From the Library: Higher Calling, Cycling's Obsession with Mountains

The final mountain stage (the three-week Tour's deciding stage) of the 2016 Giro d'Italia serves as a kind of bookends for Higher Calling. And why not, the Giro after all, has long been know for its spectacular mountain stages. Like any good mountain road though, what comes between the opening and closing, the first upward ramp and the final summit, lies an unfolding mystery only revealed along a sinuous road marked by twists and turns.

It quickly became evident that Higher Calling was not going to follow any typical "racing in the mountains" book. The aforementioned Giro d'Italia aside, references to cyclings great mountain goats were incidental, and as far between as the gaps the steepest slopes gash into the peloton. Sure the names Gaul, Bahamontes, Coppi, Millar, Hampsten, and others of their ilk crop up, but they occupy far less space on the pages than others such as Aurelien, Jean-Marie-Andre Fabron, Mallory, Bonaparte (as in Napoleon), Baron Haussmann, and les Diables Bleus. These "others," and many more where they came from, may not possess direct ties to cycling, but their roles in bringing cyclists to the highest slopes and passes is indisputable. Higher Calling is as much a tribute to the men, like Aurelien, who clear the roads of snow each Spring, Napoleon who envisioned alpine roads easing the movement of troops to protect his empire and, later, the Blue Devils of the French military who cut, bored and dug many, if not most of the roads along which cyclings most iconic and personal triumphs take place.

If it sounds like Higher Calling is not much of a delve into cycling history and lore, you are right. And you are wrong. It is the lore behind the lore, without which there would be no lore, if you follow my meaning. In many ways it is a cultural study about what attracts us to the mountains, and about how we react to the challenges thrown up by the peaks.

To be honest, when I started reading, I was not sure this book was going to take me where I wanted to go, but the further I got into it, like the further I get into a climb, the less I wanted to stop. Each upward turn in the road draws you further in, compelling you to reach the top, the apex, the finish.

Leonard, Max
Higher Calling: Cycling's Obsession with Mountains

New York: Pegasus Books, 2018