I’ve acquired a brand new column on the Exterior net presence:
Unsure about that inventory photograph–I imply they may as properly have simply gone with this:
I understand that occurring and on about how batteries are destroying biking and humanity simply makes me sound like an outdated fuddy-duddy, however I’m positively cutting-edge in comparison with the members within the 2023 British Penny Farthing Championships:
I’m stunned old-timey bicycle lovers not solely settle for however appear to truly embrace the time period “penny-farthing,” which I’d suppose they’d discover type of cutesy and patronizing. If something suppose they need to stick to “peculiar,” because it drives house the concept this configuration ought to be the default, and that the bicycles the remainder of us trip right now are merely “security bicycles” designed to coddle the fearful and incompetent. However what do I do know? Actually, the one factor I do know in regards to the high-stakes (actually excessive, they’re sitting like seven ft up within the air) world of elite penny-farthing competitors is that you just by no means fuck with the race officers:
That had higher be a Victorian-era hydration pack:
Talking of anachronisms, there are means too many stars on that flag:
True peculiar riders refuse to acknowledge any territory that was granted statehood post-safety bicycle:
Additionally, what’s with that modern-looking brake?
Spoon brake or GTFO:
[Photo: Classic Cycle]
As for the racing, it’s as thrilling as you’d suppose it will be–watch as a man dressed like a waiter clambers aboard his lofty steed and takes the opening shot:
With no cogs or gears of any variety it’s all about wheel measurement, which is why the new dialog at first is at all times, “What diameter you operating?”
Additionally, don’t let the EF jersey idiot you, that’s not Lachlan Morton. Penny-farthing racing is without doubt one of the only a few types of various biking into which he hasn’t caught his sunburned nostril and wispy moustache…but:
However give it time.
In 2023 it’s simple to dismiss penny-farthings as quaint and ridiculous, however once you see them in motion you actually do start to understand what a sight these early wheelmen should have been as they rolled throughout the panorama:
Immediately it’s onerous to imagine that there was truly a time bicycles would have appeared futuristic, however take into account they have been principally the primary type of land transport that didn’t both belch steam or shit.
Talking of belching steam, this man’s not fucking round with the aerobars:
And talking of horses, each horses and penny-farthing Q-factor have been measured in fingers:
Anyway–spoiler alert–right here’s the lads’s winner:
And right here’s the ladies’s winner:
Am I loopy, or is {that a} crabon fork?
After the race, it’s time to confront the chilly realities of lives within the current, resembling how you can get your high-wheeler onto your hybrid Toyota:
I’m wondering if the early wheelmen had bike racks on their buggies and drove to the group trip…
