Category Archives: History

Taking the Long View of the Giro d’Italia

Posted on by
1

Mini Giro

In the opening week of the Giro d’Italia, or Tour of Italy, Feargal McKay joins Jack Thurston to cast a historian’s view over the race, looking into its origins, its rivalry with the Tour de France and where the race is heading in the years to come.

Feargal’s new book is The Complete Book of the Tour de France, and is out soon.

Listen to an interview with John Foot, author of Pedalare, Pedalare: A History of Italian Cycling from The Bike Show in 2012.

Image credit: …some guy (Flickr, creative commons)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

High Tech and High Stakes in the Bicycle Boom

Posted on by
3

Hub gear manufacturer Sturmey Archer sits in the pantheon of iconic bicycle brands, most famous for its hugely popular three speed hub gears. Tony Hadland tells the intriguing story of the invention of the hub gear, a story of gifted young engineers, canny entrepreneurs in the high tech bicycle boom of the 1890s. Tony Hadland is the author of “Raleigh: Past and Presence of an Iconic Bicycle Brand” and “The Sturmey Archer Story”.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

High on a Mountain Top

Posted on by
Reply

Since the very earliest years of the bicycle, adventurous cyclists have been unable to resist the allure of the mountains – the challenge of riding up and the thrill of freewheeling down the other side. Mountains are also the crucible of many of the most dramatic moments in professional bike racing. Daniel Friebe and Pete Goding, the authors of Mountain Higher: Europe’s Extreme, Undiscovered and Unforgettable Cycle Climbs join host Jack Thurston to talk about the quest for ever more exhilarating climbs and breathtakingly beautiful places. I

In a podcast-only extra, Bill Chidley reports back from the Annual General Meeting of the London Cycling Campaign, where important details of the Space For Cycling campaign were agreed.

Photo credit: Pete Goding

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

A Ride in Border Country

Posted on by
1

In the last show of the summer season, Jack goes for a leisurely spin around the Welsh borders with local cyclist Owen Davies as his guide, from Abergavenny to Monmouth and back, past Raglan Castle (pictured above), Rockfield recording studios and the unlikely Welsh residence of the notorious Nazi politician Rudolf Hess.

Image credit: Cadw

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Boardman versus Obree

Posted on by
Reply

The sporting rivalry between Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree is among the greatest in history, on a par with Ovett and Coe, Borg and McEnroe or Ali and Frazier. Twenty years on from their record-breaking exploits, Jack Thurston and Edward Pickering consider how their era marked a turning point in British cycle sport and how Chris Boardman’s scientific approach to training set the template for the top riders that followed him, from Chris Hoy to Bradley Wiggins, elevating Britain to the top of the Olympic medal table in cycling and Team Sky as the dominant force in road racing. Edward Pickering is the author of The Race Against Time: Obree, Boardman and the Quest to be the Fastest Man on Two Wheels.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Uphill State of Mind

Posted on by
2

IMG_9712

Cyclists have a strange fascination with riding up hills and it’s definitely a pleasure/pain thing. Jack goes in search of the hill climb junkies, first at the Catford Hill Climb on Kent’s North Downs, the oldest continuously held bicycle race in the world, and then to Abergavenny where a new course has revived the local cycling club’s flagging hill climb event. Featuring Simon Warren, author of 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. He’s also written a free ebook for Kindle: An Introduction to Cycling Climbs.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

How Britain Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Bike Racing

Posted on by
12

In the first show of the new season, Jack takes a leisurely ride in the Welsh Borders with Ned Boulting, one of the faces of ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France. They discuss Ned’s new book On the Road Bike: the Search for a Nation’s Cycling Soul, an engaging and ideosyncratic history of British bike racing.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS