Old Photo and a Proposal

eh? Illy won the B|A|R

Hippy won the H|T|F|U award

and to the initial post - there's enough clock watching in the richmond 3 park challenge thread to think that a B|A|R forum competition is viable

i guess i drank too much to remember

eh? Illy won the B|A|R

What events did your BAR include?

It's interesting that you say Illy won it, since I have him marked as a future contender at national level. Of course, that's on the assumption that the competition lasts a few more years, and that Illy eventually moves from road to time trialling (a very frequent phenomenon).

I'm a bit surprised no one has made any comment on the photo, since I think has more life to it than the original club run picture which people seemed to like a lot.

the pic is great. i'm liking the wooly jumper

It is a quality picture.

It's a great photo.

Its interesting to note the clothing, in my 20 odd years of cycling I think one of the main improvements is the standard of winter clothing. Nowadays it is incredibly rare to feel cold unless you misjudged the temperature and didn't wear the right garments. Back then you wrapped up in as much as you could wear and hope it was enough to keep you warm. If it was wet then that became harder still.

200 miles in two days in February remains hard though, whatever you're wearing.

haha perfect TS

Martyn Takes Charge.

The Bern and Eth run, but a different year. Very little has changed, except that two of the riders from the previous shot are absent, and now it’s sleeting. I know it’s a different occasion only because the rider sheltering behind the leader (Martyn Roach or MCR) is wearing a grey hat instead of black. In the first pic he’s the one in the centre wearing rather inelegant plastic rimmed glasses.

To me, the most interesting aspect is the way the little group is starting to break up. I strongly suspect they are riding into a partial headwind which is coming a little from their left. That’s why the rider in the grey hat has echeloned to get maximum shelter from MCR, while on the left Mick, a strong rider and one of a small elite capable of riding alongside MCR for any length of time, is beginning to struggle and looks as though he’s pulling over to the left causing Steve, who had been following his wheel to start to clench his teeth a bit harder.

Just visible in the background is another member of the group who really does look as though he’s suffering. I shan’t mention his name because he is one of the most dedicated and charming cyclists that I’ve ever met. On more than one occasion he literally pushed me back onto a group when I’d been dropped – at the time I didn’t realise that he was probably near to the limit of his own resources. A second shot, taken from behind after the group had passed and showing a rear view of this guy clearly suffering and off the back was published a few weeks later in Cycling as an illustration to a training advice article with the headline ‘Are you always The One Off The Back?’ He wasn’t named, but we all knew who it was. There can be dangers in knowing journalists.

Although I said in relation to the first of these pictures that these groups were generally elite riders, in one respect they were highly democratic: this was a cheap activity - you did not need to spend any money to take part, and you did not need a special and expensive bike.

Shouldn’t this be a key feature of the single speed movement?

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100 years later without you telling us differently; they are all training on a circuit and he is about to lap them.

What events did your BAR include?

as is the grupetto way we veered from the classic BAR requirements and awarded it to Matt on the basis that if it had two wheels and pedals he raced it this year and did bloody well at it.

The second photo is aces - proper hardmen of the road

their tyres look quite big, what was the norm back then.

27 x 1 1/4

100 years later without you telling us differently; they are all training on a circuit and he is about to lap them.

I'm inclined to think that most writing on History should be moved to the fiction section of the library.

However in this picture, even in the fuzzy background, I think this rider's body language suggests desperation rather than triumph.

It's a great photo.

Its interesting to note the clothing, in my 20 odd years of cycling I think one of the main improvements is the standard of winter clothing. Nowadays it is incredibly rare to feel cold unless you misjudged the temperature and didn't wear the right garments. .

I know last year was exceptionally cold, but it seems to me that the standard of Winters has changed.

Of course I'm not qualified to comment on modern kit since most of mine is 20 years old.

their tyres look quite big, what was the norm back then.

I did mention this point in my first post on these two pictures.

Those of you who have ridden with me may have formed the impression that I favour retro kit in all things. This is not the case and 27 inch pressures are among the items I have abandoned. They were heavy and sluggish, but not particularly robust.

They were probably part of the reason (i.e. they were so dreadful) for my generation's obsession with light tyres and rims. We thought that riding anything competitive without sprints and tubs was a complete waste of time and we either owned or aspired to racing wheels shod with silks (strictly dry weather only).

However, when it comes to group riding it doesn't matter that your kit isn't the best available as long as everyone agrees to do the same thing. OK, it might have taken 20 or 30 minutes less to cover the 100 miles on racing bikes, but would it have been more useful as training?

Hi Clubman. Just seen an entry from you for 10th Dec 2008 re Old photo & proposal. Opened up the photo in which you mention an Albert Derbyshire and ..... to the very right of the picture standing next to the woman on the right is Ron Wysom Senior the very man we have been searching for and who's photos we found, through your suggestion at Brooklands Motor Museum.

Ron did live in Hounslow and cycled for them as well we've now found out. Wonderful.

Clubman you've had a pic of Ron all this time without knowing it. Now somehow, how do download it. It is so big.

Anymore tucked away anywhere.

Thanks Lesley & Carolyn (Turnip)

Nice photos and history -
would happily make up the numbers in a BAR competition but no way am I TTing 100m - 100km perhaps

Jim & Trevor Gilbert on a Gillot tandem riding the Holbeach Wheelers 25 on 15th September 1953. Unfortunately Trevor can't remember exactly what gear they were on, but it's probably in the mid eighties.
It was Trevor's first event (he was fifteen), and they did 1.11.26. - a modest start, but he did go much faster later on.

The next Spring they rode the University CC Tandem 30 which they finished in 1.17.50 and got an honourable mention in Cycling, which used to report racing in those days. That event attracted 70 tandems and was won by the Higginson brothers in 1.4.45. - not bad going on 96" fixed.

Trevor is still active as an official and the Hounslow relies heavily on him as a timekeeper.

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Nice photos and history -
would happily make up the numbers in a BAR competition but no way am I TTing 100m - 100km perhaps

If we were starting a forum BAR it would be entirely up to those interested in competing to decided what the counting distances should be: you could make it a 10 and a 25 if you wanted.

Just to get things going, what about a 25 and a 50 ? You could always change in future years to include longer distances if  riders became more confident (as I think they would).

Well, do you like the tandem picture? I'd like to have some comments to pass on to Trevor (who is very definitely not connected to the internet himself).

He's going to ask me, that's for certain.

That is a great picture. He must have had a 'close bond' with his dad!

Perhaps you could ask him where I could get one of those hats.

Jokes aside, whatever happened to the tandem? Did he ride more events as an individual - perhaps he went on to compete in the same events as his dad?

If we were starting a forum BAR it would be entirely up to those interested in competing to decided what the counting distances should be: you could make it a 10 and a 25 if you wanted.

Just to get things going, what about a 25 and a 50 ? You could always change in future years to include longer distances if  riders became more confident (as I think they would).

i'd be up for that

That is a great picture. He must have had a 'close bond' with his dad!

Perhaps you could ask him where I could get one of those hats.

Jokes aside, whatever happened to the tandem? Did he ride more events as an individual - perhaps he went on to compete in the same events as his dad?

I'm pretty sure it was Mum who knitted the hats. You could ask her for one, she's still alive - I think she's 97.

The tandem still exists, although I don't think it is still in exactly the same form. I believe it now has gears and those attractive special tandem airlite hubs have gone. It's in the possession of another clubmate.

Trevor himself had a long TT career. On coming down south he rode first for the High Wycombe CC, and then with the Hounslow in their golden age in the seventies, going much faster on his own than they ever managed on the tandem. He has every event recorded in diaries and tells me his final competitive event, ridden in the 90's, was his 800th time trial.