two heroes

A few videos to enjoy a beer too:

I guess a lot of you will have read the book and / or seen the movie about Graeme Obree, but I found this interesting documentary last night:

Graeme Obree documentary

All the interesting anecdotes about Obree can be seen: using washing machine parts, big gear training etc. I was really interested to hear him say he only trained 10 hours a week (3 hard and 7 as recovery).

The relationship with his brother in law is really heartwarming. First you see him motorpace Obree in Scotland. Next you see him in the centre of the track utterly amazed that Obree is going to break a record or catch an opponent.

In the film Chris Boardman is made out to be rather machine-like. A bit like the big Russian compared to Obree’s Rocky in Rocky 4. Obree trained alone with his own training ideas. Boardman had the support team, the technology, the cash. So I checked out a documentary on him too:

Chris Boardman documentary

This was also a cracking documentary. Here we see Boardman as the family man who has hit the big time after his gold in the Olympics. Yes he has the technology at his fingertips but hardly your spoilt rock star.

We see him lining up against amateurs and hear about him setting up bikes in the shed for both him and his mates.

My favorite bit was when he is talking to his wife before a race. They are reminiscing about the good old days when they would go to the pub on a Thursday night, move on to a club and then have a chippy on the way home. So many parallels to my youth! Then we hear about how she first met him: He was crying in the back of a car because he’d come 7th in a race. The reason he came 7th? He’d been out on the booze after winning the junior national title the week before! Far from being a machine!

His relationship with interviewer Rob McCaffery is also interesting when McCaffery is giving him words of support before the hour record. It seems Boardman took advice / ideas from anyone and everyone to make him the best.

After these two great vids I watched Boardman’s 1994 TDF prologue debut:

Tour de France 1994 prologue

Amazaing! How great it would be to have him line up with Cancellara today.

Obree and Boardman, two heroes of the road. Check them out!