What has your country done for cycling?

[Caledon]

Musing the other day on being Scottish, (I know I need to get out more but the weather is often crap) I was thinking about how many things my little country or people who were born there had contributed to the world of science, engineering and the development of humanity in general. As we have only produced a small handful of truly world class riders and can't boast any high profile races, it got me thinking about how many of our inventions were essential to the development of cycling as an activity and as a professional sport.

So putting aside contributions such as the deep fried mars bar and pizza (sports nutrition) and our ability to start a fight in an empty room (any internet forum), I thought I’d set a FRIENDLY challenge to see if you could come up with stuff your country had invented or discovered and which are now a central part of our great sport. If any of my English friends get involved in gratuitous insults about us being well balanced people (i.e. a chip on both shoulders) I’ll just have to throw my bagpipes out of my pram!

Fundamental stuff
The Pedal Bicycle!
Tubular steel
Macadamised roads
Pneumatic tyres
Wire rope – used on all those cables! (my favourite Scottish joke:Copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen fighting over a penny)

Medical - Quite a few things here. Some with obvious downsides as well as positives!
Antiseptics
Anaesthetics
MRI & Ultrasound scanners
Hypodermic needles!
Vacuum flasks
Refrigerators

Media Coverage
Colour photography
The television!
The telephone
Fax machines (ok getting a bit old school)
Universall standard time - ( so our Antipodean friends can get up at the right time to watch the racing)


General
Continuous electric light (i'm not using my turbo in the dark)
Cash credit and retail banking (all those team sponsors!)
Motor insurance - (french TV crews, take note.)
Finger printing (has it been used yet in a doping investigation?!)
Whisky - not exactly a PED but great for emergency thawing of extremities after a freezing winter ride.

 

[RedheadDane]

Fundamental stuff
The Pedal Bicycle!

Yeah. That's pretty fundamental right there!

Can't think of anything Denmark has done for the sport as a whole... actually first thought this was about what our various contries had done to promote cycling in the country...

 

[Caledon]

Yeah. That's pretty fundamental right there!

Can't think of anything Denmark has done for the sport as a whole... actually first thought this was about what our various contries had done to promote cycling in the country...

I wish we had as good a cycling 'culture' as Denmark. I was seriously impressed by the number and variety of bikes on the streets of Copenhagen. Afraid the car is still king here, although things are slowly getting better.

 

[L'arriviste]

Couldn't resist this, sorry. When I saw all the great things Scotland did for cycling, I had to respond in kind.

(Mods, I hope you'll let this one go due to its relevance to the context! )

A rider from England, my country of origin, was the first recorded case of doping in cycling. So England (in a way) brought doping to competitive cycling.

This forum's and Podium Café's own fmk_rol posted one of his usual high quality (and always fascinating) articles only recently on the subject of Choppy Warburton.

 

[Caledon]

Hi L'arriviste,

Really good response! The picture is great. Hope others can come up with similarly creative posts. I was trying to provoke interesting/off the wall stuff - definitely not interested in provoking any nationalist arguments. Cheers. (I'm married to a Yorkshire lass and my kids defintely don't sound like Scots!)

 

[L'arriviste]

Hi L'arriviste,

Really good response! The picture is great. Hope others can come up with similarly creative posts. I was trying to provoke interesting/off the wall stuff - definitely not interested in provoking any nationalist arguments. Cheers. (I'm married to a Yorkshire lass and my kids defintely don't sound like Scots!)

I sympathise. I'm a Yorkshireman myself.

 

[L'arriviste]

This is Paul de Vivie, from the sleepy old town of Pernes-les-Fontaines, France.

An importer of bikes from Britain, M de Vivie was struggling terribly one day on the tough Col de la République in the Ardèche when another touriste who had set himself up a lower sprocket for the day overtook him smoking a pipe!

So embarassed was M de Vivie by this humiliation at the hands of a pipe-smoking dandy that he decided he had to invent a compromise that would allow him to continue to be a noted rouleur on the flat yet still manfully tackle these young fools when the gradient increased.

So M de Vivie invented the two-speed derailleur, ladies and gentlemen, the precursor of our 10- and 11-speed beauties today. You can see it in the picture. Bravo et vive la France!

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

The Schwinn bicycle company based in Chicago was the first to mass produce bicycles at lower costs. Granted, the company was started by Ignaz Schwinn, a German.

Olympic Mountain bike racing was first held in Atlanta in 1996.

BMX also started in California in the 70s.

 

[Caledon]

The Schwinn bicycle company based in Chicago was the first to mass produce bicycles at lower costs. Granted, the company was started by Ignaz Schwinn, a German.

Olympic Mountain bike racing was first held in Atlanta in 1996.

BMX also started in California in the 70s.

Didn't mountain biking also start in California? I had an old Marin Muirwoods (flouro yellow) 20 years ago. Heavy but bomb proof, reliable old thing.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

Didn't mountain biking also start in California? I had an old Marin Muirwoods (flouro yellow) 20 years ago. Heavy but bomb proof, reliable old thing.

I can't say for certainty. I would say mountain biking as we know it today originated in California, Marin County actually. Really you can trace off-road cycling back to Europe with cyclo-cross. Even before that, I'm sure people were riding bicycles off-road out of necessity. Maybe someone with more knowledge can elaborate.

 

[Mr.DNA]

Our chief cycling export of the past 12 years: Take doping to bold new levels.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Belgium







That is all.

 

[boomcie]

Belgium







That is all.

Never thought our ****ty country would be cool somewhere.
Lol.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Never thought our ****ty country would be cool somewhere.
Lol.

it is in cycling

 

[Caledon]

When I started the thread I was going to say to mainland Europeans, don't just nominate your country (too easy)- but nah, I definitely go with Belgium! I think it is the rain and cobbles which connects with a lad originally from Edinburgh. Pity Scotland can't match you on producing riders. Oh, and your beer is awesome.

 

[RedheadDane]

I can pretty easily tell you what Belgium has invented.







Eddy Merckx

 

[Anonymous]

Riccardo Ricco and Davide Rebellin

 

[nvpacchi]

Yeah. That's pretty fundamental right there!

Can't think of anything Denmark has done for the sport as a whole... actually first thought this was about what our various contries had done to promote cycling in the country...

You gave us the term Mr. 60%

 

[Le breton]

Musing the other day on being Scottish,
Fundamental stuff
The Pedal Bicycle!
........

I first checked on meteox.com to verify that Scotland didn't have today its annual sunny day before raining on your parade, but you are off to a bad start with the pedal

brevet français n° 80 637 déposé par Pierre Michaux le 24 avril 1868

See this beautiful picture

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Bicycle_evolution-fr.svg

Sorry if this seems nationalistic but in fact, since the 12th century France and Scotland are unified against the English. Besides I am Breton (Brittany not a part of france until the 16th century)and live in Switzerland.

Unfortunately in 1903 your compatriots lost their French nationality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Alliance
Certain provisions of the earlier treaty remained in force. In particular, all Scots were still French citizens, until that right was revoked by the French government in 1903.

 

[Caledon]

I first checked on meteox.com to verify that Scotland didn't have today its annual sunny day before raining on your parade, but you are off to a bad start with the pedal

brevet français n° 80 637 déposé par Pierre Michaux le 24 avril 1868

See this beautiful picture

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Bicycle_evolution-fr.svg

Sorry if this seems nationalistic but in fact, since the 12th century France and Scotland are unified against the English. Besides I am Breton (Brittany not a part of france until the 16th century)and live in Switzerland.

Unfortunately in 1903 your compatriots lost their French nationality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Alliance
Certain provisions of the earlier treaty remained in force. In particular, all Scots were still French citizens, until that right was revoked by the French government in 1903.

Dang, a competitor for the invention of the pedal bike. Not got time to go digging for evidence to refute the claim, but happy to let the French have the honour! Had a fun day at the Tour a couple of years ago standing on the roadside on the Col de Saisies next to a Breton in wearing a vest and very short shorts in the design of the Breton flag.

 

[ulrikmm]

This former Danish politician/jester Jacob Haugaard was elected after promising the cyclists more tailwind on the cycling paths.

sadly, this key campaign promise was never fulfilled, and he was not re-elected.

His other campaign promises were: Larger x-mas presents fore everybody, more rococco pillows in IKEA, and rearmamant of the Danish frigate "Jylland". All of these were fulfilled.

 

[RedheadDane]

This former Danish politician/jester Jacob Haugaard was elected after promising the cyclists more tailwind on the cycling paths.
...sadly, this key campaign promise was never fulfilled, and he was not re-elected.

LoL! How could I forget about that?