La Madonna del Ghisallo & the Ghisallo Prayer
By nature, I am not a particularly religious person, but I do have a fascination with the Madonna del Ghisallo, who in the Catholic faith has been named the patron saint of cyclists.
Milestones: Eddy Merckx & the Tour de France that Almost Wasn’t
On June 28, 1969, a young Belgian cyclist, dressed in the white and red colors of the Faema squad and wearing dossard #51, took his place on the start-line of the 56th Tour de France; his first appearance. He almost didn’t start, however, and who knows what his career would have looked like had he not.
Word Art: Le Tour de France
Prologue.
The clock ticks.
Visions of heroes.
Le favori porte le dossard numéro cinquante-et-un, comme Merckx a fait en 1969.
Milestones: 100 Years of the Maillot Jaune
2019 marked a number of milestones for the Tour de France. It is the 30th anniversary of Greg LeMond’s 58-second defeat of Laurent Fignon. t is also the 50th anniversary of Eddy Merckx’s first of five Tour de France victories in 1969. 2019 also marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the maillot jaune, the yellow jersey worn to signify the leader of the race, and that is a story in itself.
Behind the Scenes with the Silber Pro Cycling Team at the 2018 Tour of Utah
Cycling is a team sport; races may be won by individuals, but those individuals generally would not be successful without the support of a good team behind them, a team not only of riders but of support personnel as well, from the Directeurs Sportif, to the mechanics and soigneurs.
A View From the Rear: MAVIC Neutral Service
The father of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange, likely turned over in his grave when the first Mavic Neutral Service car joined the caravan in 1973. In the early years of the Tour, riders were responsible for conducting their own repairs and were forbidden any outside assistance. So how did that first Mavic Neutral Service vehicle come to be?
A View From the Rear: 2012 Tour of Utah
“Boring boring boring … Chaos! Chaos! Chaos!” This was how Competitive Cyclist Racing Team director Gord Fraser described what can be a typical day in team car behind the professional peloton; especially on a long, hot, hilly day, like the first stage of the 2012 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah.
Rider Down: Robin Williams (1951-2014)
Robin Williams died today; news reports are indicating that it was a suicide. Robin was one of our clients when I worked at A Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito. He was a great client for the shop. The time he spent at the shop after closing included some of the most enjoyable conversations about bicycles and movies I’ve ever had. Robin had a genuine love of all things bike, and I think he really appreciated the way that we treated him as bike rider, and not as a celebrity.
A Conversation with Ron Cooper (2004)
After going over an early version of the A.S. Gillott history contained elsewhere on this website, Ron Cooper and I sat down for a conversation during a trip to Northern California in 2004.