Pursuit Books – The Bell Bookshop

Beryl

Emma — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Winner of the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2023Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2022THE TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2022A WATERSTONES BEST SPORTS BOOK OF 2022’A marvellous book’ Maxine PeakeCyclist Beryl Burton dominated her sport much as her male contemporary Eddy Merckx, with a longevity that surpasses sporting legends like Muhammad Ali and Serena Williams. Practically invincible in time trials, Burton – also known as BB – finished as Best All-Rounder for 25 years and broke the record for the ’12-hour’ endurance race; an achievement unrivalled to this day. She won multiple world titles, but her achievements were limited by discrimination from the cycling authorities. Yet she carried on winning, beating men and – infamously – competing against her own daughter, whilst working full-time on a Yorkshire farm and running a household. With previously unseen material and through extensive interviews with family, friends, rivals and fellow sporting giants, Jeremy Wilson peels back the layers to reveal one of the most overlooked, yet compelling characters in cycling history.

The Medal Factory

Emma — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

55 Olympic medals. 6 Tour de France victories. Countless world records and world championship victories. Since the year 2000, British Cycling, Team Sky and INEOS have dominated the sport of cycling to an unprecedented degree. But at what cost? Did Sir David Brailsford, Peter Keen and the other brains behind British Cycling’s massive and sudden dominance in the modern era find a winning “Moneyball” formula? Or did their success come down to luck and personal chemistry? Did this organisation, founded on relentless, ruthless efficiency contain contradictions which threatened to overwhelm it, amid accusations of drug-taking, bullying and sexism? The Medal Factory tells the full story from amateurish beginnings through a sports-science revolution to an all-conquering, yet flawed, machine. Through interviews with Brailsford and Keen, Shane Sutton, Fran Millar, Chris Boardman, Sir Chris Hoy and many other key players, Kenny Pryde interrogates the parts of the story – lottery funding, marginal gains – that we think we know, and reveals others that have remained hidden, until now.

Beryl

Emma — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2022’A marvellous book’ Maxine PeakeCyclist Beryl Burton – also known as BB – dominated her sport much as her male contemporary Eddy Merckx, but with a longevity that surpasses even sporting legends like Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams and Sir Steve Redgrave.She was practically invincible in time trials, finishing as Best All-Rounder for 25 consecutive years and setting a world record in 1967 for the distance covered in 12 hours that beat the men. She won multiple world titles, even when the distances didn’t play to her strengths. But her achievements were limited by discrimination from the cycling authorities, and by her strictly amateur status against state-sponsored rivals from Eastern Bloc nations.Yet she carried on winning, beating men and – infamously – competing against her own daughter, while working on a farm and running a household. Her motivation, sparked by appalling childhood illness, is as fascinating as her achievements are stunning. With access to previously unseen correspondence and photographs, and through extensive interviews with family, friends, rivals and fellow giants from across sport, acclaimed journalist Jeremy Wilson peels back the layers to reveal one of the most complex, enigmatic and compelling characters in cycling history. For the first time, he also provides the jaw-dropping answer to how fast she would still be on modern cycling technology.Long ignored by sporting history, Burton’s life story – recently told by Maxine Peake in a stage and radio play – is finally getting the recognition she deserves.

War on Wheels

Emma — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS ‘Cycling Book of the Year’ 2022The strange and thrilling world of Japanese track racing – a cycling and betting culture unlike anything else on earthThe Olympic cycling sport of keirin was invented in Japan more than 70 years ago to raise money to rebuild the country after World War II. Now, fans bet billions of dollars a year on races, with the top riders earning huge sums.In each race, a pacemaker leads nine riders around huge concrete velodromes, then leaves the track with around a lap and a half to go – the cue for a frantic finish as the competitors reach speeds of up to 70 kph. Along the way they block and shove each other, clash heads and occasionally crash (the two Japanese characters used to write keirin mean ‘battle’ and ‘wheel’). To prevent race fixing, the cyclists spend meets living in dorms, with no access to online technology. Their lives are ruled by ritual and fierce competition, from their rookie days at the Japan Keirin School near Mount Fuji to the annual Grand Prix final, whose winner takes home prize money of almost one million dollars.A small number of foreign riders are invited to compete in Japan every year and some, like Shane Perkins, have overcome culture shock to prosper in the home of keirin. Justin McCurry, the Guardian’s Japan and Korea correspondent, explores a blue-collar Japan we rarely see and a uniquely fascinating sporting culture.

Need For The Bike

Emma — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A TRUE CLASSIC OF CYCLING LITERATURE’Nobody evokes the transformative joy of cycling the way Fournel does here … magical’ – Herbie Sykes”I ride to rest and to tire myself out; I ride to do myself good and to do myself harm” … one of the many cycling paradoxes explored in this unique and delightful book. “I’ve never got over this miracle” Starting with the childhood joy of learning to ride a bike, Need for the Bike goes on to relate the agony of climbing, the angst of crashing, and all the other universal moments and feelings which all cyclists will recognise. “To get on a bike is to take possession of the landscape” The sounds, smells, pains and joys of riding with friends or alone, finding things on the road; getting lost, “re-reading” familiar routes; Paul Fournel’s classic comes as close as any book has to an encapsulation of why we all need the bike …