Episode Transcript
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0:02
You are listening to Explore by
0:05
The Cycling Podcast.
0:11
Well it's bank holiday Monday,
0:13
the day after the Giro d'Italia has finished. I'm out
0:15
for a little coffee ride with my friend
0:17
Andy, who regular listeners
0:20
to Explore will know was the genius,
0:23
the Henri de Grange of the 12 Hills
0:25
of Christmas ride. As we were just
0:27
coming out of Not Watford, I
0:30
thought I recognise that jersey up ahead and
0:32
as we got closer, sure enough, it
0:34
is someone wearing the Cycling Podcast map
0:36
jersey. I mean you can't miss it, it's such a distinctive
0:39
design.
0:39
And so pulled alongside and said
0:41
hello, and hello. Hi,
0:44
my name's Charles Berger, I live in
0:46
Maidenhead and I bumped into Lionel
0:49
this morning while I was doing
0:52
a training ride for Chase the Sun North
0:54
later this year. I
0:57
planned a route based around the 12 Hills of
0:59
Christmas, heading out from Maidenhead and
1:01
then back through the Chilterns. I think the 12 Hills
1:04
of Christmas has got a very expensive entry
1:06
fee, Andy, do you want to collect that now? No,
1:09
the roads are free, that's the beauty of cycling isn't
1:11
it? Tell me a bit about Chase the Sunset.
1:15
So it's a, well there's
1:17
four different versions of it, there's the UK South,
1:19
UK North, Ireland and Italy.
1:22
I'm doing the UK North version which starts
1:25
in Whitley Bay and travels
1:28
up to Ayr on the west coast of Scotland. You
1:31
set off at sunrise, so about
1:33
4.30am on the 24th of June, and 205 miles later and about 3,200 metres of
1:36
climbing,
1:39
you
1:42
hopefully arrive in Ayr before sunset. Just
1:44
in time for fish and chips or something on the seafront
1:47
there, glorious, that would be fantastic,
1:49
sunset ride into Ayr. We did that on the Tour
1:52
de Corse of course, riding into Ayr. Really
1:54
nice town, very nice town, all the golf
1:56
courses around there as well. Do you know that
1:59
part of the country at all?
1:59
from Whitley across? Not
2:02
really, I am from Dundee
2:04
in Scotland so sort of vaguely
2:06
near my stamping ground but not so
2:08
much. I very much enjoyed
2:10
Dundee as well with the new V&A down
2:13
on the waterfront, yeah really nice. So
2:15
you're riding back to Maidenhead today
2:17
via the 12 Hills of Christmas, is that the plan? Yes
2:20
so I left home about 7 this
2:22
morning and hoping to get back mid
2:25
to late afternoon. Lovely, well we
2:27
won't hold you up any longer. I think
2:29
you'll
2:29
be going down this way and we'll probably be sitting
2:32
on your wheel for a little while up the
2:34
other side. That's
2:37
absolutely fine, we'll give you a lead out into
2:40
what's the next hill here Andy? Well
2:42
we're just about to go down Pedley Hill
2:45
and then hit the Layton Buzzard
2:47
Road and straight up to Hudnall.
2:49
Yeah we're doing the two coffees of Monday
2:52
Morning Ride, very popular ride, very
2:54
popular ride round here but yeah we'll give
2:56
you a lead out. Lovely to meet you and looking
2:58
fantastic in the jersey, good
2:59
luck for the ride as well. Thank you. I
3:02
think after 74k so far I'm just about
3:04
ready for my first coffee.
3:15
My name is Lionel Burney and this is an episode
3:17
of Explore by The Cycling Podcast
3:20
and that was me out on the roads of Hertfordshire
3:22
meeting friend of the podcast Charles Berger
3:25
quite by chance. By the time
3:27
he got back to Maidenhead Charles had ridden 200 kilometers
3:30
with more than two and a half thousand meters of climbing,
3:33
quite some day out when you consider he incorporated
3:35
the 12 hills of Christmas route into his ride.
3:39
If you're listening it was lovely to meet you Charles and
3:41
good luck for the chase the Sun ride towards
3:43
the end of June. Now for
3:46
this episode of Explore I headed to Bath
3:48
in the southwest of England on the Giro
3:51
d'Italia second rest day to meet
3:53
two of the voices of cycling, Eurosport
3:55
GCN commentary box duo Rob Hatch
3:58
and Sean Kelly.
3:59
Rob's a familiar voice on the cycling podcast of
4:02
course, and not just because of his TV commentary.
4:05
He also used to share a house in London, and
4:07
in Mallorca too I think, with Daniel Friber,
4:10
the self-styled Homer cycling they
4:12
called it. Sean Kelly needs
4:14
no introduction, he won the Vuelta a Espana,
4:17
four green jerseys at the Tour de France, Milan
4:19
San Remo, Paris Roubaix, Liège Bastogne
4:21
Liège, the Tour of Lombardy, a
4:23
record seven editions of Paris Nice, all
4:25
in a row, and he was world number
4:28
one for most of the 1980s, the list goes on. And
4:31
for the past 25 years he's been
4:34
a co-commentator, starting out with David
4:36
Duffield, and now he's regularly
4:38
alongside Rob and Carlton Kirby for
4:40
the three grand tours. Some
4:43
listeners might know that I worked with Sean on his
4:45
autobiography Hunger, which came out 10
4:47
years ago.
4:48
Back in 2011 I spent a couple of weeks
4:50
in Paris during the Giro while he
4:53
was commentating on the race from Eurosports
4:55
Paris Studios. I interviewed
4:57
Sean for the book in the evenings, and we got
4:59
into a routine of going for a morning ride
5:01
at Longchon, a circuit a bit
5:03
like London's Richmond Park near the race
5:05
course from the Bois de Boulogne in the west of the city.
5:09
Anyway, I'd not seen Sean face-to-face
5:12
since well before lockdown, and I'd
5:14
not been for a bike ride with Rob since the Trainer
5:16
Road Challenge back in 2016, when Rob, Richard and
5:19
I spent months training for a four
5:21
kilometre individual pursuit on the track
5:24
in Manchester. Rob wouldn't forgive
5:26
me if I didn't point out that he won. While
5:29
working together at the grand tours, Rob and Sean
5:31
tried to go for a bike ride together as often as
5:34
they can, and I invited myself along for
5:36
their Rest Day ride. It
5:38
was a lot of fun, although we didn't spend
5:40
as much time talking about cycling as I'd intended.
5:43
One day I'll sit down with Sean and get him to tell some of his
5:46
stories for an episode of the podcast, but
5:48
for now this is more of a catch-up
5:50
with a couple of friends on two wheels. There
5:53
was a ride between two of South-West England's great
5:55
cities, and one that took a slightly
5:58
surreal diversion.
6:00
Yeah. Do
6:30
you think I need leg
6:32
warmers?
6:40
Yeah, you
6:43
do. I've been needing them since I left Spain.
6:45
I've been cold for a week and a half.
6:48
I think this is the warmest day of the year so far.
6:51
Must be 20. It must be 20.
6:54
It's on the border between leg warmers and shorts, isn't it?
6:56
I want to have cold legs. Never mind. Never
6:59
mind. I have a rule about leg and arm
7:01
warmers. They don't come off until... What's
7:04
the temperature? Well, he's on his
7:06
way, is he? I think... Let's
7:09
have a bet. I think he'll be in leg warmers.
7:12
I think he'll be in leg warmers. Will he
7:15
be in his old casket from
7:18
the late 80s? No, he's
7:20
got his own kit now it is. Sean Kelly, isn't
7:23
he? Are
7:25
we going to have a coffee before we go? I think so, yes.
7:28
I think he needs all the caffeine even for a coffee
7:30
ride. Yeah, yeah. Oh, glorious though,
7:33
isn't it? Beautiful. A little
7:35
bit of wind about, but
7:36
as long as I'm on the wheel, I'll be all right. Well
7:39
I'm hoping to be on the wheel. So I
7:41
was thinking you two would be at the front. I'm
7:43
going to nestle in. He's going to tail
7:46
off. Yeah, it is your day off. We need
7:48
to be protected for the final week. I've
7:50
had my yellow horse at a fight before. We
7:53
just had
7:55
a bet. I said you'd be in leg warmers.
7:58
Wow, that's, yeah, I'm surprised. It
8:00
must be warmer than I thought. Good
8:02
forecast maybe. Final week getting ready. You've
8:05
been ready waiting. Black jersey
8:08
right now, pink jersey by the end of the week.
8:13
Afternoon Sean. Good afternoon.
8:17
No leg warmers. I thought the rule was 25 degrees.
8:20
No, what's the rule with almond leg warmers? Well
8:23
the rule was 25. Still 20,
8:26
22 here. I
8:28
was saying to Rob, this is the nicest day of
8:31
the year so far here in England, I
8:33
think, weather wise. Well,
8:36
definitely for me, fourth
8:39
week of the Giro is pretty not
8:41
nice.
8:43
Second
8:46
week getting better and now it's looking good for the final
8:48
week and fingers crossed we get
8:50
the same for Giro. I
8:52
was going to say you're at least dry in the commentary box
8:55
you two aren't you? I mean, yeah, that
8:57
keeps you away from the elements. But as
9:00
it meant you've not been able to do much riding while you've
9:02
been here in Bath. No,
9:05
fourth week as I said a lot of rain. So
9:09
I don't do rain when
9:11
I'm out of Ireland.
9:13
I'm only a sunshine cyclist.
9:17
And of course, yeah down in my ark of
9:20
April for a couple of weeks. It's
9:22
very difficult when you're there for two
9:25
weeks, three weeks, 25, 26 degrees
9:28
and when you come back to this horrible weather
9:31
you need a
9:33
big motivation to go out. Been
9:35
running instead? Yes, I
9:38
started doing a bit of running. I haven't been running since
9:40
I was here last August,
9:43
September doing the Vuelta. So
9:46
yeah, I was trying to get back but Yeah,
9:50
two steps forward one step back. How's
9:53
the form though? Well
9:55
the form, biking or running? Biking.
9:58
Biking is a tough one. Okay, as I said I
10:00
was in Mallorca for a bit, you know, nice
10:03
sunshine training there, so
10:05
yeah, the form was quite good
10:07
finishing that, but of course,
10:09
biking. If you miss a
10:11
week or 10 days, your form
10:13
goes down very quickly, and the
10:15
older you get, you lose it
10:17
quickly, and it's harder to get back.
10:21
Let the listeners know how many kilometres
10:24
a year do you reckon you do these days? Do
10:27
you keep note? I'm old style, I'm
10:29
like Bocca Malema. Ha ha
10:32
ha. So
10:34
I don't, I just go out and ride for X number
10:36
of hours, and then roughly
10:39
I know how many kilometres. So I'm probably
10:41
doing 6,000, 7,000 per year, because
10:44
I do quite a bit in Mallorca, I also
10:46
do biking two or two
10:49
roads, I started that last year,
10:51
so I was there for three weeks. So
10:53
you know, you build up a lot of kilometres
10:56
in doing those events. Old school,
10:58
so no power meter, you're not monitoring
11:01
any data like that. Still
11:03
old school. Well, I have
11:05
no power meter because I have no power. Ha
11:08
ha ha. Ha ha ha.
11:10
All right. Well, we'll
11:12
see, won't we? We'll see. Just quickly before
11:14
we get a coffee, Rob, explain why you
11:17
two are here in Bath. The rest of
11:19
the Eurosport GCN team
11:21
are in West London,
11:23
aren't they? Stockley Park? Yes, the
11:25
VAR. That's when they did the VAR for the Premier
11:27
League. It's a huge television
11:30
studios. No, basically, Sean and
11:32
I had to commentate apart for a couple of
11:34
years with the pandemic of Jaús Aum
11:36
in Spain because there were rules that I
11:38
basically couldn't get in and out of the country for
11:40
a lot of the races. We
11:43
were back together last year for Paris-Nise
11:46
and we were all here in Bath actually at the GCN studios.
11:48
And we had such a good time last year being back
11:51
together again and just sort of having the grandeur
11:53
experience. And I think
11:55
it adds a little bit to our commentary that we can
11:57
be with each other and see each other talk about
11:59
it.
11:59
the pub afterwards over a pint and
12:02
we like... We can't attend the two drop, we wanted
12:04
to get away from the rest. Don't
12:06
say that, Honeer! We're
12:10
three minutes walk from the studio here and we
12:12
didn't fancy catching buses for
12:15
two hours to get to the studio and things
12:17
like that outside of London really. And I
12:19
guess if the weather had been nicer you'd have
12:21
been out on the bike a bit more than perhaps you'd been able
12:24
to. A little bit more variety to
12:26
the cycling down here than there is. Well you'd
12:28
have been kind of west
12:29
Londonish, you'd been Richmond Park I guess,
12:32
lots of Richmond Park. Perhaps
12:34
yes but then again it would have been really difficult to get in. I
12:36
mean where the studio is it's sort of isolated without
12:38
too many connections. It's not really
12:40
London, it's sort of the other side of Heathrow. Great
12:44
place to work and everything but we don't have to be on screen,
12:46
we're not on screen, we're not part of the thick crew. So we
12:49
decided that in work terms
12:51
we'd be a lot more rested. I mean you know what it's like doing a grantor,
12:53
it's hard work keeping it interesting. I'm
12:56
not pretending that it's a hard job in terms
12:58
of we're toiling down pit at 5am
12:59
in the morning. But we want to do a good job
13:02
when we're conscientious so we
13:04
save two hours a day by being here next to the studio
13:06
and we can use that for a bit of exercise for a bit of chat
13:08
about the race and it's a much nicer
13:10
experience. I was scared of Richmond Park, I'd
13:12
like to get hijacked. You'll
13:16
get lapped by the London Dynamo if you're there,
13:18
won't you? That's the other thing. You won't be
13:20
able to resist getting on the back of the train and
13:22
going round. Like I mean we were talking
13:24
last night Sean about our
13:27
Giro when we were in Paris. I came over
13:29
to spend
13:29
a few days in Paris and your
13:32
routine was to go and do laps of
13:34
Longchamp, the park in the Bois de Boulogne.
13:37
I mean it got quite competitive down there didn't it?
13:39
Yes it certainly did
13:42
and as you know
13:45
as a bike rider you like to just ride in a group
13:47
when you're riding alone. And
13:49
if you're going around Longchamp,
13:52
Richmond Park, whatever, doing these
13:54
laps it just gets so boring after
13:56
a number of laps you just want to
13:59
go to the pub. When
14:01
you're in a group you meet people, you talk
14:03
and then you end up doing maybe two hours,
14:06
two and a half hours. So yeah,
14:08
you get a nice training ride
14:10
in that way. But
14:12
yeah, it's
14:15
nice to be able to get out on the bike.
14:18
We're not doing the commentary wherever
14:21
we are and especially when
14:23
we're not on site anymore. It's
14:26
good for the head because in the studio
14:28
for many hours
14:29
the bike is amazing. It
14:32
just takes that pressure away to get out in the evening time
14:34
afterwards and you feel so much better after
14:36
doing an hour or two hours on the bike. I
14:39
remember those laps of Longchamp, there
14:41
were some characters down there weren't there. Do you remember the guy
14:43
who wore the pristine Mapai kit and
14:45
he had the old hairnet helmet like
14:47
the leather hairnet helmet, a bit like
14:50
a bunch of bananas on the top of his head. He
14:52
had a very eccentric arm gesture.
14:54
I don't know what the arm gesture was all about. Was he pointing
14:56
out obstacles or gesturing for
14:58
people to come through? He
14:59
was quite a character though, wasn't he? I
15:03
think he was, he thought
15:05
he was Tom Booner winning races, winning in
15:07
sprints because
15:09
he had all the kits. But yeah, he was making
15:11
those gestures with his arms. I
15:14
see him there a number of times and I remember that
15:18
ride we did, we had so much fun just riding behind
15:20
him. He was
15:22
every time making these gestures. You get
15:25
those characters and that's what you enjoy as well.
15:29
You get out there and meet
15:31
those people. You don't even
15:33
have to have a conversation with them. You see the way they ride
15:35
and the shapes they're throwing. Some
15:40
of them trying to be like the professionals.
15:44
That's the great thing about
15:46
biking. You can
15:50
ride with people that take
15:53
their, like the professionals. We
15:56
ride with the group there and you're not recognised so it's
15:58
great.
15:59
of talk all that bullshit.
16:02
Yeah, it's true, it's true though. There was
16:04
a real sense that you was dropping into something that
16:06
was established, but you weren't
16:09
familiar with anyone yet it felt comfortable,
16:11
like you were welcome. You know, no one, you know, you could
16:13
just drop in on the wheel, drop in with people, very
16:15
quickly in a day or two became part of that
16:19
little community of cyclists that must have been, you
16:21
know, it's been going for decades
16:24
with the peloton just gradually evolving,
16:27
new people coming and going, I
16:29
suppose that sums up cycling and
16:31
the fact that we're in a huge city, it's the
16:33
same in Richmond park, isn't it? You know, that
16:35
sense of everyone doing something that
16:37
they love, few laps in
16:40
the evening, people could drop in, do an
16:42
hour if they want. But like you say, there were people that
16:44
were there
16:45
doing five, six hours some days in the summer.
16:48
Yes, there were and you know,
16:50
there were people coming there. I got to
16:53
meet many people that were, you know, amateur
16:56
riders and you know, at a very good level and
16:58
they just come there and they do the couple
17:00
of hours there in the morning or in the evening time.
17:03
And yeah, it's
17:05
a great rendezvous pint. And
17:07
you know, you're always, you know, you're
17:10
always welcome there. You just drop into a group and
17:13
you just follow around and do what you like
17:15
and do as much as you like. And the
17:17
great thing there was,
17:18
you know, if you join a group
17:20
maybe of 10 or 12 guys,
17:22
old guys and
17:25
they don't try and drop you. Where if you go on Richmond
17:27
Park, you go into a group and they bloody
17:30
well just start speeding up and sprinting up the
17:32
hills and try to burn you off the wheel. They'd
17:36
probably recognize you in Richmond Park and they know
17:38
who you are. They know who they're trying to get. No, they
17:40
don't recognize me. I think they're guys new into
17:43
cycling and you
17:45
know, they're only here for a short number
17:47
of years. And just
17:50
the way they, you know, they
17:52
don't have the experience riding in a group
17:54
and a group of friends are in a club and they're
17:56
like, oh, you ride together and you ride X number
17:58
of hours. moments in the wheel they
18:00
look around and they speed it up and they look
18:03
around again and then they go faster and then
18:05
if they can't drop you if you're going well enough
18:07
the next time you come to Richmond Gate they just
18:10
turn off and go home. Reputations
18:14
matter for nothing in Richmond Park I think
18:16
yeah well look we can't sit here chatting all
18:19
afternoon and we can have a quick coffee before we go or
18:21
yeah let's have a coffee and then talk about where
18:23
we're gonna go. Rob
18:30
while Shaun's getting the coffee is
18:32
I've always wanted to ask this on the
18:46
record
18:52
you're talking with your natural voice here not your
18:54
commentary voice it's always intrigued me why
18:56
you drop your natural voice or you adopt
18:59
your commentary voice for the commentary we're
19:02
talking to an international audience and
19:04
I also think that
19:06
I should be a bit more easy
19:09
to understand for everybody we've got people watching whose
19:11
natives language English but they've never
19:13
been to Lancashire before we've got people watching
19:15
whose native language isn't English we're in quite
19:17
a unique position I think broadcasting we do it's
19:20
not just for our market and I think a lot of people forget
19:22
about that
19:23
was it sort of you know
19:25
going back to the beginning of your career do you think it
19:27
would have been harder to break in with a
19:30
regional accent no no and
19:33
where I started is different certainly
19:36
if you're talking about a traditional path I think it's actually
19:38
more of an advantage now I've been at the BBC and
19:40
they've asked me to talk more northern because
19:42
that apparently is what what
19:45
people like nowadays and I'm
19:48
not ashamed of it as you know I love talking
19:50
in dialect with us a lot and I even write
19:52
texts in dialect and things like that and
19:55
Spanish are speaking dialect they're speaking Canary
19:57
Islands dialect and but again I think if
19:59
I'm doing something
19:59
Spanish. I also think it's polite
20:02
to try and be understood by everybody isn't it? That's
20:06
what I believe in anyway. You're very
20:08
fortunate you've got a real aptitude
20:10
and skill with languages. How many languages do
20:12
you speak? Properly,
20:15
three and a half.
20:17
Half English, French,
20:20
Spanish and Italian. But then
20:22
I live in the Balearic Islands now
20:24
so I understand a bit of Catalan and get by in that. The
20:27
Latin language I think when you speak two or three I can
20:29
read Portuguese, Romanian things
20:31
like that but I wouldn't say that I speak them. It's
20:34
a big advantage in a sport of cycling. I certainly
20:37
notice it as I get older. I've been trying to pick up, trying
20:40
to improve my French and trying to pick up a bit of Italian
20:43
on the quiet. But it's a huge
20:45
advantage isn't it when you can
20:47
speak the language of the sport,
20:49
Italian, Spanish, French. He's
20:52
bought some baklava back. That's
20:54
a language I really, I almost went to university
20:56
to learn Turkish. There we go. Probably
20:58
because of looking at things like baklava and the
21:00
great food. Look at that. That's
21:03
wonderful isn't it? All them calories in there.
21:06
Talking languages, Sean, how many
21:08
languages do you speak? Well
21:13
I suppose French I could claim I can
21:15
speak and Flemish
21:18
understand quite a lot but I have more
21:20
difficulty now. When you're away
21:22
and you're not practicing and you're
21:25
in conversation with people all the time you
21:27
just slowly lose it. And
21:31
Spanish when I was riding with Cass, all
21:33
the team personnel, 70%,
21:36
60% of the
21:38
riders were Spanish so I had a pretty
21:40
good hold on Spanish
21:43
and was able to struggle through interviews
21:46
with radio on that but now I've
21:48
lost so much others. And
21:51
what about the commentary? How many
21:53
years have you been doing this job as the
21:55
co-commentator? Because you started out with
21:58
EuroSport with David Duffield.
21:59
the late great David Duffield didn't you? Yes
22:03
I did and when
22:06
I retired in 94 I remember
22:08
Duffield he came
22:10
over to my retirement event and immediately
22:12
he was talking about coming
22:15
to do some commentary on the classics and
22:17
I said oh no I said I want to get away
22:19
from cycling for a while um
22:22
you know I just want him get my
22:24
head cleared and so I took
22:26
a number of years out and 98 was the
22:29
first time I did some commentary
22:31
in Dublin when the Tour of France started
22:33
and then I went
22:35
on from there I did some classic races and
22:38
yeah I started doing
22:40
first tours
22:42
were a week and then I
22:44
started doing a full tour and then ever
22:47
since I've been the tour and yeah
22:49
so I have what 23
22:51
years Tour of France
22:53
commentary
22:55
if my maths are right 23 or 24 and then
22:57
yeah X number of G-Rows and Vulte
22:59
so yeah
23:01
I think it's knocking on the door to retirement
23:06
you obviously enjoy it though you you
23:08
know the I know you're
23:10
not on the road with this race but you've been on the road
23:12
with the Tour in the past um
23:15
just the sort of the sense of the journey of the
23:17
Grand Tour you obviously enjoy being in
23:19
the commentary box adding a bit of colour adding
23:22
trying to explain what's going on in the race yeah
23:25
I enjoyed a lot and um I
23:27
don't think if if you weren't enjoying it you
23:29
just couldn't do it and I certainly if I wasn't
23:32
enjoying it I wouldn't be able to uh continue
23:34
on doing it um not being
23:36
on site of course
23:37
yeah I miss a bit I
23:40
think for me the tour was the one because you
23:42
know there's so much with the tour and you
23:44
meet all the X-Pro's that I rode with
23:47
and you know you meet so many of those guys and
23:50
that is the great thing about the Tour of France I
23:52
mean famously Sean you didn't ride
23:54
the Giro until the very
23:57
end of your career when you started it once is
23:59
that right have I?
23:59
remember that right? Yes with
24:02
Festina it
24:06
wasn't on my program
24:08
at the beginning of the year but as
24:13
the season started out it was the
24:17
organiser said if I wasn't riding with
24:19
the team taking the start they would not
24:21
take the team so Miguel
24:25
Moreno the director of sport he said you have to go to
24:27
the two for the first week and then you can
24:29
leave and end
24:33
of the fourth week then he said I had to do another bit
24:35
and I think ended up doing about 11 or 12 days.
24:37
I mean Jean de Grubaldi
24:42
this is the other one that I remember he
24:45
was your sports director in the
24:47
80s he was very keen for you to do all three
24:49
grand tours in a season wasn't he and back then
24:52
of course if Welter was in the springtime
24:55
followed very quickly by the duo and then the
24:57
Tour de France and you had a novel way of
24:59
getting out of that
24:59
because he announced it in the press didn't
25:02
he one year I think 1985 he announced it. Yes
25:05
he announced a few things
25:09
and Jean
25:11
de Grubaldi of course as I have said many
25:13
times he was a big part of my successful
25:16
career he had you know some
25:20
really great ways
25:22
and methods of training and diet and
25:25
and but he had some also bad
25:27
ones like doing
25:29
the pre-grand tours which you know
25:32
he was talking a lot to
25:34
me about it and
25:36
yeah I eventually pulled
25:39
a sickie somewhere or a bad knee
25:41
or something. Bordeaux Paris was another
25:43
one he tried that for many years and
25:45
I was you know always scared of Bordeaux Paris
25:47
that he'd be going to be you know totally
25:51
wrecked and you know just burned out
25:53
for a number of weeks and maybe a number of months and
25:56
he said no no he said it's good
25:58
for you it just blocks the whole
25:59
body and so every time
26:02
I used to get just a sore knee
26:04
coming before the Bordeaux
26:07
Paris. 600 kilometers
26:09
Bordeaux Paris wasn't it with
26:12
a big chunk of it behind motorbikes. That
26:15
right? Have I got that right?
26:17
But yeah a long
26:19
day. I mean 18 hours I think it
26:21
generally would take for the winner. Yeah
26:24
it used to start I think very
26:26
late at night maybe 10 or 12 o'clock Saturday
26:29
night and ride through the night
26:32
and then finish you know in
26:34
the afternoon and yeah there
26:36
was I think at least 50%
26:39
or 60% was ridden
26:41
just in the group and
26:44
then you get behind the journey so the final was a 200 or 250
26:46
or 300 kilometers you know it was just unthinkable when you
26:53
yes torture and
26:56
yeah so yeah you can understand why I
26:58
was never in favor of riding it because when you do
27:00
yeah the yearly season and
27:03
you know do all the races and
27:05
you know it was the one that I just couldn't
27:08
could not get my mind around it ever taking part.
27:10
And being Sean Kelly you couldn't start that one
27:13
and then stop you know halfway and
27:15
say oh no I've not I'm not
27:17
going any further you'd have to you'd be kind
27:19
of obliged to finish it I guess. Well
27:22
the problem is you just stop if you go there
27:24
and you stop after 100 k or 150 kilometers
27:27
then you just sit in the team car or uh
27:29
the helpers car for the rest
27:32
of the night and uh until
27:34
you get to Paris so it's
27:36
not a nice one either so yeah the best thing is
27:39
just get a sore knee beforehand. Where
27:44
are we riding though? Where what's the plan?
27:46
Weather's
27:47
beautiful so we've got all
27:49
afternoon what are we going to do? Well
27:52
we're going to go out the old railway line
27:54
to Bristol which is very
27:57
safe you don't have you know all
27:59
these
27:59
cars chopping you up and blowing
28:02
at you it's very relaxed
28:05
and it's you know very chilling
28:07
out. Scenery is great
28:09
as well because I really don't know this part
28:11
of England I mean it's all down south to me down
28:13
here I just thought it was you
28:15
know this little posh village and
28:18
well village city it's a city officially it's
28:20
a small town really isn't it bath very
28:23
very pleasant but once you're out you're
28:25
very quickly out of town aren't you on that old railway line
28:27
and you've got a few hills around and I didn't
28:29
even realize this part of the country was that hilly either
28:33
you know there's they're not gigantic hills but
28:35
they're short sharp steep classicy type
28:37
hills aren't they and we've got you know the river
28:39
to look at some nice country pubs that we might
28:42
or might not stop at sometimes in the evening. Is
28:44
this the time to mention that I've got a bit of a sore
28:46
knee I don't know I mean just
28:48
staying on the flat don't worry
28:50
don't worry this is more of a skeletal place than a
28:52
rendez-fondre today.
29:18
The cycling podcast is supported
29:20
by Science in Sport. Science
29:23
in Sport. Fuelled by
29:26
Science.
29:27
Who's leading the way? Sean
29:30
leading the way? Yes so we lead
29:32
out.
29:45
Nice short stage rolling
29:47
out after 1 p.m. small
29:57
section of cobbles. Ahh,
30:02
glorious, absolutely glorious.
30:07
And we'll roll out of Bath and pick up
30:09
this railway line.
30:26
We head it from Bath, famous for its spas,
30:29
its Georgian architecture and tea rooms,
30:31
to Bristol, which is one of England's
30:33
burgeoning cities for artists and musicians.
30:36
The street artist and activist Banksy is
30:38
supposedly from Bristol, and even if
30:40
he isn't, his work and his influence
30:42
is everywhere. Bristol also
30:44
gave the world trip-hop. Massive attack
30:46
and tricky are from the city, and Portishead
30:49
are from, well, from Portishead, which is
30:51
only a few miles along the coast. Once
30:55
we reached Bristol, we had a choice to make,
30:57
and I certainly didn't imagine that my career in cycling
30:59
journalism would one day take me to
31:01
the scene of one of Britain's most celebrated comedy
31:04
programmes with a double Paris-Roubaix winner. But
31:06
here we are.
31:20
Well, I feel like you need to know that of course
31:22
coming into Bristol there, very twisty turny,
31:24
bit of road furniture. You two
31:26
had the advantage there. Oh, Kelly
31:29
on the front, whizzing round the corners
31:31
with his bell. Give us a tinkle on the bell.
31:35
Very wise. He's got about 25 of
31:37
those at home, because every time he comes he forgets to bring
31:39
one and then goes to buy one at the shop. Keeping
31:43
the Bath bicycle bell industry in
31:45
business. I'm thinking
31:47
coming into Bristol what a contrast with Bath
31:50
is. I think they're two great cities, great city. I
31:53
really like Bristol. I think it's fantastic.
31:55
We stopped here for a
31:57
night on the way back from a holiday in Devon last
31:59
year.
31:59
year but
32:02
I was looking out for the tower block,
32:04
the famous tower block. Now it's in Mandela House,
32:07
apparently it's next to the football stadium and I'd
32:09
like to come out one day and
32:11
properly plan it and have a look and have me picture
32:14
taken there or something like that. There's
32:16
a guy I actually work with in cycling in Belgium who's
32:18
the biggest only for the North is font. He's
32:20
obviously a Flemish guy because they
32:22
get the BBC over there and that's why there's an
32:24
impeccable levels of English usually up there
32:27
and every time he sees me he's one
32:29
of the sort of, he sort of signs
32:31
off all the deal on satellites and things like that.
32:33
He's always hanging around the TV compound
32:35
of Flanders classic races. He says, cushty, cushty.
32:38
He's always doing a Delway impression. Bonnet
32:40
de Douche.
32:41
I mean bonnet de Douche sounds like some kind of cycling
32:44
phrase doesn't it? You know. But
32:46
they are bonnet de Douche's on the other end, isn't they, on top of
32:48
their helmets to stop it raining. For
32:51
those who are wondering what on earth we're going on about,
32:53
listeners in America perhaps, Only
32:56
Fools and Horses, one of the greatest sitcoms ever
32:58
made anywhere I would say.
33:00
Brilliant sitcom about the Trotters
33:02
who live in Peckham
33:05
in South East London but the Nelson
33:07
Mandela House, the tower block where they lived, the
33:10
exteriors were shot here in Bristol weren't
33:12
they? And I think you're right, it's down by Ashton Gate, the
33:15
football ground. Bristol City's football ground I think. Big
33:19
Only Fools and Horses fan, Shaun? No.
33:22
Not a big fan.
33:23
But I'd like to go and see the block.
33:26
Are we far away? Well have a look
33:28
on Google Maps shall we? We're here, we might as well. We
33:31
might as well. It can't be far can it? I'll
33:33
Google it.
33:48
Do you know something about the Only Fools and Horses
33:50
theme music? Something unique about it, maybe
33:52
not unique but notable? No, I
33:55
know the person that did the graphics used to work
33:57
with us in the telly somewhere, that's the one.
33:59
final graphics, he used to be a producer on
34:02
some of the volleyball shows, but no, tell me something about
34:04
the music. Well, the opening title music
34:06
and the closing title music are basically
34:09
different songs. Ah,
34:11
they are, yes they are, they are.
34:13
No income tax, no V8,
34:16
no money back, no
34:18
guarantee, black or white, rich
34:21
or poor. I
34:22
once had a long running argument
34:25
with a very good friend of mine called Simon Ricketts about
34:27
this. He refused to believe.
34:30
This was before like you could get facts
34:32
at your fingertips on your phone. I
34:34
thought you could go on Saint Google. It was
34:37
a pub based argument and I said
34:39
no, the tunes are different and
34:42
we got into a situation where I was singing
34:44
the two different tunes and then he would sing
34:46
one but then morph it into the other one and claim
34:48
that it was the same tune. This argument went
34:50
on for weeks and weeks. I mean he was drunk. I
34:53
mean... Well that's where
34:55
the wrong went wrong. You're always
34:57
wrong when you're drunk. Here we go, here we go. Saint
35:00
Googley, Saint Google tells
35:02
us that we are 16 minutes away by
35:04
bike. Oh, we, three miles, that's
35:06
not far, is it? 5k, we can do that. Shall
35:08
we do it? Yes, do it. Come on. A
35:11
picture of us outside there. No money back, no guarantee. This
35:13
is us.
35:15
Let's do us. What's
35:18
the cycling equivalent of a Trevor Francis tracksuit?
35:25
A top sport Volandra large
35:29
jersey, the ones that went out of fashion about 10
35:31
years ago and everything went aero. No?
35:34
Or one of those old helmets that
35:36
you used to wear that didn't really have much protection on. Yes.
35:40
The Pudding helmet. The Pudding helmet. The Pudding
35:42
helmet. The one that, is
35:45
this the Milan San Remo one one? The
35:47
one you had to put on? No, that was a modern
35:49
one. That was a modern one, was
35:51
it? San Remo. Frank Harley. Oh,
35:54
that's right, yeah. The Frank Harley Peace Pot,
35:57
the Belgiums call it. Excuse me. What's
36:01
the famous for that? Peace Potter!
36:06
Oh brilliant, that's one of my favourite stories. This
36:09
was Milan San Remo you won with Vestina
36:11
wasn't it? And you had a helmet sponsorship deal? And
36:14
you went back to the car and wore the helmet
36:16
for the last, what I don't know, 50k or something?
36:18
Is that right? Yes, about the final
36:20
of 50k. Before we got to the cappos. And
36:27
a lot of people said that Kelly had a big bonus
36:30
if he could win with the helmet but there
36:32
was no bonus. It was just that I
36:35
was feeling pretty good in Terino
36:37
Dratico so I said for the descent,
36:40
depending on what's happened here and where I am, I'll
36:43
take all risk. I
36:45
was happy I had
36:46
it when I went skeltering down
36:48
that descent. This was
36:50
only a year after the whole peloton had gone
36:52
on strike at Paris-en-Yce wasn't it? Over
36:56
the introduction of the mandatory helmet
36:58
rule that the UCI was bringing in in 1991. I
37:02
think you'd crashed out already in Paris-en-Yce
37:04
but the riders went on strike. There was a lot of debate about
37:06
whether the helmet should be
37:09
mandatory or whether it should be just up
37:11
to the rider to decide wasn't there around that time?
37:14
Yes, that's right I was out
37:16
of Paris-en-Yce. There had
37:18
to be the rule there where you
37:20
could throw your helmet off if it was a mountaintop
37:22
finish all of that crazy
37:25
ideas. And then of course they wanted
37:27
to enforce that you had to wear the helmet from
37:31
start to finish in the race. Then there
37:33
was that strike in Paris-en-Yce so it was
37:36
pretty close after that
37:38
that I was using the helmet. We
37:43
were later to believe the helmets were safer
37:45
than the ones we were using the Sarge
37:48
helmet. So that was the
37:50
reason I was putting it on. Thinking
37:53
about safety and I think I was
37:56
ready to take all risks at that time but it was my last
37:59
throw of the dice in the pit. big classic. What
38:01
did you think of Van der Poel's descent this year? That
38:03
was pretty impressive wasn't it? Yes very
38:05
impressive and yeah to be nice to
38:07
see the times I haven't really went
38:09
into that but I think now of course
38:12
with the bikes and the brakes and all of that the
38:14
bigger tires I think much better grip and
38:18
yeah the science has to be faster but we'd be nice
38:20
to see what the difference would be. Well
38:22
let's go and go and see if we
38:24
can see Del Boy and Rodney and Grandad.
38:28
You were in the water? No that's
38:29
on Calalba. Is it? Yeah.
38:56
I never thought my
38:59
career would culminate in
39:01
taking a picture of Sean
39:07
Kelly outside Nelson
39:09
Mandela house from Only Fools and Horses. It's actually
39:11
Whitemead house a stone's
39:13
throw from Ashton Gate football club football
39:16
ground which is home of Bristol City and
39:19
there we are. Yeah
39:20
me too we need a picture
39:23
of us. Only
39:26
Fools and Horses outside who's gonna
39:28
be who? Del Rodney Uncle
39:30
Albert. Anyway
39:38
Sean tell me about your
39:40
comment about my socks over leg warmers on
39:42
the way down.
39:43
In terms of etiquette is this a big no-no?
39:48
No it's not because I do it myself and I wear
39:51
leg warmers. There we go. We're in
39:53
the club. Every
39:56
time I post a picture of myself with my socks
39:58
outside my leg warmers I get comment. It's
40:00
as regular as clockwork. You can get comments
40:02
to the way though as well, it's just one of those things
40:04
in it in life. That
40:07
and putting your bike upside down if you take
40:09
your wheel out, resting it on the
40:12
saddle and the brake hoods, upside
40:14
down. Yes. Is that that's an honor? Yes.
40:18
Why? Because
40:23
it's not good
40:26
for your saddle. I'm clutching
40:28
for an answer there. Even Sean Kelly
40:30
can't answer that one. I must
40:33
admit I've done that and I always,
40:35
I'm in a quandary. If you do your back wheel,
40:38
you don't want to rest all your rear mech
40:40
and everything on the floor, do you? No, but you lay
40:42
your bike down on the opposite side to the rear
40:45
mech and also
40:47
to get the wheel in. It's
40:50
much more difficult to get the wheel when the bike is turned upside
40:52
down. So when you have the, when you
40:54
have the bike the normal way, like we see
40:56
the two, the France,
40:58
the bike is, you know, they don't turn up the bike upside
41:00
down.
41:01
Yeah, but they're not changing their own tires or
41:03
wheels, are they? No, but
41:05
it must be the best way to do
41:08
it. If the pros are doing it, we
41:09
have to do like the pros. There
41:13
we are. There we are. Well, quick picture
41:15
then outside Nelson Mandela house slash white
41:17
meat house and then back across
41:19
the city. Yeah, that wind's blowing. That wind's blowing.
41:22
It's a tailwind arm, shall we? Sorry,
41:24
what was that, Sean? What was that? Well, Robert Sains
41:26
is wind blowing. I said, yeah, it's
41:28
going to be a tailwind. He doesn't know
41:30
because he's been sitting on since we left Bart.
41:35
Alligations, that's shocking allegations,
41:37
really. I mean, if
41:39
the little percentage graphic was
41:42
on the screen,
41:42
it would, I
41:44
don't know what it would show. If they had me work data
41:46
up, it'd be showing I'd be up to 21. I'd
41:48
be on the stress scale. I was
41:51
going to say, yeah, the Bristol bath
41:54
cycle path or the Bristol bath cycle
41:56
path, depending on where you're from.
41:58
Listen,
41:59
I was going to give the burry
42:02
and berry answer so you're wrong. It's a day off, give
42:04
me a rest. It's bath innit?
42:07
Ah, you don't say aww
42:08
when you're learning your vowels. There's no aww
42:10
in bath is there? No you're right. Wrong
42:13
again. Wrong again. It's
42:16
like the old burry-burry thing. You don't catch your bez, do you?
42:18
You catch your buzz. Like
42:24
I should dialect.
42:32
How are
42:40
we going to find our way back to the cycle path? I
42:44
know the way. Follow me. How?
42:48
Have you got something, are you like a homing pigeon? You know,
42:50
just know where we're going. Yes, I know where I'm
42:52
going. Just years of riding,
42:55
never got lost on a training ride. Yes,
42:58
you get lost, but back
43:00
in my time. Back
43:03
in my day. When we used
43:05
to go out for training rides
43:07
before races, we had none of this
43:10
modern technology.
43:13
So we had to just find our way. So when you ride
43:15
out, you always keep your eye
43:17
where you're going. So I
43:21
think I know. Well we'll put that
43:23
to the test now, shall we? Excellent.
43:25
I'm on GPS.
43:27
So you reckon
43:29
left?
43:37
I'd
43:39
say so. I thought there were some buildings
43:41
that we'd seen already. However, I've already
43:43
been one once. I've already been
43:46
wrong once. Sean, you
43:48
reckon it's straight on? Yes,
43:50
straight on. The last time I was here, 35 years
43:54
ago, in the tour of Britain, a
43:58
lot more Woomy Street.
43:59
and the little bit is lost now. I
44:02
think it's right. I think it's up there and right.
44:04
What does the hammerhead say? Well, that's it you
44:07
see.
44:08
Do you see where we go? Where
44:11
we come down? Yeah, it's up
44:13
there and right. It's
44:15
definitely not left then. Oh well. Hammerhead
44:17
wins. Yeah, it does I'm afraid. It
44:19
does.
44:21
There we go. There we go.
44:27
Which
44:31
way is it Sean? It's this way. Yeah.
44:40
You're on the puck
44:40
already? I recognise it. I'll
44:45
never doubt you again. Brilliant. He's
44:48
come up trumps there pretty well. Not
44:52
bad. That's
44:54
the magic, isn't it? It's like a thick
44:56
tent. Yeah. Incredible.
45:02
Shoot. Shoot that out of the blue door. Cycling podcast
45:04
team car at the back of the pack please. That's
45:08
Seppikay, the voice of Radio Tour, to remind
45:10
me to tell you that this episode of
45:12
Explore is sponsored by the Hammerhead
45:14
Kuru2 Cycle Computer, which
45:16
is the most advanced GPS cycling
45:18
computer available today. All
45:21
of our listeners out there can get a free heart rate
45:23
monitor with the purchase of a Hammerhead Kuru2.
45:26
Visit hammerhead.io and use
45:28
the promo code cycle at checkout to
45:30
get yours today. Now one of the
45:32
best things about the Kuru2 I think is the
45:34
climber feature, which we didn't really need on
45:36
the Bristol to Bath Railway
45:38
path because it was pretty much entirely
45:41
flat. But the climber feature
45:43
really comes into its eye, especially when riding
45:45
on less familiar roads, because it tells you
45:48
how far there is to the top of the climb, what
45:50
the gradient is on the way, and then
45:52
once you've reached the top, how far it is to
45:54
the next climb. Now I find that
45:57
sort of data really encouraging because
45:59
all of a sudden... 400 meters or 500 meters
46:01
doesn't feel like an awfully long way and
46:04
you can see well I'm over the worst of it It
46:06
was 8.9 percent just back there the
46:08
maximum between here and the top is only 4.5 percent
46:11
I can handle that somehow it gives me
46:13
that little bit of information that
46:15
helps me to Measure my
46:18
effort the other great thing about it is
46:20
the mapping and the touchscreen Which is
46:22
really responsive and as you heard
46:24
on our ride the mapping came into
46:26
its own because after our little detour Down
46:29
to the building that served as the exterior
46:31
tower block in the sitcom only falls
46:34
and horses We had to find our way back to
46:36
the railway path Across the city
46:38
now Sean was very confident He thought
46:40
he could find it just by following his nose as if
46:42
he's some kind of homing pigeon Rob
46:45
didn't have a cycle computer So it
46:47
was down to me to just well
46:49
let things unfold and see how it went
46:52
and it was quite amusing Because at one point
46:54
Rob thought we needed to go one way Sean
46:56
thought we needed to go another way And me
46:59
and the hammerhead well we knew the way because
47:01
I was just following the line back the way
47:03
we'd come and so the hammerhead
47:05
found us got us all the way back
47:07
to the start of the cycle path and Well
47:10
it came in very handy If
47:12
you'd like to give the karoo to a go and you
47:14
want the heart rate monitor that comes with it
47:16
as well Go to hammerhead.io
47:19
use the promo code cycle What
47:21
you do is add both items to your cart Enter
47:24
the promo code cycle and you'll get
47:26
the heart rate monitor for free with the purchase
47:28
of the karoo too
47:53
You
48:07
uphill into a headwind out
48:16
of the saddle rob hatch making
48:18
his move kelly
48:20
just sits waiting
48:22
I
48:26
think I'll leave the commentary to you Rob arms
48:33
are locked and
48:38
the
48:41
Avocet of Ackrington
48:44
has taken the points at the top of the climb you
48:50
wish you had leg warmers
48:51
on now boys
49:21
Rob what has cycling given you?
49:24
friendship I'm sitting here with you two now that I'm
49:26
sure we wouldn't have met otherwise a lot
49:30
of confidence I probably didn't have
49:32
never in a particularly confident person
49:35
it's helped me you know I was already
49:38
broadcasting but I guess it's helped me find
49:41
the place in broadcasting that I
49:43
could concentrate on because I was doing a lot of different things
49:46
but most importantly I love travel
49:48
anywhere I was lucky enough to try and travel anywhere
49:50
and languages but it's taken me to towns
49:52
and villages that I would never ever ever
49:55
have even thought about visiting and
49:57
not just the nice ones but even the not so
49:59
nice ones
49:59
just places and experiences that I've had
50:02
and you know even here
50:04
that I would have come to Bath really if I
50:06
hadn't been for work or places we've
50:08
gone on a tour and the genome places like that so
50:11
yeah I'd say friendship travel. Yeah
50:14
I was gonna say the same thing really
50:16
because the grand tours that sense
50:19
of journey takes you to all
50:21
sorts of places like you say that you wouldn't necessarily
50:25
have visited and I regret in
50:27
the early years not keeping a good
50:29
enough log of where I stayed and what
50:32
you know what I saw you know when I was in my early 20s
50:34
just starting out I kind of just didn't
50:36
really think that by the time you're in your late
50:39
40s those things might be important and there's
50:41
little towns and villages in the tour that
50:44
were on the tour route that I can't remember where
50:46
they were I've got a rough idea of where
50:48
do we stay that
50:49
particular day I've asked the people I've traveled
50:52
with and they haven't got a record of it I
50:54
know there are riders who have kept meticulous
50:57
records of every hotel they've stayed in
50:59
or just
51:02
sort of building up a list of places
51:04
to visit when they retire in slightly different
51:06
circumstances. Were you like that
51:08
Sean did you take it all in when you were racing
51:11
around Europe or was it
51:14
was it just one place the
51:16
next place? No
51:19
took very little in and
51:22
it was stage 9 going from
51:24
A to B and
51:27
you know that is the difference when
51:30
you're a rider and when you're walking for
51:32
TV you see so much of
51:35
yeah the country if it's a Tour of France or
51:37
whatever tour you're in the towns
51:39
you go to you know you see more of the
51:41
town because you get out in the evening time but
51:44
when you're a rider
51:44
like you're like a race offs
51:46
you have blinkers on and you just get
51:48
on the road and yeah you
51:50
finish your day your stage and you
51:52
get into the car now it's getting to the bus
51:55
and you know you you you
51:57
just go to your hotel but
51:59
I think the modern day
52:02
rider, they're probably taking
52:04
more of an interest where they're travelling in that part. In
52:08
my day, I wasn't one and there was a lot of other
52:10
riders as well. I think it was the
52:13
same way of thinking. But
52:16
yeah, totally different from bike rather to travelling
52:18
around, doing the TV work.
52:21
It's a totally different
52:23
Tour of France in that respect.
52:25
I mean, without the bath Bristol
52:27
bath classic, which we've just invented,
52:29
you wouldn't have seen Nelson Mandela
52:32
House, Shaun. I mean, that's what
52:34
cycling has given you. Yes,
52:36
well, that's
52:39
further down the list unfortunately. But
52:43
yeah, these little things are nice to
52:46
go and see. And
52:49
yeah, that's, as
52:52
I said, it just, cycling
52:54
brings you so much. And
52:55
I suppose it's a sport as well because it's
52:58
outdoors and it's all over France.
53:00
If you're doing other sports, you're in a stadium
53:02
maybe and you just go to one city. Like
53:05
a Tour of France, when you travel
53:07
around with the race, which we were doing for
53:09
many years, you
53:11
just go to so many towns
53:14
and villages and you drive the route
53:16
and you see the last 50k
53:18
and you see all of those villages. It's
53:21
an amazing journey. What did you think
53:23
of my idea of riding around Ireland
53:25
next year? Do you want to join for a stage
53:27
or two? Well, when
53:30
you're there and
53:32
we'll have a look at the forecast, the
53:35
long range forecast. I mean, the
53:37
long range forecast is about three
53:39
days maximum in Ireland because any more they
53:42
can forecast it and even three days
53:44
they get a ******* run. So
53:48
yeah, ring me the night before
53:50
and I'll see what it's
53:52
looking like and I might join if the weather
53:54
is
53:55
splitting the stones. Any part
53:57
of Ireland you'd particularly recommend? while
54:00
there's great parts of Ireland, you know the
54:02
west, down the west coast it's
54:07
just beautiful when you get nice weather, but
54:09
when you get wet windy weather
54:12
it's a big shit of a place. Is
54:19
today your actual birthday or are
54:22
we staying tight lipped on that? Yesterday.
54:27
Happy birthday for yesterday. Yesterday was the official.
54:30
Happy birthday. And the cycling of course the 24th. That's
54:34
what's... He's the
54:36
king, he's got an official birthday and his own
54:38
birthday.
54:53
This has been an episode of Explore by the
54:55
Cycling Podcast. It was recorded by me
54:57
Lionel Burney and was produced by Adam
54:59
Bowie.
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