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if carlsberg did brand ambassadors...

surprisingly, not everyone makes the connection. perhaps it's one of those 'you-had-to-be-there' moments; maybe you had to be of a certain age at a certain time in your cycling obsession. graeme obree sneakily stole his nemesis' thunder by breaking the world hour record at hamar in norway several days before chris boardman advertised his own services to the velocipedinal world by breaking it once again at bordeaux during the 1993 tour de france.

it's a well-worn story that graeme undershot francesco moser's record by almost a kilometre at his first attempt. having booked the velodrome for 24 hours, he decided to go again the following day, reaching 51.596 kilometres and breaking the existing distance by 445 metres. all this was achieved aboard old faithful, a bicycle built, as he is won't to do, in his kitchen, with bottom bracket bearings scavenged from the drum on his washingmachine and the seattube fairing fashioned from one of the machine's metal side panels.

thanks to people like me and the rest of the uk media, that graeme obree washingmachine became arguably as famous as graeme himself. he once told me he wished he'd never mentioned that part of old faithful's construction. mind you, he was smiling when he said it.

it's also a major part of the flying scotsman's history that he suffers from bi-polar disease, one that has caused him more than a few days, weeks and years of mental anguish. while most of us are quite happy if we manage to cross a finish line in first place, graeme's mental condition in the 1990s meant that he often felt that his life quite literally depended on it. despite this, graeme not only broke the hour record for a second time in 1994, but was also world 4,000 metre pursuit champion in both 1993 and 1995.

graeme is a highly intelligent guy with a superb knack for lateral thinking. when building the beastie, a variation on the recumbent cycle and designed to challenge the world human-powered land speed record at battle mountain in nevada, who else would have made use of a saucepan in the build? one or two of you may have been lucky enough to have seen the movie documenting this particular story. graeme has been attending several of these screenings to enhance the viewing experience in a manner that only he can.

you do, however, wonder what the future might hold for a man who questions many of the things that most of us take for granted, often pointing to solutions that were formerly less than obvious. if you've ever had the pleasure of conversing with graeme for any length of time, you'll know exactly what i mean. rather brilliantly, scotland's endura cycle clothing have displayed a perspicacity that deserves a thorough round of applause, by engaging the services of graeme obree as brand ambassador.

but, as managing director, jim mcfarlane was keen to point out "My only regret is that we didn't start working together sooner. I am genuinely excited to see where this partnership leads." graeme obree and for those of us already enamoured with the prospect, graeme stated himself "Delighted to be working with an iconic Scottish brand to produce clothing that I want to wear myself." which ultimately means that some of that obree magic might just rub off on the rest of us; hopefully sooner, rather than later.

unlike many of our cycling heroes, most of whom seem to own a garage of audis or maseratis, graeme continues to use a bicycle as his principal mode of transport, meaning that he's every bit in touch with the demands of cyclists when it comes to clothing as you'd hope he'd be. and at least i have one thing in common with graeme other than the washingmachine connection; he too prefers not to own or drive a car.

endura cycle clothing | graeme obree

wednesday 6 april 2016