Mountains

Professional photographer and keen amateur cyclist Michael Blann spent his formative years racing his bike and dreaming of riding in the Tour de France. Aged nineteen, he left England for Australia to ride in a well-respected amateur team, during which he competed in the nine-day Golden West Tour in Queensland. This experience left him with the realization that a pro contract was out of reach. Returning to the UK, he enrolled in art college and eventually moved into advertising. This book brings together Blann’s two great passions – cycling and photography – and evolved from a desire to produce a definitive record of the immense, immovable landforms that have set the stage for the most intense, nail-biting dramas the cycling world has ever seen. Limited-edition prints are available at www.michaelblann.com. Andrew Diprose is Group Creative Director at WIRED magazine in London and a keen cyclist. He lectures regularly on art direction, photography and illustration. He is also the co-founder, publisher and art director of cycling independent title The Ride Journal. Susannah Osborne is a journalist and has written for numerous newspapers and magazines on the subjects of travel, fitness and adventure sport. She has cycled since her late teens, first as a means to get around her native North Devon, and later as an active member of the women’s road and criterium racing scene in the UK. She worked and cycled with Michael Blann for several years before teaming up with him on this book, which appeals to her love of storytelling and her long-standing fascination with dramatic landscapes.

'A tribute to nature's beauty and man's dogged determination' - i

• Introduction by Michael Blann • The Art of Mountains, Susannah Osborne • The French Alps • The Pyrenees & Mont Ventoux • Switzerland • Spain • The Spanish Islands & Portugal • The Italian Alps & The Dolomites • Essays interwoven throughout