Reading about Ken Russell and his Tour of Brittain win in which the Belgian surrendered his bike so that Russell could complete the tour and then presented the trophy to Russell moved me deeply. It reminded me of occassions in the Tour de France where Lance or someone has waited for the leader to recover from an accident to resume the challenge. I increasingly think this kind of sportsmanship is what distinguishes cycling from all the other sports. I also think it is a civilizing influence of sport on society that is all but lost at present. It occurs to me that vintage bicycle enthusiasts and KOF builders ought to organize to put on an annual "Tour of Steel" designed specifically to recapture and rekindle this quality of sportsmanship in bicycle racing. The Eroicas discussed previously are getting at this idea, but I really think that they focus too exclusively on the nostalgia. I think there is room for a Tour of Steel that is entirely focused on KOF builders frames raced by men and women in a race set up like the old races and competed in by men and women dedicated to racing by the traditional ethics of cycling. These ethics were not always flawless or perfectly virtuous, no doubt the old times cut every corner they could looking for the winning edge, but they were a good deal more human and inspiring than most of what we see today. And while they no doubt tried stimulants, they were not pumped full of steroids and other performance enhancers that could make a guy do what Floyd Landis did this year in the Tour.
I also see this "Tour of Steel" promoting the sales of the KOF builders--something many of them need--as well as promoting a kind of cycling and a kind of spirit of cycling that is both exciting and inspiring in a way that today's big business professional cycling competitions can never be.
Wouldn't you love to see a race devoted each year solely to NEW Sachs, Weigles, Bayliss, Gordons, Browns, Fattics, Kvales, della Santas, Littons, and so on down to the new KOF builders who are just trying to get started. I know I am a novice at all this bicycling stuff, but I would love to see a stage race with a variety of jerseys to win like the Tour de France offers, but rather than have a jersies for sprinters, climbers and overall, I would like to see jerseys for bike classification, i.e., road, time trial, randonneur touring, and overall. Wouldn't you love to see a race devoted to guys pounding pedals on a bunch of touring bikes with fenders and full luggage during one stage, time trialing during another, mountain climbing on another stage, and so on through a beautiful region of America? Maybe there could be jersey for mixte competition, too.
We are in the middle of a custom bike builder renaissance in America and we ought to have a Tour of Steel devoted to promoting them and the kind of cycling that is the legacy that they are carrying forward.
This race has to have weather as a basic element. I loved playing football and rugby in the rain and and snow and mud. I LOVE those old pictures of bicycle racers covered in mud or struggling over cobblestones and rutted roads. It has to have good roads and bad ones. It has to have rules that encourage teams of steel, not just solo riders. It has to encourage pros and amateurs. It has to have riding gear styled to carry forward the look of the traditonal jersey of cycling. It has to be open to both professionals and amateurs. It has to have a minimum weight set high enough that this Tour of Steel does not descend into a competition about shaving weight, but rather remains a competition of man and bike against man and bike in the face of the elements. It ought to have a purse, as big as possible. Bicycle racing has always had the element of winning money. To not have a purse would diminish the imposition of tradtional sportsmanship on the race. Doing the right thing without material temptation is easy. Doing the right thing when there is money at stake is what made some of the gestures of the old racers so magnificient.
We cannot and should not turn back the clock. The KOF bike builders are building utterly contemporary versions of steel framed bikes. They are carrying the legacy forward, constantly seeking to improve the steel frame bike however they can.
The race should not be a nostalgia event either. It should be as contemporary an interpretation of the grand tradition of, say, the Tour of Brittain racing, as it can be. Riders should not wear the old jerseys and clothing, but the clothing should consciously carrry forward stylistically the legacy of the grand tradition of bicycle racing, just as the KOF bikes do.
Perhaps this race has already been staged, or is being staged, and I just don't know about it. But if it hasn't, it is time to stage it, before the KOF renaissance fades away. Such a race could do a lot to prevent it from fading away. Something we would all be grateful for.
Don Wilson Los Olivos, CA USA
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