On the face of it ‘Reinventing the Wheel’ is the paradigm of a redundant endeavour. Taking a three-thousand year old invention – arguably the most important invention in the entire history of mankind’s development – and making it anew would be incredibly difficult to be novel or to be seen as worthwhile. But those particular facts haven’t deterred Sam Pearce from having a go, nor from using the famous saying in the marketing for his company Loopwheels. He acknowledges that the phrase is a bit of a joke but he is deadly serious about his new tangential suspension wheels and the benefits that they can bring.
Tag Archives: Cycling
Tour de France – Rest Day Roundup 2
When I was a kid watching the Tour de France in the late Eighties, my rider allegiances often switched with whichever was my favourite jersey design. I would find myself supporting Renault one year, PDM the next, Z-Peugeot the year after that. As with football a few years earlier (and in the very same way as my young children today) I was something of a itinerant fan. I would pick a jersey, a haircut or a battle between two big stars and plump for one of them. The following year I could very well pick the other guy and have him as my favourite. This certainly happened in 1990 when my support switched from Laurent Fignon the year before to Lemond. Even though my football allegiance had very quickly solidified into one team over the others (mainly due to the fact I that I outgrew the Tottenham shirt – and the associated desire to be Steve Archibald – that I had been given and which caused much confusion in my Manchester-leaning mind) cycling remained ever thus. Unbiased. Unencumbered. Un-tribalised.
‘We Were Fought By Men Very Fast’ & Massif Central Exhibitions
Two small (but perfectly formed) exhibitions are on in East London until the end of the month. Both are worth a visit. If I may be so bold as to suggest an itinerary you might chose to visit the first one, Emily Maye‘s photographic exhibition ‘We were Fought by Men Very Fast’, earlier in the day than the display of Massif Central’s incredibly beautiful cycling data posters. A lunchtime visit to Beach London on Cheshire Street would allow a quick stop-off for a salt beef Brick Lane beigel whilst an after-work detour to The Things We Love on Hoxton Street will allow a drink at the small bar at the back of the space.
In Memoriam – Fabio Casartelli
Francisco Fabio Casatelli – b. 16.08.1970 – d. 18.07.1995
Died – Stage 15 1995 Tour de France
Casartelli’s death on the Col de Portet d’Aspet in 1995 was a defining moment for the question of rider safety within the professional sport. The Olympic road-race champion from 1992, who was riding for the Motorola team, fell descending at speed and hit one of the large concrete blocks that line the edge of the road . Shockingly graphic pictures of the blood from his fatal head injury was seen (and recently re-used in the film documentary Lance Armstrong “The Armstrong Lie”) prompting a rethink about the use of helmets. Motorola’s crossing of the finish line of the neutralised stage the following day and Armstrong’s emotional dedication of his victory at Limoges 3 days after the crash have etched the moment into the wider fabric of the race and the beautiful monument on the Portet d’Aspet is regularly stopped at by riders and officials during races nowadays.
Feliz Cumpleaños – Miguel Indurain
Happy Birthday Big Mig. – 16.07.1964
- TdF Winner – 1991, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95
- Giro d’Italia Winner – 1992, ’93
- World Time Trial Champion – 1995
- Hour Record Holder – 1994
- Olympic Gold Medallist – Time Trial – 1996
A monster of a man compared to most Grand Tour winners, Miguel ‘Big Mig’ Indurain won five Tours on the bounce, hardly pausing for a breather whilst also collecting 2 Giro d’Italia’s, an Hour Record and an Olympic gold medal in a career that utterly dominated the first half of the 1990’s. At 6’2″ (188cm) and 80+kg he was a freakish sight in the mountains where he would capably defend the positions his unsurpassable time-trialling ability had won him. Chastised for making the sport ‘boring’ and dodging the inevitable accusations of doping, Indurain remains a quixotic character within the sport. Not the clear-cut villain that many of his Tour-winning followers would become but never revered like so many of those who had gone before him. Dammed by his own success, his image nonetheless still has the power to stop you in your tracks and just marvel at the magnitude of man.
In Memoriam – Tom Simpson
Tom Simpson – Born Nottinghamshire 30.11.1937
Died – Mont Ventoux. Stage 13 Tour de France – 13.07.1967
Tom Simpson’s death hangs over the Tour de France and British cycling with equally heavy significance. His life and his passing on the baking slopes of Mont Ventoux sums up all that is good and bad about cycling and also highlights the ambiguity that often exists between the two. The sublime talent, the willingness to suffer, the commercial pressures that led riders to go too deep too often and, of course, the drugs that were found in his rear pocket. I recently had the chance to hold the very maillot jaune that Simpson wore on his single stage in yellow in 1962 and it got the hairs prickling on the back of my neck. The esteem in which he is still held is immeasurable. His death, captured on grainy black & white film, is one of the few where the build-up to the collapse is recorded and, riding alone that day up the Bald Mountain to his destiny, his is an especially affecting passing.
In Memoriam – Francisco Cepeda
Francisco Cepeda
Died – Stage 8 Tour de France – 12.07.1935
The first rider to die whilst racing a Tour stage, Cepeda crashed descending the Col du Galibier on Stage 8 from Grenoble to Gap, plunging off a ravine and fracturing his skull.. Reports vary as to whether he died on the way to hospital or a couple of days later.
Weapon of Choice – Pinarello Dogma F8 – Test-riding Team Sky’s superbike
So, just how good is a £12,000 bicycle? How much of a difference does all that money make? Last weekend I was given the opportunity to take the brand new Pinarello Dogma F8 – the very same as Team Sky are currently racing (and unfortunately crashing) across Northern France – out for a test ride in the Yorkshire Dales. Despite having a pretty full schedule planned for the day (there was the small matter of Stage 2 of the Tour going on) it was a no-brainer that I was going to find some time to fit this in. And so at 5.30am last Sunday, having risen scarcely later than locally resident rooks, I could be found – pedals in hand – at the Rapha Tempest Festival HQ on the front lawn of Broughton Hall to meet mechanic Ham and my superbike for the morning.
Graham Watson ‘Eyes on Le Tour’ photography exhibition.
—– STOP PRESS. The Whitecloth Gallery are having a silent auction of the prints shown in this exhibition. Check out the details here WHITECLOTH GALLERY and email liz.miles@whiteclothgallery.com to place your bid. Deadline is noon 21st July. PS – please don’t bid on Sizzling Feet.. I want it! TJP —–
Cycling is a sport well suited to written reportage but Graham Watson’s ‘Eyes on Le Tour’ exhibition near Leeds rail station is about as good a counter argument to this as is possible. History is not writ large inside the two medium size galleries at the Whitecloth Gallery so much as Kodachromed large in the dazzling array of prints from his long and illustrious career at the heart of the pro peloton.
Yellow Fever – Tour de France Preview
With so much focus in this country on the Grand Départ it has been hard at times to remember that there will be a further 18 days of racing after the world’s biggest cycling cavalcade leaves our shores. I have been as guilty of this as anyone by focussing my thoughts almost entirely on the opening two stages in Yorkshire and the Stage 3 run from Cambridge to London. Everyone is talking about the ‘destiny ‘of Mark Cavendish to win the Maillot Jeune in his mum’s home town of Harrogate and wondering how much damage the fearsome Côte de Jenkins Road will do in the final few kilometres into Sheffield the following day. I think we are suffering from a touch of yellow fever that is clouding our ability to see beyond this weekend. It’s fantastic that we have so much to discuss about the short time the Grand Boucle is with us. But what of the rest of Le Tour?
The Massif Studio Blog 