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robertmillar.net

very briefly, to make it easier to get to these pages, they can now be accessed through the domain robertmillar.net. exactly the same pages as you read at the moment, just a less convoluted way to get here.

posted tuesday 8th july 2008

likely coming to a t-shirt near you

currently the rouleur online shop, and indeed the rapha cycle club in clerkenwell road, london proffer a slection of tour heroes t-shirts, with caricatures of some of the greats portrayed by illustrator richard mitchelson. the present range consists of laurent fignon, greg lemond, marco pantani, felice gimondi, jose manuel fuente and eddy merckx, but if i am paying correct attention to richard's intentions, those are soon to be joined by a further four, one of which includes robert millar.

richard has kindly allowed reproduction of the caricature that will grace this shirt, and i offer it for your enjoyment. as soon as these are available, i'll let you know. the current versions retail at £30

posted friday 25 june 2010

rouleur 16

after successfully capturing an eddy merckx victory at the giro d'italia in his own inimitable style in a previous issue of rouleur, richard mitchelson has surpassed himself by animating the 1989 tour de france. that's the one sitting prettily in the history books due to greg lemond having beaten laurent fignon by a mere eight seconds, and ushered in the new technological age of cycling. if you have any luddite tendencies at all, greg's the guy to blame.

however, the 1989 tour is also famous for pedro delgado having missed the start of the prologue by some two minutes plus, and spending the next three weeks flogging himself harder than he might to finally stand on the third spot on the champs elysees. but for those of us solely interested in the man with the ponytail, spaniards are not our favourite nationality, so witnessing robert taking the finish ahead of delgado at the summit of the tourmalet has to be equally as memorable as those eight seconds.

naturally enough, to encapsulate three weeks in a handful of pages means wielding the illustrative hatchet rather forcefully, thus the start, finish and tourmalet are writ large in its pages. richard very kindly sent me the illustration used here of robert millar, and we can only hope that his caricature makes it to a t-short near us very soon.

rouleur 16 also features a fine piece on team 'z' by william fotheringham.

rouleur magazine | richard mitchelson

posted friday 5 february 2010

the vuelta 1986

adrian bell at mousehold press kindly sent me this photograph of robert and alvaro pino taken in 1986. it's possible that the photo shows the start of the stage following the time trial, when pino took over the leader's jersey. interestingly, millar's jersey is not the spanish version of the tour's polka dot, but is the jersey awarded to the highest placed, non-spanish rider. pino went on to win the '86 race by 1'06" from millar. jose luis laguia took the climber's jersey, and sean kelly won the points.

posted sunday 24 january 2010

british cycling hall of fame

to coincide with its fiftieth anniversary in february of 2010, british cycling assembled a panel of judges to select fifty individuals from the recent history of british cycling endeavour to be inducted into a hall of fame. with the possible exception of malcolm elliot, the list was intended not to include any currently racing individuals.

deservedly so, robert millar was one of those fifty, joined by fellow scot graeme obree. there will be a celebratory dinner in february 2010, though whether the fifty are invited to dine is unclear.

posted saturday 19 december 2009

rouleur 13

as we head towards the 25th anniversary of robert's king of the mountains victory in 1984, it is nice to see that i'm not the only one who values his contribution to british/scottish cycling. the current issue of rouleur contains a precis of stage 17 of that very tour in 1984 in robert's own words, as well as an appreciation of just what he achieved, by les woodland. if you're a millar fan, and i know that very many are, you owe it to yourselves to acquire a copy of the magazine. at £9 it's cheap at half the price.

and for those of you who may already have ordered a robert millar anniversary jersey, these are likely to appear at the end of july, rather than mid-june as i had originally intended, due to endura having more work to complete than they'd expected. i've closed the book on this since i need to finalise the order with endura. all those who have ordered will be notified when the jerseys arrive and you will be able to purchase online. thank you all for your interest, and i hope the real thing meets your expectations. i think it will.

rouleur.cc

posted saturday 6 june 2009

robert on food 'n' stuff

this snippet comes from a 1992 edition of the comic and suggests that millar was ahead of his time as far as eating was concerned.

millar is one of the few vegetarians in the professional bunch, but as he explained, it's not because he hates meat, but because he feels he rides better that way. "it's not a principle - it's a personal thing. i've read a lot of books about it"

as well as meat, egg yolks are out. egg whites are ok. millar says "a lot of diet is what you don't eat, having enough willpower. but if you never eat anything, you crack up. you see so many guys who are good athletes and put so many restrictions on themselves, that they crack up."

millar gets his protein through cereals, fruit and amino acid supplements. "in a normal diet, you take vitamin supplements anyway: if you take a protein supplement, that's the same."

he also relies on fromage blanc, white cheese and dairy products, and uses protein supplements such as complan and protein plus. "i never have problems with protein levels in my blood."

for ten years, millar has been having regular full blood tests: every six weeks if possible, but because of racing commitments, it tends to work out at every eight weeks. "i have a personal doctor who gives me a prescription; i go to the lab and organise it. you can look at the results yourself and see what's happening."

vitamin and mineral levels, red and white blood cell counts are what he's looking at: " it's not as common as it should be. it's your own money, and when you're paying £100 a test, that's a lot. but it's better to spend it on prevention rather than cure."

he got the idea from hennie kuiper, who rode at peugeot with him in 1982 and 1983. "he had a german doctor - i realised how important it is, because you're not a machine, and things are going to go wrong: even when they're going right, they're on the brink of going wrong."

millar doesn't see a dark side to it: "it's better to be in good health and have an injection every day, than be sick in hospital. you're not paid to be sick - that's why a lot of pros don't last long. they have class, but not the health. unless you're better than everyone, you're getting a hammering every day from someone."

excerpted from a william fotheringham interview which first appeared in cycling weekly in april 1992

posted sunday 19 april 2009

the high life dvd. bromley video £17.99

i do not currently, nor have i ever, spent any time on the european continent, especially in the company of cycling greats from past or present, and their acolytes, to know whether the esteem in which many of them are currently held, compares favourably with that engendered towards robert millar. it's not normally the british/scottish way when it comes to cyclists. milar, during his racing career was famously asked by a uk journalist what he did for a real job.

at the braveheart dinner in late october this year, three items of millar memorabilia sold for figures in excess of prices paid for trinketry associated with mr armstrong. a framed and signed polka dot jersey from his championship year of 1984 reached a fabulous £3200 - even a modern representation of that peugeot jersey donated by mick and andy of prendas sold for more than £1000.

but lest you receive the impression that millar receives such adoration due to his propensity as a cash cow, author of in search of robert millar, richard moore, told me that even in paperback and after more than a year in publication, the book is still selling in the hundreds per week. regular readers will not be surprised that this hero-fest takes place in these yellow and black pixels - it's not for nothing that i own the domain robertmillar.net and a substantial collection of articles relating to his thirteen year professional career. i am not alone in this: having approached one of britain's finest cycling apparel purveyors in the hope that they may have been able to work towards a souvenir jersey to celebrate the 25th anniversary of millar's king of the mountains win in 1984, i received a large number of e-mails from millar fans across the world willing to spend their money in acquiring just such an item. the man, the cyclist, the champion is held in high esteem, in what seems to me at least, to be an order of magnitude higher than almost any other british sportsman in recent history. and all this towards a man who disappeared around the turn of the century.

in 1985, granada television followed millar through the season, possibly in the hope that robert would repeat the previous year's success. that, of course would have been the very stuff that movies are made of, and sadly millar's '85 tour never looked like approaching his magnificent 1984. the film, with its superb soundtrack by steve winwood, was aired on television in 1986 and subsequently released to an adoring fanbase on vhs video. it has long been out of print in this format, and its transition to the current media de jour - dvd - has taken substantially longer than any of us would have liked.

when i started collecting and storing all the millar print that i could lay my hands on (ably supported by lance sanderson), i contacted david bromley of bromley video about the possibility of just such a product, his optimism made it seem that only a matter of months would pass before i, and a league of expectant fans would be holding the disc in our hands. sadly, for one reason or another, the gestation time has stretched longer than any of us would have liked - when we invited richard moore over to islay for the launch of the hardback of in search of... in june 2007, i had to acquire a dvd copy of the vhs tape to show at the event. the official release, at that time, was still a few months away.

however, all things come to those that wait, and our patience has been rewarded by the release of this single disc containing the original granada documentary, the millar feature from another of the bromley video stable the britpack, a short picture gallery and an interesting and revealing interview with richard moore. it seems that all our christmases have come at once - if there is a millar fan in your life, the brownie points received by placing a copy of this under the tree will last for an entire year. robert brought many present day cyclists into the fold by being a character of admiration, spiky personality and all. he may well have mellowed in that department over the years, but for all those who have not seen the high life before, have now been presented with a great treat. if you own a copy on videotape, it's not going to last forever...

if there were a national curriculum for aspiring cyclists, this would be compulsory source material.

bromleyvideo.com

posted on tuesday 9 december 2008

braveheart auction 2008

on saturday 25th october, at the braveheart annual dinner in the park hotel, kilmarnock, a 1984 king of the mountains polka dot jersey, donated and signed by robert millar, sold for £3,300, by far the largest sum paid for any auction item on the night. a signed le groupement jersey and hairnet crash hat, as well as a signed retro peugeot jersey donated by mick and andy at prendas, both sold for over £1000 each.

an excellent reminder of just how much respect is still held for scotland's finest ever road cyclist. and justly deserved. richard moore was on hand during the day to sell copies of in search of robert millar in paperback form, and said that the book is still selling remarkably well. but of course.

braveheartfund.com

posted sunday 26 october 2008

13th september 2008 - happy 50th birthday robert millar

Robert Millar was born to William and Mary Millar in the family home, 4 Wellcroft Place, in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, at 6.15am on 13 September, 1958. Mary and Bill - as he was known - already had a son, Ian, born on 29 December, 1955. A daughter, Elizabeth, would follow on 29 January, 1962. At the time of Robert's birth his father's occupation was listed as an ironmongers' assistant. The couple had married on 30 March, 1955.

The Millars lived in tenement housing in the Gorbals, large parts of which were, by then, in a state of serious decay. The Millars' home was typical of the area: a four-storey sandstone tenement, with one large living room, including a kitchen, a bedroom and a toilet, but no bath.

excerpted from 'In Search of Robert Millar' by Richard Moore

robert on youtube

when i started these pages as a self-styled guardian of the vault, in order to safeguard all the numerous articles and stories about robert millar, the only format was print. however, as many have observed, other media have invaded and brought us moving pictures of scotland's greatest ever cyclist. so now it becomes incumbent on robertmillar.net to list as many alternative media sources as i can find. for reasons of time, i'm starting small, with the list below. if you find more, e-mail and let me know.

a 1993 french tv mini-documentary following robert around glasgow, and meeting with his parents. (french language).
the high life: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7
stage 10 tour de france 1983 | stage 11 tour de france 1984 | stage 10 tour de france 1989
stage 11 tour de france 1993 | tour de france/vuelta medley | the wrong way - tour de france 1988
robert interviewed by phil ligget at 1986 tour | robert interviewed after his crash in the kelloggs tour
robert being interviewed in 1984 by scots pop singer, barbara dickson. (you'll need real player for this one).

top of page.

the robert millar interview

one of the very best aspects of writing thewashingmachinepost is the huge increase in my prospective peer group; there are many of you out there that i have been privileged to meet, either in person or via e-mail contact. and in so doing, i learn more about cycling and the people who are as obsessed with it all as i am. and as in pretty much all walks of life, this meeting of people leads to meeting people who know people. and that leads to all sort of exciting results in oh so many ways.one such thread is now ensconced in its place of honour on robertmillar.net, but in my humble opinion, it's an important enough series of pixels to flag up on thewashingmachinepost main page. and before any of you ask, i have no idea where robert is; the interview was conducted through the auspices of a respected third party. i like what i've read, and i hope you'll enjoy it too.

read the interview here

posted on tuesday 15 july

top of page.

in search of robert millar - the return

amazing to think that it's a year since the publication of the hardback of richard moore's 'in search of robert millar', but indeed it is. so, as is the way in the world of publishing, that now is the time for the paperback version.

harpersports released the paperback (softcover anyone?) on june 2nd 2008 for those of you who vowed never to spend money on a hardback, when the paperback is bound to arrive eventually. this version costs £8.99, and has had an afterword added to bring some things up to date. there is also a complete millar palmares preceding an excellent index.

and although it's not strictly a robert millar matter, on june 16th harpersport will also publish richard's follow up, featuring yet another top scottish cyclist, chris hoy. 'heroes, villains and velodromes' follows the fame and fortunes of hoy up until the recent manchester track world championships - effectively the build up to the beijing olympics later this year. you will love every word, scottish or not.

form an orderly queue now.

posted saturday 7th june 2008

the eyes have it

the april 2008 issue of cycle sport features a history of oakley cycle glasses and the riders who have worn their oddly named eyewear. unsurprisingly, the snippet featuring robert millar runs contrary to the norm:

"during the 1990 season, millar won the dauphine wearing the offending article, which clashed horrifically with his fluorescent z jersey.
in the early 1990s, when millar rode for the z team with greg lemond, he was approached by an oakley agent interested in doing a deal with the scottish rider. the agent opened a briefcase of oakley's glasses and millar sifted through them, making uncomplimentary noises about most models.
that was, until he came across a pair of frogskins - oakley's homage to the rayban, but which bore more than a passing resemblance to a pair of national health service specs.
"millar was taken with them. 'oh, they're not for wearing on the bike,' said the oakley rep. that was enough for millar. he took them, and wore them on the bike."

nuff said.

posted saturday 22 march 2008

read the book review here

author richard moore, writer of the 'honour' article in these very pages, has written a biography of robert entitled 'in search of robert millar'. the book is due for publication by harper collins on june 4 2007. richard has interviewed many of those closely, and not so closely, involved with robert's career, and with more than a modest amount of assistance from ex scottish pro brian smith.

judging by the amount of interest millar still generates on the cycling forums, harper collins could almost schedule a reprint now. click here for more details.

the washingmachinepost takes great pride in creating pages dedicated to britain's and scotland's greatest ever pro bike rider. king of the mountains in the tour de france in 1984 and fourth overall, the highest placing by any british rider even now, twenty two years later. (it should also be noted that millar came third in the competition in 1983 and 1985, an achievement that seems almost to have been overlooked.)

robert used to work for procycling magazine as a journalist, adviser and bike tester and I may yet find the time to reprint some of robert's bike tests (read robert's colnago c40 test).

I must extend my debt of gratitude to cycle sport, cycling weekly, mousehold press, richard moore and rouleur for allowing me to 'reprint' much of the material seen here. and i need to give a special mention to lance sanderson, robert z millar who not only sent me the short piece below, but a number of pictures of robert that i didn't have. they have now been peppered throughout the articles in this section.
In 1984 I won a 'Fibre de Carbone' Peugeot bike, but it wasn't exactly, and I mean exactly,the same spec. as my hero's. I contacted Robert again for a Simplex SLJ 5500 rear mech. after RJ Chicken importers quoted me something like £150 for the same piece ! He very kindly gave one to Sean Yates who, when briefly returning to the UK, posted it to me. A very generous gift, and I wish I could convey my outstanding gratitude to the respect-deserving-fellow-countryman

rouleur four - march 2007

rapha's designer journal of cycling, rouleur features a double page spread of robert in panasonic gear along with an article entitled 'the eagle of the gorbals' by william fotheringham. and it gives a nice plug for 'in search of..' by richard moore. coincidentally there is also a multi-page feature on ernesto colnago and his bikes.

do you need any more reasons to buy?

the brit pack

meanwhile, david bromley sent me a copy of 'the brit pack - a history of british riders in the tour de france' double disc dvd. released 2003, there is an entire video chapter about robert in the tour in 1983 and excellent footage and interviews during his crowning year in 1984. there is also, incidentally, some yellow jersey podium footage of robert at the kelloggs tour of britain during a feature on fellow brit, malcolm elliot.

a full review of this dvd is on thewashingmachinepost, but if you're a millar fan - this is worth the price of admission alone (£31.99).

there's training, and there's training

the following couple of paragraphs appear as the introduction to an article in rouleur magazine (issue 2) entitled 'cafe cultured' by will fotheringham. publisher and owner of rapha, simon mottram has very kindly given permission for reproduction here. this sums robert up very succinctly...

as with so many sides of cycling, it was robert millar who put the difference between british and continental attitudes to the bike in a nutshell. why stop for a cup of tea when out training, asked the former king of the mountains, when you could have one when you got home? either you were training or you weren't.

millar was not averse to the odd gateau. there was a cake shop halfway between the airport in paris and his home in the eastern france town of troyes where he would stop on the way home: to celebrate if he had gone well, to raise morale if he had fallen apart. but the thing was, the cake had its place: either you were training, or you weren't.

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