MANX cycling star Steve Joughin - one of the best known and most popular British riders of the 1980s - has published his autobiography.
The book, Pocket Rocket - the Steve Joughin story, will be available in all Isle of Man bookshops from tomorrow (Monday).
Steve is a two-time British road race champion and his nickname was bestowed upon him by commentator Phil Liggett.
He won stages of the Milk Race and the Kellogg's Pro Tour of Britain and was twice national road race champion - in 1984 and 1988 - the former coming on Manx soil.
He was instrumental in smashing the Eastern Bloc supremacy of the Milk Race and leading British cycling into a golden age.
However, after retiring in 1991, Steve missed the buzz of the winner's podium.
In a bid to fill the gap, he turned to alcohol and it nearly killed him. Steve pulls no punches recounting his exploits, both during his career and afterwards, as he battled to get his life back on track.
Now aged 51, he is a successful businessman with a cycling clothing company, Pro Vision Clothing, in Stoke-on-Trent, where he has been based for the best part of 30 years.
Pocket Rocket was written by Joughin and Isle of Man-based journalist Richard Allen, a regular contributor to Cycling Weekly magazine and co-author of Elite Performance Cycling: Successful Sportives.
Pocket Rocket has been published by Isle of Man-based Nemesis Publishing.
At Steve's request a percentage of the cover price will go towards the James Berry Fund which was established in memory of the 13-year-old Isle of Man cyclist who died in 2005 while on a training ride after being struck by a wheel that came loose from a lorry.
Nemesis owner John Quirk said: "While Pocket Rocket provides a fascinating insight into the recent history of British racing, it is essentially the story of Joughin's journey from a tearaway in the back streets of Willaston to becoming one of the most popular riders of his generation.
"He was a winner, too, and on his day able to beat the likes of the fearsome sprinter Djamolidine Abdoujaparav.
"Joughin is brutally honest about the struggles which followed when he stopped racing. He battled alcoholism, which almost cost him his life.
"However, despite his problems, Steve retains a joy for life and a real enthusiasm for racing and there are plenty of anecdotes that will raise many a smile from fans who remember the days when index shifters and clipless pedals were state-of-the-art technology."
The foreword for Pocket Rocket was written by Phil Liggett and there are contributions from former pro riders Allan Peiper, Sid Barras and Mike Doyle.
Richard Allen said: "As Joughin and current cycling superstar Mark Cavendish are both sprinters from the Isle of Man, it’s inevitable that comparisons will be made between the two.
"Joughin himself is reluctant to make that comparison – for him, what Cavendish has achieved puts him in a league of his own.
"But in Pocket Rocket, Liggett and Barras, one of Joughin's teammates in the 1980s, do compare them – Barras claims that Joughin was so fast in the sprint that if he was racing today he would be challenging Cavendish on the road.
"We can only speculate about that – but it is fact that Joughin had a fearsome sprint which he used to carve out a career, which changed his life for the better and helped to make the 1980s one of the most exciting decades for British racing."
Pocket Rocket is priced £8.99 and Steve officially launched the book at the Cycle Show in Earl's Court, London.
