Cheers
Last weekend I got dressed up in my best gear , headed out with my friends, had a bite to eat drank loads, got hammered and came home legless .
We caught up on all the news and gossip, there was plenty of slagging and things went a bit wild towards the end.
Before people start texting me the number of AA don’t worry I wasn’t hanging out in a pub all weekend , but was out on my bike eating energy bars, drinking plenty of energy drink and was paying the price for a lacklustre training programme over the past few weeks .
The bike is a great social outlet. Where other people spend their Saturday nights catching up with friends whilst getting hammered in the pub, cyclists are in bed early on a saturday night in preparation for the following mornings group training spin. It is a great way to keep fit and healthy whilst having the opportunity to have a chat with friends old and new .
The old sitcom Cheers which was set in a Boston bar and revolved around the friendly banter amongst the bar regulars. Every cycling group has a similar cast of characters .
Theres always a Norm, the guy who is always there and has a word for everyone. He trains more than anyone else but his form always remains at the same level. He tells his wife that the five grand bike only cost five hundred euro and will often be seen out training when he should be at work. He is supposed to be good with figures but always seems to have a bit of painting or diy to do at home.
The Cliff still lives at home and is always telling everyone the intricate details of every nut and bolt on his bike. He always arrives late and turns for home early. Dogs always chase him but he thinks that this happens to everyone. He has an opinion on the training everyone should be doing and knows exactly where the Schlecks are going wrong.
The Sam Malone is the former first cat rider who won a few good races and donned the Irish jersey a couple of times. He had to stop racing early due to a recurring knee injury and now does a bit of coaching. He still looks good on the bike but just doesn’t have the kick that was his trademark . The oakleys are m-frames but are in good nick and the sti levers have externally routed cables but his bike is always clean and well maintained.
Woody is the young exuberant cyclist who still thinks he will make it into the pro ranks. He dances up the early climbs of a spin but is often seen burned out before the end. He really looks up the the Sam Malone and will do whatever Sam tells him. His naivety shines through on occasion like last year at the National champs. With his tongue firmly seated against his cheek Sam suggested that Woody should attack Dan Martin on the first climb and try to drop him. Woody attacked alright but only managed two bike lengths before exploding dramatically and getting dropped. His race was over after three miles.
Then there’s the Rebecca Howe. Sam and Woody are often seen fighting for her wheel with Sam usually coming out on top. When she punctures there is often a disagreement about who will help her change the tube and she is happy to stand back and let the boys be boys .
The cycling group spin. A place where if you turn up often enough everybody will know your name !
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
Smell the coffee
Recently on Facebook there was a link doing the rounds that told the story of a busker playing a violin for 45 minutes in a Washington Metro station .Very few people paid any attention whatsoever to the busker apart from a few kids who had to be dragged away by their parents. In total only 6 people out of 1100 who passed stopped and listened for any amount of time and 20 gave him money which totaled $32. When he finished there was no applause or any form of acknowledgement whatsoever. It turns out that the busker was world famous violinist Joshua Bell who was playing one of the most intricate pieces of music ever written on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars .2 nights previously he sold out a theater in Boston where people paid $100 each to hear him play .
The question asked at the end of the article is ‘ if we do not have a moment to listen to one of the Worlds’ greatest musicians playing the best piece of music ever written what else are we missing ‘
This is a question that is very apt to the world of cycling too. To watch a bike race costs nothing. The Tour of Ireland had many of the Worlds top riders including Lance Armstrong within its ranks a few years back and the bunch passed a guy out cutting his lawn who didn’t even look up as they passed by his front gate.
Out on a training spin how many rivers and streams, mountains and miles of wide open countryside are passed without a second glance. My eyes were opened to this a few years back when cycling a tandem with my friend Stefan who is visually impaired. He was always asking me what was around us and what we were passing which tuned me in to taking more notice myself. Here is a link to a blog about my cycling days with Stefan http://worldwidecyclesblog.com/2007/11/26/cycling-for-charity/
It really is amazing what you will see if you focus on a certain object. Another friend of mine years ago had two things that he was always on the look out for on the bike, money and page 3′s . At the time it was pounds and he ‘regularly’ spotted fivers and even the odd tenner in the ditches and he had many a picture of Sam Fox on his bedroom wall. How I don’t know, but I do know that I almost crashed from dizziness a number of times by trying too hard to focus on every inch of the ditch on the wood road in my quest to find his treasure trove.
I never even found a single pound and the only discarded newspaper I found was the editorial section of the Farmers journal .
If you have ever found anything unusual whilst out on your bike why not leave a comment below and share it with us .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
The PDM hat
When the boss of the Phillips Corporation in Eindhoven gave the go ahead for subsidiary company PDM to sponsor a cycling team in the late eighties I wonder if he realised the full extent of just how far the sponsorship deal would reach .
For a number of years the PDM cassette and video tapes were the best known in the world thanks to the exploits of the cycling team that bore their brand name . Grand Tours , major classics and just about every race on the International cycling calendar had a PDM jersey there at the final shake up .
The team was also a master in the art of merchandising . From the team replica Concorde framesets to the replica clothing and even the PDM mini jersey sticker that adorned many a rear car window and even the odd school pencil case the brand colours were seen far and wide.
The clothing in particular was a huge marketing success with half the schoolboy cyclists of Europe wearing PDM overshoes , leggings ,thermal jackets and gloves and the crowning glory, the PDM thermal hat .
Not alone did these hats look good on the bike, they also came in handy on a cold winters day off the bike .
The hat began to make cameo appearances at different locations throughout the country. A teachers protest on Cork city had a PDM hat in its midst in the national newspapers. The funeral of Charlie Haughey had one outside the Church .
One afternoon in Clonmel a man was being pursued by a vicious attacker wielding the handle of a hatchet as a weapon. Outside the door of a shop the attacker caught up with his target and proceeded to hit him over the head with the weapon. As the victim lay on the ground trying to shield himself from the vicious reign of blows out of the nearby shop stepped a PDM hat wearing saviour who poked the attacker with his umbrella and demanded that he stop attacking the other man. In astonishment the attacker stopped and turned to look at the person poking him with the umbrella. He looked at the saviour, then down at the victim, looked back at the PDM hat wearing saviour and began to raise the weapon again when in the corner of his eye he noticed 2 flourescent yellow Garda jackets approaching at speed. He turned and ran .
Recently former Miss Universe Ireland Roz Purcell, a woman well used to rubbing shoulders with the likes of Donald Trump from New York and Mondo from Fair city took part in a photo shoot for the Killurney school charity cycle with another PDM hat wearing fan along with a former PDM rider, 25 years after the decision was made in the Eindhoven board room to sponsor a cycling team . The cassette and video tapes are long gone but the hats still live on.
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
News
Around 11 this morning Twitter, Facebook and many cycling news websites went on fire with news of Alberto Contadors’ 2 year doping suspension. By 1pm RTE were showing a video clip from the 2010 Tour with Contador in yellow crossing the finish line.
Obviously I was just as curious as anyone to find out the verdict but then stepped back and looked at the bigger picture.
Ultimately this will have no effect whatsoever on whether I am going to go out on the bike tomorrow or not. It won’t stop me from watching the Tour of Qatar on Eurosport tomorrow or trying to find out if Andy Fenn wins yet another stage in Mallorca. Why ? because I love cycling and no one cyclist, whether his name is Alberto, Lance or Alexander is going to change that.
Like many things in life nowadays, we have access to so much information that we now over analyze every race and every move the top cyclists make. Years ago it took a week for cycling news to filter through Cycling Weekly or a month if it was Winning Magazine. Nowadays TV commentators check cyclingnews.com and its like whilst on air and have the same access to the latest news as anyone with a computer or a smartphone.
News in general tends to be sensational, voyeuristic and extremely negative. Just the other day I read an article by a psychologist who advised people suffering from depression to avoid all news bulletins and newspapers. It wont be long until the nine o’clock news carrys’ a health warning like Eastenders where a telephone helpline number has to be shown at the end for anyone affected by the issues in the program .
Whilst murders, stabbings, road deaths and job losses are all devastating for the families and friends of those affected is this the news that the general population need to hear and see on an hourly basis throughout their day. Is this type of news going to inspire people to create new enterprises and jobs or to encourage them to become fit and healthy ? No it’s not !
90% of the coverage that cycling gets in the mainstream media is when there is a doping scandal or court investigation. There was no clip on the 9 pm news last August when the Taoiseach joined Sean Kelly and 5000 other cyclists for a fantastic days cycling for all ages around the roads of County Waterford .
As was pointed out to me again recently on a fast descent you look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to go or you will crash. The same applies to news. Good news and success will inspire others to do like wise whilst depressing news will only depress those who take it on board .
Some will say that the deterrent aspect is important in the news, whether that be road deaths due to speeding or doping suspensions in cycling. I have not seen many crazy drivers slow down after watching the 9 o’clock news or even seen them slightly lift off the pedal whilst listening to car crash details on the car radio .
I think organisations like Bikepure will be more successful long term in encouraging elite cyclists to race clean than the likes of WADA. To someone who has crossed the ethical line and has taken any form of performance enhancing drug WADA is just another competitor to be beaten .
It would be great to turn on the laptop tomorrow morning and see 90% of the cycling coverage concentrating on Garmin Barracudas win in Qatar and on Andy Fenn’s win in Mallorca. That is where the future of cycling is and a bright future it looks to be.
When that day comes and the dopes are relegated to minor headlines I will know that cycling and sport in general has turned a great corner .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
Like this:
How Cycling helps to milk a cow !
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The other day I was in the workshop doing a buckle when a good friend of the shop strolled in. He is a guy who travels quiet a distance to come to our shop and we always have a good ould chat. As we looked at the wheel spinning in the jig I asked how long he was on the bike now and was surprised by the answer ,
‘I didn’t start cycling until I was 55 and it’s the one big regret I have ‘ he said.
‘But sure isn’t it great you started no matter what age ‘ I said .
‘It is’ he said ‘ but cycling changed my life and I would love to have had that experience earlier ‘
Now I was curious and pushed on for a bit of detail on that explanation.
‘Well’ he said ‘before I started cycling my life as a farmer was much tougher. I had a lot of hardship and didn’t enjoy my work. But cycling changed all that because it taught me the importance of perspective. Going up a hill on a bike can be one of two things. It’s either hardship or a challenge. If you look on it as hardship you suffer physically and mentally and are still bothered about how hard that hill was even when you are rolling down the other side. However, if you look on it as a challenge you suffer just as much physically if not more on the way up but, when you get to the top there’s a great sense of satisfaction and you want to really push on down the other side to keep the momentum going.
I used to dread going out to milk the cows or getting up in the middle of the night to look after a cow calving. Now I enjoy the challenge of trying to get more milk from the cows in less time and jump up out of bed when a cow is calving and return with a great sense of satisfaction when everything goes smoothly, or when I handle a difficult one in the best way I possibly can.
Going downhill fast on a bike you have to look way up ahead, not down at the ground in front. That taught me to see the bigger picture. I used to get caught up worrying about small things but now I look down the road and see the bigger picture and don’t get stressed out so much.
Riding the Ring of Kerry last year I was cooked coming out of Kenmare and was struggling to just turn the pedals when a guy who usually is much slower passed me on the climb. I got thick and dug in to pass him again and then surprised myself by managing to keep the much faster pace up all the way to the top. Things like that show me that I can do a lot more than I think I can if I just push myself to do it.
I used to worry about what people thought before I started cycling, but for a man of my age to put on a pair of black tights and a bright orange jersey I can’t be worried too much about what people think anymore .
My neighbour used to give me a right slagging when I started cycling about the gear. He became seriously ill last year and I stopped one day coming back from a spin when I saw him standing at the gate on crutches. He is now in a wheelchair, but that day he looked at me on the bike and said ‘remember how I used to slag you about the get up of you in all the fancy gear on the bicycle, well I’d give my whole farm to be able to go off for a spin on a bicycle now ! ‘
The bike has greatly improved my health, mentally and physically, has given me some great friends and has given me a common activity that I can do with my grown up children. ‘
They say that you can’t put an old head on young shoulders, but maybe if younger bike riders listened to older ones everyone could benefit from the wisdom of the aged !
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
The Roar of the Big Ring !
Yesterday began like many of my Sundays. Porridge, tea and wholemeal toast for breakfast, get dressed up in bright lycra and at 8.54 I head out to the shed lift my bike down from the rack, pop in the water bottle and fit the Garmin, check the tyre pressure and have a quick look at the trees to see what direction the wind is coming from. At 8.58 I roll down to the main road and stop to take a look up the straight to see if Anthony O’G is on the way. At 8.59 I see the familiar green white and black of the O’Gormans bakery jersey and at 9.00 we begin our training spin. We both went through the Tony Ryan school of cycling where going training at 9 am is 9 am not five or ten past , or even 2 minutes past .
We head on down the road towards Carrick to meet the lads. A strong breeze is pushing us along and we reach Merck before we see the 35 man road train approaching. We turn and roll along up Ballinaraha waiting for the group to go past so that we can slot in at the back to get going again. We must have been rolling a little too fast as we hear the shout from behind to drive on and turn to see the whole group slotting in behind us. Not exactly what was planned but shure we drive on anyway. The wind is now in our face and our turn at the front is short and sweet . I now find myself in second position on the left hand side of the group, just about the furthest position to be in from your next turn at the front so I’m happy.
The group are now clipping along and as I chat to Keith Barry – not the magician, I am informed that the spin is heading towards Cashel and on to Cahir. This puts me in a dilemma. I was sick for the past few weeks and have a total of 4 1/2 hours in my legs for the past five weeks. Not exactly ideal preparation for ‘The Carrick Group’. To do the full spin would have me home in just under 3 hours, having only planned 2 but they would be almost passing my door at that stage so I decide to push on, but am conscious that I will have to engage the brain to avoid a hammering.
Passing Tesco we see a good gathering for the 10 O’Clock Clonmel CC spin.This is a great group for anyone interested in trying out group cycling and progressing along. They average about 24kph and are very conscious of looking after everyone along the way. All along the by pass there is a steady stream of riders heading towards Tesco and it’s great to see.
We turn right and face the first major challenge of the day, Ard Gaoithe. I look for a steady wheel, spot Maurice just ahead and slot right in behind him. Maurice or Moreese as he would be called on the Continent or ‘The Apprentice’ will be a good guy to follow on the climb. He will ride nice and steady, won’t be up and down out of the saddle and won’t let the wheel go so there’ll be no big chase over the top. The strong cross-headwind helps to keep the group in check and I now find myself calculating the best way to conserve energy but also show my face at the front and do a little work. 15k to Cashel in a group this size, ideally with the wind coming from the left I want to be on the outside right, rolling up along but not hitting the front too soon. The perfect scenario would be to hit the front just as we come into Cashel which would put me on the sheltered side of the group on the way back down to Cahir.
One of the two Vinnies (sometimes there are four) punctures just before Clerihan and there is confusion about what next will happen. Some of us turn and go back, some want to stop for a piss stop and some want to just roll along. The centre of a village isn’t exactly ideal territory to be taking out the weapons so a gate further on is chosen and the turn made after the tanks get emptied. A few k later normal service resumes and I slot in at the back right hand corner. This takes a little ‘drift back to check everyone is back on manouvre’ which is borderline acceptable and positions me just where I want to be passing through Rosegreen.
The conversation is flowing and Paddy from Cahir (not Paddy the plasterer, he’s elsewhere) mentions Willy, AKA Boxcar Willy, brother of The Karate Kid (former black belt Karate instructor) and Ussain Bolt (medalist in last years vets athletics 100m sprint) .Willy has a very rare picture over his mantlepiece of himself sitting between Merckx and Kelly. It was taken after the Feryn classic in Belgium a few years back when Kelly brought 10 lads from Carrick over to make their mark on the 10,000 strong Belgian contingent. At the meal afterwards Willy sat in for the photo and put his arms around the two greats and uttered the immortal words ‘Jaysus lads, between the three of us we won everything !’
Cashel is now approaching and I’m still nicely positioned moving up along the line getting very little of the wind. The only drawback to the plan is that in front of me sits Keith Barry-not the magician on his 48cm frame which is going to offer very little shelter to my 58cm frame with plenty of seatpost. Luckily he hits the front just as we approach the turn in Cashel and the buildings of the town offer a little shelter and I roll through as we leave Cashel with the wind now coming from our right rear. Mostly a cross-tailwind but all it will take is a slight bend in the road for it to turn into a tough crosswind so I don’t spend too long up there. Whilst at the front I push out towards the white line on the quiet wide main road. This gives the shelter of a slight echelon back along the group in the crosswind.
John Hooverman is next up beside me and is going well. Too long at this pace and I’ll be cooked but luckily he rolls through pretty quickly and Maurice is now up there too. The pace is fast with the wind varying from tail to cross and my legs are beginning to get sore. Fiddown Bob beside me is riding outside the wheels and I am presented with the ultimate sweet spot. Going well I wouldn’t in a training group but now I glide in between the 2 in front. With my front wheel now snugly ensconced between the two rear wheels in front I am cocooned in a pocket of so little wind that I barely have to pedal. It doesn’t last long but is still enough to give me a chance to recover and I am grand again.
Passing through New Inn the wind is fully behind us and the pace is fast but not fast enough. The roars go up towards the front of ‘drive it on’ and ‘throw her up into the big ring!’. The speed increases along with the whoosh of spokes sailing in the wind. Chains are whirring as shimano upshifts click and campag ones clunk. We are now hitting speeds of up to 70kph and the atmosphere is more like a bunch approaching the finish of a race than a training group 40k from home. Cahir appears quickly as I glide along the inside of the group conserving as much energy as possible.
Straight tailwind from Cahir and the hammer is really down when Cronin makes me laugh. He tells me about Ger G passing the ESB that morning with his usual witty banter and someone asking who he was. Quick as a whip Cronin pipes up ‘That’s the fella that discovered Kelly’, a question returns as to the similarity in age and the reply given is that Ger G was only young himself when he had a dream one night about Kelly winning all these big races and gave up the job to help bring him along and shure wasn’t it the best move he ever made !
Clonmel comes quickly and I’m almost home. Myself and Anthony drift to the back and bid farewell to the group as we swing left at our roundabout. All that’s left now is the hill up home and the big ring is forgotten in favour of the 39. I make it home feeling just about OK and get ready for stage 2, a seven year olds birthday party and am glad I was shy about meeting that wind all day .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
How to – avoid punctures
The dreaded puncture is the most frustrating aspect of cycling for many a bike rider . I was asked today if there is anything that can be done to help avoid getting one . The simple answer is , yes there are a number of things any cyclist can do to reduce the chance of puncturing , and here they are ;
1 : Pump your tyres – Every cyclist should have a track pump and should use it once a week to check the pressure in their tyres . The minimum pressure for a clincher tyre is 6 Bar or 85 psi whilst the maximum is 8 Bar or 120 psi . On very rough surfaces a lower pressure will have a cushioning effect but the trade-off is a slightly higher chance of a pinch flat ( Last year in the Paris Roubaix sportif Sean Kelly told us to ride 6.5 Bar in the back and 6 Bar on front – we had just one puncture between all of us for the day ). On very smooth surfaces a higher pressure will roll better and faster . Heavier riders should have slightly more pressure . In winter or in wet weather the pressure should be reduced slightly to give a little more grip . In general 7 Bar or 100 psi is a good guide if you are unsure .
2 : Watch the road – A pothole , a stone , broken glass or piece of metal . All of these can be avoided 90% of the time if you are looking out for them . If you are in a group it is very important to point them out to the riders behind you . A pothole or a stone will often cause a pinch flat which will go down immediately whilst a piece of glass or metal may take a while to work its way into the tube .
3 : Use good tyres – It is irresponsible to go out with a group of cyclists with poor tyres . I have seen guys heading out for 5 hour group training spins with the canvas showing through the tyre . I have changed tyres on the Sean Kelly Tour every year with the canvas showing . Very often the response given is that ‘I was trying to get the last bit out of them’ . In the first case there is nothing worse than having the whole group being forced to stop or ride up and down the road while waiting for someone to change a tube that will sure as anything be flat again later in the spin . In the second case , imagine training all year for an event or a race and wasting it all by using tyres that are not fit for purpose . There is also the safety aspect . It is unfair on your fellow cyclists to ride in a group with poor tyres that have an increased chance of slipping on a wet corner .
4 : Check your tyres : Once a week I go around my tyres with a scribe ( a very small screwdriver or a heavy pin would work too ) . I check for any piece of glass or flint and remove it . Then I fill the small hole left behind with super glue . It always amazes me how many guys racing don’t bother to do this .
What tyres to use :
I don’t subscribe to the view that any cheap tyres will do for winter training . I want good tyres with good grip that I can trust , especially if I am going to be doing big miles on bad roads . Usually the price difference between a cheap tyre and a good one is the price of 2 tubes . This saving is cancelled out after 2 punctures . A crash on wet roads may cost a whole lot more .
Tyres can be a personal thing . Some will swear by the gripping power of slick tyres like the Michelin Pro race 3 or the Schwalbe Ultremo R whilst others want a bit of thread like the Vittoria Open Corsa or the Vredestein Fortezza . The most popular tyre we sell in the shop is the Continental GP4000S in black . The black tyres are grippier as there is no dye used to add colour . The Vittoria Diamante or Rubinio pro are slightly cheaper and are good all round tyres too .
For very bad roads in poor conditions the Schwalbe Marathon or Specialized Armadillo are a good choice as are the Continental Gatorskins .
Good quality rim tape is also a must although the chances of a protruding spoke nicking the tube are a lot less with the factory built wheels that are so popular nowadays . The Mavic Open Pro style rim should be checked if persistent puncturing is occurring without ant other obvious causes .
Tubeless tyres have a reduced chance of puncturing as do tubulars , but if you stick to all of the above you should not have too many problems .
Here is a quick clip showing how to change a tube if you do get a puncture .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
Dogma 2
Ciao , my name is Dogma 2 . I come from the family of Pinarello . Some of you fortunate souls may have known my older brother Dogma 1 . He was very fit and fast and could really handle himself . He had grace and poise and many people remarked upon his beauty . Some said that he was the best of his kind , but now I am here , and I am truly the greatest yet , and humble too !
Our Uncle Banesto Pinarello had a very successful time working with a great family friend Miguel Indurain back in the early nineties and our other Uncle Prince Pinarello also tasted great success in The Tour de France .
My big brother, Dogma 1, when he was young, he too tasted success at the Tour but nobody remembers . Why you may ask , well I will tell you why .
In 2006 when he was very young , he worked with a guy from Spain called Oscar . Oscar was a nice boy and my Mamma liked him , and he liked her spaghetti . But Oscar, he raced against a guy from the USA who liked the Big Mac called Floyd . While Oscar was a racer who worked hard every day to loose no time , Floyd was full of the drama , amongst other things . One day it look like Oscar is going to win the Tour and my Mamma was so happy . The next day Big Mac Floyd go all day on his own with nobody for company , take the nice shirt from Oscar and Mamma burn her spaghetti .
A few days later they get to Paris , Big Mac Floyd still has the nice shirt and the only thing Mamma say is ‘Why is his hat on backwards, that won’t keep the sun from his face ‘ . He get to roll down the Champs Elysee with his friend BMC and Oscar and my brother Dogma have to amble along behind with nobody looking at them . My brother not talk to anyone for a week after that .
Then imagine our surprise when a few weeks later somebody come and tell us that Big Mac Floyd was at the Ferrari factory and they were hiding his nice shirt on him . At first we were confused until a neighbour tell us that he had special sauce that sound like Testarossa and that no one is allowed use the special sauce and that anyone who does cannot keep any nice shirts no matter what colour they are .
Many months later a letter came to our house from a man in Switzerland telling us that Big Mac Floyd has no shirts anymore and that Oscar can now wear the shirt if he likes . Mamma was happy and sad . She was happy Oscar now has the shirt but sad that nobody get to see him wear it .
Because of my beauty many people want to look like me . The man from the Chinese restaurant like my look so much he try to make himself look like me in his kitchen . From a distance even my Mamma see him one day and think it was me, but up close she see the big difference . I am leaner , fitter and much stronger. My headset and bottom bracket are unique . Even though we both grow up in the same area , the carbon makeup of my body is totally different and my movements are more graceful too . Mamma says that I am a nice boy that any girl could trust with her life but that the guy from the restaurant is liable to do anything with his thirty euro fake Rolex on his arm .
I have a new friend for this year called Mark . He is a funny boy . Mamma says he could do with a new razor and would even shave him herself but she says he is too fast to catch . He has friends from his country who drive around in a big bus telling everyone to look up at the Sky .They all like to hang out with Shimano Di2 . Me , I really like it too but Pappa tells me that I can only drive his Ferrari if I bring Campagnolo Super Record electro with me . I don’t mind either way as they are both great fun to be around .
So there you have it . I am pretty popular these days and might not be the easiest to track down , but if you would like me to come and stay with you for a while give the boys in Worldwidecycles (052 6121146 or info@worldwidecycles.com) a call and they should be able to arrange something special for you .
Salve,
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
Are the Pros Pro enough ?
(Eddy Merckx was fanatical about his equipment)
Before the days of twitter , Facebook and the Internet the greatest cyclists in the World were almost supernatural . Fans would spend days recounting any brief glimpse of a Champion in the flesh . Monthly magazines like ‘Winning’ were torn apart as pictures of Hero cyclists were blue-tacked to bedroom walls . Classic and Tour winners had an aura similar to Film stars where just their presence in a room could be felt without even seeing them . They were Hero’s who could inspire a nation !
(Lance and Johan tweeting)
Nowadays with so many Professional and not so professional riders on twitter , Facebook etc. every small mundane part of their lives is immediately in the public domain , as are any personality quirks or irks . Many will think that this is a good thing as there is no such thing as too much information and the sooner they get it the better .
But , and it is a big but , is the ability to see the current crop of professional sportspeople , warts and all , taking from the inspirational hero qualities that the Champions of the past had .
(Geraint Thomas on Twitter )
On twitter last week two of Geraint Thomas’ team mates got hold of his phone and tweeted that a girl was pregnant . Immediately tweets of congratulations were flooding into his twitter timeline and he quickly had to make a denial and apologise to his actual girlfriend , all live on the net for all to see . Nicholas Roche took umbrage at a mediocre review of his book and asked the reviewer on twitter what they had accomplished . Most of his tweets are also punctuated with some very unusual spellings . Robbie Mcewen apologised to Mark Renshaw for puking on him during a race . All of this is hugely interesting to those with a tabloid mentality but is it ‘professional’ . Is all publicity good publicity ?
Now , obviously the carry on of Thomas and his team mates was just a few lads having the craic and Nicholas Roche comes across on twitter as a really nice down to earth guy , just as he does in his book but would any of this make you want to get up at 5 am to get out training on your bike in order to emulate your heros ?
Think back to interviews with the ultimate professional cyclist Sean Kelly . Each and every answer given to a journalist’s question was preceded with a deep inhale of breath followed by a pursing of lips to allow the air back out as the eyebrows raised and the forehead furrowed before all releasing as the answer poured forth . This all took 4 to 5 seconds during which the answer was being well thought out and a concise insightful and very professional answer was given . Kelly was a 24/7 professional and was always aware of representing his sponsors in a professional manner .
(Kelly then and now always a professional)
Nowadays it is the sponsors who want the riders on twitter , Facebook etc. as they see this as free widespread viral marketing , but is this going to be a short-term gain at the expense of the true fanatical following that real Hero’s inspire ?
Many of today’s pro cyclists are dependant on their coaches , nutritionists and mechanics to do every thing for them so that all they have to do is ride the bike . Some don’t even know how to wash a bike properly or even change a tube if they puncture on a smooth road in Mallorca with no team car around . Kelly and Champions like him knew every facet of their profession inside out and their attention to detail was legendary . I remember building a bike for Kelly and when he was collecting it he asked if the saddle was level , I put a level on the saddle and showed him the bubble perfectly centred , then he asked ‘is the floor level ?’ I put the level on the floor and sure enough it was very slightly off . The saddle had to be adjusted slightly to compensate . That is the attention to detail that he brings to everything he does !
Perhaps today’s professional sports people should be given classes in how best to be ‘professional’ in their dealings with all forms of media , or maybe those days are gone and true ‘God like’ Hero’s will never be seen again .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
They don’t make them like they used to !
In 1976 Freddy Maertens was in great form early in the season winning races like the Amstel Gold and Gent Wevelgem . He was going well and was looking towards a good Tour de France when his form began to fade . Just weeks before the tour was due to begin he was having trouble just finishing races .
His final pre tour race was the Criterium du Dauphine and he was dropped in the first 20k of the first stage . The second stage started and once again he was dropped very early on and lost so much contact that even the broom wagon missed him on the road .
He was missing in action until about 8.30 pm that evening when some riders who were staying in the same hotel as his Velda Flandria team looked out a window to see a guy on a bike weaving from side to side coming along the road towards the hotel . Who was it only Freddy Maertens himself .
It turned out that he was slightly pissed off at being dropped again and saw a wine ‘Cave’ on the road and decided to pull in . The owner was delighted to see such a famous cyclist in his establishment and began an impromptu wine tasting session . Maertens thought that this was a great idea and decided to stop at every ‘Cave’ along the route of the stage . He eventually made it to the stage finish and was directed to the nearby team hotel where he wobbled up to the entrance and staggered in the door .
Most who saw him that night thought that his season was probably over there and then , but not Freddy . A week later he started the tour where he won 7 stages and the green jersey . He also won the Worlds that year .
Just imagine the furore if Cav were to pay a visit to a few ‘Caves’ before next years tour . David Brailsford might not be too impressed .
Barry
www.worldwidecycles.com
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