by David Teall

While the 2003 Tour unfolds, here’s something for the coffee table. I say that because one need not read the book, though I did, in about three hours. Just pick it up every now and then and browse around. With all of the sidebars, skimming is easy, informative, and sometimes rather interesting. For example, which group of riders pedals the smoothest when tested on the OTC’s high-tech stationary that measures the power applied at each degree of the pedal stroke, the roadies, the trackies, or the mountain bikers? You might be surprised. More useful information is found in two regular sidebar entries that may be of particular interest to the club racer: "Listen to the Coach" and, my favorite, "What Would Lance Do?" You could read through either of these sidebar selections and get your money’s worth.

The rest of the book, divided into predictable and logical cycling chapters, covers all aspects of the sport: equipment, bike handling, tactics, nutrition (Lance says I need only how many calories a day?)—everything—there’s even a spot on flatulence. But this is a serious book with, as the title suggests, an intense focus on training for the competitive cyclist, nicely broken down for beginning, intermediate, and advanced fitness levels. Much of the training content is copyrighted by Carmichael Training Systems, Inc., though some of that copyrighted stuff sounds a lot like that which our own Mark Tyson has shared with us. Good stuff, in any event.

There is, however, one passage that I find puzzling. In Chapter 15 titled "Group Riding" under the subheading "Make it a double," it states that "[i]f traffic is light and the road is wide, groups usually form a double line. Typically, the leaders pull like a locomotive at the front for 15 to 20 seconds, or up to 30 pedal strokes [sic]. Then, traffic permitting, the leaders peel off to the left side [sic] to let the next pair pull through on the right and take over as new leaders" (pages 152-153). Could 15 to 20-second, 30-stroke pulls be correct, or is that a misprint? And how could it be that the "leaders" (plural) both pull off to the left? There is no explanation for this in the text. I can only imagine that the leader in the left lane of the double line pulls off first and the leader in the right lane drifts over and follows him on the same side, the left. To prevent the second row from getting crossed up, maybe that right lane leader could accelerate slightly for a stroke and a half to get some clearance before crossing over. But if this were the way that a double pace line were done, as Lance and Chris say it is, then the second row riders would anticipate both riders peeling off to the left anyway. And, as the two former leaders drift back, the former left lane rider gets to draft off of the former right lane rider all the way back. Efficient, for one at least. But then, when they both get to the back, the former left lane rider gets in first, on the right side, and the former right lane rider takes the left and gets the draft on the way back after the next rotation. And it’s nice trading lanes every rotation if there’s a crosswind. No one rides in the gutter, and it never gets wider than three abreast. Maybe it’s a European thing. In any event, the how-to is not in the book.

As for those 20-second pulls, how’s anyone going to get anaerobic in 20 seconds? Now that’s a Wheelmen thing.

The Lance Armstrong Performance Program. Lance Armstrong and Chris Carmichael with Peter Joffre Nye, 240 pages, St Martin’s Press, 2000 with 2002 update, $15.95.

[For Mr. Teall's own take on pace line riding, see this. Ed. ]