Riding with the Rocketmen: One Man's Journey on the Shoulders of Cycling Giants

"A middle-aged crisis takes many forms..."

Tadej Pogacar has 7% body fat, Chris Froome's resting heart rate is 30bpm, Mark Cavendish reaches sprint speeds of over 50mph. They're super-human cyclists for whom riding 3,500km over 21 stages across the Alps and Pyrenees is a matter of course.

James Witts is 44 years old, fatty deposits nestle on his back and he has a penchant for craft ale. He also rides a little. But not a lot. In his job as cycling journalist, however, he does have unparalleled access to the world's best riders and their world-class support staff.

Which got him thinking - could spending time with the pros, discovering the training, gear and nutritional tricks of the trade, transform this back-of-the-pack sportive straggler into a fit-and-fast frontrunner? Doubtful, improbable though not impossible.

In this entertaining tale, Witts utilises his connections in the industry to gain access to the world's greatest teams and riders to reveal the tricks of the trade that he can then apply to his own less-than-world-class performance. This warm-hearted and amusing tale is of an Everyman dropped into the world of Supermen.

James Witts trains, rides and eats using the regimes of the planet's toughest athletes, to conquer his very own Grand Tour. Will he sacrifice the pub for stamina boosting beetroot juice? Can an altitude mask really send his performance soaring? And will his ego cope with a drag-cutting, little-left-to-the-imagination skinsuit? Learn and laugh on a journey of a lifetime.