I've just finished reading this magnificent book. It's about the first British rider in the Tour de France. The man was a phenomenon. Whilst many of us struggle to creep over a 16mph on our carbon frames with 20 gears with all the other technical advances of our age, Charles on a steel bike in toe clips with sturmey archer 3 speed hub gears (remember those?) regularly hit 20mph plus on rides of 100 miles. The war wrecked his professional cycling career. He was finally allowed to race again when amateur rules were relaxed in the 1960's. He then set about kicking everyone's butts again. A great read recommended to me by fellow C&DCYCLES rider Iain Tingle.
My Granddad was also into cycle racing pre war. I've tried using the internet to discover if he ever raced with Charles Holland. I haven't got anything yet but I'll see if Dad has anything. I need to know!
Front cover
Back cover
They really raced on these gears!
The book is full of stuff like this
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