Tour
de
Hemingway
Nicola
Fester
“It
is
by
riding
a
bicycle
that
you
learn
the
contours
of
a
country
best,
since
you
have
to
sweat
up
the
hills
and
coast
down
them.
Thus
you
remember
them
as
they
actually
are,
while
in
a
motor
car
only
a
high
hill
impresses
you,
and
you
have
no
such
accurate
remembrance
of
country
you
have
driven
through
as
you
gain
by
riding
a
bicycle.”
--
Ernest
Hemingway
Ernest
Hemingway
was
a
fan
of
many
sports
including
cycling.
He
enjoyed
going
for
bike
rides
and
is
said
to
have
followed
the
six-day
races
in
Paris
in
the
1920’s.
His
familiarity
with
the
sport
is
evident
in
a
quote
by
his
friend
and
author
John
Dox
Passos
who
said
“Hem
knew
all
the
statistics
and
the
names
and
lives
of
the
riders.”
Hemingway
also
pays
tribute
to
cycling
in
his
novel The
Sun
Also
Rises. The
following
is
an
excerpt
from
the
novel.
There
was
a
bicycle-race
on,
the
Tour
de
Pays
Basque,
and
the
riders
were
stopping
that
night
in
San
Sebastian.
In
the
[hotel]
dining
room,
at
one
side,
there
was
a
long
table
of
bicycle
riders,
eating
with
their
trainers
and
managers.
They
were
all
French
and
Belgian,
and
paid
close
attention
to
their
meal,
but
they
were
having
a
good
time…
The
next
morning
at
five
o’clock
the
race
resumed
with
the
last
lap,
San
Sebastian-Bilbao.
The
bicycle
riders
drank
much
wine,
and
were
burned
and
browned
by
the
sun.
They
did
not
take
the
racing
seriously
except
among
themselves.
They
had
raced
among
themselves
so
often
that
it
did
not
make
much
difference
who
won.
Especially
in
a
foreign
country.
The
money
could
be
arranged.
The
Spaniards,
they
said,
did
not
know
how
to
pedal.
I
had
coffee
out
on
the
terrasse
with
the
team
manager
of
one
of
the
big
bicycle
manufacturers.
He
said
it
had
been
a
very
pleasant
race,
and
would
have
been
worth
watching
if
Bottechia
had
not
abandoned
it
at
Pamplona.
The
dust
had
been
bad
but
the
roads
were
better
than
in
France.
Bicycle
road-racing
was
the
only
sport
in
the
world,
he
said.
Had
I
ever
followed
the
Tour
de
France?
Only
in
the
papers.
The
Tour
de
France
was
the
greatest
sporting
event
in
the
world.
Following
and
organizing
the
road
races
had
made
him
know
France.
Few
people
know
France.
All
spring
and
all
summer
and
all
fall
he
spent
on
the
road
with
the
bicycle
road-racers.
Look
at
the
number
of
motor-cars
now
that
followed
the
riders
from
town
to
town
in
a
road
race.
It
was
a
rich
country
and
more
sportif
every
year.
It
would
be
the
most
sportif
country
in
the
world.
It
was
bicycle
road-racing
did
it.
That
and
football.
He
knew
France.
La
France
Sportive.
He
knew
road-racing.
We
had
a
cognac.
Bicycles
from
1900-1926
While
still
very
popular
in
Europe,
cycling
took
a
drop
in
popularity
in
America
between
1900
and
1910.
This
was
due
to
the
popularity
of
the
automobile.
Bicycles came
to
be
considered
“children’s
toys”
and
were
marketed
towards
children.
Kids
Bikes
were
introduced
after
the
First
World
War
by
manufacturers
such
as
Mead,
Sears
Roebuck,
and
Montgomery
Ward.
The
bikes
featured
motorcycle
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