Book Review: Boy Racer - Mark Cavendish
It’s the equivalent of meeting Cav for a pint back on the Isle of Man...
Boy Racer:
My Journey to Tour de France Record-Breaker
If you think Mark Cavendish is an overly aggressive, boorish and loud racer
and these are all bad things in your opinion, then you’re more likely to enjoy
an afternoon reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest than Cav’s Boy
Racer.
Manx - kid takes an early win Photo courtesy Mark Cavendish
However, if you think that Mark Cavendish is an overly aggressive, boorish
and loud racer and these are all good things, then go get Boy Racer: My Journey
to Tour de France Record-Breaker.
It’s the equivalent of meeting Cav for a pint back on the Isle of Man.
Hey Cav, what do you think about Pozzato? How about Greipel and what’d you
think when he won that stage in the ’08 Giro? Dave Millar?
Hey Cav, what did Thor really say to you after you were relegated and lost
the green jersey in 2009?
So Cav, tell me about what happened at the Beijing Olympics when you and
Wiggins didn’t win the Madison?
And the great thing about Cav is that he’ll tell you exactly what he felt
happened without any of that diplomatic song and dance.
Mark Cavendish does not struggle with undefined emotions.
Boy Racer isn’t a memoir – how could it be when Cav isn’t even close to
thirty? - and the book covers everything from Cavendish’s entry into
cycling as a youth back on the Isle of Man through his years being developed by
the British cycling federation to the 2009 Tour de France.
Photo courtesy Mark Cavendish
The framing of the book, though, is the 2008 Tour when Cav broke the record
for most wins by a British cyclist. The 2009 Tour is somewhat hastily covered in
an epilogue (the book has been in publication in the U.K. for over a year now).
But most cycling fans are already familiar with Cavendish’s palmares, so, for
example, his recollections of his 2009 Milan-San Remo win are more like watching
your favorite film with the director’s commentary playing: you know the outcome
but the principle player is adding interesting accoutrement to whole event. It’s
Cav’s fooking unique voice that makes the book engaging.
If you’ve enjoying following the career of Cav, Boy Racer should be
required pre-Tour reading.
Eary beginnings, training with the national junior team.
Photo courtesy Mark Cavendish
And Cav – just for future reference - Columbia’s headquarters are in
Portland, Oregon (hope the copy-editors caught that before publication!) We have
a velodrome. Come visit. It’d be fooking great fun.
Boy Racer
By: Mark Cavendish
Publisher: VeloPress
ISBN978-1-934030-64-6
Celebrating our tenth year!
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