The Virtual Musette: A Road Cycling Blog

I was somewhat disheartened after reading a recent interview with Remy Di Gregorio (photo, right), a young up and coming climber on the French Francaise des Jeux squad. When asked about legendary climbers of the past, such as Bahamontes, Ocana, and Van Impe (photo below), he had this to say: “That’s not my generation. I’m not really a student of the sport, or a historian. I’ll watch old clips if they’re on TV, but beyond that…” Hmm, so if it weren’t for stumbling across footage on TV, Di Gregorio, a pro, would know almost nothing about the champions of bygone eras. Well, at least he has the luxury of catching some cycling history on the tube. We here in the States should be so lucky, and it is one of the primary reasons I launched this site – I wanted to provide another window on the past for fans of pro cycling.

I recently asked a fellow blogger (to remain anonymous) to provide a link to The Virtual Musette on their site, as I had provided a link to his/her’s here. The response went something like this: “I might, but your site just has too much of a focus on cycling history." Uh, okay. I   guess I’ll take that as a “no” to providing the requested link, as I plan to continue marching to my own beat, thank you very much.

Of course, not all my articles are related to cycling history, as evidenced by the recent post featuring Linus Gerdemann. To date, the most popular article on this site was the one written about Astana’s exclusion from the ’08 Tour. I’ll agree, nothing sells like current news, especially when controversy is involved. That said, there are already a ton of English language websites, blogs, and forums focused on the current race scene. My day wouldn’t be complete without my regular fix of cycling news, but I wanted to do something a little different with The Virtual Musette.

I started following pro cycling right around the time Greg Lemond was recuperating from his hunting accident in the spring of 1987 (the 1986 Tour winner took a shotgun blast to the chest when his brother-in-law heard some rustling in the bushes, thought Greg was a wild turkey, and pumped him full of lead). Those were back in the days when the only real sources of news on the Euro scene in the US were VeloNews and Winning. I would practically camp out at my local bike shop in eager anticipation of the arrival of each new issue of these publications, as I was too broke to afford an actual subscription. VeloNews was certainly a godsend for fairly timely news, but Winning brought it all to life. Andy Hampsten’s epic journey through the snow and sleet of the Gavia pass in the ’88 Giro, and Greg Lemond's triumph in the pouring rain at the '89 World Championships (photo, above right) were the stories and images that sparked my passion for the sport.  Of course, it was literally months after these races had been completed before the magazine ever made its way into my hands, but I devoured the stories and photos as if I hadn't known of the outcomes well in advance.  God, I miss Winning, and to this day I wonder what happened to the magazine; it just seemed to disappear sometime during the late 90s.

Those were also the days before OLN (Outdoor Life Network, or the Only Lance Network, as it was sometimes affectionately called).  Daily coverage of Le Tour on TV didn't exist; back then The Greatest Show on Earth was televised on CBS Sports. An entire week’s worth of racing in France was boiled down into one broadcast on the weekend, which was at best an hour-and-a-half in duration. The most infuriating part of this coverage was that you were never quite sure when it was going start, and how much of the broadcast was going to get dropped. On the West Coast, Tour coverage usually followed a live broadcast of some kind. I cursed the programmers for CBS for the many times my beloved race was preempted for the benefit of some damn car race or golf tournament.  Erratic TV schedule aside, I have fond memories of those early Stone Age Tour broadcasts, along with their cheesy John Tesh (photo, left) music and cheesy John Tesh narration.

Anyway, up until the Lance years, cycling coverage was not exactly abundant. Then Big Tex (photo, right) started his domination of the Tour, and along with it came the explosion of the internet.  Today we even have live coverage of most of the Classics (at least when Cycling.tv is actually working).  Yet, despite all the increased access to cycling information over the past decade, I found that I still knew very little about the sport’s history. Over the past several years I’ve undertaken a concerted effort to familiarize myself with earlier decades and time periods, particularly that of the late ‘40s through the mid ‘80s. I’ve obviously been a diehard fan for quite some time, but my newfound appreciation for sport’s rich cast of characters before the Lemond years has taken my obsession to new heights.

This blog was the inevitable outgrowth of my infatuation with pro cycling.  I felt compelled to share my enthusiasm with a new generation of cyclists and fans, and with those who might want to learn more about the legends, races, and lore of our sport. One day, maybe I can look back and smile, knowing that The Virtual Musette, in some small way, played a part in making sure that the giants of road, and the tales of their epic deeds, were not forgotten.  Ultimately, if I can help to deepen someone's appreciation for the sport, then this site will have accomplished its mission.  

Photo credits:  Remy Di Gregorio, CyclingFans.com; Lucien Van Impe, Flickr gallery of Michiel Crijns; Greg Lemond, Cycling Hall of Fame; John Tesh, DavisLamdaChi.com; Lance Armstrong, BBC Sports.