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The word etiquette in English derives from the French étiquette - a "list of ceremonial observances of a court" - which in turn descends from the 16th century noun estiquette, a licence or permit, a ticket. Whilst these French words are now obsolete, the English term etiquette lives on and so, I hope you’ll agree, should the practice of good road riding manners.
Photo: Ben Ingham
WORDS: Andy Hampsten
Our final day's ride would tackle the Galibier 100 years after the Tour first scaled it. All of our guests were excited and a bit nervous to finally get on the famous slopes. Earlier in the week we rode 100 miles from Aix le Bains to La Grave over the mitochondria-abusing Col de Glandon; before limping most of the way up the Col du Lautaret to our new base hotel in La Grave for the high Alpine portion of our adventure. This was a rude introduction to the Alps, but everyone made it before dark, and we now knew what a true Tour stage was like.
It was the Olympic Games which originally conceived of the colour scheme in the 19th century, the five colours representing the continents of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, the white background symbolising peace. However, the UCI was allegedly born out of a dispute within the International Cycling Association, over whether Great Britain could field a team combining England, Wales, France, Scotland and Ireland. The five-man breakaway contingent of Belgium, France, Italy, USA and Switzerland formed in 1900 to create the governing body we know and love today. Fortunately for Mark Cavendish, and many other men and women of the Empire, Britain were allowed into the organisation in 1903. And so, 46 years since Nottinghamshire’s Tom Simpson sprinted into the rainbow jersey, the maverick from Mann, Mark Cavendish, becomes 2011 World Road Race Champion. God Save the Queen.
I’ve always had a problem with ironic adulation. I personally wanted to look cool because I either looked like I didn’t give a shit, or because I just simply looked cool. In my opinion, ironic fashions try too hard and are a terribly fine line to walk. As such, I have never been one to admire the ‘Euro-Mullet’ that seems, amongst cyclists, to have developed a status well beyond the sum of its parts over the past years.
A jersey and contents that many road racing fanatics would find hard not to admire. Courtesy of Tom Hardy, patron of the Dino Ride, a collective honouring the "steel age" of bicycle racing.
If you have yet to enter our Jersey Pocket Stuff competition, please don't hesitate any further and snap yourself a winner. Entries must be posted on the Rapha Facebook wall. Visit the page to see some fine examples.
I have been trying to expand my musical horizons lately; I have been listening to nothing but Tom Waits for two weeks. Funny thing is I always knew I would like Tom Waits, but it’s been one of those things that took me a long time to arrive at. The trouble with Tom though is that he isn’t really cycling music, and I have noticed that these days my best chance to really listen to music isn’t at home when I am always fiddling away with some writing or some other such distraction, it is in fact when I am in splendid isolation on my bicycle.
WORDS: Collyn Ahart
Every so often a list of “rules” surfaces about how to ride a bicycle. Which height of socks to wear. What length of shorts. What colour isotonic beverage. What exact shape of mud-guard. What kind of coffee to drink and almost certainly what to name your first-born son (higher points awarded for more obscure racing-legend dedications).
