A sunday in hell

[Brucey]

is on BBC4, right now!

well worth watching!

cheers

[peterbayliss]

It can be seen on BBC iplayer for the next four days as well.

[Brucey]

I really enjoyed it; seeing those guys (who were my cycle racing heroes when I was a nipper) riding Paris Roubaix was fantastic. Mercx's saddle tweaking obsession laid bare too!

Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you like, but to my eyes the bikes those guys rode were rather wonderful; I dreamed of having a bike with a Nuovo Record gruppo on it and when I finally got one, years later, I hardly wanted to ride it in case (God forbid) I spoiled its perfect beauty.

Of course modern bikes are lighter, faster etc but I do not think that cycle racing (as a sport) is in any way improved by this. I found it interesting that a field as large as the TdeF needed only fifteen team cars in support and most of them had only two bikes on board. Despite numerous incidents, (and in contrast to several of the pile-ups in this year's TdeF where riders have seen their rear dropouts come free in a prang) I didn't see anyone need a bike change, only wheel changes.

cheers

[Jezrant]

a classic, some great documentary filmmaking from the 1970s with a little whiff of the Nouvelle Vague. Some of the off-race scenes are great too, like the punters in the Valenciennes bar and those showers in the Roubaix velodrome, which look like a concentration camp. pretty weird.

[colin54]

Back on youtube in full for the first time in a while.

[nicmarsh]

thanks for the heads up on this latest 'you tube' availability; look forward to watching this again; quite beautiful film making

[pete75]

And riders ages - Here's Raymond Poulidor forty years old and still among the best.

Not all bikes with Campag kit either - French component makers still on the go in 1976. My own PX10 build 3 or 4 years after that but still all French components...

If you like the film a download from youtube is a good idea........