April 30, 2010 (Spain) – Canada’s Michael Barry (Team Sky) recently released his third book Le Métier, a phrase he describes as the essence of cycling. Barry is at home in Spain recovering from his successful spring campaign and preparing for the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia, which begins outside of Italy for the first time on May 8 in Amsterdam. We caught up with Barry to find more about his new book and his training for the Giro – more on Barry’s new book here.

Tell us about your new book, Le Métier, the seasons of a professional cyclist and what inspired it?
Michael Barry: Le Metier is the story of a professional cyclist told through photos and prose. In 2008, when I was riding in the pouring rain on a cold winter day, I was thinking about the sport, our yearlong devotion to the bike, and how little of the pro cyclist’s life people really see or understand. At the top of the climb, I sent an SMS to my good friend Camille McMillan, who is a photographer and artist, and asked him if he was interested in working on a book with me which told the cyclist’s story. He immediately responded that he was keen – from that moment on, we basically started thinking about and working on the project.

It was important to us that we told an honest and pure story. The photos are raw and none are staged. To describe professional cycling and why we suffer, sacrifice and live for the bike my writing had to be revealing and honest. We also wanted the story to be timeless, because no matter the generation of cyclist, we all have a unique passion – almost an addiction – to cycling and the bike. The designer of the book, Justin Greenleaf did a beautiful job I think, and hope this will be a book people will hold on to, leave on their coffee table, and come back to over and over.

How long did it take you to research and write it?
MB: Roughly two years. Camille followed me through an entire season, took thousands of photos, and then we worked at piecing the story together.

Perhaps a premature question but is a fourth book in the works… ?
MB: For the moment, I am not working on another book. I love writing so, if I can find the time in I will write another in the coming year or two.

After Paris-Roubaix you raced at Fleche Barbaconne and then took a break – are you happy with your performance and Team Sky’s efforts this Spring?
MB: The team has been racing well and we have been bonding as a group and improving through the season. I have had a lot of fun at the races this year and on some level feel like a kid again which makes the racing easier. My fitness has been good and I have been able to do my job well in the races – so, yes, I am happy with my performance to date.

How are you preparing for the upcoming Giro – what’s your daily routine?
MB: To prepare I needed to work on my climbing as I had spent so much time in northern Europe on flatter roads. The adaptation takes a few weeks so since the Classics I have spent a lot of time in the mountains, climbing for hours, either behind the motorbike or with a teammate.

You’ve raced at the Giro before including last year with Columbia-HTC.
MB: I raced the Giro last year and it was a success. We won the opening TTT and then went on to win another five stages. We had the pink jersey for several days and Michael Rogers, my teammate eventually finished in the top ten which was a great result. The race went well and I am looking forward to it this year. I also did the race in 2005 when my teammate Paolo Savodelli won the overall classification.

What’s your form like and what’s your role in Team Sky’s strategy for the Grand Tour in Italy?
MB: My fitness is quite good. I have struggled a little bit with allergies the last few weeks but otherwise I feel good on the bike. I’ll be starting the Giro as a domestique – we have a few quick sprinters and Brad Wiggins for the TT and mountains so, if all goes well, we should be able to achieve our goals.

What’s the game plan after the Giro?
MB: I will rest for a week at the beginning of June and will then do some specific training for the Tour de France.