Vintage Bike Ride Commemorating Shay Elliott - Saturday 22nd June, Wicklow

Brendan Hennessy

Hi all,

I just want to say a big thank you to those who turned out on Saturday to commemorate Shay Elliott's 50th anniversary of taking the maillot jaune - the actual anniversary is tomorrow, June 25th.

It was great that different clubs were represented, especially Dublin Wheelers and Bray Wheelers which have such strong links to Shay. The Irish Veteran Cyclists had riders out and of course Boards users well represented too.

People went to great lengths to dig out, clean up and cycle their old bikes. Amongst the Hall of Fame: Mercian, Pennine, Road Ace and Team Raleighs; Gianna Motta, Bianchi, Pinarello, Olmo, TVT, Brian Rourke, Rapparree from Meath and Gordon from Co. Down. Some great jerseys too, one of the nicest has to be the newest from The Gas Pipes touring club.



Just a few other thanks: John Piggott of The Bike Rack for plotting and marking the route and Alec Darragh for driving (needed) back-up. Thanks also to The Beehive Inn for allowing us use their grounds. Rory O'Toole will be posting pictures later www.roryotoole.ie and there will be a longer write up for posterity in due course.

Another vintage event? Maybe a few weeks before people head off to l'Eroica? Any organisers?!

Go raibh míle maith agaibh, Brendan

roryot

Hi all,

Only had a chance to start looking at the photos today. I will get some online hopefully in the next few days, and will also make some available for sale.

In the spirit of vintage-ness, I messed around with this one a bit, to make it look like it was shot on a polaroid camera



Keep an eye here, and I'll let you know when the online gallery is up.

Really enjoyed the day, hopefully will cycle the next one :-)

Thanks,

Rory

Brendan Hennessy

That's (not me) but the sweet success of climbing Glenmalure on a 48x21..or worse!

Thanks for the pic Rory,

Brendan

Brendan Hennessy

Right folks, keep todays date free for 25 years time. Well done Dan Martin!

roryot

Hi Everyone,

I have finally put up the photos I took on June 22nd (last time I remember rain before today!). You can take a look at the photos here:

http://roryot.smugmug.com/Sports

The photos may also be purchased from here.

I made two versions, b+w and colour, and gave both a vintage feel. There's some epic ones at the top of the climb. Hope you like!

Rory

Brendan Hennessy

Hi all,

John (http://thebikerack.ie/) has taken to the pen and given us a write up of the Shay Elliott vintage spin in June. This comes a little late after the cycle (my fault) but maybe a spur to those of you interested in coming to the Laochra na Laoise - the vintage bike spin on September 15th in Port Laoise. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057021228&page=2. For those of you with little time his final paragraph sums many things up about cycling competition.

Best wishes, Brendan

Old Bikes Pay Tribute to an Old Hero

Well, it did happen. One day after the longest day of the year, the longest awaited cycle event of the year actually came to pass, to be specific, the pass at Glenmalure where stands a small, rough-hewn granite monument to the memory of Shay Elliott, Ireland's first real Tour de France hero. Elliott, fifty years ago this year, took the maillot jaune in the 1963 Tour and held it for three days.

The event was conceived by an inveterate nostalgic, lover of all things old, all things Irish, all things 'bicycle' - and inspired particularly by experiences at the world famous 'l'Eroica' in Italy last year. ( http://thebikerack.ie/?p=407)

The weather looked threatening early on, the warmth of our usual, all-too-short Summer having yet again deserted us to be replaced by a distinct morning chill, a gusting wind and threatening cloud. Nevertheless, some 27 heads were counted at the off, something which did not take place until each participant's veteran steed had been well and truly ogled by all and sundry.

Allow me to digress. There was a poster to be found in bike shops in the seventies, an advertisement for Colnago. Alas I have never had any luck tracking down a copy or an image of it but let me describe it to you. The scene is the red-light district of Amsterdam. A bicycle shop sits between two other shops selling wares more associated with that area of that city. To the left, a gorgeous blonde, to the right an even more gorgeous brunette. In the window of the bicycle shop, is a Colnago. And the only man in the picture, wearing a mac, hands thrust deep in the pockets, is clearly drooling .......... over the Colnago.

Ah, yes. We cyclists are indeed a sorry lot (apologies here to the several ladies who participated, both for the outbreak of boys-with-their-toys behaviour among the males and for any besmirching of them by inference!) But such was the mood as each new treasure was dragged from the boot of the latest car to arrive at the car park of The Bee Hive Pub on that Saturday.

We were blessed by the presence of Rory O’Toole http://roryot.smugmug.com/Sports. His photos do justice to the many fine examples of cycling history brought to the event but special mention must surely be made of the contribution from Brendan himself who displayed at least four machines and who supplied my own steed for the day, a trusty Bianchi with full nickel plate below the (time-scarred) Bianchi-green paintwork.

Brendan's own bike was a rare 'Gordon', hand-built in Ireland, complete with decals as old as the bike (1955) and with a story of how they disintegrated as soon as the backing was removed, but lovingly re-assembled, jig-saw/plane-crash fashion, to complete the labour of love the refurbishment was.

Also of the contribution made by the Daragh brothers. Neatly arrayed on the back of their crew-cab, were three of the finest exhibits on the day, Alec's 'Gianni Motta' probably stealing the show, as fine an original as I saw even in Italy at 'L'Eroica', an event they will attend later this year. They also brought some wonderful images from such events as The Rás, The Nissan Classic, The '87 Worlds etc.

Finally the ogling and back-slapping was over and it was time to actually ride these old machines. We headed across the N11 and up 'Deputy's'. The sun came out. Several people remarked to me on the day that they remembered Deputy's Pass being much more of a drag. We had, it seems, some sort of wind at our back - and it wasn't of the meteorological variety.

The route through Rathrdrum to the Vale of Avoca has got to be one of the prettiest cycle rides in Wicklow (particularly in Autumn when the colours on the deciduous canopy make it nothing short of breath-taking.) We made good progress in high spirits.

As a bicycle retailer, it is not in my own best interests to advocate the preserving of old stock and, on a daily basis, I extol the superiority of the new technologies and materials over the old. But there is something undeniably endearing about the look and feel of these old steel frames and primitive groupsets. Even the toeclip and strap arrangements on the pedals feel comfortable and reassuring, somehow. There's something very attractive about how the look in action, the flash of the clip, the winglike tails of the straps. And the influence of the olde-worlde hardware was apparent in the effect it had on the group. This ride was not about competition. It was about co-operation and a shared love of the sport and its artefacts.

The route to Glenamalure was pleasant and easy enough, if not totally without event. I attended one of two punctures that occurred but other calamities were not so easily fixed, among them an Italian bottom bracket working its fixed cup loose. The left-hand thread is a great idea, used advisedly. Italian engineering is usually beautiful but frequently ... whatever! It seems only about 20 souls actually took on the climb at Glenmalure. As we arrived, Shay greeted us with the first serious downpour of the day and we dismounted at the hotel there to don rain macs etc. In truth, if you're going to have rain, let it be when you're climbing. It cools you down and it reduces the friction on the tyres. And we had the wind at our backs. Good deal if you ask me.

There were photos at the top for everyone, a moment for reflection at Elliott’s memorial for some. The rain had stopped and it was a joyful descent down to Larragh where most of us just made it into the very nice coffee shop there before the heavens unloaded in earnest. Again - what better time for a downpour? Things were working out almost perfectly in that very imperfect way the Irish have of working things out.

The inclement weather saw most of the participants choose the shorter route home. Some more chat in the car park and a few of us even adjourned to the restaurant in The Bee Hive where we were treated to some very decent fare at fair prices. It's so rarely cyclists do that 'aprés cycle' thing, which is a pity and made its happening all the more pleasing.

I would like to say our efforts were an appropriate tribute to Shay Elliott, but it strikes me that an anecdote somebody told me about Shay over the coffee break in Larragh would contradict that. He said Mick Byrne (whom many of you will remember and who is also remembered each year now by The Mick Byrne Memorial Cycle, an event run by Sorrento C.C. ) had spoken to him personally about a conversation he'd had with Shay. And Shay had said to Mick that he envied Mick's 'lack of ambition'. Mick was not offended, knew exactly what Shay meant. I think the exchange epitomizes a dilemma encountered by anyone who becomes enamoured of cycling as a sport. It gravitates towards competition. Cyclists will always vie with one another at some level. Yet competition, serious competition, can quickly disillusion most of us. There can, by definition, only be a few 'greats', and many, alarmed by the gulf perceived between their own talent and that of even mildly gifted 'race men', have given up not just competition, but cycling. So our efforts on Saturday may have been more in the tradition of Mick Byrne and maybe Shay's memory is best served by his memorial race, run so successfully each year by The Bray Wheelers. But I'm certain Shay would have applauded what was going on, perhaps even envied us a little.