April 1, 2013 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Cycling, My thoughts on recent races and events
I settled down to watch De Ronde on my daughter’s laptop expecting to be underwhelmed and I wasn’t disappointed. I like to think that I am not a prisoner of the past but the Tour of Flanders without a finale on the Muur and the Bosberg is surely a joke in the worst possible taste. Why when you have the perfect race course would you change it for one totally without merit? Well, of course, we know the answer, money..
As for the race itself it was crap. All the bulldust about Cancellara was just hype. When the Swiss eventually showed on the Oude Kwaremont he and Sagan quickly caught Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) who despite having done the lion’s share of the work in the break quickly latched on the back. Only fifty metres from the junction with the main road did the elastic snap and the twenty two year old Pole lost contact. If Cancellara had truly been on a great ride he would have passed the Pole as if he was standing still.
This morning I read the race report in the Daily Telegraph which concentrated on Sagan’s indescretion on the podium. The unidentified writer also mentioned the crucial move on the “Vieux Quaremont”!! Presumably he or she cribbed the report from a French paper.
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March 14, 2013 at 11:52 am · Filed under Cycling, Technical stuff, The history of cycle racing
This is, I believe, the work of Charles Terryn sometime mechanic to Eddy Merckx. I have always believed that if a job involved a great deal of extra work for no particular advantage Bill Philbrook would have done it just to show that he could and it seems that Terryn was cut from the same cloth. And why the two holes? surely not for lightness.
Don’t panic mechanic! Charles Terryn hands Eddy his bike at the 1975 Worlds.
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March 14, 2013 at 11:05 am · Filed under Cycling, My thoughts on recent races and events
I had it all worked out. A short piece bigging up Sky for, probably, being the only team to have taken the GC in two major stages races run concurrently. I say probably as I am at present homeless and my records are in storage so I can’t “research” the topic. Anyhow whether or not it was unique it would have been a major achievement to win both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.
I have only been able to find the last few kms on t’internet so I don’t know how Chris Froome screwed up but clearly three ascents of a 30% climb would make it impossible for Sky to control the race but why couldn’t Froome hang in with the leaders? Was it a repeat of the overgearing they suffered in the Vuelta?
Nevertheless Sky are having a great season and that is without bringing Wiggo in to play. Roll on July!
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March 7, 2013 at 7:41 pm · Filed under Cycling, Doping, The Worlds
Following the long awaited confession of Boogerd to ten years of doping at Rabobank the great Oscar Freire must be now in the frame. If Oscar’s three rainbow jerseys are shown to be stained that will be the end for me as a fan. I was roadside for all three wins and his first win at Verona was perhaps the best moment of my time as a fan. As the group swung to the left and Oscar opened a gap on the right all the Italians walked out of the bar! By the time Oscar crossed the line we had the tele to ourselves!
I am still clinging to the hope that Oscar was so good at what he did best he didn’t need to dope. Popping up in Flanders in early March and in October for the Worlds with plenty of rest for his dodgy back during the remainder of the season maybe allowed him to win clean. Let’s hope so.
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January 30, 2013 at 8:32 pm · Filed under Cycling, Pic of the day, The history of cycle racing
I am short on info about this one. I reckon that is Vin Denson powering along on the front with Bill Bradley second. That said I don’t recall seeing Billy wearing a crash hat before.
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November 3, 2012 at 8:46 pm · Filed under Cycling
Keith presenting the prizes at the Southport Cycling Club annual dinner
Sad news I am afraid. I have just heard that Keith has died at his home at Lydiate. Earlier this year I had a long telephone conversation with Keith and I greatly enjoyed hearing his tales of the Liverpool bike trade particularly his time working for Harry and Jim Quinn.
Keith was raised in the Liverpool district of Norris Green along with his four siblings. His later education was at Walton Technical College and on leaving he was apprenticed to a firm of piano manufacturers. By this time Keith had joined the Melling Wheelers and was riding time trials. He was called up to do his national service and unusually volunteered to serve for three years with the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment as a regular soldier presumably for the enhanced pay. He was stationed in Germany.
On being demobbed Keith worked at Walvale Cycles not surprisingly at Walton Vale in north Liverpool. He later moved to Harry Quinn working at both Kirkdale and Walton Vale and it was here that he started frame building. At this time Keith was living at Upholland near Wigan and cycling to work most days so he was getting in plenty of miles. During his time at Harry Quinn he was the mechanic for the Harry Quinn-Castrol Oil racing team that included Bill Bradley, Stan Brittain and John Geddes.
On leaving Harry Quinn, I think when the business folded in Liverpool, Keith opened a tobacconists in Maghull which he later turned in to his bike shop. It was then that he built frames under his own name. I have one of his frames and it is a very neat job but has no special features to set the pulse racing, much like a typical Harry Quinn in fact.
Keith was a member of the Crosby CC together with his old mate Norman Rainford. He leaves three children. By the way former England winger Steve Coppell was also born in Norris Green. I wonder if there is a family connection?
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