Faster by Michael Hutchinson

RichN95.
RichN95. Posts: 27,241
edited April 2014 in Pro race
I've just finished reading this book and just as Iain says that everyone should read The Sports Gene, I would recommend that everyone read this too. It's right up there with the best books about cycling I've read.

I often see around the internet people scoffing at Sky's 'scientific approach' (and other teams) asking what are they doing different. Well this book solidly answers that question. It's clear from reading it that there's been a massive revolution in cycling over the last few years. Certainly what many internet observers thing is relevant science is hopelessly behind the times

As with The Hour, it's breezily written, laced with self depreciating humour and easy to consume for the layman.

It basically covers physiology, nutrition, training, psychology and aerodynamics.

If nothing else, read it so you can school anyone constantly banging on about ancient concepts like VO2 on twitter. (Even wind tunnels seem old hat).
Twitter: @RichN95
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Comments

  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Thanks for the recommendation - I may pick this up at some point. May not like what I read though.

    Great TT record this chap has. He is one of those people who tweet incessantly.

    Did he ever ride for a pro team? Was he happy to be just a UK tester?
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    http://accidentobizarro.wordpress.com/2 ... utchinson/

    Odd tweet by MH on that page. Not sure I understand.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    frenchfighter wrote:
    http://accidentobizarro.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/book-review-faster-by-michael-hutchinson/

    Odd tweet by MH on that page. Not sure I understand.

    It's because if you open a book, the first page often containing the copyright information
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    I'd rather take my saddle off and go on a four hour ride
  • wardieboy
    wardieboy Posts: 230
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    I'd rather take my saddle off and go on a four hour ride

    Kinky bugger!
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    I really enjoyed The Hour, much more than his 'comic' articles.
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • xscreamsuk
    xscreamsuk Posts: 318
    Great read, need to read it again to comprehend properly some of the scientific bits.
  • mm1
    mm1 Posts: 1,063
    This is a really good book, thoroughly enjoyable. Although not a training manual, there's lots of useful stuff in there, but it also clearly explains while I'll never be fast. I rode past Hutch after he did a 19' ride in our open 10 last year (only Alex Dowsett has gone faster on our course) and asked how he managed to go so ******* fast, he just smiled. I now know that if he'd ridden home after the event, Hutch would have gone faster than I did "racing".
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    mm1 wrote:
    This is a really good book, thoroughly enjoyable. Although not a training manual, there's lots of useful stuff in there, but it also clearly explains while I'll never be fast. I rode past Hutch after he did a 19' ride in our open 10 last year (only Alex Dowsett has gone faster on our course) and asked how he managed to go so ******* fast, he just smiled. I now know that if he'd ridden home after the event, Hutch would have gone faster than I did "racing".

    put him on a railway bridge and see him suffer

    Dowsett (and Wiggins) and all the others are a different class - he's just a weightlifter
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    mm1 wrote:
    This is a really good book, thoroughly enjoyable. Although not a training manual, there's lots of useful stuff in there, but it also clearly explains while I'll never be fast. I rode past Hutch after he did a 19' ride in our open 10 last year (only Alex Dowsett has gone faster on our course) and asked how he managed to go so ******* fast, he just smiled. I now know that if he'd ridden home after the event, Hutch would have gone faster than I did "racing".

    Horses for courses. I beat him in the National Hillclimb champs a few years ago, and I finished in the 90s. Hell of a tester though.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    edited April 2014
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    mm1 wrote:
    This is a really good book, thoroughly enjoyable. Although not a training manual, there's lots of useful stuff in there, but it also clearly explains while I'll never be fast. I rode past Hutch after he did a 19' ride in our open 10 last year (only Alex Dowsett has gone faster on our course) and asked how he managed to go so ******* fast, he just smiled. I now know that if he'd ridden home after the event, Hutch would have gone faster than I did "racing".

    Horses for courses. I beat him in the National Hillclimb champs a few years ago, and I finished in the 90s. Hell of a tester though.

    I was in the top ten of the first student championships he won (for Cambridge) in the 10 tt

    That hour attempt was shocking and I was there - I think it is ridiculous we can produce beefy testers on A roads and even talk about it

    2012 46th :x UCI TT World Championships Men (WC)

    GB
    WIGGINS Bradley Sky Procycling
    2 FROOME Christopher Sky Procycling
    3 THOMAS Geraint Sky Procycling
    4 HUTCHINSON Michael
    5 BOTTRILL Matthew [www
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    mm1 wrote:
    This is a really good book, thoroughly enjoyable. Although not a training manual, there's lots of useful stuff in there, but it also clearly explains while I'll never be fast. I rode past Hutch after he did a 19' ride in our open 10 last year (only Alex Dowsett has gone faster on our course) and asked how he managed to go so ******* fast, he just smiled. I now know that if he'd ridden home after the event, Hutch would have gone faster than I did "racing".

    Horses for courses. I beat him in the National Hillclimb champs a few years ago, and I finished in the 90s. Hell of a tester though.
    In the book he talks about his sprinting ability and how at some cycling exhibition in a static bike sprint contest he gets beaten (in full kit) by a cop wearing his boots and a stab vest (maybe it was NapD). The cop says if he'd known how easily he'd win he would have kept his helmet on as it would have been funnier.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    he is shit - forget it
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    he is shoot - forget it

    Did Hutch spill your drink once?
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    he is shoot - forget it

    Did Hutch spill your drink once?

    :wink:
  • mm1
    mm1 Posts: 1,063
    put him on a railway bridge and see him suffer

    Dowsett (and Wiggins) and all the others are a different class - he's just a weightlifter[/quote]

    He's candid about his limitations as well as his abilities, which helps make his book a useful insight into what does and doesn't make a fast straight line rider. Of course there's more to being a racer, which he doesn't go into...
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    mm1 wrote:
    put him on a railway bridge and see him suffer

    Dowsett (and Wiggins) and all the others are a different class - he's just a weightlifter

    He's candid about his limitations as well as his abilities, which helps make his book a useful insight into what does and doesn't make a fast straight line rider. Of course there's more to being a racer, which he doesn't go into...[/quote]

    his abilities don't transfer into anything we talk about on here
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    Somebody got out of the wrong side of the bed.
    I think the post is about his book, and he's a smart guy who writes well. Get over it.
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    Special Guest's spoiling for a fight on a Friday night. The kebab shop's shut

    :P
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    Special Guest's spoiling for a fight on a Friday night. The kebab shop's shut

    :P

    I'm prescribing a course of Tramadol for SGS. :wink:
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • Crozza
    Crozza Posts: 991
    Is he a pro or just a good amateur with a regular day job?
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    Crozza wrote:
    Is he a pro or just a good amateur with a regular day job?

    He's a pro. I think that's why there's a bit of resentment in some quarters. Matt Bottrill for example is probably more talented but has a family and full time job.
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Well he is a pro but only because he is paid a little. He survives on money from writing and other things. He tweets 100s of times of day so clearly doesn't have a job or have to spend much time training. He has a phd in law. He is all the TT records in this country. I have never heard of any of the teams he has TT'd for. He is not a road racer. He didn't do great at all at the WC against pros - would like to read about his experiences of that one for an explanation.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,031
    I suppose to be fair to him he took up the sport as an adult when he dated a woman whose dad was a cyclist (I think). He's done pretty well considering and I dare say that he had enough talent to have made it as a pro road racer at some level if he had taken the sport up as a child and had the breaks. The same could be said of many riders of his generation and older. I wasn't aware there was any resentment about his success, I don't see why there would be there is nothing stopping anyone trying to live off sponsorship and winnings from bike racing.

    Somewhat against expectations I enjoyed The Hour so I must look up one of his more recent books.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    Loved The Hour. Love Hutch. Looking forward to reading this.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    I don't understand why people are so begrudging towards him... I make my living in procurement, he makes his by Time Trialling and writing. I'm not the best in the world, neither is he. He's obviously a clever bloke with a talent over 10 and 25 miles and he's been at the top of the game in the UK for over ten years.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • MiddleRinger
    MiddleRinger Posts: 678
    I enjoyed it. Not quite as much as The Hour but still a good read.

    More here: http://www.wheelsuckers.co.uk/profiles/blogs/book-review-faster-by-michael-hutchinson


    frenchfighter wrote:
    He didn't do great at all at the WC against pros - would like to read about his experiences of that one for an explanation.

    It's in there. Lots of pondering on why the pros are faster than him.
    ~ ~ How fast is fast enough? ~ ~ ~ ~ Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania ~ ~
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Yellow Peril wrote:
    Richmond Racer wrote:
    Special Guest's spoiling for a fight on a Friday night. The kebab shop's shut

    :P

    I'm prescribing a course of Tramadol for SGS. :wink:

    I collapsed unconscious into a pile of empty special brews :D
  • ozzzyosborn206
    ozzzyosborn206 Posts: 1,340
    he was guest speaker at our club dinner a few years back and IMO he came across as a tool, he said the reason he is so good is because he has a massive lung capacity, he saidthat he only trains 7 or 8 hours a week. Which left me thinking maybe if he trained a bit more he could make a proper living from cycling by being a pro road racer instead of a TTer in the UK.

    But my main gripe with what he was saying that natural talent is the main limiter to how good you can be to a room full of aspiring kids isn't what you should be telling them, i think the message you would get from a speech from Matthew Syed would be much better
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,706
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Dowsett (and Wiggins) and all the others are a different class - he's just a weightlifter

    Congratulations, you win 'Blindingly obvious statement of the week'. Might scoop the 'Chip on shoulder' award too if you keep going. Or has someone held you at gunpoint and forced you to read it aloud?

    I'd far rather read a book by Hutch than anything written by Dowsett or Wiggins. Or Cavendish, for that matter. None of them can write, they should stick to continental bike races. Despite using professional ghostwriters to do all the work Brad and Mark's books were still dire. Cav's first book was so bad it put me off even considering the second.

    And if he's a good weightlifter at least he's not pretending he's a ballet dancer who wins at weightlifting too.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.

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