Greg LeMond introduced a new bicycle, this time a steel beauty: Greg LeMond Washoe. The frame of the new bike has been made of Reynolds 853 steel tubes. It is coming with only Shimano drivetrain with four different builds (105, Ultegra, Ultegra Di2, Dura-Ace Di2) for now, but Campagnolo versions will be available in late 2014.
These days, I am reading Graeme Obree’s (A.K.A. the Flying Scotsman) book about training – “The Obree Way”. I’ll write a review later, but his words about “passion” worth mentioning here.
Eddy Merckx Bicycles revealed two new road bike models named Mourenx 69 and San Remo 76. Both bikes take engineering and aesthetic cues from last year’s EMX 525, but with lower modulus carbons and cheaper drivetrain and components.
Biagio Cavanna (b. Novi Ligure, 1893 – d. Novi Ligure, December 21, 1961) was an Italian track cyclist and sports manager, who became famous for having discovered and initially coached campionissimi (champions of champions) Costante Girardengo and, later, Fausto Coppi.
He dedicated himself to the sport from a young age, before boxing and then to cycling, competing until late in life. It was during a Six Days in Dortmund in 1936, to feel the first symptoms of blindness.
If you watch Jørgen Leth’s great documentary about the 1973 Giro d’Italia, “Stars and Water Carriers” (Stjernerne
On one of the early climbs of the day, Eddy Merckx escaped bringing Spanish climber José Manuel Fuente (KAS) and the young Italian Giovanni Battaglin (Jollj Ceramica) along for company. Foolishly, Fuente took his pulls with the powerful Belgian and after having burned his matches, was spit out the back.
Ten years ago, in the early evening of 14 February 2004, Marco Pantani was found dead at a hotel in Rimini, Italy.
One of the bikes that Graeme Obree “the Flying Scotsman” used in his world hour record bid in 1993 in Hamar, Norway has been sold on eBay for £10,000 by his former manager, Vic Haines.
Obree attacked Francesco Moser’s record, on 16 July 1993, at the Vikingskipet velodrome in Norway, using the bike Haines had built for him, a replica of Old Faithful built by London bike shop Shorter Rochford with aerodynamic carbon fairings added by famous engineer and frame designer Mike Burrows. He failed by nearly a kilometer.
Here’s the quote of the day by Eddy Merckx: “In cycling, being sure of yourself is an almost inevitable guarantee of not winning.”
I’ve inspired by GCN’s video titled “Top 10 iconic road bikes in racing history” while writing this post. I made some changes, excluded some of Daniel Lloyd’s choices, and extended the list by including a few bikes. Here are the top 12 iconic bikes in cycling history (IMHO, of course).
In the late 1980s, an American team has started to shine in the European cycling scene: the 7-Eleven Cycling Team.
The 7-Eleven team founded by Jim Ochowicz, a former U.S. Olympic cyclist, in 1981. A few high-profile cyclists including Ron Kiefel, Sean Yates (former directeur sportif of Team Sky), Andrew Hampsten (1988 Giro d’Italia winner, also King of the Mountains, with the 7-Eleven team), Davis Phinney (father of BMC Racing Team rider Taylor Phinney) rode for the American team. The team lasted 16 years (from 1990 to 1996 under the sponsorship of Motorola).