1956 Olympic Road Race

[blah]

Was chatting with humanbeing this morning about the road race at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and I couldn't quite remember why the riders from Ireland were barred from racing... anyway, I thought it might be worth putting the link up here:
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/12/ridin ... road-race/

TFA links to some other excellent articles going into more detail:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/the ... 48504.html
http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/sto ... cs-tumble/
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/bro ... e=fullpage

Found some amazing photos on the NLA website too:
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120844
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120864
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120879

It's quite near my old 'hood so I've ridden a fair few of the roads out that way and it can be quite challenging - if your ride originates from the city you'll almost always be pushing into a northerly and it's slightly uphill. Take a glance at the speedo and you could be forgiven for thinking it doesn't quite make sense that you'd be working so hard for a lousy 23km/h, but get the conditions right and boy oh boy you can go at a good clip on the way back! I strongly recommend the Wildwood Rd circuit for anyone visiting Melbourne and looking for a nicely balanced road ride in the 80km range with some great scenery.

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Tangentially, there were also some amazing photos of the Olympic track racing on NLA as well:
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120680
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120685
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120707
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120725
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120732
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120765
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120769
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120772
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120782
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120788
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120801
http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.pic-vn3120840

[humanbeing]

Thanks Blake, very interesting stuff.
I'll put a link in the vintage forum, those guys love this stuff!
Have a great ride,
Peter