150 Watts of Awesome - Book Review

Power meters have become the new rage in training for a cyclist, and with good reason.  Now, bikes can be rigged with strain gauges on the crank-arm or the rear hub to give immediate feedback to the cyclist on how much power they are putting into each pedal stroke.  This data can then be later analyzed by their coach to properly indicate how to better train, where the cyclist is currently at in their training and for some to just show what a stud they are by the sheer number of watts they can produce.  150 watts isn't much of an indicator of power, but author Anna Zimmerman with her book by that name, produces a power-house that starts strong and continues to the end.  The books name, 150 Watts of Awesome, is named for the amount of power the story's main character "Anna Schafer" believes she will need to produce to climb the most heralded and daunting climb in the Provence Region of France - Mont Ventoux.

Mont Ventoux rises out of the land in a moonscape type visual and has been a stalwart in the Tour de France since 1951.  In 1967 Englishman Tom Simpson began weaving while on the steep slopes of the mountain and fell over in a crowd of spectators, only to be helped back onto his bike and then fall one last time - dying of heat exhaustion caused by a combination of dehydration and amphetamines.  Anna, finds the spirit of cycling and decides to take a trip to Europe to follow the professional cycling circuit, train on her bike and eventually conquer the "Giant of Provence", Mont Ventoux, herself.  Conquer the very climb that Tom Simpson died attempting over 40 years before.

Anna Zimmerman takes you on a journey from the character Anna Schafer's home in Texas to Europe and gives you not only the romance of the world of cycling, but the simple and yet complex issues of carrying her bike around Europe, finding places to eat and dealing with the bureaucratic mess to have her visa extended in time to ride Mont Ventoux.  There are other books on cycling, but this is the first one I've read that puts the context in the point of the non-professional and the difficulty of the average cyclist to reach their goals along with the fanatical excitement of following the professional cycling teams through Europe.  As with many aspects in life, we are often let down by those we hold up as our heroes and Anna has to come to terms with this herself as she encounters the very riders she admires, adores and secretly wishes to be noticed by.

One aspect I love about the book is that while it's based off of the author's very own adventures, the book is fiction nonetheless.  Well, the characters names are made up as are some of the teams names, but you know the real people she is trying to portrait.  There is no doubt the two main figures in the book are based off the reputed Luxembourg Schleck brothers, Frank and Andy and that Alberto Contador is also appearing around the pages and subtext of Anna's work.  As an in depth cycling fan it's fun to match the specific races with the knowledge of who won with Anna's recounting using her fictional cyclists.  I will let you figure out which is which.  But while these parallel universe characters exist, the uninitiated cycling reader won't have to worry about who Anna is really trying to describe and just be absorbed by the descriptions she gives each and every one.  The real story is the adventure of Anna herself and simply how she uses the romantic vestige these cycling god's give off as a source of strength and courage to get her through her several months in Europe on her bike, in hostiles and simply being on her own.

I've read many cycling mystery novels (well, many is a stretch as I can only name about 3) and all seem to be more along the lines of something created by Marvel Comics.  The down on his luck cyclist finds it within himself to turn his career around and morphs (without drugs) from a back of the pack domestique to a potential (or actual) Tour winner.  Here in 150 Watts of Awesome, the journey is about Anna just trying to make it to the next race (visa permitting), train on her bike as much as she can and then climb the roughly 21 kilometers of the ascent to the top of Mont Ventoux.  Anna solves a few of her own mysteries in a "coming of age" sort of way, yet creates a new one at the end as I wonder - What was in that empty jersey pocket?