100 years ago, on June 18, 1910, Thaddy Robl was killed in an air crash.
Robl was a very well known bicycle racer, mainly renowned for his exploits as a stayer on the track. He must be regarded as one of the toughest guys on a bike ever, riding long races all bandaged up. People complained that his bandages reddening with blood during a race looked untidy.
Born on Oct 27, 1877, in Munich/Bavaria, he was a sickly child, but rose to a triumphant Paris-Bordeaux winner in 1897. The race over 600 km was run mostly in the rain. His shoes dissolved, but he carried on. When upon finishing with torn and bloodied feet he was asked how he had done it, he gave the classic Bavarian answer "A Viach muas ma sei", "You need to be a beast".
Robl became Germany´s first stayer world champion in 1901 and made a huge fortune on the track which he promptly squandered. He popularized motorpacing quite singlehandedly and was a role model among boy racers for much longer than his life lasted. When is cycle racing career waned, he took to flying which in those days was still more dangerous than motorpaced cycle racing. Planes could only be flown when there was no wind, and people paid to see the flyers perform their art. He is said to have remarked that he did not want to disappoint his fans when boarding his plane for the last time 100 years ago today in gusty weather conditions in then Stettin, Germany, now Szeczin, Poland.
Toni "It´s all in my book" Theilmeier, Belm, Germany.
P.S.: Please do not mail any e-mail attachments, photos or the like, my computer which Robl might have used still is on slow internet. Thanks.