A friend of mine asked this on the iBOB list, but I know that
someone here will have the answer...
>I recently watched "La Course en Tete".
>
>If you haven't seen it, it is an excellent
>documentary about Eddy Merckx at the peak
>of his powers. There are short clips
>and vignettes from various races interspersed
>with long sequences of Eddy watching his
>daughter ride a carousel etc.
>
>Anyway, there is truly remarkable footage
>of a rider struggling on a climb during
>what is surely a grand tour. The rider
>ascends with painfully slow cadence and
>is clearly suffering. At the summit he
>barely manages to unfold his rain jacket.
>Numerous specatators help him into the
>garment. He is close to tears. Later we
>see him dismount and practically collapse
>into the arms of an elderly bystander,
>weeping. Finally the rider is bundled
>into a team car.
>
>I cannot get these images out of my mind.
>
>Who was this rider, and what were the
>circumstances of his abandon?
>
>I only know he rode for the Frimatic di
>Gribaldy team, and the era looks to be
>the mid to late sixties.
>
>Best line from the movie:
>
>We see Eddy at the dinner table,
>obviously celebrating some occasion
>with his family. He says:
>
>"The cake is good, no?
>They say cakes are bad for cyclists,
>but this is not true.
>It is not the cakes that are bad for
>cyclists, it is the climbs."
>
>
>(mmmmm, Frimatic)
>
>Goon Koch
>North Wales, PA
>goon@audax.org
>"It is not a race"