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CROSSROADS: Where Did British Cycling Go Right?
British cycling is a worldbeater. But in 1976, the era of Disco Duck, dungarees and 'Diddy' David Hamilton, a British professional world road titleholder or Tour de France winner was as likely as, well, a Wimbledon men's singles champion. What changed?
Some say Lottery funding, technology, the dieback of an old guard ill-disposed to 'continental' bike racing. Did we lose our worries about doping, even while Lance Armstrong had the keys to a medicine cabinet the size of Texas? Perhaps there was a Faustian, Robert Johnson-at-the-crossroads moment, enjoyment of sport for the hell of it deposed by the diabolical money-men behind a new machinelike resolve to win at any cost.
Where Did British Cycling Go Right? is an entertaining search for the conditions that swept British cycling from flatted doldrums to galeforce global sovereignty. Author and ex-competitive cyclist Richard Butterworth takes the reader on a journey of serious analysis, racing and touring nostalgia and wry self-discovery. He discusses the key the shifting patterns of racing, coaching and training; the influence of science, money and politics in delivering once-elusive worldwide success; the reasons why Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie never made it to the TI-Raleigh squad.
Along the way he meets British former internationals-turned-TV pundits, sports scientists and academics, ex-champions, record-holders and racing muckers of old. All offer their own take on how we got from there to here.
Was it worth it? Cycling is probably just the modern world in microcosm, so we should learn to live with the consequences of improvement, even if this means turning everything over to the media barons and plutocrats. Besides, hang the cost, who'd swap Froomie, Wiggo and Cav for Disco Duck, dungarees and 'Diddy' David Hamilton?
Some say Lottery funding, technology, the dieback of an old guard ill-disposed to 'continental' bike racing. Did we lose our worries about doping, even while Lance Armstrong had the keys to a medicine cabinet the size of Texas? Perhaps there was a Faustian, Robert Johnson-at-the-crossroads moment, enjoyment of sport for the hell of it deposed by the diabolical money-men behind a new machinelike resolve to win at any cost.
Where Did British Cycling Go Right? is an entertaining search for the conditions that swept British cycling from flatted doldrums to galeforce global sovereignty. Author and ex-competitive cyclist Richard Butterworth takes the reader on a journey of serious analysis, racing and touring nostalgia and wry self-discovery. He discusses the key the shifting patterns of racing, coaching and training; the influence of science, money and politics in delivering once-elusive worldwide success; the reasons why Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie never made it to the TI-Raleigh squad.
Along the way he meets British former internationals-turned-TV pundits, sports scientists and academics, ex-champions, record-holders and racing muckers of old. All offer their own take on how we got from there to here.
Was it worth it? Cycling is probably just the modern world in microcosm, so we should learn to live with the consequences of improvement, even if this means turning everything over to the media barons and plutocrats. Besides, hang the cost, who'd swap Froomie, Wiggo and Cav for Disco Duck, dungarees and 'Diddy' David Hamilton?
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2017
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