Book review: Inside Cycling...stories of a lifetime by Michael Breckon

The author in dark glasses in the car behind the Eddy Merckx break in the 1971 Paris-Roubaix.

 

INSIDE CYCLING, by Michael Breckon, is a weighty tome, a gem packed with stories from the last seven decades, a personal history of every facet of the sport, from local to international level, told by a man involved in the thick of it all his life.

This review is a but an attempt to provide a glimpse of what is in store for the reader.

The front cover bears witness to how well connected Breckon became in the sport.  For here he is in this shot of the 1971 Paris-Roubaix, in the dark glasses standing up through the roof of the car immediately behind a breakaway group including Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi and Jan Janssen.

Inspired by the exploits of Tom Simpson the star of the 60s, and also by Brian Robinson, first Briton to win a stage of the Tour, Breckon, then a young hopeful,  also took himself off racing to that hot bed of cycling, Brittany.

An avid time triallist, he was a member of the Yorkshire Road Club winning team in the 1958 British Best All Rounder competition. And he achieved 15th place in the 1961 BBAR.

His devotes a chapter to the famous Bath Road 100-mile trial and  the legendary Ray Booty who made that classic his own.

He devotes another chapter to the women's trialling, with tributes to three of the best women riders of the time.

In the early sixties he emigrated to Canada, staying for 20 years in the cycling mad Province of French-speaking Quebec. During this time he played a key role in the sport’s development there, including contributing to organising of 1974 World Championships in Montreal and the 1976 Olympic Games, as well as the Montreal Six-Day.  

Be it as racing cyclist, journalist, Television and radio commentator,   organiser, or upon his return to England to take up a new post of marketing executive for Raleigh -  a major sponsor at the highest level -  Breckon’s stories take the reader with him.

It’s a seamless journey and you cannot fail to be caught up by his enthusiasm, his sense of history, his delight in recalling great moments in the sports development, of the legendary deeds of the great riders of the past – and the modern era, it must be said.

Like every good story teller,  he makes you feel as if you were there, too, brushing shoulders with the stars, or as a spectator at the road or trackside.

The 19 chapters include his first visit to see the finish of the Tour de France in 1957. He has a profile of French hero Jacques Anquetil; also of Arthur Metcalfe, the only man to win Britain’s Best All Rounder t time trial titles and road r ace title in the same year.

From the highs to the lows, there is a detailed account recalling his first-hand and shocking experience of the terror attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when he was manager of the Canadian team.

No book on cycling would be complete without acknowledging the sports doping history, and this mill stone around cycling’s  neck is deserving of a chapter, too.

He recalls the 1974 Montreal World Championships in which he played a major role in organising.

There are stories of the great British riders, including twice Tour of Britain winner Bill Bradley. Fittingly the final chapter is reserved for a personal tribute to legendary Brian Robinson who was a great influence on the young Breckon.

For Robinson’s stage wins in the Tour during the 1950s can be said to have paved the way for British successes in Le Tour in the New Millennium by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.

Copies of Inside Cycling are available from the author. Contact by email:

michaelbreckon36@gmail.co Price £10 + postage and packaging £4.95 = £14.95. Total.

Author's note: Photographs illustrating chapters of the book are available on a website gallery, exclusive to purchasers. To keep costs down, no photos are included in the book itself, other than the cover shot.