Dave Bedwell
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Dave Bedwell |
Born | Romford, England, United Kingdom | 28 August 1928
Died | 28 February 1999 | (aged 70)
Team information | |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Sprinter |
Professional teams | |
1951 | Dayton |
1952–1955 | Hercules Cycles |
1956 | Meulenberg / Wearwell / Hercules |
1957–1959 | O'Brien Cycles |
1959–1961 | Viking Cycles |
1962 | Fred Dean Cycles |
1963 | Independent |
1964 | O'Brien-Bates |
Major wins | |
British National Road Race Champion (1961) |
Dave Bedwell (28 August 1928, Romford, Essex, now the London Borough of Havering – 28 February 1999, Kingskerswell, Devon[1]) was one of Great Britain's most accomplished racing cyclists in the 1950s, known as the "Iron Man" of cycling.[2] He won four stages in the first Tour of Britain, rode for Britain in the world professional road championship in 1953 and 1956 and rode for Britain in the Tour de France.[3]
Origins
Bedwell, who was 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) tall, lived on the outskirts of London, in
Looking back, that is what I should have done – pure sprinting – and I could have made a lot of money. When I was racing at the world championships in Cologne in 1954 they timed me doing an 11.4 [seconds] for the last 200 metres, although I don't know how accurate that was. I once beat Reg Harris in the sprint in a devil.[5] I had an offer to ride a six-day in Denmark but I didn't fancy it and I suppose it was a silly thing to have stayed on the road.[4]
British cycling in Bedwell's time was in a civil war between the
His Romford Wheelers clubmate, Jack Leeth, recalled: "Dave was demobbed from the
Racing career
Sprinting was really my speciality and I was a moderate climber, although I was the best in the country on steep hills. I won the Tour of the Peak three times, and when I won the king of the mountains in the Tour of Britain I could sprint at the top of the climbs. Surprisingly, I went better in the Lake District as I preferred hills with a steep bit at the top rather than the ones that levelled out. I never sat in,[8] although I was accused of it sometimes. Every time I got to the front of the bunch, they all put their gears up.
Bedwell won the BLRC road championship in his first year and then took an independent, or semi-professional, licence to ride for Frejus Cycles, a continental company selling bikes in Britain.[6] Bedwell said: "This was not so surprising as it would be nowadays. Since the League were outlawed,[9] their titles were unofficial and there were no selections to be gained by staying amateur. The big idea of League boys was to get a professional class going."[6]
Bedwell won London-Battle-London and Dover-London in his first years. He was chosen by the BLRC in 1951 to ride the Grand Prix de l'Humanité in France.[10] He won.
He became a full professional in 1952, moving back to the NCU so that he could ride a new series of pro races started at Herne Hill velodrome by a journalist, Johnny Dennis, of The Bicycle. Dennis's idea was that the experience would help British riders break through on the continent.[6] They competed every other week, individually and in pairs. Bedwell's partner was another Londoner, Derek Buttle. There were more than 20 professional riders in Britain.
Buttle and Bedwell rode for
Bedwell joined Buttle and the rest of the Hercules team when it went to Les Issambres, in south-west France, to prepare for the Tour de France of 1955. Hercules was Britain's largest professional team and it was certain that riders for the national team would be drawn from it. The team rode the early-season races along the
I had punctured twice and was going nice and steady when I was talked into it by Bev Woods [a team-mate], who told me I was well outside the time limit, but I was well inside. I didn't know until the next day that they would let everyone start, even those who had finished outside the time limit. I wasn't really interested in riding the Tour and I should have had the courage to say no. Another year, I would have been keen to ride. I had a medical test before the start and they said I had heart trouble, that didn't leave me with much morale for the race.[4]
Only Brian Robinson and Tony Hoar of the British team completed the race, the first Britons to do so. Hercules and other sponsors pulled out of sponsorship weeks after the end of the Tour.[13] Bedwell rode unsponsored for two years, living off prizes in Belgium.
Bicycle
Bedwell's shortness meant he rode a 19+1⁄2-inch frame, unusually small. He said:
"I had to design my own. My angles would be 72 head, 74 seat, with two-inch offset forks, 20-inch top tube, 17-inch stays. I used a close-ratio block. The 13 was the smallest cog I used and 53×13 the biggest gear. I went up Porlock hill on 49×28 which was still hard and I would use 52×16 for sprinting, and 92-inch for the track, although I can't remember how we arrived at it as we would use inch-pitch rings and sprockets and a block chain. It was more rigid and gave better acceleration."[4]
Retirement
Bedwell moved to
Palmarès
- 1949
- 1st
British National Road Race Championships – BLRC amateur
- 1950
- 1st Grand Prix de l'Humanité
- 1951
- 1st
British National Road Race Championships – BLRC independent road race (for semi-professional riders)
- 2nd stage Tour of Britain, Bournemouth
- 4th stage Weston-Super-Mare
- 8th stage Tour of Britain, Newcastle
- 9th stage Tour of Britain, Scarborough
- 1953
- 5th stage Tour of Britain, Newcastle
- 7th stage Tour of Britain, Morecambe
- 9th stage Tour of Britain, Cheltenham
- 1954
- 4th stage Tour of Britain, Whitley Bay
- 9th stage Tour of Britain, Wolverhampton
- 10th stage Weston-Super-Mare
- 13th stage Tour of Britain, London
- 1955
- 1st South Elmsall Spring Classic
- 1961
- 1st
British National Road Race Championships – professional
- 1st Tour of the Peak
- 1962
- 1st Criterium des Vainquers
- 1st Slough Grand Prix
- 1st Chequers Grand Prix
- 2nd British National Road Race Championships – professional
- 1964
- 1st Enell road race
- 1st Tour of Belvoir
- 1st '34 Nomads Grand Prix
References
- ^ Profile on cyclingwebsite.net Archived 4 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Devon CTC history
- ^ a b c d Cycling Plus, UK, April 1999
- ^ a b c d e f g h Cycling, UK, 16 January 1993
- ^ An elimination race known in some countries as a miss-and-out
- ^ a b c d e Green, Roy, Still Winning After 18 Years, Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting
- ^ Veteran Leaguer, UK, 1999
- ^ A cycling expression for hiding in the main field, where the slipstream makes riding easier, rather than animating the race
- ^ The NCU was the body recognised by the Union Cycliste Internationale
- ^ The BLRC, unable to obtain international competition through national associations recognised by the Union Cycliste Internationale, used contacts with other rebel bodies such as the communist sports organisation in France. L'Humanité is a daily newspaper reflecting the views of the French communist party. Although French riders affiliated to the main body, the FFC, were forbidden to take part, they did so nevertheless for the price of a small fine.
- ^ "The rise and fall of Hercules". cyclingnews.com. 29 March 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
- ^ The commentator at the finish was Jimmy Savile a former rider who became one of Britain's leading disc jockeys and television personalities.
- ^ Woodland, Les (2005), This Island Race, Mousehold, UK