The Best Ride I've Never Done: Why My Rides Fall Short of My Dreams
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- Опубліковано 7 лип 2024
- In this video: The Best Ride I've Never Done. My dream ride happened in 1955--years before I was born. In this video, I talk about that ride and why modern riding doesn't seem to match up.
What is your dream ride? Have you done it, or is it something you aspire to? Tell us in the comments!
To see the entire British Railways film that I talk about: • British Transport Film...
Three of my best rides ever were the 2007, 2011, and 2015 editions of Paris-Brest-Paris. I turned my experience from those rides into a series of videos on how to complete this very difficult event: www.youtube.com./playlist?list=PL9F4jNLzee1GgyYKHKaAmlJGBHeH3n3Kb - Навчання та стиль
Eric. Two things. Firstly, I'm a 61 yr old beer swilling duffer from the UK and, due to love in Sacramento, got to know the American Bike Trial very well. You are blessed. It's a fantastic resource out there in Sac - you are lucky to have it. Secondly: like a lot of nerds in the UK, we are very familiar with the video you give presence too. You're a Romantic at heart :-) The Film is 1955. I was born in Rural England in 1959 and started riding a bike [without stablisers] in say, mid 60's]. I can tell you, for a fact, that everything you see in that film, although obviously choreographed, was true to form - rural England actually really was like that. But here's the sober dose of reality - the yearning of time passing in that film is not only something you can associate with...........so do we. Our cycling experience in 2020 is just the same as yours....gears, frame materials, tyres, speed, gels, GPS's, clubs, time for audaxes.....blah, blah blah....and all that bollocks. And traffic. Heinous f*-***** traffic But I drive a car/van, so who am I to judge? We here in the Uk, look at that film as you do....with a kind of double-edged yearning nostalgia. And what is really, really fundamental in the 'freedom of the roads'.....is the lack of cheap cars. Cars, in those days were, by and large a significant family expense, and mpst definitely not cheap. They were expensive by any stretch of the imagination. Now, they are two a penny. You can buy a cheap second car now for the same many you'd spend on a night out. And now, the countryside has as many cars as it does trees. Really. Reflecting on those times, not sure I'd like to be living back there now, .......but make no mistake.....it really was cycling nirvana.
I cycled East Anglia in the early 80s and had a wonderful time. I don't remember bad traffic. It was winter and I only had a three speed bike ... didn't bother me. The countryside is so beautiful.
I've ridden past that Naseby memorial on an Audax!
The "Cyclist Special" is my favorite film on all of UA-cam. When I'm riding in areas of NH and Maine that have roads reminiscent of England, the music of this film pops into my head, and I imagine I'm riding with that group. I rarely do group rides because the focus is always about maximum average speeds. I like riding fast, but also stopping to photograph scenes that strike my eye. Throw in a cafe stop, and my ride feels complete. If there was a group that had the same mentality, I'd join them. Thanks for your films! I'm very much looking forward to your discussion of photography and making films, as I think it would be fun to have a group that exchanges video logs of various rides from different places. I've tried to make a few, and they are challenging to get right.
My parents and in-laws talked affectionately about the 1950s rationing had ended 53 and most people had been through the war and everyone was keen to make the most of life. This film reflects that time, no posh coffee just tea and they were pleased for it everyone was just enjoying being out on the bike and probably going somewhere new and a bit of an adventure going somewhere on the train. I agree with you sentiment about the film although it’s probably a bit of rose tinted glasses. I am enjoying your videos and will be looking at more of them.
Jeremy Shearmur Thank you! I have ideas for videos-just a matter of filming and editing them.
@@campyonlyguy hi if you search UA-cam for the “the bike brothers” it’s about the Taylor brothers who made bikes particularly tandems it very interesting and I am sure you will enjoy it. I am sorry I don’t know how to copy the link for you.
Really enjoyed your video.I have got back on my 90 year old Raleigh Roadster recently and though knee wear means flattish routes only I love riding around rural parts of Suffolk in the UK.Cyclists still seem to have time for each other whatever the bike which is something I notice and can not get enough of.
Thanks So much Eric!! I too have watched this vid so many times I have lost count. Perhaps our common outlook is why I enjoy your videos!
This is quite close to the club cycling scene in Ireland, most clubs would have a social spin out to a coffee shop and back. Ten odd random club members go off at about 9 return at 13.
Audax Cycling in Ireland would also look a little like this, often a route would have a theme ie A tour of 1st WW Momorials is one I can think off Maybe thirty people turn up and small groups form and go off.
Of course most of the bikes are Audax bikes or carbon but people don't really care what you are on and everyone has solutions for bags and lights etc. Often the organiser will charge 5 euro and at a control he might be there with a friend a provide coffee tea and some biscuits and cake. Its so very old school . Last year four of us did an Organiser spin for a 600 overnight stay and when we finished we all sat down and had a round of beers before cycling home the few Ks
My club is one of the biggest in the country and we have a bike weekend with a overnight stay and return. We are also funny enough, looking at developing a few start points for spins about a 40 K drive from Dublin, as the club is based there, a little like the train trip, that is to start and finish a route that we might not normally get too if we just use pedal power. See different roads and things a little futher out.
Our PBP riders during lockdown put together a in County Dublin 200K we were not allowed to leave County boundaries. We cycled last weekend overnight dusk to dawn, we finished with a morning coffee and a wee drop of brandy from someone's hip flask.
One of our number is fron the USA and we have taken notice of the bigger tires and more classic set ups. We think we can stretch this concept to basically use a cross bike or gravel bike to use unsealed roads and tracks of which there are many, to stitch tarmac roads together to give us more varied routes. Or use canal path ways which are unsealed to get a different touring experience.
No we are all still in lycra but that's part of the times, if we are successful in getting a touring faction going I'm sure the Carradice bags will start to have other clothing variations.
It is probably more about people rediscovering the vibe of the video as normies find big distances unbelievable and the cycling culture a bit intemidating. I know when I joined the club I thought they were just for racing and did not know lesieur cycling was catered for.
It probably only needs a few people to organise this type of cycling to kick start a really nice scene.
Greetings from Orwell Wheelers
I definitely need to head to Ireland when this pandemic is in the past!
@@campyonlyguy you would be very welcome. Keep an eye on the Audax Ireland web site some amazing events take place for example the Wild Atlantic Way is rescheduled for next year at about 2000K
The pandemic motivated me to get more involved with cycling so I bought a gravel bike. As you say, being able to ride gravel (dirt) roads opens many wonderful possible routes.
Btw .... I bicycled through Ireland 35 years ago. Beautiful country, friendly people.
I have watched that 2 part video many times. It is the type of riding i mostly do. Fun, relaxing and just a great time. Most times it is a day ride but sometimes over a weekend.
Nice video and great points. I’m a relatively new rider of just under two years but am a mature aged individual. At first I was smitten by the newest and greatest high tech but have gone 180 degrees and recently purchased a 30 year old steel bike. I love it.
I like to go exploring on my own, or on a fun ride with a friend. I wasn't attracted by competition or an obsession with gear. It would be nice to do more with others who had similar values, as shown in the film.
On the plus side. we are starting to have more bike paths and more people are getting out on bicycles.
Thanks for your reflections Eric. I've watched this video many times and it's one of my favourites too (and not just because I'm British).
I guess it's a choice you take to ride a certain type of bike and maybe take off-road by-ways like canal-paths, tracks around fields or through woodlands. It's all still there waiting to be discovered. Yes, there is a great deal more traffic and the motorists may not be as courtious as they used to be, but if you know where to look you can still find those quiet lanes, wayside pubs and quaint cafes. Getting a lot of bikes onto a train these days is sadly a thing of the past.
As you'll know from our Post-PBP chat, I ride only steel-framed bikes with Brookes leather saddles and pedals with toe-clips and straps. I often take a saddle bag with maybe a little too much stuff in it for modern tastes. I know I can't go as fast as the guys on carbon bikes (which really doesn't interest me in the slightest), and manage to amble along without a heart-rate monitor. I don't even know what watts I'm putting out. My one gesture to modernity is to carry a garmin etrex 30 as I kept getting lost too often using paper route sheets and maps! And if I see an interesting old building, or a quaint scene I just stop (no, I don't worry about Strava segments either) and take a photo or have a break - normally on an audax ride.
Although the world has changed a lot since this video was made, it's still possible to take a humble bike on lanes, tracks and by-ways and experience something of that old nostalgic bike-ride. In the US I often see HenryWildberry and the wonderful Ms Cools have such adventures. Maybe you should join them one day. That would make a really cool video.
Eric, what a great reflective video. Especially with Covid, this feels like a very bygone era, but there is nothing preventing you, from creating a similar experienc. Provided you can assemble the right set of friends with a similar mindset.
Thanks Eric, I enjoyed this video. .
Thanks Eric, what a lovely little video of a bygone past. Hope your staying safe and well I look forward to your next video.
Hey Eric, another video you may enjoy is "A Boy, A Girl, and a Bike" a 1948-49 flick starring everyones favorite Honor Blackman ( pussy galore) check it out!!