Friday, April 19, 2024

Tag: CIRC

The VV View: Pantani Revisionism, Qatar Worlds, CIRC and Raleigh

I can remember perfectly where I was when Marco Pantani died; sitting in my living room in Dysart. The flash came over Eurosport News and I rang Viktor to tell him; ‘hardly surprising’ was the reply. I knew what he meant, the little Italian’s life had been on a self destructive spiral for a some time - rehab or disaster were the only two possible destinations. It was the Spartan philosophers who first coined the expression, ‘never speak ill of the dead.’ And whilst it’s always dreadfully sad to see a young life wasted, I’m puzzled by the current revisionist accounts of his life which are doing the rounds on the 10th anniversary of his death.

At Random

Giro d’Italia 2012 – Stage 15: Busto Arsizio – Lecco/Pian dei Resinelli 172km. ‘Plane Crash’

It's the Scottish Road Championships today - damn this Giro and it's climbs around Busto Arsizio in beautiful Lombardy! But Martin was telling me that the sun was out in Balfron and the jackets were off, so Scotland certainly had the last laugh - the weather here in Italy was grim.

Commonwealth Games 2014 – Track, Day Three

Australia had another great day at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, collecting another five medals to add to the previous two days haul of ten, putting them top of the cycling table with six more than any other country. For the second day in a row, the Men's Para Tandem provided one of the most memorable moments. This time it was the Sprint competition and again it was the Scottish pair of Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean, winning the final two-matches-to-one and celebrating with their families whilst the crowd joined in singing to them, who brought the proceedings to a halt.

Irvine Morrison

Earlier this year we mentioned the death of former Scottish Champion, Irvine Morrison; sadly, we didn’t have the knowledge to pen a proper tribute. Our old amigo, John ‘Ginger’ Gray forwarded this piece to us and confirmed that we have author Dennis White’s permission to run this tribute to Irvine which he wrote in 2018 – we think it’s well worth an airing on our pages.

Wimpie van der Merwe – Still Chasing and Setting Records at 62

If the UCI hadn’t changed the rules governing bicycle design after our own Graeme Obree shattered Francesco Moser’s world hour record on ‘Old Faithful’ it would be entirely feasible that South Africa’s Wimpie van der Merwe - with a 53 plus kilometre ride - would have succeeded Obree’s 52.713 kilometre ride, and not Miguel Indurain with his 53.040 kilometres...

The VV View: That Sprinter Groove Thang

That's 12 days out of 14 or 15 I've been out on the bike; I was getting out regularly before the Giro but life was just so hectic after I came back that I let it go. This time, though, I'm back - I want to ride around the Trossachs with Martin as we do the race report. I spoke to Tyler Farrar tonight, he's always cool to talk to - he proves that you don't necessarily have to be controversial to be a sprinter.

Grant, Doyle and Peacock: Top Three at the Scottish 10 Mile Time Trial Championships 2014

With the ink dry on our page of the Scottish National “10” Championship report and thoughts now turning to the ‘25’ we thought we best have a word with the medallists on what was a changeable but ultimately very rapid day.