Ride of My Life: The Story of the Bicycle Tuesday 27 July

Dalton

BBC 4 - 9pm - Tonight!

Worth I watch I reckon.

essex-commuter

Nice one. Thanks.

Ian.B

....followed by 'Death on the Mountain: The Story of Tom Simpson'

Ian.B

...then followed by 'Thoroughly Modern...The Bicycle'

Documentary series about objects the Edwardians either invented or advanced. One of the most important inventions of all time, the improvements made by the Edwardians meant the bicycle allowed the city dweller to escape to the country, provided a truly democratised means of transport and is even credited with widening the gene pool.

Thanks Dalton, I wouldn't have spotted any of those!

iplod

preceded by Britain by bike.

Zombie_donkey

Sky box set to record it 8)

Cafewanda

Missed the first 25 mins but thoroughly enjoyed the rest. Now watching the Tom Simpson story. Could be a late night (by my standards)

prj45

Well, that was bike geek heaven.

Dalton

Thoroughly enjoyed that!

notsoblue

For those who missed it:

http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b ... e_Bicycle/

stuaff

Interesting programme, he talked to some interesting people, but the inaccuracies (had he not heard of Super Record?) & to my mind somewhat strange product choices annoyed me a bit. He likes Continental tyres and Brookes saddles, fair enough. Brian Rourke's a frame building legend. But carbon bars on a steel frame? Why, on your very best bike, Record & not Super Record, and then a (relatively- $360) cheap wheel set- and why not go to a British wheelbuilder? Nonetheless, enjoyable enough.

prj45

It was a shit bike in the end, looked awful!

Salsa

Was worth watching just for the part where they showed the Chris King factory. Especially the part where the headset cups were laser written 8) that looked really cool.
I don't think he liked Shimano as he wouldn't even name them, calling them the giant Japanese company.
Also enjoyed the bit with Joe Breeze & Charlie Kelly on their clunkers.

Gussio

I grew up in Stoke on Trent and was proud to see Brian Rourke as the framebuilder of choice. Enjoyed the programme. The missus did not.

prj45

Gussio wrote:

The missus did not.

Man, you wanna hear how much mine griped about me watching an hour long program about bicycles at 9pm?!

I think if I had insisted on watching the one after I'd be dead by now.

prawny

prj45 wrote:

Gussio wrote:

The missus did not.

Man, you wanna hear how much mine griped about me watching an hour long program about bicycles at 9pm?!

I think if I had insisted on watching the one after I'd be dead by now.

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

pinkertigs

Loved the show but too many foreign parts what about hope hubs and royce BB mind you he only had an hour to fill so he had to sacrifice somewhere. I agree the bike looked a bit of a mess but he is true bike geek like us all, great program.

Wife loved it too, lucky me

prj45

prawny wrote:

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

F***g hell, we're such WUSSES!

benno68

Great evening in! Bit of a coincidence that I'd ordered the book about Tom Simpson yesterday morning. I didn't read this post beforehand so was lucky that my mum called and didn't switch over until well gone 8

Fingers crossed it'll be on catch up TV.

es330

prj45 wrote:

prawny wrote:

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

F***g hell, we're such WUSSES!

Ditto! My missus said, "three bloody weeks of the tour and now this?!! Enough!" I retorted by saying I have to put up with Casualty, Holby City and Eastenders ever bloody week of the year! We appeared to find common ground after that.

prj45

es330 wrote:

Ditto! My missus said, "three bloody weeks of the tour and now this?!! Enough!" I retorted by saying I have to put up with Casualty, Holby City and Eastenders ever bloody week of the year! We appeared to find common ground after that.

Ah fair enough, I don't watch the tour, so can understand where your missus was coming from now!

benno68

I just said I'll pop upstairs to watch it, being the considerate soul that I am

"No No - watch it down here", I really would have preferred to have watched it upstairs in the piece and quiet but there we go.

lost_in_thought

prj45 wrote:

prawny wrote:

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

F***g hell, we're such WUSSES!

WTF, men?

Seriously. Man up. Wriggle out from under that thumb. :shock:

Gussio

lost_in_thought wrote:

prj45 wrote:

prawny wrote:

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

F***g hell, we're such WUSSES!

WTF, men?

Seriously. Man up. Wriggle out from under that thumb. :shock:

Oi! We get nagged enough at home. Don't need it on here as well!

snailracer

lost_in_thought wrote:

prj45 wrote:

prawny wrote:

I wasn't even allowed to record it! She's going out tonight tho, so I'll watch it on iplayer followed by the Tom Simpson story which i was allowed to record because she knew about him

F***g hell, we're such WUSSES!

WTF, men?

Seriously. Man up. Wriggle out from under that thumb. :shock:

But make sure she doesn't see you watching the topless "body-art" burd in Portland.

rjsterry

It might be just me, but I found the Tom Simpson documentary pretty tragic. It might have been largely self-inflicted, but someone basically riding themselves to death is still difficult to watch even in grainy black and white footage. Most of his contemporaries still seemed to find it difficult to talk about over 40 years later.

benno68

rjsterry wrote:

It might be just me, but I found the Tom Simpson documentary pretty tragic. It might have been largely self-inflicted, but someone basically riding themselves to death is still difficult to watch even in grainy black and white footage. Most of his contemporaries still seemed to find it difficult to talk about over 40 years later.

I'm with you rjsterry - sounded like it was part of the cycling culture for many of the riders in those times and he put himself under so much pressure to win - a very sad end.

SickAsAParrot

Seriously that was weird, I'd just picked up my new commuter from Brian Rourkes literally HOURS before this was on.

My missus disappeared upstairs for an hour doing god-knows-what while it was on, so no moaning, especially about surprise boobage. She wanted Eastenders on after though, so i'll have to watch Death on the Mountain on catch-up.

stickman

She was wearing tape over her melanin patches so she wasn't even topless!

prj45

snailracer wrote:

But make sure she doesn't see you watching the topless "body-art" burd in Portland.

That pales into insignificance alongside the risk of absent mindedly leaving the TV on channel 954 when you go to bed and have her get up early in the morning and switch the TV before you get to it...

el_presidente

Before the Tom Simpson doc I was watching a doc on American college basketball about a guy Hank Gathers who died on court during a game.

Not the most fun evening I've had in front of the telly