Cleaning out some stuff and found these little treasures:


















Steve

Where did you get those? Those are pretty nifty little reminders of a golden age...

East Hill

I'm not sure World War 2 could exactly be described as a golden age of cycling...

In Uruguay and Bolivia?

East Hill

Bought them a long time ago on ebay when I was new to it and buying every odd-ball thing I found. I'm pretty sure the seller was in S. America as I remember thinking it would be a longshot if they ever arrived.
Now that I've re-found them, I'm thinking of starting a little collection (should resist the urge, but at least they'll take up less space than more bikes.)




Steve

Actually, here's a money making idea for someone.

You know those tags and bracelets everyone is buying with your info on it in case you get hit by a car?

It sure would be nice to have some that don't look like medical alerts. I like the whole "patron saint" look of the one below. Is there a patron saint of bicycling?

Yep, Madonna del Ghisallo.

Ooooh! I want* one of those! Thanks, el twe.

Ooooo lovely, - I wonder where I can find one of those.

When I was still working as a social worker I used to wear a St. Rita medal because she's the patron Saint of those who have to work with impossible people in impossible situations. And I don't mean the clients either, - all my fights were with management over funding and resources.

Have you found any evidence that 1940's South America was a cycling nirvana?

https://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/mary0004.htm

Here's a little writeup about her

Has to have been a cut above European cycling, is this not true ?

East Hill

Surprisingly, possibly not.

There was bike racing in Italy during the war (Coppi won the Giro in 1940 and set his hour record in November 1942), France held races and brevets through most of the war and in June 1942, Britain had their first Continental-style massed-start road racing since 1894. The Brits were taking advantage of the lack of traffic resulting from petrol rationing. There are quite a few accounts of the delights of cycle-touring the UK during WW2.

https://www.squadracoppi.com/Fausto.asp
https://www.independents.bikeracers.co.uk/

Those are super. All I have is a pile of century patches from the 70s!

When my son saw them he wanted them, and I had to explain they weren't just trinkets, you had to earn them.

Interesting! Thank you for correcting me . I say interesting because I know that my father did some cycle touring (in Wales) just prior to WW II. He also mentioned in his memoirs that he remembered some very unpleasant cycling experiences when the Germans were bombing Manchester and he was attempting to ride home, in the dark, with bombs falling around him .

East Hill

My friends father owned a bike shop in Bromley, Kent during the war. One evening his father and mechanic were just leaving the shop riding maybe 400 yards away and a German bomb landed right on it. It was completly destroyed. He still has a few old bike parts he salvaged from the ruins.The bike shop started in the 1890's. He still has old photos of it. They restarted the shop after the war. I don't know if it is still there. He also has his race bike from the 50's and lots of medals from his raceing days. Cool old stuff.

Although he has been defrocked as a saint (can you defrock a saint?), they used to sell St. Christopher badges for bikes. Pardon the picture, it is the best I have.

I think I'd want St. Christopher on my touring bike and St. Jude on any racing bikes.

Yes! St. Christopher would still be good for touring cyclists....