One of American humorist James Thurber’s most enduring characters was Walter Mitty, a meek and ineffectual Everyman whose heroic daydreams revealed a rich fantasy life that saw him become a World War I fighter pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and even a cool-as-a-cucumber gunman. Cycling can give us that chance to live out our own fantasies, going back in time on old classic bikes to the days of Fausto Coppi when we ride l’Eroica, or taking modern equipment, not that different from what today’s professionals use, to tackle the same roads and mountain passes of the Grand Tours. But just imagine what it would be like to not only ride those famous cols but to do so with the latest knowledge about training, equipment, nutrition from the same people who advise the likes of Tadej Pogačar, or let you prep with Ineos Grenadiers in Andorra! This is the subject of the latest book by British author James Witts, “Riding with the Rocketmen,” the subtitle of which is “One Man’s Journey on the Shoulders of Cycling Giants.”
That subtitle, of course, is a paraphrase of the famous line from Isaac Newton’s 1675 letter to Robert Hooke in which he wrote “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” In essence, we build on the work of others to progress and, with his decision to ride the 2022 l’Étape du Tour, Witts calls upon an impressive collection of experts to get him through the preparation needed to complete this daunting prospect.
How daunting? L’Étape du Tour, first run in 1993, is organized by the Tour de France promoters to allow amateur riders the opportunity to participate in the Tour experience for a single day by riding an actual stage of that year’s Tour de France, usually on a rest day of the real Tour. It features roads closed to other traffic, refreshment stops, mechanical assistance and medical support. The 2022 event was the same as Stage 12 of the Tour that year, covered 167 kms and 4,700 m of vertical ascent, covering three fearsome climbs: the Galibier, the Croix de Fer, and concluding with the Alpe d’Huez and its 21 hairpin turns. All three are Hors Catégorie (HC) climbs. When the professionals had their turn it was a memorable day, with Tom Pidcock catching up to a small group after he descended the Croix de Fer at speeds that hit 105 km/h, and then rocketing up to the finish line at Alpe d’Huez alone. When the amateurs did the 30th edition on July 10, more than 11,000 riders showed up (although 15,000 had registered) with 8,685 finishing within the time limit on a day that saw the temperature exceed 40℃. So even though it was a single day instead of 21, there was plenty of suffering to go around. Especially if you are a Middle-Aged Man in Lycra (MAMIL), weighing in at 92 kg and not doing all that much riding, as was the case with Mr. Witts.
The book is written in the self-deprecating style seemingly beloved of British writers on cycling and while it makes for entertaining reading, one should not be under the impression that the author is some doofus who just left off his training wheels. For many years the editor of one of Britain’s leading triathlon magazines, he has a background in sports science and in addition to writing for numerous cycling publications, his previous book was “The Science of the Tour de France: Training Secrets of the World’s Best Cyclists.” He has done some Olympic distance triathlons, run some marathons and half-marathons, and ridden some sportives—all as a younger man. As a journalist, he has access to professional cycling teams and it is these contacts he works to set up his own program, beginning seven months before l’Étape is a go.
“To mimic the pros would require a level of detail I’d never before applied to my own training. My current fitness levels would need to be assessed, bike position analysed, diet laughed at, training plan set up, build-up events pencilled, flights planned, accommodation booked…even on paper, it looks tiring. In practice, well, the mind boggles.”
So his journey begins with an interview with Team UAE professional George Bennett, who describes his physiology and training methods as an example of what a particular professional undertakes. He is not a fan of indoor training but with the mileage these riders need that is no surprise. For a higher altitude look, Dr. Daniel Green, performance consultant with Team Israel-Premier Tech, has gone through thousands of hours of electronic files to come up with a composite image of the average male professional cyclist. Combing through the data, he found that a typical WorldTour rider cycles 876 hours per year, covering 27,500 kms, of which 326 kms are climbing. Training makes up 57 percent of the total load, with the remainder racing (although there is no calculation shown for non-riding training, such as strength work or stretching or cross-training). In terms of power outputs, 14 percent is anaerobic, 49 percent aerobic and 37 percent from endurance (is this the Zone 2 we all talk about now, or again?). When intensity was high, it was very high, as another study of top Giro riders showed 20 minute power output in the 6.6W/kg range, with VO₂ max scores around 81ml/min/kg. Witts even interviews Oskar Svendsen, the cyclist who registered the highest ever VO₂ max number ever, a startling 96.7, While that rider did win the Junior World Time Trial Championship in 2012, as well as winning the Norwegian title that year, his career was ended in 2014. So the numbers are not everything.
This sets the stage for the author’s own testing at the John Moores University in Liverpool, where he undergoes a whole series of tests, from VO₂ max (47), FTP (215W) and even a lactate test as has now become de rigeur in the pro athletic world. Results in hand, he then goes on to retain a coach who sets up a dedicated training plan for him, recognizing the amount of time he has available, his unmissable Monday night football games, spread over the half year before l’Étape arrives. There is a chapter that covers blood analysis as a way to measure health (and cycling’s history of doping is covered) and the author adds in a regular blood test to his program to see how things are going.
Now comes a focus on equipment as the author goes off for a serious bike fitting, consulting the British expert, Phil Burt, whose excellent book on this subject was one of Pezcyclingnews’ 10 Ten Reads for 2022, but the first setback comes when shortly afterwards the author’s bike is stolen, Undaunted but left only with an old crossbike, he makes lemonade out of lemons and enters a cyclocross race, an exhausting albeit exhilarating experience.
With the Spring Classics underway, Witts joins two friends and they travel to Belgium for the Tour of Flanders sportive, the amateur event that takes place the day before the professional race. His mentor here is none other than Johan Museeuw, the Lion of Flanders who won the race three times, and offers advice on riding the cobbles. The author has entered the event because it seemed like a fun idea (clearly he had no idea what the Paterberg and Koppenberg are like) but also as a way to measure how his training was progressing.
In April he also visits the wind tunnel at Silverstone to see one of the EF-Education Easypost riders getting tested and learning about the importance of aerodynamics, following this up with his own time trial on his road bike to both experience time trialling as an event and also check his ability to hold sustained power for a longer period.
There are chapters on the importance of recovery and the latest science in that field, and an especially entertaining one on “fuelling,” as we now like to call “eating.” His pro team contact here is Owen Blandy, the chef who follows EF-Education Easypost around with his mobile kitchen (check him out HERE) but without family members willing to cook for him, he does manage to get advice from a dietitian.
With all these elements of the project coming together, he must consider the actual course and has an interesting discussion with the developer of the VeloViewer software, which is used by almost all the professional teams to “see” a course virtually in three dimensions. But without the opportunity to undertake a personal recon, the author taps the knowledge of another amateur cyclist who has ridden the three climbs in question and can give practical advice on l’Étape.
Finally, it is Event Day and although one reads about l’Étape each year, it is hard to comprehend the logistical challenges it poses for a solo rider travelling from outside France. The author goes into some detail about this and it seems at first that all the boxes are being properly checked off but then things go awry as his story, from all the science we have learned and admirable persistence he has put into training (his whole training plan is in the book as an Appendix), turns into something reminiscent of the old British “Carry On” comedy series. No spoilers here as to how this excellent book ends, but we can turn to Thurber for the last word:
“Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.”
“Riding with the Rocketmen” may be an entertaining read but it also offers insight into the latest thinking in sports science as the professionals look for every advantage. Its real value is how those lessons, learned with great care and expense, can have their principles applied to improve the cycling performance of enthusiastic amateurs. Well, maybe except for the part about giving up craft beers for a while…
“Riding with the Rocketmen: One Man’s Journey on the Shoulders of the Cycling Giants”
by James Witts
278 pp., softbound
Bloomsbury Sport, London, 2023
ISBN 978-1-3994-0350-4
US$ 20.00/C$27.00/GBP 14.99.
*** “Riding with the Rocketmen: One Man’s Journey on the Shoulders of the Cycling Giants” by James Witts is available for AMAZON.COM HERE. ***
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