Mark Tomlinson

Get the hardback if you can. Great addition to your bookshelf. A pictorial history of early off road cycling. Wonderful colour photographs of cyclists in bobble hats, rolled up checked shirts and shorts pushing steel framed bikes over hilly and mountainous terrain (some through snow). What I found interesting is that some of the pics from the 1950s and 1970s are similar insomuch the bikes and apparel been worn (ordinary clothes) are very much similar ie there are hardly any changes over that period. A lot to be said about the proliferation of kit available today and raises the question - Is it really all necessary?