Written by a cycling journalist and author for more than two decades, William Fotheringham’s Cyclopedia, published by Yellow Jersey, has emerged as the go-to guide to pedal sport.

The A-Z covers everything from Uzbekistan sprinter Djamolidin Abduzhaparov to American track cyclist A.A Zimmerman – and hundreds of subjects in between.

Fotheringham, having written for the Guardian, Observer, procycling and Cycle Sport, is the man behind, among other books, the acclaimed biography of Tom Simpson, Put Me Back On My Bike.

Having reported on 20 Tours de France, Fotheringham brings his wealth of knowledge to the table in easy-to-digest bite size chunks and Cyclopedia is perfect for cycling beginners and experts alike.

Fotheringham’s knowledge lies primarily in road cycling, so mountain biking and BMX are handed just a handful of pages each. But, as a road cycling tome, this is the Bible.

The book covers a diverse range of subjects – riders, races, amateur events, organisations, countries… the list goes on. For the cycling buff, new or old, it’s fascinating reading and adds real colour to the history of our sport.

The beauty of Cyclopedia is in its ability to pass seconds, minutes or hours. Pick it up and glance over one or two entries, or flick through whole sections of the alphabet.

A minor gripe is Cyclopedia’s lack of index, which means flicking through to find whether your desired entry is included – chances are it is.  

On that note, Cyclopedia’s layout is simple enough. As if it needs to be pointed out, it’s organised alphabetically, but Fotheringham has opted for no photographs. Instead a range of drawings, tables, maps, graphs and charts intersperse the pages.

Does this make Cyclopedia too text heavy? I wouldn’t say so. Fotheringham’s text is easy to comprehensive, removing the need for explanatory photographs which would serve to disrupt the understated feel of the book. The sketch of Chris Boardman’s Lotus is, for example, superb.

But, on layout, that brings to light the second pitfall of Cyclopedia. The yellow (understandable considering the colour’s context in cycling) and black colour scheme runs throughout – to the extent where key words (which have entries of their own) are ‘highlighted’ with a pale yellow which, for some, may be difficult to read against the white page.

Still, for the eagle-eyed, that should not detract from what is a fantastic addition to Fotheringham’s bibliography. An ideal stocking filler, Cyclopedia is available for just £8.83 from www.amazon.co.uk

• For more Christmas gift ideas, check out RCUK’s festive wish list.