The sort of thing we expect, and are gratified, to see a Flemish Hardman doing.
Riders on the European continent are spoilt for choice these days when it comes to paying homage to simpler (yet probably more difficult) times.
L’Eroica in Gaiole, Italy has of course long since ceased to be an insider tip, while The Anjou Vélo Vintage in the west of France is gradually snapping at its heels in terms of popularity.
Strong beer. The Retro Ronde is just one of a host of events Brooks is sponsoring this year.
As a matter of policy, at Brooks we set aside time and money each year in our dedication as enthusiastic and hands-on sponsor of a large number of cycling- and cycling-related events.
Here at the blog recently, we’ve touched on the details of a couple of the celebrations of the two-wheeled and human-powered that we plan to be involved with in 2013. Funding, prizes and publicity tend to be things that organizers need in advance of an event, and we gladly give all three when possible.
When the talking is over and the hammer goes down, however, it’s also often the case that someone from Brooks finds themselves happily manning a race checkpoint, for example, or announcing the Free Bar as officially open.
The Vélo Vintage has prizes for well turned out Monsieurs and Madameoiselles.
We look today at some of the places you can find us in the coming months, in some cases as return visitors and in others as first-timers.
For Throwbacks who prefer their vin rouge to their vino rosso, it can only be the Anjou Vélo Vintage. The smaller cousin of Gaiole’s l’Eroica is on again this year in the west of France with a choice of three riding distances and beaucoup de surprises magnifiques. So get your retro maillot on and point that front wheel in the direction of the Loire Valley.
Pointy, mucky, cobbly, slippery, icy mayhem probably not in store for Retro Ronde riders.
The Retro Ronde is on at the end of May, and we’re as excited about our involvement in this homage to the cult of the Flemish Hard Man as anything else we have in our spring calendar. Its dates this year have been set to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the first ever Tour of Flanders. So in that spirit, it will hopefully be very cold and wet for our Retro Ronders, and there’ll be lots of muddy pile-ups on the Koppenberg. In consolation, there’s as always a prize for the most fittingly attired racer.
Swiss winners have been the rule rather than the exception at European and World cycle courier championships over the past decade. So it’s probably fitting that Lausanne is the 2013 host of CMWC. The city whose rather, um, hilly streets have produced serial winners like Dominique Metz, Raphael Faiss, Raphaël Pfeiffer and Joséphine Reitzel is rumoured to be pulling out all the stops for a very special championships on the last weekend in July. We’re happily on board, and will also be doing something special to commemorate it. Watch this space.
Last year’s WCR Grand Tour champion Mike Hall is coordinating the Transcontinental this summer. An unsupported competitive ride between London and Istanbul will see racers tough it out in the Alps en route to Turkey under a doubtless blazing August sun. We disclosed the details of our likely involvement earlier in the year, and are happy to report that around 40 racers are already confirmed, among them Juliana Buhring, who as a WCR rider last year set the Guinness record for circumnavigation by a female.
Fancy the trip? Transcontinental racers ride London to Istanbul this August.
Rumours are also emanating from the Mill that said WCR Grand Tour will once again also happen in 2013. Our scale of involvement in 2012 went from releasing a Limited Edition commemorative saddle, to providing rolling race news reportage on the blog, to locating nearby beds and bike shops for riders. When they roll over the start line, we’ll be there to let you know how things progress.
The IG Markets Nocturne has continually proven itself to be a fantastic evening out for fans of all sorts of cycling disciplines. Under its auspices, Smithfield Market in London will again be the location for our Brooks Penny Farthing Race. As a spectacle our event is unchallenged, with High Wheelers tearing around the fast and tight Smithfield track, typically against the fine backdrop of a red sun setting slowly over the English capital.
The Brompton World Championships have taken place at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire over the past few years, but in 2013 the event moves to become part of the Orbital Cycling Festival at Goodwood Race Track in July. The ability to “Brompt Promptly” will once be at a premium.
Available spots for the chance to ride l’Eroica have, as per usual, long since filled up. The event in Tuscany has rapidly become a global phenomenon over the past couple of years. And Team Brooks is proud to have been there or thereabouts since the event’s inception.
This time out, we’re delighted to be able already to count such luminaries from the world of cycling journalism as Maurice Tierney (USA – Bicycle Times/ Dirt Rag Chief Editor), Bill Strickland (USA – Bicycling Chief Editor) and Simon Smythe (UK – Cycling Weekly Editor) on our provisional team sheet.
Retro Ronde – May 25-26
Anjou Vélo Vintage – June 19-23
London Nocturne – June 8
Brompton Worlds July 27-28
CMWC Lausanne – July 29-Aug 4
The Transcontinental – August 2
L’Eroica – October 6
Scott Dickson will be known to regular readers of the Brooks Blog as one of a trio of Tasmanian tourers who like doing things the hard way. In 2011 they tackled Paris-Brest-Paris on machines which in their overall build largely pre-dated the Second World War.
Since that time we have heard from Scott in regard to their next project. A Land’s End to John O’ Groats ride in 2014, featuring the three once again on period machinery to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1934 LeJog record finishing time set by Sir Hubert Opperman (“Oppy”). We let Scott take up the story…
On your own. This year’s Transcontinental will demand much independent thinking of its riders.
If you were one of the thousands who avidly followed the heroics of Mike Hall et al last year in their race around the globe during the WCR Grand Tour, then we have news of a very special forthcoming event that should be of interest to you.
Two weeks of two-wheeled, human-powered, sleep-deprived talking to yourself, with little but Mother Nature and the purr of chain sliding over cog to keep you company along roads sandwiched by the Thames and Bosphorus. “Unmatched… Unconstrained…”, but perhaps most importantly, “Unsupported.”
Welcome to the Quick Energy Transcontinental Race.
We’ve seen this signpost before! WCR racer Juliana made it to the other side in one piece.
When Yorkshire’s Mike Hall made it over the finish line in first place earlier this year, the media frenzy surrounding the WCR Grand Tour began to die down a little. And when Irishman Simon Hutchinson rolled in to take the final podium spot, most people may have reckoned that tales of world circumnavigations by bike were done with for 2012.
Sean McAdam has been in touch with us recently with photos from this year’s Pendle Witches Vintage Velo ride. The PWVV is cosy charity sportive through the Lancashire countryside that is held each year, with a hot homemade pie and peas waiting at the finish, washed down with a few pints of real ale.
Registration for 2013 has already opened. We let Sean from Pendle take up the story…
It was only the second year in which a South Americans has taken place, and the honour this time fell to Buenos Aires to build on the huge successes of the first instalment, “Sudamerican Polo Rockers”, which was held in Chile in 2011.
City folk simply prefer a gritty, unmuddy urban backdrop for their Cyclocross. Photo Damian Talese.
We’ve talked about Cyclocross before, and the notable surge in popularity of cyclocross-specific bicycles in recent times.
Cyclocross has lots going for it, and not just for those in search of an actual pastime, but also for those simply in search of a way to speedily and efficiently drain off their disposable income.
2012 European and World Champions! Polo, Greg & Will of Call Me Daddy. (Photo Caroline Pauleau)
Call Me Daddy have achieved an unprecedented Double. The recently crowned European Bike Polo Champions managed to add to their laurels recently by coming away winning finalists of the 2012 World Championships, held earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland.
It’s also the first time a European team has won the Worlds. North Americans have traditionally constituted a large majority in the latter stages of World Championship tournaments, with only a handful of non-American or non-Canadian sides having even reached quarter finals in the past.
The quadrennial bout of painful withdrawal symptoms, associated with the sudden absence of an orgy of sport in which to wallow when the Olympics finish, will be familiar to many readers.
The sort of thing we expect, and are gratified, to see a Flemish Hardman doing.
