Sidwells Chris - The Cycling Bible

Chris Sidwells is an author, journalist and editor who has written over twenty-five books, including some bestselling cycling guidebooks such as the Bike Repair Manual, and has edited numerous others. In 2019 he founded independent publisher Cycling Legends, which aims to tell the untold stories of cycling. He has written over 1,000 articles for Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport, GQ Magazine, Mens Fitness, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Times, the BBC and many more. Chris also talks about cycling on the Cycling Legends Podcast. When he isnt writing or discussing all things cycling, he can be found on his bike riding on- and off-road.

PHOTO: JOOLZE DYMOND

Cycling is a wonderful thing. Its a great way to explore and to travel. The bicycle is an excellent all-round fitness machine. Cycling is accessible, its green and it plays an increasingly important role in active transport, even in carrying goods. Cycling is also a sport with many different disciplines.

The Cycling Bible is your perfect companion to cycling, whether you are new to the sport or have been biking for a while and want to do more. It is a guidebook to the world of cycling; a book to read, to go back to and to use for reference.

The book opens with an introduction to the world of cycling, its possibilities and how it improves life in so many ways. The health and fitness benefits of cycling are huge, but so are the ways in which cycling benefits our environment while also contributing to economies. These benefits are something cycling does all over the world. The introduction also looks at the world of cycle touring and cycle adventure.

There is a guide to bicycle buying, either new or second-hand, as well as advice on how to determine if a bike is the correct size for you and how to set up your bike once you have it. There are many types of bikes, just as there are many types of cycling, but this book helps you cut through all the marketing and hype so you can buy the bike that is perfect for you.

One of the main attractions of cycling, and why it is so accessible to so many different people, irrespective or age, gender or fitness, is that bicycles are infinitely accommodating. Once you find a bike that is right for you and the way you want to use it, it can be adjusted to fit perfectly, and I show you how to do that.

Essentially, cycling is a simple thing: the laws of physics work in your favour and a cyclist in motion is a simple, rather elegant human-powered machine. But there are some basic skills to learn: starting and stopping safely, using brakes and gears efficiently, turning corners and riding through bends, as well as cycling in traffic. All these are covered in this book, and they are easy to master. Youll be confident in no time. However, if you want to take cycling further, whether that be as a hobby, for touring or adventure, or for taking part in competitions and challenge rides, there are further skills to master. The Cycling Bible covers them all.

A large section of the book focuses on fitness, and helping you increase yours with a programme designed so that anyone can follow and adapt it to their own aims and ambitions. The Cycling Bibles approach to cycling fitness is like a pyramid. It starts off building a wide base of general physical preparedness, which not only prepares you for specific cycling fitness, but also better prepares you for life. Its a programme anyone can use at any age, and it improves overall body strength, functional fitness and the way you move all important things when thinking about quality of life, avoiding strains and injuries, and staying healthy as we age.

The specific cycling fitness programme builds on the functional fitness created by following the general physical preparedness programmes. Specific cycling fitness training is provided in an easy-to-understand and adaptable format designed to improve fitness and capabilities in all the disciplines of cycling, as well as numerous cycling challenges.

But improving health and fitness isnt just about doing the correct training. You can train perfectly, but if you dont get the nutrients your body needs it wont adapt to the training you do, no matter how well engineered that training is, so you wont reach your health and fitness potential. Rest is very important too; in fact, the equation for fitness and health improvement is as follows:

EXERCISE + OPTIMAL NUTRITION + SUFFICIENT REST AND RECOVERY TIME = IMPROVEMENT.

The Cycling Bibles guide to nutrition lays bare the key elements of this complex subject, breaking through the jargon and hyperbole to give sound, tried-and-tested advice. This includes what proportions of different food groups to eat to optimise your training, as well as advice on the requirement and role of vitamins and minerals in achieving good health and improving fitness. All of this is presented in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner.

The book also deals with the mind, which plays a massive role in training, and especially in performance. Our minds are complex, and the way we think can be helpful or harmful, especially when taking on cycle challenges or competitions. It really is possible to be defeated by the way you think, and it happens often, even in the highest echelons of sport. The Cycling Bible deals with the role the brain plays in training, fitness and performance, explaining the processes by which we act and react, but does so in a clear manner. It provides advice based on methods used by the best sports psychologists, and things practised by the worlds top cyclists.

Cycling is a wonderful thing to do it opens up a new world, a new way of living, a new way of seeing things and of experiencing nature, and it accentuates the joy of life. Its powerful stuff, and my hope is that