The Escape Artist
The Escape Artist by Matt SeatonOver the last couple of months I have spent a great many hours sat in front of my monitor while constructing a new public health website for the NHS. The considerable amount of screen time necessary has reduced to nil any desire I could possibly have to spend more time clacking out a piece of writing for my own website. That said, I was moved enough by reading Matt Seaton's excellent The Escape Artist (Fourth Estate 2003) to put aside some time today to rectify that.

Broadly, the book tells of the author's gradual relinquishing of his passion for amateur racing cycling in the face of growing maturity and the responsibility which arrives with becoming the father of twins and, little more than 18 months later, the tragic death of his wife Ruth from breast cancer. His racing career is mapped out over ten years and is told in parallel with his developing relationship with a fellow student, who is to become his wife. Seaton is a talented writer and the descriptions of his training bike rides and race meetings are vivid. The detailing of race strategy and the complex unwritten etiquette of the racing cyclist are enlightening, written in a way which is appealing to cyclists and non-cyclists alike. I don't think I have ever read a book which better brings to life the experience of serious road cycling.

I identify with this book most strongly due to the restrictions on my own two-wheeled ambitions brought by the responsibility of bringing up my own twins. I have never been dedicated enough as a cyclist to regularly shave my legs or join a cycling club for instance but the dream of riding the route of the Tour de France in the wake of the real riders one year, stage by stage, must in the real world remain just that, a dream.

Even if you have almost no interest in cycling I would still recommend this book to you. It is an elegy both to the author's late wife and to the obsessions and freedoms of youth. Poignant, honest and beautifully written.
Written by Kevin
Thursday, 23 July 2009
 
Dun Eidyn Digital Design, Edinburgh, Scotland
© 2009 Kevin Miller. All rights reserved.