Where There’s A Will by Emily Chappell

In Where There's a Will, her second book, Emily Chappell unearths her ultra-distance skills in a journey that takes us beyond the scenery or practicalities of cycling across a continent, to the depths of human will, spirit and connection.

• Pros: A provocative page-turner, you'll be propelled into Chappell's world
• Cons: You might find yourself inspired to enter the Transcontinental Race...

Because of its great length, self-supporting spirit and non-stop clock, the Transcontinental Race has a special way of firing up the imagination – as evidenced by its devoted and passionate 'dot watching' community. In Where There's a Will, Chappell – London courier turned champion ultra-cyclist – takes on the third edition of the annual road race across Europe, then goes back for more.

Devotion to the saddle to the extent of Chappell's is rare, and comes with a special sort of personality. The sort that is filled with horror – to paraphrase Chappell – at the idea of not racing 4,000km across a continent fuelled only by convenience store fodder and micro-naps. Despite this, in Where There's a Will, we quickly find that Chappell is refreshingly relatable. Not necessarily through her actions (she opens the book at the end of a night-long solo ride, after all) but through her soul-baring honesty.

Through Chappell's struggles with self-belief in the lead up to, and throughout, her racing, you can't help but consider – since she seems awfully mortal – whether you, too, could take on ultra-distance cycling. While this is no race manual, Where There's a Will might just inadvertently recruit more ultra-hopefuls, especially given Chappell's talent for lyrical language and imaginative similes that allow a peek through the other-dimension-like lens of a sleep-deprived cyclist in a foreign land.

But this is as much a story about ultra-racing as it is an opportunity to pause for thought. Cycling is often used as a metaphor for life: of hardship, love, friendship, loss – and in the face of these things, keeping on keeping on. In Where's There's a Will, these themes are all touched upon or explored, especially through her interactions with other ultra-cyclists, and her deepening friendship with Mike Hall, from whom we are privileged to learn some gems about the ultra-racing mind that may leave you pondering long after the acknowledgements.

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Whether you're tempted by the world of long-distance racing or not, this is a book for the ultra-cyclist within us all: a reminder that we are capable of more than we may believe, and that with determination (or at least despair at any possible alternative) – there is always a way.

Chappell reveals that it took a bit of prodding from her publisher and agent to produce Where There's a Will, and I for one am grateful to the prodders – this is a 'read it more than once' book, so you'll have to get your own copy.

Verdict

Beautifully written and thought-provoking journey through the peaks and valleys of ultra-racing, woven together by the realities of life, love and friendship