Two Legends?… I Think Not

Off to ride the bike in Europe again!, it seems like I was just there, oh yeah, that was because I was!… Bike Odyssey’s Othello was a phenomenal, challenging tour and I befriended some great folks!

But that was then and this is now; the gauntlet has been thrown down…I take on Richard, aka Lionheart.

Two legends squaring off?… ha ha NO!

The Medieval Eddy Merckx??

Richard, or Dickie as his teammates called him, was heralded for his courage and recklessness on descents, was gracious in victory but a bit of a poor loser, known to give those opponents the axe. His professional career was prolific, winning many times at the Tour de Normandy, Tour d’Aquataine, Tour of Gascony, Vuelta d’Anjou, and Giro de Cyprus. It has been rumoured down through the ages, that the ‘Lion’ won the first ever Paris-Brest-Paris, however this has never been substantiated. Always wearing a red jersey with his gold lion logo, Dickie did well, but never grabbed the yellow jersey in the Tour de Crusades, and after 3 runnings, the event was disbanded due to lack of sponsorship, but cycling endorsements and special appearances kept the ‘Cycle King’ flush until and his untimely death.
And the kits he wore were quite dramatic, especially his helmets and cold weather attire, as seen in the promotional photos below…

The Challenge

Even though I have been given a significant advantage over him(after all, he died 1,177yr ago), Richard’s Team Plantagenet was quite a force in its day with a strong domestique of Knights and Templars, riding most likely Rose or Raleigh road bikes.

But I will have the Team Canuck( veteran pro riders Bruce and Jim, and rookies Perry and Tom) aiding me, fuelled by beer, wine and poutine, we will be a force to be reckoned with! We will use a Saladin-like game plan of launching strategic attacks throughout the Tour, hopefully taking Richard by surprise and take the roar out of the Lion!

The ruthless rider Saladin what’s with the helmets these guys wore!?? Legend reports he rode a Pinnarello, again unproven.

But we have our secret weapon!, the notorious Mr. Pink, fastest carrier on 4 wheels!.

 Mr. Pink enjoying a pint

Our motto: Be Better, Do Better!

Maddie Two is now racked for the next 5 weeks and it will be nice to be re-united with Soosey, last I saw her was in Porto, don’t know what shenanigans she has been up to in Barcelona and Venice!

 Maddie Two

 a hug for Soosey when we parted in Porto Portugal, will see her soon!

So stay tuned to this blog as we ride hard from Venice to Paris via the Italian Dolomites, into Austria, Germany and France. As well, our culinary and imbibing abilities will be challenged to their limits.

The Tour has 33 Stages, 1,734 miles(2,791km), 117,287ft(35,749m) climbing.

I will post when I can, hopefully from the podium lol

And “if Venice is sinking”, I hope it is not until we gittoutta town!!

https://youtu.be/lHFf6uo71nM

Cheers, Cycletooth

Disclaimer: the above information is true, only if you choose to believe it….