• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Graeme Obree

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Francois the Postman

Francois the Postman

Oct 29, 2009
2,578
0
0
Again, this isn't about what this prolific rider is at home, but how it affected his career. That has been asked and answered several times now.

If anyone can't see the point of this thread, just leave it be and don't bother posting in it then. The next one posting the same answered question will be seen as someone derailing a thread, not contributing to it.
 
B

Bike Boy

Sep 2, 2009
589
1
0
Hawkwood said:
As I mentioned in an earlier post he broke the 10 and 50 mile records in one weekend on a fixed. I forget what gear he was on, but think it was something like 53x12! After the 10 record he said he'd struggled going out into a headwind, but then was over-revving on the way back! He did 18:27 for the 10, and 1:39:01 for the 50.
Click to expand...

That's crazy fast, but why ride on a fixed? I know Obree had a different mindset, But can it be advantageous? not in the headwind at least.
 
A

adamski101

Aug 12, 2010
268
43
9,080
Obree is an immense talent, a gifted and inventive cyclist, his career could and should have been much longer and more successful, but clearly he was troubled. I have some appreciation for him in that regard as a bi-polar sufferer myself. I can only begin to imagine how he must have wrestled with not only his depression but this fear of telling those nearest and dearest to him about his sexuality.

I for one applaud him for standing up and letting it be known. There is a huge stigma attached to homosexuality in sport and is sad indictment of how sportsmen and women feel they will be percieved be the general public that they often don't have the confidence and courage to let it be known until they are no longer competing.

I totally understand why he has made a public statement, as elduded to by other posters, it is to avoid someone else publishing the story and painting him and his private life in a totally different light. This way he has some form of control of the news and he clearly feels the time is right.

Good luck to him, I hope that this helps him and enables him to find some inner peace of mind and hopefully he can now lead a much happier life.
 
E

euanli

May 20, 2010
877
0
0
There is a chance it was his only bike. But I know some TTers who say on the right course a fixed gear TT bike will be faster than a geared one.

I don't TT but in the hill climbs I have done the fixed gear times has always been faster than the geared times if I get the gearing right.
 
H

Hawkwood

Feb 28, 2010
1,661
0
0
Bike Boy said:
That's crazy fast, but why ride on a fixed? I know Obree had a different mindset, But can it be advantageous? not in the headwind at least.
Click to expand...
As someone else has said some testers prefer fixed. However on the 10 course Obree had problems coming into the only roundabout on the course, it was up over a flyover, and he got baulked by a car, this made it difficult to get the gear going again. On the 50 course there were loads of roundabouts all of which needed negotiating on a fixed in the face of traffic. To put this into perspective the current record is held by Wiggins and his time after 13 years of technological advances was 29 seconds faster.
 
D

Darryl Webster

Jun 12, 2010
1,234
0
0
euanli said:
Quite often they have to come out in a public manner to stop other papers running tell all stories that put them in a bad light. A positive story can quickly be made a negative one.

Why does it matter? It matters a lot because it can make the sport more inclusive. We still live in a world where public figures are afraid to reveal that their sexuality might be different to what it is assumed to be. How many times has a public figure denied denied and denied only to be forced to reveal the truth?

It matters because homophobia in sport is a dreadful and massive thing thing and given how much cycling played in Obree's life it undoubtedly this would have been a reason for keeping quiet.
Click to expand...

I think is fair to say publicly there are few peeple who are homophobic but theres still a lot of prejudice thats subconcious or privatly overt.
Rather like racism, it`s overt expression is far less frequent than it was as it`s no longer publicly acceptable but it`s still very much an issue and most certainly not restricted to a White oppresing Black issue but all manner of racial prejudicies from a myriad of directions.
There are very , very few people who do not respond, in some small way at least, differantly to those of a differing enthnic background. Awareness is the only tool at our disposal to combat inherent racist tendancies.
It`s great to see so much possitive responce to Grahams "news".
And yes it`s sad that it`s even considered news but lets hope that all these possitive messeges , both here and on other forums might , in small way, help Graham feel as the wonderful and complex human being he is.

Aldous Huxley
(1894-1963)
The Perennial Philosophy

"If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion."
 
F

flicker

BANNED
Aug 17, 2009
4,153
0
0
Barrus said:
How many openly gay football players are there out there, I doubt that there are many. It is a sad testament to the manner at which gays are looked upon in professional sports.

But good for Graeme to finally feel safe and secure enough to come out to the world and lgood for him to finally have this improved state of mind
Click to expand...

I can think of one San Diego Charger, who came out of the closet after retirement. It was mighty brave of him considering the machisimo in football, which is a sexist sport.

So much hippocrisy in the world of sports, including racial stereotyping and sexual bigotry. Similar to some of our fundementalist religions.
 
Barrus

Barrus

BANNED
Apr 28, 2010
3,480
1
0
flicker said:
I can think of one San Diego Charger, who came out of the closet after retirement. It was mighty brave of him considering the machisimo in football, which is a sexist sport.

So much hippocrisy in the world of sports, including racial stereotyping and sexual bigotry. Similar to some of our fundementalist religions.
Click to expand...

Ooh, you mean that football, I was talking about real football to be honest :p
 
B

Bike Boy

Sep 2, 2009
589
1
0
Hawkwood said:
As someone else has said some testers prefer fixed. However on the 10 course Obree had problems coming into the only roundabout on the course, it was up over a flyover, and he got baulked by a car, this made it difficult to get the gear going again. On the 50 course there were loads of roundabouts all of which needed negotiating on a fixed in the face of traffic. To put this into perspective the current record is held by Wiggins and his time after 13 years of technological advances was 29 seconds faster.
Click to expand...

Traffic aha:confused: Do you remember if Wiggins had to deal with that aswell?
 
happychappy

happychappy

Apr 19, 2010
1,112
0
0
Hawkwood said:
coming into the only roundabout on the course, it was up over a flyover
Click to expand...

The course he set the record on doesn't go over a flyover, there is another course that runs on the same road that does though, but he didn't ride that version. And there's two roundabouts, one at about 3 miles, one at the turn then over the first again in the opposite direction.
On the right day the course Obree set comp record on is at least 30 seconds slower (some claim 1 minute) than the one Wiggins (levans?) and Hutchinson (Welsh course iirc) did their 17 min times.
 
H

Hawkwood

Feb 28, 2010
1,661
0
0
happychappy said:
The course he set the record on doesn't go over a flyover, there is another course that runs on the same road that does though, but he didn't ride that version. And there's two roundabouts, one at about 3 miles, one at the turn then over the first again in the opposite direction.
On the right day the course Obree set comp record on is at least 30 seconds slower (some claim 1 minute) than the one Wiggins (levans?) and Hutchinson (Welsh course iirc) did their 17 min times.
Click to expand...

Okay so the start was the old Roman Galley Inn, up to the Birchington roundabout, turn right, on to the Monckton roundabout and then back? I was by the start and hadn't ridden down the course hence my mistake. Obree and a spectator did both say he'd been baulked at one of the roundabouts.
 
happychappy

happychappy

Apr 19, 2010
1,112
0
0
Almost impossible to ride that course without running into traffic even back then, I wouldn't fancy having to keep spinning a fixed gear up after each roundabout. Makes his time a lot more impressive than the Wiggins/Hutchinson times.. imo.
 
E

euanli

May 20, 2010
877
0
0
I hear Wiggins is looking to get his record back of Hutch as well as them having an old school non aero TT battle at some point this year.
 
D

Dalakhani

Sep 18, 2010
375
0
0
TeamSkyFans said:
Very good read that (a quick scan through). Will read it again properly later.

Its sad really that he didnt have the confidence to come out sooner. How much of his life has been effected by it. And ultimately, how much more could he have achieved on the bike. Hopefully this is one sad story that will have a happy ending.
Click to expand...

I agree.

Obree makes a good point about the generation he grew up in.

I feel (hope) we've come a long way since then and that a cyclist growing up gay in Scotland these days would find it much easier.

Steve
 
D

Dalakhani

Sep 18, 2010
375
0
0
TeamSkyFans said:
It pretty much ruined Justin Fashanu's career. After he came out Torquay Utd were the only british club that would even give him a job.
Click to expand...

Not quite right. He played for a couple of teams in Scotland after he came out. (Airdrie and Hearts.)

I walked past him in the street once in Edinburgh and he eyed me up. :D

It was a shame what happened to him.

Steve
 
Met de Versnelling

Met de Versnelling

Dec 21, 2010
149
0
0
A wonderfully brave thing to do, chapeau Graeme. :)

Hopefully this will help to start to calm his demon's, historically it's been obvious he struggled to "fit-in" with society, and this should help those around him to understand his mental state in a much better fashion.

When allied to the fact that he won't be trying to "hide" the truth about his sexuality, it will make it easier for him to be himself.

Graeme, i hope admitting this to those closest to you (this isn't even about us knowing) brings you the peace of mind you so emphatically deserve.
 
H

Hawkwood

Feb 28, 2010
1,661
0
0
happychappy said:
Almost impossible to ride that course without running into traffic even back then, I wouldn't fancy having to keep spinning a fixed gear up after each roundabout. Makes his time a lot more impressive than the Wiggins/Hutchinson times.. imo.
Click to expand...

Obree produced two outstanding performances in one weekend, I feel privileged to have witnessed them.

In the film based on Obree's life Moser is shown at the hour record attempt cheering him on, was that factual?
 
E

euanli

May 20, 2010
877
0
0
He said: "Every bike needs a name and I opted for Lady P. The pink livery means I'll always be seen. A guy offered to swap a top end carbon bike for it, but of course I said no."
Click to expand...

I have a problem with that statement seeing as he tried to sell it in November.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom