For today’s Throwback Thursday, we go back to 1983, to the Halfords International Cyclocross Race. The race is named after one of the United Kingdom’s largest and oldest bike shop chains, Halfords, which has been around since the Nineteenth Century (and is still in business with brands like Boardman Bikes and Apollo).
The course looks a little more like an American cyclocross course of the 1980s, with triple log barriers and a rather wildly, intimate setting. The bike pit exchange area is one of the more close-quarters place on the course, with mechanics lined up between the already cramped race tape, holding the bikes out and allowing riders almost one line to take after the uphill climb.
As usual for videos older than 30 years, where the riders choose to dismount is less interesting than watching their technique while remaining on the bike. Driving through mud, streams and downhill shoots is all the more impressive when you consider that many of these riders are on tires that measure out at 28c or less.
The video above was uploaded to YouTube by Steve Barnes.
