Paul Sherwen lays down The V in the late Seventies

Paul Sherwen is generally seen as Phil Liggett’s counter-point, dutifully keeping the iconic duo’s race commentary on course, helping to convey to the English-speaking world the sport of Professional Cycling. Liggett, of course, has undeniably helped shape this great sport  for Anglophones across the globe, having been the English voice of this sport since before I was born – and for that I’m eternally grateful to him; merely the sound of his voice warms the cockles of my cold, black heart. But as much as he is inextricably bound to the sport, the last time he got a fact right must have also been before I was born, if he ever has.

The balance Liggett’s special breed of factual rigor is Paul Sherwen. Not only does he have the insight of an ex-pro with which to season his commentary, he has several other highly technical analytical tools at his disposal, such as actually watching the race. Furthermore, Paul is able to counter Uncle Phil’s constitution under pressure – which resembles that of a knock-kneed Rhode Island Red in a washing machine on a delicates/knits cycle – with his Sprinter’s Cool. Whereas Phil can be heard squawking and clucking incomprehensibly with excitement as a race unfolds, Paul peppers the commentary with self-deprecating jokes about his own career and adds a Swahili proverb or two that might be helpful for the riders, were they only able to hear him.

In this current role of his, as the commentary equivalent of Autocorrect on Liggett’s iPhone, it is easy to forget that Paul was among the most respected riders of his day. Seen here stringing out a bunch (in complete Rule Compliance, I might add) reminds me of the various tales of tenacity that earned him the respect not only of his fellow riders, but of race organizers.

One such example is of the 1985 Tour de France when Sherwen, a domestique with no chance at the overall, crashed in the opening kilometers of a Pyrenean stage and was left to fend for himself while Bernard Hinault raced for the win at the front, making small children of grown men. Refusing to give up, Sherwen limped through the stage alone, accompanied only by a single Gendarme’s motorcycle. More than an hour after the stage winner and well outside the time limit, he finished the stage. The race jury, moved by his resolve to finish the stage, reinstated him and allowed him to continue on in the Tour. In a word, respect.

I think of all the people in the cycling world I most admire, it has to be Paul Sherwen.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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  • In that first picture what bike is Paul on? Shouldn't it be a silver Merckx? The brakes are center-pull with reverse cables.

  • @mcsqueak

    Fuck yeah, Orange badge time. All those extra posts where I corrected my poor grammar or spelling in the previous post finally paid off.
    And who would have thought one person could post so much about basically nothing?
    I promise to represent the sacred Dutch color with pride. Thank you, thank you all. *sniffle*

    Now, if you could only get the little v in the middle.........

  • Anyone who races (and wins) in a jersey that says "Banana" is a stud in my book.

    Pretty seriously cool wool kit, too, with some surprisingly big guns, not to mention the excellent example of the Three Point System.

    And more corroboration that he preferred to ride with no gloves...

    Most Casually Deliberate.

    Double-stud shot here; still convincingly rockin' the Razors in '93 with the other Uncle Phil.

    But now into sketchier territory...did he open the sweater can of worms? Did he improvise the turntleneck and give Vaughters some bad ideas?

    Could it be that this may have been preempted had Paul not gone in this direction? Could it be there's some parallel universe where Vaughters doesn't continually wear wretched clothing?

  • @frank
    Frank, re 2nd and 3rd pics of Sherwen. Gotta love those Cinelli 66 sprinter bars on the bikes. I used to have them on my bikes back in the day. So sweet compared to the "any shape you like so long as its square" styles available today.
    Also, as a Scot, I'm deeply offended by JV's tartan breeks. Miller,, being somewhat Scottish, can't actually bring himself to look at them for fear of burning his retinas. To paraphrase the song, "the pants are so bright, I gotta wear shades . . . ."
    Hard to believe, but Farrar looks like fucking Cary Grant next to those two.

  • I'm not 100% on this, but I seem to remember Sherwen being reinstated after missing the time cut twice in two separate Tours...

  • @Jim
    That pic is from the 1978 Tour - Eddy had retired earlier in the season after setting up and moving to the C&A squad, along with his bikes. The FIAT team rode La France bicycles in the '78 season.

  • On the subject of race commentary, a beauty from Sean Kelly last night when Stuey O'Grady was leading the pack down a descent. To paraphrase,

    "Now O'Grady can ride a descent at full speed without having to look behind to see whether he has dropped his Schlecks."

    SLAP!

  • @Bianchi Denti

    @Marcus


    @mouse

    @MarcusThen he would have been called "Mikko", and you would be "Mazza".Dan O would be "Danno"Scaler 911 would be "Scazza" andmouse would be "dickhead"

    No mate - you don't geddit. Shortening names and adding a vowel is old school bogan. New school bogan is an olternatyv fonetik spellyng of the full nayme.

    Such as Maakiss, Mowss or Beeankkee Denttyy (possibly needs more "y"s and "ah"s - despite originating from Hamilton, NZ, I never passed Bowgyn 101.

    WHAT? If you were spawned in Hamiltron you may not be much of an Australian bogan but you're like the second bogan coming of christ in En Zed

  • This Paul Sherwen moment brought to you by Quizno's and Sheets blotter acid, with special thanks to United Healthcare.
    The product placement of the US Pro tour is overwhelming. Do they have to sell nameing rights to everything? Are we going to have the Gatorade nature break moment? The Road ID road rash of the day?

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