HISTORY REPEATING

Three icons of cycling’s past still delighting the faithful

AUDAX

Also with origins in the late 19th century, audax (‘bold’ in Latin) fills a gap between racing and touring. With an emphasis on long distances at slowish speeds, the idea began in Italy in 1897 before Tour de France organiser Henri Desgrange produced the first regulations. Ride veterans formed the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) before a fallout with Desgrange in 1920. The ACP created Brevets de Randonneurs, the rules of which allowed lone riding at your own pace, with minimum and maximum speeds, and these rules are still followed today.

SIX-DAY RACNG

Dating back to Victorian London in 1878, six-day racing in velodromes was conceived as a carnival of excessive endurance riding over six, very long, days. Its popularity soared with the first Six Days of New York in 1891, watched by packed crowds in Madison Square Garden. The faster motor car was a big part in its demise there, but it hung on in Europe and continues to be big business across the continent, particularly in Belgium at race like the Ghent Six (pictured).

PENNY FARTHINGS

The bikes under the riders of the very first Six-day races in London, they quickly became a more niche concern with the invention of the bikes that dominate today. Penny farthing racing has long existed in the shadows, however. In the UK, the Knutsford Great Race pulls in riders from all over the world for its penny farthing race, held every 10 years. 2021 saw the inaugural 3 Days of Sweden penny farthing stage race, mirroring those first Six Day meets in London almost 150 years ago.