We have a new contributor, certified nutritionist Marcia Homer, MS, CSN. She'll be sending us a fitness/nutrition essay each month. For February she explains the science behind using coffee as a safe, legal performance enhancer. It's part one of a six-part series on ergogenic aids ( external influences that enhance athletic performance or facilitate physical exercise). You can read her coffee essay here.

Bicycle History

Updated to include 2015

We love this book. Writer James L. Witherell has collected thousands upon thousand of cycling facts and arranged them year-by-year in this irresistible book. We've just released an updated version. You can get it in print or Kindle eBook.

"Were the television show Jeopardy to do a cycling-themed edition, Mr. Witherell's book could easily serve as the basis for each of the show's pieces of trivia. Bicycle History is a delightful volume that is as difficult to put down as a great glass of wine. The book is grab-bag of surprises, reminding us of forgotten riders, details lost to time and triumphs of both people and technology. It delivers to the reader fact upon fact that weave a tapestry of cycling history unlike any I've encountered. I can hear Trebek now: 'This American won the Grand Prix de la Côte d'Azur in 1940.' " - Patrick Brady, Editor Red Kite Prayer.com

Bicycle History by James L. Witherell

 

Enhanced Historical Tour de France Results

In 1940, ahead of the invading Germans, the Tour de France sent its records south to keep them safe. The truck with those records vanished. No one knows what happened to it or its valuable cargo. 

I have a large historical Tour de France results database. But because of this lost data, I have been limited to the top three in the running GC for most years before the war. I have so far been unable to find deeper data anywhere.

Now, a wonderful French gent named Yves has been sending me deeper GCs of each stage of the 1930s Tours de France. I just finished posting 1935. Next up, 1934. If you are a cycle racing history nut, I know this recovery of data previously thought lost will bring a smile to your face and a spring to your step.  

While we're talking about the 1930s Tours de France: the video below is a bit jumpy, but it's still great to see the champions of the era moving and riding instead of merely captured in still shots.

1937 Tour de France

More books coming from McGann Publishing

We've got some terrific books coming later this year. Next will be a real departure for us. David L. Stanley, the voice of several of our audiobooks, has written a riveting book about his bout with melanoma, skin cancer. It's with real pride that we will be offering this valuable, well-written and fascinating book.

Next up after that will be a book about the cycling world championships by that master historian, Les Woodland. No one can make history come alive as Les does. And no historian will bring a smile to your face as often as Les does. He has that wonderful knack of telling  a story with a lighthearted, whimsical touch.

His Cycling's 50 Triumphs and Tragedies was published last year. I now you'll enjoy it. Here's a link to get it in print, Kindle eBook or Audiobook (read by David L. Stanley!)