The Climb: The Autobiography
Page 47
Warming up for the time trial at the Commonwealth Games. I wound up 17th overall in a fi eld of seventy-two riders, but spent over an hour sitting in the leader’s chair after recording the fastest early time. Two managers from the English team fi rst noticed me. Their names were Dave Brailsford and Shane Sutton.
Act III: Under-23 World Championships in Salzburg. After ‘borrowing’ the email address of the Kenyan Cycling Federation to enter myself into the race, my time trial started disastrously when I crashed into a marshal just 200 metres into the course. [Photo credit: Roberto Bettini]
Riding for Team Konica Minolta in 2007. Despite the hightech sponsor’s name, the South African team still ran on a shoestring budget.
In 2007 I rode for the UCI development team, a mixed continental team made up of riders from developing countries based in Aigle, Switzerland.
In 2008 I swapped my Kenyan licence for a British one. I know people who feel they are from Yorkshire and Britain; from Merseyside and Britain; from the Isle of Man and Britain; and so on. Well, I was raised in Kenya feeling that I was of Britain.
Me with my second cycling mentor, Robbie Nilsen. I first met Robbie through the Hi-Q Supercycling Academy, but he has continued to offer me advice and help me train throughout my career. We didn’t know it at the time, but much of our training back then was precisely the same work that we would be doing at Team Sky later.
The red dirt jersey − training in Kenya in 2010 after joining Team Sky.
Stage seventeen, Vuelta a España, 2011. I hadn’t won the Vuelta, but I had won a stage in a Grand Tour – my first win as a professional. I had just been in the greatest mountaintop finish I am ever likely to experience. Just to have been part of it – blow by blow – had been to know the best of our beautiful sport. I had beaten Juanjo Cobo, the hometown hero also known as the Bison, by one second. [Photo Credit: PA Images]
On the Champs-Élysées after the 2012 Tour de France. I finished second on GC, 3 minutes and 21 seconds behind my Sky teammate Bradley Wiggins. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
The 2012 Olympics, London. I won bronze in the time trial, which was an amazing feeling. Afterwards, in a funny way, it felt much better than the Tour podium. It really felt like a privilege just to be standing up there when I got my medal. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
Time-trial training with my mate and Sky teammate Richie Porte.
Mont Ventoux reconnaissance during 2013.
The Team Sky support car follows me during a huge block of training in the Suikerbosrand nature reserve in South Africa.
Resting during the final camp in 2013, pre-Tour de France.
Putting in the final hours off-road.
[All photographs credit: Michelle Cound]
‘The Giant of Provence’: Mont Ventoux, stage sixteen, 2013. [Photo credit: Sonoko Tanaka]
‘The biggest win of my career’ – a great feeling, but afterwards I needed oxygen on Mont Ventoux. [Photo credit: Getty Images]
Earlier on stage eleven, winning the 33-kilometre time trial from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel. From this point on, I wondered if the race could be mine to lose. [Photo credit: Sonoko Tanaka]
A night to remember – on the podium in Paris, being crowned the winner of the 100th Tour de France, 2013. [Photo credit: Sonoko Tanaka]
‘This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time’ – I was so nervous before I gave my speech.
Made in Kenya – my brother Jeremy and I. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
We did it. Me with my African mentors, Robbie Nilsen and David Kinjah. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
‘Smile, Simbaz!’ – me with local kids at Kinjah’s place in Mai-a-Ihii [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
‘Attack’ – taking advice from a real expert. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
I can jump higher than you … unless you’re a Masai. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
My fiancée, Michelle Cound, and I, relaxing on safari in Kenya after the Tour.
‘This is yours’– giving Kinjah a well-deserved thank you present. [Photo credit: Michelle Cound]
Glossary
Swahili
asante sana – thank you
askari – night watchman
bakkie – pickup truck
boda boda – bicycle taxi
bwana – Sir
kijana – youngster
manyatta – village
matatu – colourfully painted taxi
murungaru – gangly kid
mzungu – someone of European descent
panga – machete
posho – powdered maize
shamba – garden
shúkà – traditional red dress of the Masai
sukuma wiki – leafy green vegetable stew
ugali – maize-flour porridge
Cycling Terms
aero bars – handlebars, often used in time trial races, to reduce a cyclist’s wind resistance. A cyclist places his or her forearms in a pair of bars in the centre of the handlebars.
aero helmet – a streamlined helmet designed to reduce wind drag. Often used in time trials.
broom wagon – the vehicle that follows at the back of a road race behind the peloton and the team cars. Picks up struggling riders who are unable to make it to the finish.
cadence – the rate at which a cyclist pedals, measured in revolutions per minute.
categorized climb – most climbs in cycling are designated from category one (hardest) to category four (easiest), based on both steepness and length.
chainring – the large cog carrying the chain on a bike, which transfers energy to the wheel. A chainring consists of one or more sprockets – profiled wheels with teeth or cogs that engage with the links of the bike’s chain. These are in turn driven by the crank arms and pedals.
classics – one-day professional cycling road races. The Five Monuments of Cycling are generally considered to be the oldest and the most prestigious classics: Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Giro di Lombardia.
commissaire – a cycling race official.
compact gearing – compact cranks and chainrings are normally smaller in size than traditional gearing set-ups, offering a lower low gear. This can help when climbing.
criterium – a multiple-lap race around a short distance course.
deep section wheel – a wheel with a deep rim which is more aerodynamic, and which is subject to less drag. Commonly used in time trials.
derailleur – a mechanism that changes gears by lifting the chain from one sprocket to the next.
directeur sportif – team manager, or the person who directs a professional cycling team during a road-racing stage.
domestique – a rider who works for and supports other riders in their team.
dossard – the number on the back of a cyclist’s jersey.
EPO – a performance-enhancing drug. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a naturally occurring glycoprotein hormone which can also be manufactured. When injected under the skin it can stimulate red blood cell production to increase athletic endurance.
equipiér – a team member.
flamme rouge – a red banner that marks 1 kilometre to the finish line.
General Classification (GC) – the overall classification during a stage race. The winner of the race is the rider with the best overall time after all stages.
gruppetto – the group of riders behind the peloton.
Grand Tour – the three major European stage races are referred to as Grand Tours: the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.
hematocrit level – the percentage of red blood cells in blood.
maillot à pois rouges (polka dot jersey) – worn by the leader of the mountains qualification in a stage race. In the Tour de France, this is also known as the King of the Mountains classification.
maillot blanc (white jersey) – worn by the best-placed rider under 26 years of age at the Tour de France,
and other stage races.
maillot jaune (yellow jersey) – worn by the overall leader on GC in the Tour de France, and other stage races.
maglia rosa (pink jersey) – worn by the overall leader on GC in the Giro d’Italia.
maillot vert (green jersey) – worn by the leader in the points competition in the Tour de France and other stage races. Normally contended by sprinters.
neo-pro – a cyclist in their first year as a professional.
out-of-category climb – any climb that is harder than category one is designated as out-of-category or hors catégorie (‘beyond categorization’).
OVL – overlapped.
DNF – did not finish.
palmarès – a pro cyclist’s list of achievements, showing their key race results.
pavé – paved road surface, often known as ‘cobbles’.
peloton – the main group of riders in a cycling race. Also known as the pack or bunch.
skewer – the rod mechanism that attaches a wheel to a bike.
soigneur – a person who assists the riders in a team. Jobs include massage, support during races and training, transportation, and the organization of accommodation, equipment, food and other supplies.
SRM power meter – a device fitted to a bike to measure the power output of a rider.
TUE – therapeutic use exemption.
turbo trainer – equipment used to warm up before a race or to train indoors on a stationary bike. Some trainers consist of a clamp to secure the bike, a roller that presses up against the rear wheel and a mechanism that offers resistance to pedal against.
UCI – the International Cycling Union.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to David Walsh, for taking the time to get to know me and for writing a book that truly reflects my character. I’ve enjoyed sharing my life with you and appreciate the friendship and guidance that you’ve given me over the last few months. Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you to my wife to be, Michelle, for your dedication in seeing this project through. Without your commitment this book would not have happened, at least not in the next ten years. You have been instrumental in the development of my career over the last few years, and I would not be where I am today without you.
Thank you to everyone who wants to read my story and to get to know me beyond what they see at the Tour de France in July. This book is for you. I hope you enjoy it!
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VIKING
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First published 2014
Copyright © Chris Froome, 2014
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Typeset by Jouve (UK), Milton Keynes
ISBN: 978-0-241-96943-4
* I had only just managed to finish the Trust race, walking over the line. My mum, in her enthusiasm to support me, had driven into me with her car. I convinced her that, despite my injuries, I did not need to go to the hospital, as I was concerned that she might not be able to afford it.
* Tragically, six months after the 2012 Olympics, in January 2013, Burry was hit by a minibus in KwaZulu-Natal. He was dead at twenty-five which was a huge loss, particularly in South Africa where he was an idol to many and one of the best mountain bikers to come out of the country.
* As a good friend of Kinjah’s, I should point out just how impressive a top-fifteen placing really was. The field wasn’t quite the size of the Tour de France peloton. In fact, there were only twenty-nine riders. And I was one of those behind Kinjah! I didn’t really count. Neither did our teammate Davidson Kamau, who finished 25th. Three of the others fell off their bikes and quit.
* Mr Mwangi, I am sorry I impersonated you. To be fair, I did mention it all vaguely before I left, that time when I said that I had ‘sorted something out’.
* You can watch the crash on YouTube in a clip called ‘Three worst time trials’.
* In some parts of America they actually call these big pieces of rock Belgian Blocks. They ended up in America having been used as ballast in ocean-going ships. When the ballast was swapped for cargo the Belgian Blocks were put to the same use as in the lands of northern Europe. They made hard-wearing, bumpy roads with them.
* As I would later discover, my rash wasn’t contagious, and neither was Dr Leinders’s controversial past with the Dutch Rabobank team, about which I knew nothing.
* There has been much speculation over the use of the painkiller Tramadol in Team Sky. I do not take any painkillers or stimulants while training or racing. People have described ‘finish bottles’ containing crushed-up painkillers and stimulants. I do have a finish bottle on occasion, but it contains nothing more than a double espresso. I fully support the introduction of TUEs for Tramadol and any other medication which may be viewed as performance enhancing that is being used without a valid medical reason. I believe the peloton would be a safer place without the use of Tramadol. I did not need or use Tramadol to win the Tour de France and I hope that this serves as an example to others that it is not something that is necessary to compete at the top end of our sport.
* Anto, if you ever read this, I wrote this quote without looking it up!