Raymond “Bad Luck Badass” Poulidor, 1968 Tour de France.
This post takes a few different views of Raymond Poulidor’s crash on Stage 15 (Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via to Albi) of the 1968 Tour de France.
Tag Archives | vintage velo
Time Trialing & Going Nowhere
I’m not a fan of the time trial (individual or team) unless it’s vintage pre-time trial bike, pre-aero helmet stuff (like the pic above featuring Jacques Anquetil circa 1953) or on dirt (like the Yankee Springs Time Trial here in Michigan each spring). While I have NO plans to ever do a road time trial, I do plan on returning to Yankee this spring. This winter I also plan on continuing my version of the time trial on the trainer; pedaling my ass off, going nowhere for 15 miles trying to best the time before. It’s basically doing lactate threshold training but that sounds all fancy and like I actually know what I’m doing. Since I don’t, and tend to wing things by the seat of my soiled chamois, I just call it doing a time trial.
A Badass Wrench & Tree Trunks
I’m not sure if I’m more impressed by the wrench leaning out of the car to do his chain lubing business at the 1949 Tour de France, or the freaking tree trunk legs on Gino Sciardis. Look at those freaking things! There are roid-head body builders that don’t have legs that good.
Side note: Digging the wool jersey that Gino is sporting too.
The Name Fit The Bike
Mountain bike pioneer Charlie Kelly in a promotional photo (circa 1980-ish?) taken by Gary Fisher for their company– MountainBikes. According to Kelly’s personal (history packed) website, the bike in the photo was Fisher’s as he couldn’t yet afford one of the very bikes they were selling.
Back then, you paid $1,300 up front to a couple of California hippies, waited a month or more and eventually you got yourself a 28 pound, fully rigid mountain bike.
Check out Kelly’s site for a shit ton of amazing photos and information about the early days of mountain biking. It’s pretty cool to see so much history of a sport that was invented during my lifetime.
Fear & Loathing Lance While On The Trainer
I wouldn’t say that I have anything against Lance Armstrong (except the lying, cheating, megalomania, sociopathy and making me feel like a Goddamn fool for all those years I supported him and his teams as they doped themselves to the gills to win bike races). And I wouldn’t dare to say that Lance does–or ever has–smoked grass, done mescaline, high powered blotter acid, cocaine, or a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers, raw ether or amyls.
But I do think that he obviously got locked into a serious drug collection and had the tendency is to push it as far as he could. Only his drug collection had more to do with EPO and the like rather than Hunter S. Thompson’s laundry list of illegal, mild to hardcore and dangerous, recreational drugs.
Repack Style: Denim on Denim
Alan Bonds rocking denim on denim aboard his klunker at one of several 1976 Repack downhill races in Marin County, California.
You really can’t go wrong with bikes racing dirt or denim on denim. They just sort of go together… like chafing and taints.
Photo: Alan Bonds
Coppi, Old Men & Gladiator Sandals
Fausto Coppi and the snarky man in gladiator sandals
In the past year or so I have become enamoured with old cycling racers, races and photos. It started over at xxcmag.com, then once I ran that into the ground, it continued on to The Soiled Chamois v.3. Beyond seeing the old cycling badasses of yesteryear throwing down, I love looking at the bikes, equipment, styles and designs.
Tomac: Legend
Tomac. Freaking legend!
Francesco Moser & Bodoni
I hate myself. Not for all my normal reasons but because the very first thing I thought of when I saw this photo of Francesco Moser wasn’t about him, his bike, the race he was doing or the Cheshire Cat shit eating grin the dude in the car is sporting… it was that the font used for the sponsor’s name on the team car is Bodoni Poster Italic. Not a huge fan… Unless I’m doing some 70s looking project, then it’s pretty darn cool. I on the other hand am just an idiot.
1990s Gravel
Gravel circa 1994 – 26″ wheeled mountain bike and hip pack (not being used for Enduro™) included.