I forgot about the 1000 km base thing. In a 42x18 no less. No big gears, they were forbidden. I remember getting yelled at by such a guy for breathing too hard on an early spring ride (he raced for Coppi apparently, and he was smoother on the bike than anyone I've ever seen). His rule was 1500 miles in a 42x18 before shifting into a higher gear. And that was 10 years after the flick mentioned.
Everything in general was less extreme. Think of the Mr Universes back then. Doping wasn't the same lol. Think of gymnasts, ice skaters, skiiers. Runners (like sprinters). Less muscle, more fat.
There was a lot of misinformation and superstition in cycling. Drilling out equipment was the way to lighten things up. Training, jeez, training was crazy. What's his name, Sean Kelly's coach, he'd hide food from riders so they wouldn't eat too much. Of course they'd bonk at some point but, hey, they were light while they bonked. Cyrill Guimard, respected by pretty much everyone, said in 1983 I think that no one on the team could drink Coke. Well, except for Greg Lemond - he could drink Coke because he grew up in the US and they drank it all the time "there".
Now the Tour got sponsored by Coke. You have to have scheduled training rides. People think of "cycles" of training (peaking and such).
To put it in perspective, in Europe in the 70s you rarely drank soda/pop except when you went out, and you tried not to go to McDonalds because that was where lazy moms took their kids. To date myself, I grew up in Europe in that time period, and yes, McDonalds was a treat because we got soda. And you ate toast with a knife and fork. Every morning. With tea. And you got dressed for breakfast, none of this PJ stuff.
cdr