Tour de Force

I have always been a lover of sporting non-fiction. In the run up to the Etape Caledonia this has escalated above even my normal levels. I have practically been devouring any literature to do with cycling. It was due to this that I stumbled upon the excellent Tour de Force by Daniel Coyle. I was in my local Borders and I had pretty much read everything else in the cycling section! I was to be pleasantly surprised. It is an excellent book and surprising in it's honesty. I would have imagined that a book like this, written by someone close to Armstrong, and privy to his personal affairs would have been very bland and controlled. Not so. Coyle gives a detailed account of his time in the Armstrong camp (he and his family moved to Spain and followed Armstrong for a year - no mean feat in itself!) without offering any rigid opinions on what is going on. He allows the reader to make up their own mind. His writing style is excellent and as a result the book will appeal to cyclists and non-cyclists alike.

I have a couple of favourite bits from the book, that I will share with you. Coyle speaks at length about Armstrong's training methods and in particular his relationship with the infamous doctor Michele Ferrari (the good doctor is widely regarded as a doping genius. He has been charged in the past with doping offences pertaining to cyclists and Armstrong has latterly tried to distance himself from Ferrari following public out cry). Interestingly, Armstrong also has another well known trainer, Chris Carmichael, who has made a fortune from his association with the Tour de France champ. It is an interesting area and here is a section from the book on the subject.

Whatever the balance*, it was clear that Armstrong was close to both men; both served his needs in their own way.

*To explore this question, I took a poll. Here are the results:

• US Postal Directeur Johan Bruyneel (diplomatically): "I would say that both Ferrari and Carmichael are important to Lance. Each in their own way."


• Armstrong Agent Stapleton (emphatically): "Ferrari's the trainer but Carmichael is the coach. He's got final say."


• Postal Team Chiropractor Spencer (carefully): "Ferrari's brilliant, and I think there's no doubt that Lance listens to him carefully. On the Tour, I can say that Carmichael is just not that involved. I think he's busy with TV stuff."


• Current Postal team mate Landis (incredulously): "Come on. You've met them both. Who would you listen to?"


• Former team mate Vaughters (knowingly): "That is a very interesting question. There are a lot of people who would say that is THE question."

I particularly like Landis' comment. However, my favourite part of the book covers a different topic altogether. It is when Coyle describes the riders preparation for the Tour de France. It describes a level of conditioning unknown to almost all humans...

"A privileged equilibrium between quality of muscles, acuity of intelligence and force of shear character," the French philosopher and writer Roland Barthes called it. Stepping out onto the razor, the riders call it, a journey into the realm of physiological irony. On the bike, they feel invincible; the pedals seem to float. Off it, they move slowly, delicately. Body fat plummets to malnutritive levels, they are hollow cheeked and paper-skinned; they might get out of breath climbing a short flight of stairs. White blood cell counts drop by 30 per cent; their bodies become vulnerable to all manner of colds and disease. They push elevator buttons with their elbows to avoid germs. They sniffle. They live on the boundary between pathetic sickness and intoxicating power. They push, like Icarus, to see how high they can fly.

I love the term "stepping out onto the razor". I wish I were approaching that level in my preparations. Unfortunately, the only razor I need worry about is the one hovering over my leg hair. But then that's another story...

Col.