The Millar’s Tale

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David Millar, the British road racer, one of the best riders in his generation, had it all. His first day of racing in the Tour De France brought him an impressive stage victory over Lance Armstrong and he was instantly a celebrated figure in the professional peloton. But a few years later, it all fell apart as he was unmasked as having used banned performance enhancing drugs. He was disgraced and banned from competition for two years. Many thought it was game over.

But David Millar has returned to professional racing as an anti doping crusader. His recent performances have shown it’s possible to win without doping. He has written a book about his life, his travels to the dark side and what he believes to be his redemption.

In an extended interview with The Bike Show, Millar talks about the past, present and future of professional road racing. His book is out on 16 June, published by Orion Books. Buy on the link (right) and a few pennies will go to keep the Resonance FM on the air.

Picture credit: Team Garmin-Cervelo

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Rob Penn on Looking for the Perfect Bike

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Cyclist, journalist and author Rob Penn travelled the world to put together his perfect bicycle. We talk about how his journey of discovery sheds light on the history of the bicycle and the contribution of bicycle technology to modern life. Rob is speaking at the Hay Literary Festival on 3rd June and is organising a ride there from Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales. All are welcome to join.

You can buy his book, It’s All About The Bike from Amazon on the link, below. Any purchases made after following this link will contribute a few pennies to Resonance FM, London’s non-profit community arts radio station.

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A Green Mayor? On the Campaign Trail with Jenny Jones

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Jenny Jones is a member of the London Assembly and is standing as the Green Party’s candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral elections. We ride from her home in Walworth/Peckham borders to City Hall and discuss cycling, liveable cities and the future of the Green Party.

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The Life and Times of the Cycling Jersey

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The summer season kicks of with an entertaining and borderline nerdy discussion of the past, present and future of the cycling jersey. From Bianchi’s 1950s classic celeste blue to Mapei pushed the dye sublimation process to its limits and divided fans in equal measure. We take the story as far as today’s trend for any colour as long as its black, and look to the sci-fi future of interactive jersey materials. 

Richard Mitchelson's homage to the Tour de France, by Milltag

In the studio are three cyclists and jersey aficionados: Luke Scheybeler, designer and a founder of clothing company Rapha, Richard Mitchelson, illustrator, animator and Milltag designer (pictured above) and cycling photographer Camille McMillan, co-author of Le Métier. 

Richard Mitchelson is also the designer of the excellent new Bike Show banner and iTunes logo. Hope you like it. We do!

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Norman Baker MP, liberalism and bicycle helmets

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You may not have heard of Norman Baker. He is the member of parliament for the town of Lewes in East Sussex. He is also a junior minister in the Department of Transport. Among his responsibilities is the promotion of cycling. Admirably, he cycles himself – he’s not one of those ‘do what I say, not what I do’ politicians.

Norman Baker is also a member of the Liberal Democrat party, a party that despite currently forming a coalition with the Conservative Party, thinks of itself as the heir to the great liberal tradition of British political thought, from John Locke to John Stuart Mill and beyond. As such we should expect that he espouses liberalism. One of the essential questions of liberalism is framed by Isaiah Berlin:

“What is the area within which the subject — a person or group of persons — is or should be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without interference by other persons?”

Norman Baker, like most British cyclists – and Dutch and Danish cyclists, come to that – rides a bicycle without wearing a helmet. Yet he has recently been the subject of criticism in the media for saying so.

He has not told anyone else what they should do, rather he has explained that he’s made his own decision on the matter, and others are free to do the same. A very liberal point of view.

In choosing to ride without a helmet, it seems Norman Baker is not alone among politicians.

David Cameron and George Osborne ride bikes

Boris Johnson and Arnold Schwarzenegger ride bikes

George (Lord) Young rides a bike - 14 miles a day from Acton to Westminster and back, pigeons permitting


Quintin Hogg (Lord Hailsham) rides a bike

Tory grandee Quintin Hogg (Lord Hailsham) rides a bike, wearing a bowler

And it’s not just Tory toffs and Austro-Californian hard men who choose to enjoy the wind in their hair.

Nicolas Sarkozy rides a bike

Barack Obama rides a bike

Norman Baker is making the case for the freedom to choose. And one of the things about freedom is that we are free to choose differently.

George W Bush rides a bike

Lorries kill twice in one day on London streets

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The SE1 community website reports on the killing of a cyclist in Bermondsey, on Tanner Street, this lunchtime. Earlier in the day, a lorry killed a pedestrian in Brixton, on Acre Lane.

Two awful collisions between very large and heavy vehicles and the most vulnerable road users. Almost certainly, both deaths were avoidable. When will someone in a position of power take a stand on this issue???

There has been some uncertainty regarding whether the person killed at Brixton was a cyclist or a pedestrian. At this moment, it is neither here nor there, someone has been killed and that’s really, really bad news. I called the London Ambulance Service press office and the following statement was made to me:

The London Ambulance Service was called at 9.30 am today to reports of a road traffic collision involving a pedestrian & lorry, on Acre Lane. The LAS sent one motorcycle responder, two ambulance crews, a helicopter air ambulance and a duty station officer. Sadly, one patient was pronounced dead by the doctor at the scene.

Update (Wednesday 23rd)

Ross Lydall of the Evening Standard has tweeted that the Metropolitan Police press bureau has confirmed to him that the man killed in Acre Lane, Brixton, was a cyclist, not a pedestrian as I had been informed by the London Ambulance Service press office. The terrible events are reported in the Evening Standard by Rob Parsons.

Update (Thursday 24th)

The Evening Standard has subsequently amended Rob Parsons’s article, reporting that the fatality on Acre Lane was in fact a pedestrian, as originally stated to me by the London Ambulance Service.

Resonance FM Fundraising Auction

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Resonance FM is devoting the entire weekend to its annual on-air Fundraising Marathon. Over 100 experiences, items, artworks, rareties and more – all donated by our generous supporters and all up for grabs this weekend.

The reason? We need the money. The cuts have affected us already and the future looks uncertain for all arts organisations including ours. Our content is offered to you FREE throughout the year, so if you like what you hear (or want to broadcast something better yourself), please dig into your pockets and offer a DONATION or BID IN THE AUCTION.

Among the lots for auction is a day in the team car of Rapha-Condor-Sharp. Sitting alongside the Directeur Sportif, you’ll get a unique view of the inside of a professional bike race in the Rapha-Condor-Sharp 2011 race calendar, e.g. the Rás, the Lincoln GP, Ryedale GP etc.

Normally this opportunity is only available to Rapha-Condor-Sharp ‘pink stripe’ members (£1,500 a year subscription), at a cost of £250 per day.

Other lots include a bass guitar lesson with John Paul Jones of Led Zepellin, Tracey Emin’s only sound work (edition of one), a fortnight in the Himalayas and other artworks, records, books and experiences.

More details at the Resonance FM website auction page (including item photos & descriptions and a live board showing current winning bids). Listen in until Midnight on Sunday evening – it’s a live broadcast marathon anchored by Jonny Trunk on Saturday and Bob & Roberta Smith on Sunday.

You can also phone in bids or donations on +44(0) 20 7407 1210 or +44(0) 207 089 2170 or +44(0) 207 089 2172 or email auction@resonancefm.com.