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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  • @seemunkee

    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?

    I cheesed off at the Tour of Utah guys of twitter after seeing the 4th tweet in the space of about 3 minutes plugging on of their sponsors. Ya know, I'm all for the economics of advertising, but at some level, it becomes spam. I actually do buy sponsors shit when there's the option, but it does seem like my nose is being rubbed in it at times.

    I find it rather odd that Coors didn't want to sponsor the CO race. Although all the media is pointing out the race goes by their brewery in Golden. Well, it goes by a lot of other places too. And didn't Quiznoes offer to be a title sponsor, but back out? WTF?

    Sherwen and Liggett are rock stars, but if you get a chance to listen Bobke talk off TV, take the time. He's full of...stories.

  • @seemunkee

    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?

    Welcome to the modern world.

  • @Velo Kitty

    @scaler911
    Excellent. There's our studmuffin w/o the gloves! Merci. À jeune chasseur, il faut un vieux chien.

    You're welcome, and I'm not sure what the rest says, as the other languages I kinda understand are Spanish (horrible) and Tibetan (worse).

  • Never liked their commentary, but he was a hardman as a rider. Have to say, I hate riding with gloves unless it's winter, so he was onto something there.

  • @scaler911

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

    The trick is picking out something neat to write about that hasn't already been covered by folks who have been into cycling for 20 more years than I have.

  • @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*

    Nice!

  • @mcsqueak

    @scaler911


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

    The trick is picking out something neat to write about that hasn't already been covered by folks who have been into cycling for 20 more years than I have.

    Has anyone covered smooth valve stems vs. threaded valve stems? Proper nasal evacuation while riding in a paceline? Guys named "Bob" in the pro peloton from past to present?

    But seriously--what about the day you decided you were a cyclist and everything else fell by the wayside? I've thought about that a lot lately.

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