Favorite quotes from the peloton

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"Because I'm not stupid."
-- Bernard Hinault, asked why he didn't work with Davis Phinney in a stage of the 1985 Coors Classic (which he won).

Your arch nemesis Bob Roll also won a stage that year.

"Enough with this Sunday stroll . . . let's hurt a little bit!"

-Luca Bercovici's character "Muzzin" in the movie 'American Flyers'

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Cyril: Hey! Are you really gonna shave your legs?

Dave: Certo! All the Italians do it.

Cyril: Ah. Some country. The women don't shave theirs.

-Breaking Away (1979)

 

[180mmCrank]

Not attributed but...

one we've all heard many times

"...is there anyone up the road?" - Anon

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailleur? We are getting soft. . . As for me, give me a fixed gear!"

~Henri Desgrange

 

[franciep10]

Sorry to tell you this cos you're obviously an 'Armstrong Hater', but the French did hate Lemond.
Maybe not quite as passionately as they hate Armstrong, but they hated him like they hate all Americans, it's just the way they're built; as far as the French are concerned, if you're an American there's a very good chance you're despisable.

That is blown out of proportion the french don't hate americans they actually hate the french much more than Americans, as with lemond and armstrong if the french came to america and kicked everybody's *** in football then you'd be pretty upset too

 

[franciep10]

I dont want to single out the French, but, Its not just the French that hate the USA. Its most of Europe, the middle east... erm actually most of the planet lol.

I guess you're not biased

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Can you guys start your own thread to figure out who has more Nationalistic fervor. I actually started this thread wanting to take a break from from that sh!t. Quotes, man.....Quotes!!!

 

[franciep10]

When I win races, I have to put everybody — including myself, of course — through a meat grinder. Everybody has to suffer, suffer, suffer until they’ve all had enough. who else but Jens Voigt

 

[franciep10]

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking. -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

[franciep10]

The eye of the hurricane is back in Lance, and the storm is aiming directly for the Ullrich trailer park. -Bob Roll

 

[franciep10]

Ride lots. -Eddy Merckx

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Nice recovery!....I'm going back to my David Duffield quotes, cracks me up everytime.

“As the french say, there’s nothing so long as a day without bread, and Laurent Fignon just got some but there’s nothing in it!”

 

[franciep10]

my favourite is the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle quote

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Yeah there's some great non-racing quotes about bicycling. Since I grew up on a Bridgestone RB-1......

"Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world."

~Grant Peterson

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"The bicycle has a soul. If you succeed to love it, it will give you emotions that you will never forget."

~Mario Cipollini

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I'm surprised bianchigirl or any other women haven't found this one yet.

"The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community."

~Ann Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"There are no races. Only lotteries."

~Jacques Anquetil

 

[Major Taylor]

Super Mario

Stage 6 2004 Tour De Georgia

“Push, Push, Push”

Mario Cipollini requesting assistance on the final climb up Brasstown Bald, from any fans who happened to be around

 

[Bjorn Haake]

Grass

"When the front group was passed by a brimstone butterfly many cyclists abandoned the race"

Günter Grass, author

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Your arch nemesis Bob Roll also won a stage that year.

Don't worry -- much as I try to dislike Bob Roll, I find it hard to keep up for very long.

"Are you kidding? I'm sick of being skinny. I just want to be a big fat old man now." (rough paraphrase; Virenque being asked soon after retirement whether he'd keep in shape)

 

[pmcg76]

Maybe not his own, but I remember Lance once saying

"Excuses are like arses, everyone has got one and they dont smell of roses"

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

"Funny, usually people tell me I don't attack..."

~Cadel Evans, when asked if his attack on the côte de Bousalle came too early in today's Flèche Wallonne:

 

[Cartesian Centaur]

Great thread!

Another literary one:

To ride a bicycle is in itself some protection against superstitious fears, since the bicycle is the product of pure reason applied to motion. Geometry at the service of man! Give me two spheres and a straight line and I will show you how far I can take them. Voltaire himself might have invented the bicycle, since it contributes so much to man’s welfare and nothing at all to his bane. Beneficial to the health, it emits no harmful fumes and permits only the most decorous speeds. How can a bicycle ever be an implement of harm?

- Angela Carter

 

[ak-zaaf]

The fact Gerrie Kneteman (Dutch king of quotes) isn't mentioned so far shows how much is lost when you translate people.

I'm still gonna try:

"You can't ride the Tour on a peanutbutter-sandwich."

"A born winner is fueled by hate. I've hated everyone to get succes."

"Competetive cycling for women is like having vegetarians work in a slaughterhouse, things like that don't work. It's asking for trouble."

"If you're not able, that's it. You can't take a cow out of a field if it's not there."

"The awards are at finish. So is the truth."

 

[ak-zaaf]

crosspost from giro topic



The Fable of the Bicycle Will Never Fade Away

And next year, the start will once again take place, and yet again the year after, from spring to spring...Until (but will we still be living?) reasonable people will say that it's absurd to continue; in those times bicycles will have become rare, almost comical junk, used by a few nostalgic maniacs, and voices will be raised, saying that it's time to put the Giro to rest.

No, don't give up, bicycle. At a cost of appearing ridiculous, set sail once again on a fresh May morning, off along the ancient byways of Italy. We will travel for the most part by rocket train then; atomic energy will save us even a minimum effort; we will be very powerful and civilized. Pay us no mind, bicycle. Fly, with your little energies, among mountains and valleys, sweat, toil, and suffer. The woodcutter will still descend from his isolated mountain hut to cry "Evviva!," fishermen will come up from the beach, clerks will abandon their ledgers, the blacksmith will let his flame die out to come to celebrate you, the poets, the dreamers, the creatures humble and good will still line the roadsides, forgetting, to your merit, their troubles and hardships.

And maidens will cover you with flowers.

Dino Buzzati, Corriere della Sera, June 14, 1949