Dave Morris' Performance Cycling

I was recommending Dave Morris's book to some people that emailed about my training and it appears to be unavailable at Amazon or BN.

Amazon has like 4 copies listed as new/used that range in price form $65 to $202.

I emailed Dave to ask what's up. He hasn't talked to the publisher but he speculates it's out of print. He suggested contacting the publisher -Ragged Mountain Press and asking them to start printing it again.

He said that the only place he's seen any has been at some local REI stores.

Honestly, if someone offered my $100 for my copy I don't think I'd sell it. I'd be devastated if I lost mine. I reread it about twice a year. Each time I'll skim some sections and read others more closely. Every time I come away with some additional nuggets of wisdom. Little concepts sink in. It's dog eared and has notes/highlights all over it.

Last night I was rereading the first chapters on physiology. It's all basic stuff I'm sure. But I get a lot out of reading these sections. It helps me connect the training I'm doing to what's going on in my body. The sections on muscles and strength training renforces what I'm doing right now.

He has a short section on eating prior to a race. It's only a few paragraphs. But it helped catalyze my quest for perfecting my pre-race eating that has helped me immensly.

Some people read the book and bitch because they don't come away with an entire canned training plan. What you get from it is a framework that requires some self knowldge and some definite individualization. There are some key concepts that are different that the other training programs (Friel, etc.) that are out there. Honestly, I tried Friel's book, and made it about 1.5 months into the program. But I've been on Dave's plan for three years now. Each to their own of course, but I think it is a great alternative to 'traditional' cycling training plans.

There's just something about his plan that gels with my mindset and my life. The periodization and the macro/micro blocks seem easier to fit into the hectic world of Married with Children and Full Time Job. I've talked to several other people who also find that it works well for those with time constraints.

I sure hope they start publishing the book again. It never seemed to have been marketed at all upon its initial release.