Bookends: Cycle of pain

Reg Harris by Robert Dineen (Ebury Press, £16.99) is about a man who was once Britain’s number one athlete: a professional cycle track sprinter who dominated the worldwide sport for 15 years.

And what is cycle track sprinting? It is racing on a prepared track with one or more opponents. It is also a form of torture. A great road race held over days or weeks, like the Tour de France, has been described as a Calvary. But track cycling is definitely torture.

Like torture, the tools are simple but the variations are infinite. Like torture, it is a psychological contest. Like torture, the inner scars are indelible.

The leading exponents of this cruel craft were traditionally French, Belgian, Dutch and Italian. Their main methods (apart from drugs, which were universal) were the feint, the bluff, the double-bluff, the hint and the rumour designed to instil doubt, and vicious timing.