on the fingers of one hand, have grovelled their way up the twenty-one bends that comprise alpe d'huez. i am, to put it mildly, somewhat ashamed of my apparent reticence to experience the sporting velocipedinal reality.

the arrival of a pandemic that none of us saw coming, served mostly to undermine any tentative thoughts of venturing across the channel (brexit notwithstanding). however, salvation from sitting silent and aghast during coffee table conversation has periodically arrived in small portions throughout the career to which i made earlier reference. and the latest little package of perfection recently arrived from pyrenees expert, peter cossins. peter is one of those authors who has the uncanny ability to leave any sense of one-upmanship in the basement, using his impressive knowledge of the region to educate even the travel retarded such as myself, making us feel as much a part of the cognoscenti as we plainly aren't.

previous publications from mr cossins' word processor have demonstrated his fearsome grasp of cycling's sporting milieu, but as the title of this latest book would advise, its constitution is that of the humble guide book, offering every twist and turn, to take even the least knowledgeable from one end of the mountain range to the other. as he admits in the book's introduction "Once I'd started to explore more extensively, i realised that there are plenty of books and lots of online information about the climbs of the Pyrenees, particularly the most renowned passes, but very little about the terrain all around them and about other climbs that might be just as challenging..."

but, and it's a question that i did ask myself precisely this question, how good do you have to be at riding up hills to benefit from a guide that promises to describe every nook, cranny and summit on the border between france and spain? having read 'in search of robert millar' at least four times, i once figured i had the makings not only of a grimpeur, but one capable of wearing those polka dots. sadly, the closest i've made it is a pair of polka dot socks and the realisation that being friends with pippa york and having a poster of marco pantani on the wall, do not, in fact, confer the ability to ride up whacking great hills at speed.

however, for others who feel likewise, mr cossins offers a degree of succour. to wit "Ranging from 50-odd kilometres in length to almost 200, these routes have been put together with the aim of providing a wealth of options for riders at all levels." that would be me.

each chapter/climb is well illustrated, not only with images of the region or mountain, but with a tour de france style profile of the route, a rudimentary map accompanied by a literal description of the route and a q/r link to the guide's associated website offering a downloadable file to place on your gps device. all this alongside mr cossins' studied directions from point a to point b. and lest you think that the latter might emulate some of the dry narrative common in other guidebooks, fear not. peter is way better than that.

as the author mentions, "I'm not expecting anyone to carry a book of this size in the rear pocket of their jersey ." (i tried; it doesn't fit). but though there may be a temptation to simply download the gpx files and leave the book on the bookshelf while perusing train, ferry or airline timetables, i would throughly recommend you resist this inclination. a map will show you where to go, but it will not impart the knowledge of an expert. as mr cossins pointed out to me, travel to france opens up on the 9th of june, giving you eight days to plan, read and pack.

over to you.

tuesday 1 june 2021