Racing ahead of Mark Cavendish's two
autobiographies, American/St.Kitts and Nevis pro cyclist Kathryn
Bertine, 37 years old, recently launched her third book. The first
covered her career as a figure skater with an ice dancing company;
the second was about her attempts to become an Olympic athlete in a
range of unlikely sports but
“The Road Less Taken” is a different book again, a series of
episodes in her life as a professional cyclist and journalist. In it
she travels not just a road less taken but one that leads in
surprising directions.
Kathryn Bertine appears to
be a Force of Nature. Following her ultimately unsuccessful (but
entertaining) attempt to get to the Beijing Olympics while writing
for ESPN, she discovered her true sports love was not triathlon or
rowing or distance swimming or pistol shooting but rather road
cycling and to make it happen she became a citizen of the tiny
Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis which she has since
represented at several World Road Championships. Having designed her
own national jersey. And arranged to get to various faraway
countries to race. With no money or team support or much of
anything, except an obvious unstoppable determination and more than a
little talent and passion.
She has been the national
champion of her adopted country several times and raced for a number
of women's professional teams, which gives her credible perspective,
and her degree in journalism gives her the skill to capture these
interesting stories in an elegant, personal style. She has become a
documentary filmmaker with “Half the Road,” an eloquent argument
for equality in women's cycling and sports in general. Her activism
on behalf of her gender saw her, with pro racers Marianne Vos (3-time
World Road Champion), Emma Pooley (former World Time Trial Champion)
and Chrissie Wellington (4-time Ironman World Champion), successfully
petition Tour de France organizers ASO to put on a women's race. La
Course was run in Paris on the Champs Elysée
this year, to the Arc de Triumph and back in 13 laps, covering 89
kilometres, on the final morning of the Tour de France before the
arrival of the men's teams. Kathryn Bertine, without a team,
received a last-minute invitation from Wiggle Honda and was able to
taste the triumph of participating in a women's pro race on the
grandest stage in cycling.
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| Kathryn Bertine racing at La Course, Paris, July 2014 |
But most of this is not
covered in “the Road Less Taken.” Instead the book, a series of
short essays, covers the topics of what life is like for pro women
cyclists (pretty marginal, it appears, although grimly funny in
parts); stupid UCI rules; women in sports; women in sports treated
unfairly; the stupid UCI and some of its idiotic rules; and stupid
airline baggage charges. There is a good account of how women manage
to get by financially in racing (barely, and holding down numerous
jobs) and an amusing riposte to Bicycling magazine's piece on
the hottest women in cycling who she names as “Watties” rather
than “Hotties” for their impressive athletic accomplishments
which seem secondary to their attractive appearances. (Although one
must admit that a lot of female cyclists look terrific and are great
advertisements for the fitness benefits of cycling. As calendar
models they would appeal far more than, say, the Schleck brothers.)
There is a thoughtful piece
on the Lance Armstrong legacy as well as some very personal stories
about friends and family of which “the Pinarello,” about a racing
bicycle hanging on a wall, its owner deceased, is most commendable.
Sad but beautifully written.
One of other essays that is
particularly enjoyable albeit alarming is entitled “On Taking”
about participating in a pre-Olympic race in Venezuela, seeking
elusive points. Assistance from the Venezuelan federation was
obtained using pantomime and the author was driven by a complete
stranger on a seven hour trip from Caracas to the hinterland:
“...the
roads were harrowing, twisty, and without lighting. Many South
American highways—Venezuela notwithstanding—are rather
frightening, as lane lines and stop signs appear to be nothing more
than decorative. Taillights are optional, and overtaking trucks by
crossing the double yellow line is a common practice. Adding to this
conundrum, the man driving me was texting, drowsy and constantly
misplacing his glasses. He also had early-onset Parkinson's.”
In spite of the awful hotel
and lack of food, she somehow psyched herself up enough to race like
a demon and in the end, although admitting to not being a big
sprinter, managed a sixth place finish and taking eight points
towards her dream of Olympic qualification. It is a glorious moment
in the book but soon after everything lands with thud as the UCI
rescinds all the points from the race and then fails to recognize her
St. Kitts and Nevis national champion points due to a clerical error.
The author is an ambitious and competitive athlete and the
disappointment is palpable. The Olympic dream is over.
But Kathryn Bertine has
accomplished a great deal following this different road, seemingly
through a combination of stubbornness and humour. As sympathetic as
one is to the undeniable arguments she makes in favour of women's
cycling we know that men racing in anything below UCI World Tour
level do not have roads paved with gold either but at least they have
a slate of races and some recognition, if not much money (see my recent review of Phil
Gaimon's “Pro Cycling on $10 a Day,”).
But the author has made the most out of the hand she has been dealt.
In her introduction she writes:
“I
also understood that this professional cycling goal wasn't a journey
of sport but a further expedition of a life less ordinary. One that
would chronicle five years of my mid-thirties, no less. Who, at 33,
chooses bicycles over babies? Highways over husbands? Carbon fiber
over fortuitous careers? No one, surely. That is, no one chooses.
It is simply who we are to heed our What-Ifs. And the call of the
What-If is hardly specific to athletes.”
Not everyone can win three
World Road Championships like Marianne Vos or four Ironman World
Championships like Chrissie Wellington but not everyone can look as
critically at one's own life as an athlete and what that means in
terms of pleasure gained, opportunities foregone and lesson learned
as Kathryn Bertine has done in “the Road Less Taken.” And with
the recent announcement of a three day women's race to run concurrent
to the Amgen Tour of California, perhaps for women cyclists there will
be a road more taken ahead.
“The Road Less Taken” by Kathryn
Bertine, with a foreword by Lindsay Berra
234 pp., ill. Paperback
Triumph Books,Chicago 2014, recommended
price US$16.95
ISBN 9781629370125
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