Monster bike on Tourmalet day.

22. Jul, 2010 3 Comments

Big bike, no Tourmalet.

We file this under the following categories: unexpected, genius, beautiful.

Not 25 kilometers down from stage 17′s Tournalet climb, on the drive back to Lourdes, town of medieval miracles, we spotted this image from yesterday year come to life.

A magical back road vision of what cycling was in the beginning, way before the Tour de France.

Note the rain booties, baby.

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Tour de France
  • Ron

    As a teenager I worked in a bike shop and we had one of these monsters on display. Occasionally when the boss wasnt around we'd pull it out and ride it around the parking lot. You gotta get a little momentum up then mount it via a step on the "downtube," the tube going to the little wheel. To dismount you reverse the process. Its kinda scary, though. Imagine back in the day when these things were huge and they were raced!! I've seen old pics of them being raced on velodromes and on the road. Imagine the injuries from the crashes….long before the mandatory helmet rule!!!

    • http://www.atwistedspoke.com walshworld

      ROn, it was crazy to see that guy on the road. Like some sort of weird vision. Quite a sight. Thanks for the explanation on how to get get on the thing and yeah, it would be a long way down. Matt

  • Ron

    It would be an even funnier pic if the guy had a TT helmet on!!