But what do horseshoes have to do with track cranks?

The best track cranks are made out of horseshoes. This dates back to the Colosseum where the chariots were actually fixed wheel and thus very hard to corner. Constant development over the years has changed the overall vehicle to the point where it's unrecognisable but the fixed wheels and cranks are still very much related to horses and hence horseshoes.

Of course, I may be on the wrong half of the bottle of red.

I bet chariot racing was a really Zen thing. Can't imagine the connection you feel with the horse and the cobblestones :p

You've obviously never ridden a bike on Adelaide roads, the cobblestones in Northern France are mere pretenders. Can't believe that Froome chappie giving up before he even got to the cobbles. As for the horse, Leonardo and I discussed them and said cobbles one day when he was fiddling with that Mona Lisa sketch (no, it wasn't my wife). He was of the opinion that the bicycle would never catch on and so didn't complete his sketches which is why we had to wait for Drais to make the big step. I could have done it myself of course, but I was busy drawing up the early sketches that Gutenberg would eventually use for his printing press and sadly, missed the opportunity.

I'd forgotten those things. Amazing that someone thought they were a good idea.

It's even more amazing that some people still think it's a good idea:

http://www.e-chien.com.tw/english/cy...n/CIMG1054.JPG

ftfy

And this Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../?ref=kicktraq

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects...jpg?1333317075

And the physicist's rebuttal: Physics Buzz: Bad Physics, Bad Investment