King of Sports

In 1967, Peter Ward crashed during a training ride. While recovering, he wrote the iconic “King of Sports: Cycling Road Racing,” which hasn’t been republished—until now. Sixty years ago, “King of Sports” offered up-and-comers, trainers, and veterans a proven methodology not just for training and racing, but for embracing the cycling lifestyle. In his foreword, former UCI and British Cycling president Brian Cookson introduces the book to a new audience, making it essential reading for all cyclists.

I was delighted to be asked to write the Foreword for this new edition of King of Sports by Peter Ward. It is perhaps difficult to imagine, in this era when books about cycling are so numerous and ubiquitous, that this book, first published in 1968, was in fact the first book in the English language on the subject of cycle road racing – its tactics, how to train for it, and how it should be organised. It was ground-breaking at the time.

When I first joined a cycling club in 1965 in Preston, Lancashire, having been inspired by the remarkable victory of Tom Simpson in the World Road Championships that year, Pete was a local hero. His formidable training rides were legendary and his performances at national level were talked about with awe. When, after a few months with the local group of the Cyclists Touring Club, I started to think about racing and graduated to training with the “chain gang” of local racing clubs Ribble Valley CRC and Preston Wheelers, Pete was very much the leader of the group. We all looked to him as a role model.

When his book was published, we found it contained much of the advice and many of the anecdotes that he shared with us – about riding on the bikes and at café stops on long winter rides. Plus, of course, there are many more details, facts, and examples from his lived experience. As I progressed from junior to senior ranks and raced in events alongside him, I not only saw him applying this accrued expertise but also learned from him in pre- and post-race discussions, as he often generously gave me a lift from and from those events.

In fact, it was often during those journeys or on training weekends on the tough roads of Lancashire and the Lake District that I learned other things from Pete – about health and fitness generally, about how to organise cycling events, of course, but also about ethics and integrity, about politics and about the ways of the world.

Any current rider or follower of modern cycle racing will, I’m sure, learn something new and will be charmed and enthused by reading it today.

I learned from Pete that if you weren’t happy about something, if you wanted to make something happen if you wanted to change the world or change the bits of it that affected you, then there was no point waiting for other people; you had to get involved. Outside the world of cycling, Pete has demonstrated all of those qualities in his own life, in trade unionism, in politics, and as a magistrate. And, of course, through his family and through his relationships with friends and colleagues.

For me, learning from that example led to organising races when I felt there was a shortage of the kind of events that were needed, then becoming a local official of the then British Cycling Federation, then a national official, then an international official, then President of British Cycling, before finally being elected as President of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), cycling’s international governing body. All whilst continuing to enjoy regularly riding my bike and competing in cycle races, as and when family, career and other demands on my time permitted.

So, Pete’s impact on me, particularly during those formative years of my late teens and early twenties, was both considerable and long-lasting. Perhaps not surprisingly, I’ve kept my original copy of King of Sports on my shelves all those years. Reading it again today half a century later, though obviously of its time, it remains remarkably relevant and useful. Any current rider or follower of modern cycle racing will, I’m sure, learn something new and will be charmed and enthused by reading it today.

King of Sports By Peter Ward. £15. Published by Pendle Press. Out now. Available here. 

NorthernLife Sept/Oct/Nov 2024