The Race Against Time

The fascinating and revelatory story of the epic sporting rivalry between Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman and the start of a revolution in British cycling

For anyone wanting to understand the roots of British cycling's recent triumphs, The Race Against Time is essential reading, and it is Pickering's thorough research that makes it so.

Rouleur, Ian Cleverly's pick of 2013 cycling books

Two rivals, two ways of thinking about the world, very nicely told.

Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree are both highly individual characters  and brilliant bike riders in their own right and this book from Edward  Pickering does them proud with a detailed look at how they contested the  Hour record throughout much of the ‘90s. The story telling is excellent  as befits two such strong characters. Boardman could be seen as the  establishment Team GB figure reserved and scientific while Obree was a  working class maverick riding home-made bikes using parts of his washing  machine. To a degree you can paint their rivalry as that between  science and art but ultimately both were united in their quest to go  faster and their quick intuitive minds.

Sweetspot Cycling Book of the Year shortlist nomination

A great read about a wonderful episode not just in British cycling but in world cycling too. Pickering brings a fresh perspective to the telling of the tale and strips away some of the myths that surround two riders who have become living legends.

The bare essentials is hardly how the modern sport of cycling is best described. With the genius behind the two-wheeled success of Team GB and Team Sky Dave Brailsford describing his philosophy as the 'aggregation of marginal gains', the attention paid to the smallest engineering, physiological and psychological detail is obvious. It is an evolution that is retold quite thrillingly in Edward Pickering's book The Race Against Time. This is the story of the 1990s rivalry of Chris Boardman vs Graeme Obree and their battle for the one hour track cycling record. Boardman remains well-known today thanks to his TV work as a pundit, Obree meanwhile has become a virtual recluse, a superbly gifted athlete who doubles up as an inventor. It's a great story, which in many ways created the base for the later success of Hoy, Pendleton, Wiggins, Cavendish, Froome and Trott.

Philosophy Football, Mark Perryman's autumn sports books review

Edward Pickering is the deputy editor of Cycle Sport magazine and has also written for Cycling Weekly, the New York Times, and Loaded. He was the co-author of Robbie McEwen's autobiography, One Way Road, published in 2011.

When Chris Boardman first raced against Graeme Obree, in a time trial in Newtonards, Northern Ireland, in 1990, it was the start of a rivalry that captivated the British public for a decade and brought cycling on to the front pages. Boardman was the establishment figure: reserved, scientific, middle-class. Obree was the rebel: the Flying Scotsman, working-class, riding a home-made bike. Both were after one thing - to be the fastest man on two wheels. 
 
After Boardman had won Britain's first cycling gold medal for 72 years at the Barcelona Olympics (inspiring none other than Bradley Wiggins to get on a bike), attention turned to the world hour record, the blue riband event of track cycling. Between 1993 and 1996, the pair took it in turns to smash the record, with Boardman's team breaking the boundaries of technology and the loner Obree constantly reinventing ways of building and riding bikes while battling his many demons. 
 
The Race Against Time tells the story of how Britain first started to dominate cycling, but is also about the struggle between art and science, tradition and innovation, commercialism and individuality. It is the tale of two complex characters who redefined the sport and set in motion a new era in British cycling, the legacy of which we enjoy to this day.

Edward Pickering

An insightful, informative and analytical look at those who have stood on the top step in Paris.

Pickering's narratives are cleverly deceptive; it's surprising just how much the author unravels of each winner's character... compulsive reading.

Throughout The Yellow Jersey Club, Pickering asks plenty of pertinent questions which he leaves up to the reader to resolve, which is something I like. It makes reading the book slower - Pickering's actively engaging you with the text - but ultimately more rewarding.

The Yellow Jersey Club contains just twenty-six living members. To become one of this exclusive number requires complete dedication, brutal self-sacrifice and the most extraordinary physical attributes. Yet along with the ability to climb mountains, bomb along time trials and survive all the perils of the road, what really makes a Tour de France champion? 
 
Edward Pickering set out on a mission to ask them, and gained some astonishing insights into the minds of cycling's best ever riders of the past forty years, from giants like Greg LeMond and Stephen Roche to more unfamiliar names like Bernard Thévenet and Joop Zootemelk. With his trademark sharp analysis and deft style, Pickering explores the myriad factors that combine to produce success. 
 
What does it take to accumulate such great mental strength, skill and endurance? What are the differences as well as the key factors in common? What sets these men apart from the rest of the field? The Yellow Jersey Club gives the reader unprecedented access into the secrets of the greats of cycling.

Edward Pickering

Praise for The Yellow Jersey Club

An insightful, informative and analytical look at those who have stood on the top step in Paris.

Pickering's narratives are cleverly deceptive; it's surprising just how much the author unravels of each winner's character... compulsive reading.

Throughout The Yellow Jersey Club, Pickering asks plenty of pertinent questions which he leaves up to the reader to resolve, which is something I like. It makes reading the book slower - Pickering's actively ...

An insightful, informative and analytical look at those who have stood on the top step in Paris.

Pickering's narratives are cleverly deceptive; it's surprising just how much the author unravels of each winner's character... compulsive reading.

Throughout The Yellow Jersey Club, Pickering asks plenty of pertinent questions which he leaves up to the reader to resolve, which is something I like. It makes reading the book slower - Pickering's actively ...

An insightful, informative and analytical look at those who have stood on the top step in Paris.

Pickering's narratives are cleverly deceptive; it's surprising just how much the author unravels of each winner's character... compulsive reading.

Throughout The Yellow Jersey Club, Pickering asks plenty of pertinent questions which he leaves up to the reader to resolve, which is something I like. It makes reading the book slower - Pickering's actively ...

Books by Edward Pickering

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