"Even dropping dead on the spot would have seemed overly aggressive on my part"

Saintly helpers make ultra-distance time trials tough to quit

- 

I've just published a book. This one isa little different from my previous books, even if it is still about cycling. Previous efforts have focused on things like going fast. This one is about going far. Since | called an earlier book Faster, I've called this one Further, so as not to excessively tax the imagination.

You may recall a certain amount of distance-related whinging in this column over the last year or so. Phrases like “vomity misery” have cropped up in the context of very long bike races, along with accounts of acute discomfort, bouts of existential angst and generalised despair.

It’s time to redress the balance. There are actually many wonderful things about stupidly long races. Most important, there are the people who do them. They have an enthusiasm that, if you're as misanthropic as me, is alittle off-putting. | initially assumed that their evangelism was because they’d all taken a terrible wrong turn in life when they started riding events that lasted for days, and they’d feel much better if they could drag me into the same pit.