Weighty matters

In article ,
"James Thomson" wrote:

a écrit:

Babelfish's crude translation suggests that Robic, boasting to other
riders that he had made his own leather cycling helmet, whacked
himself with a hammer to demonstrate his helmet's protection
--leaving blood streaming down his face.

The anecdote exists in French:

http://vcvp.free.fr/histcipale.htm

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/kerbreizh/stars/robic.html

A few weeks ago I found the following page, which in turn links to the INA
archive, where you'll find many of Robic's exploits recorded in moving
pictures.

http://www.cumul.net/RayonsdAction/Pages/velorium.htm

I was particularly taken with his thoughts on the use of stimulants in
racing:

"Il a existé de tout temps, le doping, mais il faut savoir
ce qu'on appelle doping. Je me souviens dans l'étape
Vannes - St Brieuc, un contre-la-montre de 139 km,
j'avais fait remplir un bidon de trois-quart d'ersatz de
café et le reste de calva. J'avais avalé, je ne sais pas,
un bidon ou deux, et j'avais fait une bonne performance.
J'avais relégué le porteur du maillot jaune à dix minutes
derrière moi. Dans la toute dernière étape, en passant
au ravitaillement à Rouen, j'avais demandé à une tierce
personne qu'elle me mette la même chose dans le bidon,
trois-quart de café, du calva, et avec une gorgée tous les
dix kilomètres, j'avais l'impression que je pouvait aller
au bout du monde!"


"Doping has always existed, but what do you call doping?
I remember during the Vannes - St Brieuc stage, a 139km
time trial, I'd had a bidon filled 3/4 full with coffee substitute
and the rest Calvados. I drank one or two of these, and had
a great ride - I beat the race leader by ten minutes! In the
final stage, passing through the feed station in Rouen, I'd asked
a third party to put the same mixture in my bidon - 3/4 coffee,
1/4 Calvados - and with a mouthful every 10km I felt like I
could ride to the ends of the earth!"

This joke writes itself. Me go now.

This clip describes that last stage of the 1947 TdF, where Robic and
Fachleitner attacked Brambilla in yellow. Robic was eventually dropped from
the lead group, but won the race ahead of Fachleitner and Brambilla thanks
to the time bonuses he'd picked up in the Pyrénées.

http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/i...tice=I00006061

"...Enfin, mon cher Robic, vous fîtes ce que vous pûtes et vous
m'épatâtes..."

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."