Ride Tales
Stories of iCyclers' adventures on two wheels.
Cycling in the Sixties
Cycling in the Sixties
Submitted by Bob Tate
I was a member of the Welwyn Wheelers, I joined in 1958 when I was about 15, and the photo was taken when I was marshalling the Welwyn Wheelers’ Road race. I think I was about 20 at the time and had discovered the pleasures of the early sixties with emerging modern music, clubs, parties, drinking and other stuff. The bags under my eyes and the pallor speak for themselves!
I am looking a bit portly and had given up ‘serious’ cycling by then. The cycling clothes were typical of the day, rolled up jeans or plus 2’s – tweedy trousers than came below the knee with elastic in them, worn with long socks and a couple of jumpers. NO ONE in
The Raid Pyrenean - Day 1
There was a buzz to breakfast this morning. There was no tweaking to be done to the bikes: everyone's bikes had been fettled within an inch of their lives the night before. That had been the primary directive on Sunday evening when we all converged on the Hotel Bellevue in Hendaye to start our expedition.
The eleven Randonneurs had arranged to meet at the hotel in Hendaye on Sunday. The luggage, equipment and Stu, Julie & Tom had arrived in Vincent the Vivaro (or "Vincent Van Go") and the
2013, iCycled!
Way back in August 2012 a friend roped me into doing a sprint triathlon that coming October, so I dusted off the trainers, swimming trunks and set about training after several years of doing not much. Initially I thought the running would be the bit I enjoyed but, I was surprised to find it was the bike legs I looked forward to most, despite doing the training (and race) on my commuter hybrid. The race came and went and I set a respectable time and fancied doing more, but the thought of
Fred Whitton Challenge. Tick.
If you were thinking of going out for a quick Sunday training ride, The Fred Whitton Challenge isn't something that would instantly come to mind. At 112miles & 10,800ft climbing it's been described as the "hardest sportive in the UK". And yet - here I was, queued up in the rain and mud at 6am in Grasmere. It's 'only' a training ride for me by dint of the fact that I had rashly committed last year to improve myself enough to join a group of cycling mates on the 450mile Raid Pyrenean