When Men were Men (1930 Tour)

[Alpe d'Huez]

Anyone read the re-discovery of the 1930 Tour on CN's front page? (Link here). Great article and photos, got me really thinking of how easy riders today have it. Those old races were like going to war!

The other day we subjected ourselves to listening to the riders whine and snivel like 3-year olds when the Tour wouldn't let them ride for one day without their radios. I say, ha! If they think that's hard, they need to go back in time to when those guys rode 70+ years ago.

• Stages over 300km long, often over 400km.
• Most "paved" roads were cobblestones.
• All mountain passes were dirt, and many of the same ones they cross today.
• Riders had to do their own repairs.
• Bikes had two gears. One on each side of the wheel. You had to stop and flip the wheel around to change gears.
• The "doping" of the day was usually alcohol!

Imagine riders today going into a time machine and having to ride this way. They couldn't do it! If not having the radio for one day caused a temper tantrum, they'd flip out and start looking for pacifiers to suck on.

As this year's Tour has been the most boring in history, I say they need to make next year's Tour a retro Tour. That's correct. No radios, no team cars even! Find all the cobbled roads left in Europe and ride them, and make all the climbs be dirt roads. Maybe then we'd have an exciting race.

 

[mickkk]

Those were the days!

 

[Krebs cycle]

1926 was the longest tour ever. this is just bananas....

It consisted of 17 stages over 5745 km, ridden at an average speed of 24.064 km/h.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Tour_de_France

that is an average of 338km per stage lasting 14hr.

14 hr/day for 17 days in a row. crazy mofos back in those days!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Look at those time gaps:

1. Lucien Buysse 238h 44' 25"
2. Nicolas Frantz 1h 22' 25"
3. Bartolomeo Aimo 1h 22' 51"

One hour and twenty minute gap between first and second, and yet Franz topped Almo by only 26 seconds!

Carlos Sastre rode last year's Tour in a measly 87 hours. Rode over 2000km less, and he had a radio to play with the whole time.

 

[sometriguy]

14 hours a stage, these guys got nothing on Kenny von hummel!

Seriously that is ridiculous. My favorite part is the 2 gear bikes where you have to flip the wheel around to switch gears. I bet they didn't have quick release on those wheels.

 

[sherer]

14 hours a stage, these guys got nothing on Kenny von hummel!

Seriously that is ridiculous. My favorite part is the 2 gear bikes where you have to flip the wheel around to switch gears. I bet they didn't have quick release on those wheels.

i just looked at one of the pics and on the front it did look like some sort of quick release lever. I don't think it was as they had no team cars with spare wheels so not sure of the point.

14 hour stages is made. I'm sure there was doping then too as didn't the early rule book say the organisers don't provide drugs

 

[runninboy]

In a similar vein In the US in 1924 Victor Hopkins rode a fixed gear bike 300+ miles to a qualifing race that was a 116 mile TT, placed, then rode 300 miles home. He then rode over a thousand miles to get to the Olympic trial, a 117 mile tt that he won.

http://bikeiowa.org/HallOFame/VictorHopkins/Victor.html

 

[Epicycle]

And I'm sure you know a woman finished the 1924 Giro.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Yeah. Modern day riders need dope, just to become wimps!

 

[mickkk]

They used to get lost, go to the pub, shack up with tarts, had wrong maps, locals would change the road signs just like jerry did in ww2.

 

[uphillstruggle]

Could you imagine David Millars reaction if they present an old school course next year, that would be pay for view worthy.

I love the old tour stories from days gone by. Like Anquetil needing a bottle of champagne to settle his stomach and Bahamontes stopping at the top of a climb for an ice cream the guy running into the shop for brandy at the bottom of the climb.

Sports science may have made it safer for the riders but it has deprived us of some funny stuff.

 

[MTDave]

Picture Information

Gentlemen,
I realize this thread is over a year old, but I thought it was a good place to ask. My wife just purchased a framed picture for me and I am looking for information on the riders. It is titled 1930's Tour de France and can be seen here:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Tour-de-France-1930-s-Posters_i1256335_.htm

Thanks

 

[MTDave]

1934-36?

The car appears to be a 1934-1936 Peugot 601 if that helps narrow down the dates.
http://www.peugeot.com/en/history/a-century-of-models/1930-1940/1934--601.aspx

 

[ak-zaaf]

Gentlemen,
I realize this thread is over a year old, but I thought it was a good place to ask. My wife just purchased a framed picture for me and I am looking for information on the riders. It is titled 1930's Tour de France and can be seen here:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Tour-de-France-1930-s-Posters_i1256335_.htm

Thanks

Ok, we're looking for these guys:

Could be fun

/prolly the Perpignan - Montpellier stage, won by Charles Pellisier

 

[hfer07]

Gentlemen,
I realize this thread is over a year old, but I thought it was a good place to ask. My wife just purchased a framed picture for me and I am looking for information on the riders. It is titled 1930's Tour de France and can be seen here:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Tour-de-France-1930-s-Posters_i1256335_.htm

Thanks

 

[ak-zaaf]

If somebody can figure out the exact stage in which they passed Carcassone...

If it was stage 9 from Pau to Luchon the guys in the picture should be Fauré, Binda, Leducq, Pierre Magne and Antonin Magne.

But that's just from wikipedia

/edit: wait, it's '30s and not 1930? Good luck...

 

[MTDave]

Super Champion Osgear

Reading the following link leads me to believe it's between 1937 and 1939.
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/designs/osgear-hs.html

1937 being the first year the ban on shifters was removed. It looks to me like all these guys are running Osgear's.
This time fits well with the 1936 peugot cars, too.

I read Carcassone from the picture as well, but that's 30 miles inland and that river doesn't look large enough for sailing to make commercial sense. Total speculation on my part, especially considering I'm landlocked in Montana.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

ahh the good ol' days
Let's scrap the team dynamics of cycling, and have some fun !!

 

[MTDave]

Yeah, those guys were definitely double-tough.

 

[roundabout]

Reading the following link leads me to believe it's between 1937 and 1939.
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/designs/osgear-hs.html

1937 being the first year the ban on shifters was removed. It looks to me like all these guys are running Osgear's.
This time fits well with the 1936 peugot cars, too.

I read Carcassone from the picture as well, but that's 30 miles inland and that river doesn't look large enough for sailing to make commercial sense. Total speculation on my part, especially considering I'm landlocked in Montana.

Good snooping, I found the same poster which is titled racing by the sailboats at Concarneau which is in Brittany. A suitable stage for the time period would be Brest - Lorient in 1939.

 

[MTDave]

That makes a lot more sense. Concarneau looks like a much better fit. Thanks for finding that.
Heres a link to that poster:
http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/detail_BP-04__543__toursailboats00bp_htm.html

I'm going to ride my squat wheel-powered bicycle tomorrow!

 

[rhubroma]

Anyone read the re-discovery of the 1930 Tour on CN's front page? (Link here). Great article and photos, got me really thinking of how easy riders today have it. Those old races were like going to war!

The other day we subjected ourselves to listening to the riders whine and snivel like 3-year olds when the Tour wouldn't let them ride for one day without their radios. I say, ha! If they think that's hard, they need to go back in time to when those guys rode 70+ years ago.

• Stages over 300km long, often over 400km.
• Most "paved" roads were cobblestones.
• All mountain passes were dirt, and many of the same ones they cross today.
• Riders had to do their own repairs.
• Bikes had two gears. One on each side of the wheel. You had to stop and flip the wheel around to change gears.
• The "doping" of the day was usually alcohol!

Imagine riders today going into a time machine and having to ride this way. They couldn't do it! If not having the radio for one day caused a temper tantrum, they'd flip out and start looking for pacifiers to suck on.

As this year's Tour has been the most boring in history, I say they need to make next year's Tour a retro Tour. That's correct. No radios, no team cars even! Find all the cobbled roads left in Europe and ride them, and make all the climbs be dirt roads. Maybe then we'd have an exciting race.

On the flip side, give those guys all the paved roads, modern tech gear and the PEDs and see if they could do the same times. And the salaries!

 

[Rupert]

No TV!!!

No TV coverage... had to wait and read it in the paper.

 

[MTDave]

Radio

It seems this was a time of huge growth for radio broadcasts. The ownership of radios in France jumped up tenfold. They would have morning broadcasts of the current standings, updates throughout the day, and recorded interview of the riders directly after the race that would be broadcast in the evening. It's hard to imagine the immediacy and excitement this created around the race in a time, as mentioned above, that most events had to wait for the print media.

 

[Maxiton]

Anyone read the re-discovery of the 1930 Tour on CN's front page? (Link here). Great article and photos, got me really thinking of how easy riders today have it. Those old races were like going to war!

The other day we subjected ourselves to listening to the riders whine and snivel like 3-year olds when the Tour wouldn't let them ride for one day without their radios. I say, ha! If they think that's hard, they need to go back in time to when those guys rode 70+ years ago.

• Stages over 300km long, often over 400km.
• Most "paved" roads were cobblestones.
• All mountain passes were dirt, and many of the same ones they cross today.
• Riders had to do their own repairs.
• Bikes had two gears. One on each side of the wheel. You had to stop and flip the wheel around to change gears.
• The "doping" of the day was usually alcohol!

Imagine riders today going into a time machine and having to ride this way. They couldn't do it! If not having the radio for one day caused a temper tantrum, they'd flip out and start looking for pacifiers to suck on.

As this year's Tour has been the most boring in history, I say they need to make next year's Tour a retro Tour. That's correct. No radios, no team cars even! Find all the cobbled roads left in Europe and ride them, and make all the climbs be dirt roads. Maybe then we'd have an exciting race.

Seriously, somebody needs to put on a Tour like this. Or very similar to it. Few if any of today's prima donnas would ride it. Probably a bunch of unkowns would come out of

the mines and factories to ride (from Eastern Europe this time, and maybe Asia if they could get the airfare), just like in the old days! Then we'd see a race! They did use

strychnine and cocaine back then, along with alcohol and coffee, so if we're going to make them do their own repairs it seems only fair to give them a pass on those

substances (as well as tarts beside the road, should all concerned parties agree .