If I am following this correctly Jerry is referring to a Golden age of road racing in Europe between 1890 and 1920. Clearly that was the period when the Monuments and National Tours were founded but does that constitute a Golden age? I'm not sure it does. I suppose you would need to know numbers competing, public and media interest etc. to identify the right era. I think I would plump for the thirties and forties when bikes were "modern" but the races were still over heroic distances and terrain. On another topic I read that the British are "socially conservative" Maybe, but equally there is a long tradition of eccentricity at all levels of society. After all how conservative is a grown man racing a trike? Also in many towns there was a frame builder who would, for a modest sum, express your personality in steel. One of the last frames that I saw at Bill Philbrook's had "Bates" forks and "Hetchins" stays and all for the price of a weeks holiday on the Costa Brava ! Jerry writes:- Of course, one could argue that America never did have any significant road cycling in the "golden age" and that there was no renaissance in the late 60's but the discovery of the European form of road cycling virtually for the first time. If this is true, it makes the Paramount even more remarkable. Anyone know of any good books or other sources which discuss American road, as opposed to track, racing between say 1890 and 1920? Certainly American's did a lot of cycling on the road for recreation and transportation before the automobile killed most of this off, but I've seen little information about road competition in that era.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
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