John Hathaway - Cyclist
Photo: John Hathaway and Vanessa Bridge riding along on the Champs-Élysées 1983
By 1986 John was getting itchy feet again and he planned another Round the World epic. This time aiming to climb the World’s highest roads en route. He left Vancouver on the last day of Expo and headed east to the Continental Divide and headed south from there. His 62nd birthday on January 13, 1987, found him clambering up the world’s highest road out of Lima, Peru. Unfortunately, in Argentina he was hit by a truck, damaging some vertebrae and was in hospital for some weeks. They have a very good cost saving scheme there. The medical care is free but patients’ families are expected to look after them. John always had fond memories of the Argentinian family that looked after him.
The damaged back left him a good deal more wizened than he had been. But he still managed to cock a leg over a saddle and cover some considerable distances. In 1990 he sold up everything here and headed back to England. But things didn’t work out for him there and before long he was on the road again. He started PBP ’91 having qualified in UK events. But his free wheel packed up on him and he was stranded very early in the event.
» Read moreThe Tour du St-Laurent cycliste
The Tour du St-Laurent cycliste
For the monthly “No-Click” club (i.e. vintage bicycles related) here in Toronto, I did a presentation on the Tour du St-Laurent cycliste (TDSL). The information is based on a book by the wife of the Tour’s founder: “Le tour du St-Laurent cycliste, Souvenirs d’une épopée…” by Madeleine Barbeau Guillou, la Plume d’Oie Édition, 2001.
The TDSL was a stage-type amateur road race held 12 times in Québec between 1954 and 1965. The race varied in distance between 350 miles and 1000 miles, during 2 to 8 days, and attracted approximately 50 racers on average. It roughly followed the St-Laurence river (north and south shore) from Québec City to Montréal and back.
The founder of the TDSL was Yvon Guillou, a Frenchman from Brittany (born 1927) who emigrated to Canada in 1951. A keen cyclist, he won the Québec-Montréal classic race in 1952 and a few other races. He would participate in the first four editions of the TDSL.
Lucy Pittaway
One of the Uk’s rising stars in the art world was once again chosen as the official artist for this year’s Tour de Yorkshire.
Richmond, UK-based pastel artist Lucy Pittaway, was chosen by race officials to create a series of art pieces designed to capture the spirit and imagination of the Yorkshire people, as they celebrate the region’s biggest annual race.
Last year, Pittaway took to her canvass to create a series entitled Hills, Dales and Woolly Tails, which depicted the excitement, endurance and tenacity of the race, set against the unique Yorkshire backdrop with eager crowds of fans accompanied with fluffy sheep, spurring the riders on.
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