NFTOS Bicicleteiros

Although NFTOS started out focused on travel photography, culture and art, other topics got picked up along the way such as the 2002 World Cup, which was held in Korea & Japan, and my trip to the 2004 Tour de France, which coincidentally ignited my current obsession with collage as an art form.

Although I haven't found many art enthusiasts who are interested in much in either sport, I've still continued to bring them up as they have been colorful international pageants since day one. Some of my earliest drawings as a child were of national flags, and as a teenager I designed many cycling jerseys complete with fictitious sponsors. The only other people I know who spent any part of their childhood doing this were my two brothers, both of whom raced bicycles with me as "juniors."

Hans and I still bring up cycling in conversation almost whenever we get a chance to chat on Skype. Being the Nixon I have become, much more of this gets recorded than ever gets uploaded. Sometimes it gets a bit "over the top," but we can't help that a lot of what has been in the news regarding doping in sport lately has been truly bizarre. The old timers are coming out of the woodwork and coming clean to varying degrees, the latest revelator none other than 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, Reverend Alexi Grewal, a childhood hero of mine who I had a poster of on my wall.

Cycling and sport in general remain among our interests nonetheless, although I've definitely backed off the hero-worship, starting way back with the tainted Tour de France of 1988, which was to be outdone by the 1998 Tour, and both now pale in comparison to what has been reveled to on behind the scenes.

On the surface, there still is grace and beauty--the sight of 200 of the best riders in the world, colorfully clad, on their sleek machines, swishing down alpine roads in excess of 100 km/h, or mud splattered warriors pushing their bikes up steep & narrow cobblestones after being held up by a crash. What makes it even more exciting for us though, is that we raced against a few of these guys as kids.

The name "Bicicleteiros" was chosen both for originality and informality, as it is not the correct term for cyclists in any language we know of, rather we heard it coined mistakenly by a gasoline station attendant in the countryside of the state of São Paulo back in 1989 or so. At the time we used it only in derision, the same way "serious" cyclists in the US used the terms "Fred" or "bozo-tourist" for cyclists who lacked the commitment to (maintain the proper image of) the sport. I guess we sort of fall into that category now, so the name fits.

Stay tuned for our continued colorful commentary on this season's big races. Next up are the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix!

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Bicicleteiros, Rob, El Gringo, Hans, O Irmão da Xuxa, cycling, ciclismo, sports, etc

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