Tom Simpson
 

That's some proper cycling!

I just read something about him recently. Top UK racer from the 70's. I think.

Bar cons and center pulls. I love it.

Was this his final ride on Ventoux?

It's funny to look at races pre helmet.

It's even funnier to realize how recently helmets became standard.

I always toast Tom Simpson whenever people are doing toasts. Or methamphetamine.

I believe Tommy Simpson died in the 1967 Tour de France.

Yes, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtAyGvZqiwk

It can't be, since he's clearly riding for Gitane in the photo, but was riding for Peugeot at the time of his death.

Do I see this correctly: he's on his big chain ring and his biggest cog and his chain is still sagging?

on the 13th of july.

'riders were actually limited to 4 bidons a day'

Huh, fancy that! What a coincidence!

Such a tragic story but his death should be a warning to others. Hope his death was not without learning.

When I'm on cognac and amphetamines I NEVER attempt to ascend a HC mountain. Tommy taught me well.

Simpson on performance enhancing drugs: "If ten will kill you, I'll take nine and win the race."

Fausto Coppi, being interviewed about drugs (from wikipedia)
Question: Do cyclists take la bomba (amphetamine)?
Answer: Yes, and those who claim otherwise, it's not worth talking to them about cycling.
Question: And you, did you take la bomba?
Answer: Yes. Whenever it was necessary.
Question: And when was it necessary?
Answer: Almost all the time!

few more photos,

http://www.prettyshady.com/2010/up/2...dae1c6d0_b.jpg
http://www.prettyshady.com/2010/up/2...033df67e_b.jpg
http://www.prettyshady.com/2010/up/2...5e6119be_b.jpg
http://www.prettyshady.com/2010/up/2...d74008c3_b.jpg


trackosaurusrex.com / flickr.com/photos/chicken_strip/sets/72157608301544304/

That's a great quote. Apparently, he miscounted this one fatal time.

The chrome track bike looks like a Carlton...

Because of the circumstances of his death, the Tour officials changed their rules and allowed riders to take bottles from their team cars.

Pretty nice teeth for an Englishman in the 60s.

or the two o tens, for that matter. Every time I go there, the ugliness of the people slaps me in the face. It seems they poured all their resources in Pippa Middleton and Emma Watson and called it a day.

I'm reading this on vacation in Bar Harbor Maine and just exploded a very hoppy microbrew out of my nose. I salute your rapier wit!

Rapier wit. I raise my gin tonic to that great - to me newly learned - phrase. cheers!

Simpson Memorial on the slope of Mont Ventoux, where he collapsed. I disagree with his approach to competition, but I wouldn't mind if my last words on this earth were the same as his: "Put me back on my bike."

Simpson testing the Moulton bike. "If I wasn't under contract to Peugeot, I'd be happy to ride one."

Except he never said "put me back on my bike." That line was invented by a reporter who was not there.

No, the photo is not from his last ride. It looks like a photo of him in the TdF yellow jersey, which he wore for exactly one day some years earlier. There are some shots of him on his last day - seeing them, it is easy to believe that he died that day, as he looked, well, like death warmed over.

Don't forget that Tom Simpson died on a bald mountain on a brutally hot day. It is one of the few places outside the USA I've been to, and that mountain is bare-naked devoid of vegetation outside a scattering of little pants that are no mre than two inches tall, and that might be generous. Every single day is hot, windy or both up there. His last day was hot, as in well over 100 degrees. The peak is something like 6,000 feet elevation - that cannot have helped.

The received wisdom of the day was a nip o' brandy was good to ward off dehydration, so he had a little. He was also incredibly tough and incredibly motivated by the money - of which there was a heck of a lot less than now. (Remember, in Europe, cycling was and largely remains the sport of the blue-collar classes looking ofr a way off the farm or out of the factory or mine, not of the middle class as in the US.) He was 29, and he figured he did not have too many productive years left on the bike. So 1967 was something of a "do or die" year (no pun intended) in his mind. All these factors, plus the speed he took (as did so many others, as noted) allowed him to ride through all the normal signs of heatstroke and keep going. He literally rode himself to death.

It may well be, but because his jersey, shorts and Jakcet say "Peugeot," I'd be very surprised if there was a Carlton sticker anywhere on the bike.