Author Archives: Guy WR

Spring, Italian style

Unlike other Grand Tour contenders, Bradley Wiggins being the obvious example, Ivan Basso seems content to keep a low profile in this spring’s edition of Paris-Nice. We will no doubt be seeing more of Basso at the Tour (perhaps the Giro as well) where he will perhaps put in a more spirited performance than last …

March 8, 2012 – 9:31 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Classic Stages | Tagged | Comments (3)

Climbing culture, Italian style

One of the pleasures of following European pro cycling, albeit from afar, is the exposure one gets to different cultural norms. Bike ‘culture’ is an ongoing debate and one might usefully divide it into three areas: hardware, software, and programming. Under hardware, we might as an example reference the debate over what constitutes a ‘race’ …

March 1, 2012 – 10:49 am | By Guy WR | Posted in Climbers, Meanings | Comments (2)

Ultimate climbing guide, part 1: gearing

Andy Hampsten’s ride over the Gavia at the 1988 Giro d’Italia is the stuff of legend (read more about it here). Once he’d claimed the maglia rosa, however, there were still eight days of racing to go and Erik Breukink – the winner of the Gavia stage – was just 15 seconds behind. Urs Zimmerman, …

February 23, 2012 – 2:39 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Classic Stages, Climbing Skills | Tagged | Comments (7)

A new Italian renaissance?

There has been much written in the mainstream press on Italy’s current (and supposed) malaise. You can read some of the articles here, here, and here. Indeed, this very blog commented last year on the state of Italian cycling. There are good reasons to believe that these things are cyclical. In the spirit of the …

February 10, 2012 – 2:20 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Classic Stages | Tagged | Comments Off

The good life

I hope you will, dear reader, indulge your author somewhat for a slightly introspective and wide-ranging post. Last month, your author turned 40, which is somewhat of a milestone in popular reckoning and traditionally a time for a pause and reflection. Aside from looking forward to racing in a new age category for the local …

February 1, 2012 – 7:57 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Local Climbs, Meanings | Tagged | Comments (4)

Romance

For me, France is a country of provincial banality, a land where patriotism flowers only to hide the bloodied earth of revolution, where history was begun at the Bastille by a horde of peasants running amok with pitchforks, decapitating their betters because they were just that. Before the Revolution, the French insist in their clipped …

January 18, 2012 – 8:26 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Classic Climbs | Tagged , | Comments (2)

The commandments of winter riding

It must assumed, dear reader, that at least one of the commandments of winter riding reads something like as follows: Thou shalt not brag about having ‘solved’ the problem of rear tyre punctures lest one be struck down by said puncture on the first ride of the New Year. Surely there is an expression in …

January 6, 2012 – 5:00 pm | By Guy WR | Posted in Local Climbs | Tagged | Comments (2)