In 1892 a young accountant from t, USA, quit his job and set off to cycle solo around the world. Frank Lenz rode a Rover Safety Bicycle, a revolutionary new design that would soon consign the traditional high wheeler – or penny farthing – to obscurity. It was the birth of the bicycle as we know it today. And Lenz is one of the pioneers of cycle touring. Cycling historian David Herlihy’s latest book tells the story of his courageous, extraordinary and ultimately ill-fated journey.
Posted in History, Literature, People, Podcast, Rides, Touring, United States
A pre-Christmas books special is now a firmly entrenched tradition on The Bike Show. This year’s edition covers more literary ground than ever before. Amateur bicycle librarians Tim Dawson of The Sunday Times and Carlton Reid of Bike Hub join Jack and Jen in the studio. Tim Dawson’s excellent Cycling Books website is well worth a visit. And you can find out more about Carlton Reid’s book project at RoadsWereNotBuiltForCars.com
Here’s a rundown of the books discussed in this week’s show. If you buy any of the books listed (or anything else) via the Amazon links below, a little something will go towards keeping The Bike Show rolling on in 2012, and it won’t cost you a penny.
Bicycle Technology
Bicycle Design
Cyclepedia
Tomorrow, We Ride
Slaying the Badger
On Bicycles
Bike Snob
Pedalare! Pedalare!
The Little Black Bottle
The Death of Marco Pantani
The Boy Who Biked the World
Two great books that were not mentioned but were featured on the show earlier in the year are Racing Through the Dark by David Millar and It’s All About the Bike by Rob Penn.
Posted in Literature, Podcast, Sport
Studio discussion of four great lives in cycling: Kuklos, the prolific journalist who documented British cycling scene in the first half of the twentieth century; Brian Robinson (pictured, above), the first Brit to win stages in the Tour de France; intrepid cycle tourist Anne Mustoe; and Laurent Fignon, perhaps the last truly great French professional bike racer.
Expert guests are Graeme Fife, author of a newly published biography of Brian Robinson, and Tim Dawson, columnist on the Sunday Times and editor of the Cycling Books website. Plus a chance to win a set of Gavin Turk Les Bikes de Bois Rond postcards. Answers by email to bikeshow@resonancefm.com.
Further reading:
Of Wrigging - Kuklos. A 1927 essay taking on John Ruskin’s opposition to cycling.
Brian Robison: A Pioneer – Graeme Fife (Mousehold Press, 2010)
A Bike Ride – Anne Mustoe (Virgin Books, 1991)
We Were Young and Carefree – Autobiography of Laurent Fignon (Yellow Jersey Press, 2010)
Posted in France, History, Italy, Literature, People, Podcast, Sport, Tour de France, Touring
An extended, hour long edition of the show featuring French writer, poet, cyclist and cultural ambassador Paul Fournel (pictured). We stroll from the French House in Soho to the Rapha Cycle Club in Clerkenwell, to visit an exhibition of a hundred years of racing bicycles. The exhibition runs for two more weeks and is well worth a visit. Paul Fournel’s book Besoin de Vélo is one of the loveliest pieces of writing about cycling and is available in English translation as Need for the Bike
Posted in Advocacy, France, Gear, History, Literature, London, People, Podcast, Sport, Tour de France
It’s the tenth day of Christmas and this week’s show is like a Christmas stocking with bulges in all the right places. Dr Steve Fabes is about to set off on a four and a half year cycle ride around the world, crossing six continents. He talks about his route, preparations and apprehensions. Any lover of vintage bicycles will be a regular visitor at their local cycle jumble, a fine tradition with a cast of strange but friendly characters. A good place to find out about upcoming cycle jumbles is the Campy Oldy website and there are some pictures from the recent Ripley jumble over here.
Paul Fournel continues his reading from Need for the Bike with a grisly tale of dogs, hospitals, Paris Roubaix and a Black and Decker drill. To buy Need for the Bike, click on the box on the left and Resonance FM will get a few pennies.
Posted in Literature, People, Podcast, Touring
Tim Dawson, cycling columnist for the Sunday Times, runs the Cycling Books website, the most compendious review website for cycling books. He joins me in the studio to discuss the literature of cycling, from Tour de France to cycle touring. Paul Fournel reads another extract from Need for the Bike. Below is a list of the books discussed in the show. If you would like to buy them, follow the links to Amazon and Resonance FM will get a share of anything you buy, even if it’s stuff not on the list. What a nice way to help your favourite bicycling art radio station!
The Classics
The Rider by Tim Krabbé
The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton
Need for the Bike by Paul Fournel
Tour de France
Bad to the Bone by James Waddington
Sweat of the Gods by Benjo Masso
Wide-eyed and Legless: Inside the Tour De France by Jeff Connor
Le Tour: A History of the Tour De France by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
My Comeback: Up Close and Personal by Lance Armstrong and Elizabeth Kreutz
Cycle touring & travel
Thunder and Sunshine by Alistair Humphreys
The Hungry Cyclist by Tom Kevilll-Davies
French Revolutions by Tim Moore
Full Tilt: Ireland To India With a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy
Transylvania and Beyond by Dervla Murphy
Blue River, Black Sea by Andrew Eames
A Bike Ride by Anne Mustoe
Advocacy, philosophy
Richard’s Bicycle Book by Richard Ballantine
Those we didn’t get time to talk about
Tomorrow We Ride by Jean Bobet
The Passion of Fausto Coppi by William Fotheringham
The Noiseless Tenor by James Starrs
Golden Age of Handbuilt Bikes and Competition Bikes by Jan Heine
Rouleur Annual 2009
Fixed: Global Fixed-Gear Bike Culture by Andrew Edwards and Max Leonard
To win copies of the current issues of Rouleur and The Ride Journal, send answers to the competition questions to bikeshow-at-resonancefm-dot-com. Thanks to these fine publications for donating the prizes.
And if that leaves you wanting more chat about cycling books, the 2007 Christmas books show is still online to listen again as is the show featuring Andrew and Philip Diprose of The Ride Journal. Matt Seaton wrote an excellent round-up over at The Guardian.
Posted in France, History, Literature, Podcast, Sport, Tour de France, Touring
A youthful feel to this season opener with a visit to Lockleaze Primary School in Bristol, one of an number of Sustrans ‘Bike It’ schools acros the country. Plus childhood memories from Paul Fournel, reading from Need for the Bike* in person at the Calder Bookshop. We get the inside scoop on the much-awaited Sturmey Archer S3X, three speed fixed gear hub, from SA’s General Manager Alan Clarke.
If you are a parent or teacher and want your school or your kids school to be a Bike It school, you can ask on the Sustrans website.
Image credit: Cycling England 2008
Play on links below. Other file formats (e.g. Ogg Vorbis) are here.
*If you buy Need for the Bike by following the link (left), some of the money goes to Resonance FM!
Posted in Advocacy, England, Fixed wheel, Gear, Literature, Podcast
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