Periodically, one hears the refrain that sports and politics should be kept separate. Such calls are often made when the participation in or holding of certain sporting events is controversial – not for sporting but for political reasons. One might fairly trace this debate in modern times back to the 1936 Olympics to be held …
Vancouver’s inaugural gran fondo promises to be an, er, epic affair with 4,000 riders and a suitably challenging course that features 2,400 metres of climbing (although this is not immediately apparent from the route map) over 120 kilometres. One concern, however, is whether this route is actually hard enough. For the last four years here, …
The diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne honours Saint Aprus, who founded a refuge for pilgrims and the poor in the seventh century. Greg LeMond found little refuge in the town of the same name during stage 14 of the Tour de France in 1992 but could certainly feel our pity. The town is at the foot of …
One of last year’s publishing highlights for this avid cycling book reader was The Tour is Won on the Alpe, by renowned French journalist Jean-Paul Vespini and brought to us Anglo readers by VeloPress. Alpe d’Huez has been the scene of many epic Tour de France battles and this book covers them all. Even the …
This blog has commented previously on the epic, myth-making stories in writing on cycling (see here, for example). In his essay, The Tour de France as Epic, French philosopher Roland Barthes critiqued this style of writing but also added his own level of somewhat over-blown analysis. “The Tour [de France] is the best example we …
The remarkable aspect of the Grand Tours in cycling is that despite covering hundreds of kilometres over several weeks, the margins of victory are often very small. Seconds and minutes are lost relentlessly as small time differences on insignificant stages can have the same effect as larger margins on key days. Such was the 1958 …
The cycling cap, la casquette, has a long and venerable tradition in our sport. The most current design, with the lightweight fabric shell and a small peak – easily stowed and adjusted – can be dated to the 1960s when it replaced some earlier designs. Shorts have changed design, too. While bare-headed, and often immaculately …
