Stan Higginson 1931 – 2014

Former British National 25 Mile TT Champion and Competition Record Holder, Stan Higginson, died on August 31^st. He would have been 83 on the 20^th of September.

On May 1^st, 2009 I wrote an article here titled “The Higginson Twins: A Pedaling Phenomenon.” Back in 1952 the year I started racing at the age of 16, the two fastest time-trialists for the 25 mile distance were Stan Higginson and his twin brother Bernard Higginson. The picture above is a recent one of the twins, Stan is on the right.

Picture left: From 1952. Stan on the left, Bernard right.

In the 1950s and before that time, British Time - Trial events were almost exclusively ridden on a single fixed wheel.

It was common back then to ride thought the winter months on a single fixed sprocket with a gear ratio around 20 x 48 or 21 x 48, a gear in the lower 60 inch range.

A popular early season event back then was a 72 inch gear restricted 25 mile TT.

Everyone was restricted to a gear ratio no bigger than 48 x 18, which leveled the playing field and those who had learned to pedal fastest during the winter prevailed.

The 25 mile competition record (Unrestricted.) in 1952 was 57 minutes something. It was still a huge achievement for anyone to beat the hour for a 25, a feat that only a few top riders could manage. Stan and Bernard Higginson made history that year when they both beat the hour in a 72 inch restricted event.

Stan’s time was 59 mins. 20 secs, which meant he was pedaling at over 118 revs per minute for 25 miles. Bernard Higginson clocked 59. 48 for 2nd place and third that morning was the previous year, 1951 25 record holder, Dave Keeler with a time of 59.58.

As a result of posting the above article, Stan contacted me and shared with me some interesting pieces of information. He and Bernard normally raced on a single fixed gear of 84.4 inches. (50 x 16) He said it suited their slight build of 5’ 9 1/2” (176.5cm.) weighing 129 lb. (58.5kg.) and their very low profile positions.

Throughout the winter they trained on 62 inch gear. (46 x 20) This no doubt gave the twins their fast pedaling abilities.

Between 1952 and 1955 they won seven British National 25 Mile Championship Medals. 3 firsts, 2 seconds, and a third. Stan Higginson broke competition record 3 times. Their team. Halesowen C&AC won 3 National Championships, and broke competition record 4 times.

Stan’s fastest 25 was 56min. 21sec. and Bernard’s fastest time was 57min. 05sec.

As a 16 year old, just starting out Stan Higginson was one of my heroes, someone I aspired to be. Even though looking back he was only a few years older than me. As we go through life others inspire us, and hopefully we inspire others.

Stan had apparently had heart problems for the last eleven years. He is survived by his brother Bernard, his wife Helen, and his two children Michael and Carol.

There will celebration of his life is taking place on Monday 15th September at 2pm at St Laurence Church in Alvechurch , Worcs B48 7SB. UK.

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Mike Melton 1949 - 2011

I just received the sad news this morning that former framebuilder Mike Melton passed away Wednesday, January 26th 2011.

I met Mike soon after I came to the US in 1979; I was working for Paris Sport in New Jersey and was building some special aerodynamic bikes for the US team. (Mike is on the right in the picture on left.)

The tubing was specially developed for the project by Reynolds Tube Company in England, and time was running short to get the frames finished, so Mike Melton was called in to help me.

After that Mike went back to his frame business in Columbia, South Carolina, and I later went to California to work for Masi. Mike and I would usually run into each other at the annual bicycle trade shows.

From 1982 to 1999 Mike worked for the Huffy Bicycle Company in Dayton, where he designed and built bicycles for Huffy-sponsored athletes, including the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic Cycling Teams. 

Mike developed some special carbon fiber frames for the Olympic athletes, when that particular technology was in its infancy.

Mike Melton who had served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1976 and was a Vietnam combat veteran, had been sick for the last four years with a rare neurological disease believed to be spinal cerebella ataxia, similar to ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

I did get to speak with Mike last May, however it was a difficult somewhat one sided conversation as the disease had affected his ability to speak. Never-the-less I felt privileged to have the opportunity of this brief contact after so many years.

Mike’s wife Jamie has asked if anyone has pictures of Mike or his work to forward them to her: mjzmelton@gmail.com

Addendum February 2nd 2011: I received the following tribute from Bill McCready; Founder and President of Santana Cycles, where Mike Melton worked in the 1980s.

In 1982, after Mike Melton's financial backer locked him out of the year-old Melton Bicycle factory in Delaware, Ohio, Mike phoned me to ask about a job at Santana. Because I knew Mike's work, had talked to him at trade shows and expos, and had sold his frames at my retail store (Bud's Bike Shop), I immediately agreed.

Mike, a gifted designer, moved to California to become Santana's original staff Engineer. His first duty was to audit all the various build processes at my six-year-old tandem factory. Next, we bought the partially-prepped tandem tubesets from Mike's former financial backer and used them to create a less expensive line of "Solana" tandems with Reynolds 531 tubing.

When the resulting frames didn't perform as well as we had hoped, the resulting discussions caused me to have Mike create a tandem version of the "Tarantula" frame efficiency evaluation jig that Gary Klein built for Bicycling Magazine. Using this apparatus we experimented with various designs and "invented" the Direct Lateral layout that soon eclipsed all previous tandem frame designs.

One of Santana's early tandem customers (as well as my friend from previous years) was Chester Kyle, who came by the factory one day to inform me that he was doing aerodynamic consulting for the U.S. National Cycling Team. When Chet sketched out some crude ideas and asked me if Santana could fabricate some experimental stems and forks for him, I introduced him to Melton. With my approval Mike built Chet's designs after hours at Santana.

After Chet and the new sponsor of the National Team (Huffy Bicycle Company) realized how gifted Mike Melton was at design and fabrication, they offered him a job designing and building bikes for the upcoming 1984 Olympics. When Mike, who felt he owed it to me to remain at Santana, asked what he should do, I said "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity—Go!" Mike moved back to Ohio and, over the following few months, designed many of the bikes that were used to win America's first medals in Olympic Cycling.

On the eve of the LA Olympics, Mike showed up at Santana with a van full of his bikes that needed an overnight repaint. We were happy to help.

Mike and I remained friends and would meet if and when when Huffy sent him to cycling trade shows. We kept his number in Santana's Rolodex, and often called to ask for help. Mike assisted Santana with a number of projects; and was especially helpful with the geometry of track tandems. The last time I talked with Mike (in the late '90s?) he told me that he'd lost his fervor for cycling and was busy modifying Cobra race cars.

I'll always remember Mike Melton for his creativity, ready smile and positive outlook.

Bill McCready

                         

Peter Post: 1933 - 2011

With the sad news that Peter Post had died on Friday in Amsterdam at the age of 77, cycling has lost one of the greatest personalities and talents the sport has ever known, both on and off the bike.

Born in Amsterdam in November 1933, his childhood years were spent in Nazi occupied Holland.

He turned professional in 1956 for Legendary Amsterdam bicycle makers RIH Sport.

By the time his pro career ended in 1972, he had ridden for some of the most famous teams in the history of cycle racing. They included Flandria, Faema, Solo-Superia and Willem 11.

As a road rider Post won the Paris-Roubaix in 1964 and there were podium places in Paris-Brussels, GP E3, Fleche-Wallonne, Rund um Koln and Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Peter Post on the right, with teammate Rik Van Looy.  

On the track Post is best remembered as a six day rider; his 65 wins beat the previous record held by Belgian rider Rik Van Steebergen, and stood as a world record for a number of years. Today he is placed fourth in the all time rankings behind Patrick Sercu with 88, Rene Pijnen with 74 and Danny Clark 72 wins.

(Picture left.) Peter Post on the right with Fritz Pfenninger as European Madison Champions.

To get a true grasp of Post’s standing as a Six-Day rider one has to understand that during their careers, Sercu competed in a total 223 Six Day events, Pijnen 233, and Clark rode in 235.

While Post’s 4th place in the all time rankings was achieved competing in 155 Six-Day races; which means he won 42% of the six day races he started.

Incidentally, Peter Post's first Six Day win came in 1957 in Chicago, when he parnered with Harm Smits; back when America still hosted Six Day events. 

He won most major European six day races at least once – Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Bremen, Brussels, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gent, Grenoble, London, Milan, Munster, Rotterdam and Zurich.

I was fortunate enough to see Peter Post in 1968 when he partnered with Patrick Sercu and won the London Six Day event at Wembly Stadium.

As a measure of his versatility, in Antwerp 1965, Post set the derny-paced hour record of 63.783 km, (39.63 miles.) beating Stan Ockers' record which had stood for nine years.

(Above left to right.) Patrick Sercu, Peter Post, Rik Van Looy. The fourth man is a Derny pacer.

In his day, Peter Post was one of the world’s best pursuit riders, he was a multiple Dutch champion and took bronze and silver in the world pro pursuit championships; he happened to be competing in a golden era of pursuiting against such greats as Bracke, Faggin and Porter.

When Post’s professional career ended in 1972 a new challenge awaited him. British bicycle manufacturer Raleigh launched a pro team in 1973; the team’s initial showing was less than spectacular. All this changed when Post was recruited to manage the team for 1974; and so began the story of perhaps one of the most successful teams in cycling history.

He dropped many of the British riders from the team, which didn’t set too well with the UK cycling establishment; after all Raleigh is a British company. The team was made up of mostly Dutch and Belgian riders; Peter Post was branded as anti-British.

Scotsman Billy Bilsland, one of the few Brits who survived the cut, once stated; “Post wasn’t anti-British, he was anti-failure!” Peter Post was a tough task master and would accept nothing less than a total commitment of effort from his riders.

The results speak for themselves. 1974: 55 wins; 1975: 55 wins; 1976: 71 wins; 1977: 68 wins; 1978: 94wins; 1979: 99 wins; 1980: 120 wins; 1981: 94 wins; 1982: 92 wins; 1983: 100 wins.

During this period the team won virtually every important one day race on the calendar - including the world professional road title with riders like Jan Raas, Gerrie Knetemann, Roy Schuiten and Dietrich Thurau- and the 1980 Tour de France, with Joop Zoetemelk. That year also saw the team win 11 stages in the Tour.

Due the team’s success, Raleigh’s brand recognition had reached its highest level by the early 1980s. The company decided it had achieved its intended goal, and eventually ended sponsorship. Post was always the shrewd businessman who could negotiate with companies to obtain the best deal for the team and its riders; he obtained sponsorship for his team from the Japanese electronics company Panasonic.

Post’s men continued to be a major force in the sport of professional cycling into the 1990s. Post retired in 1995 having changed forever the way cycling teams are presented and managed.

Results-wise he is the second most successful cycling manager in the history of the sport; only Guillaume Driessens bettered Post’s record, and his success could be largely attributed to the fact that Driessens was Eddy Merckx’s boss.

One of his contemporaries said; “Peter Post was hard on riders – but was hardest on himself.” Hard or not, there were riders who spent their whole careers with him; but there were also riders who never again performed at the level they achieved with Post after they left Raleigh having had ‘better’ offers from other teams.

Eric Vanderaerden who won the Tour of Flanders in 1985 and Paris-Roubaix in 1987 as a Panasonicman said, “Post was a great motivator, we might have had our doubts about the weather, the strength of the opposition . But during the course of a pre-race meal he had such an effect on us that we rose from the table thinking; “we are unbeatable!”

(Above.) Three generations of the worlds greatest six day stars. L to R Peter Post [Holland], Gus Killian [Germany] and Torchy Peden [Canada]. A total of 137 victories between them.

Peter Post during his lifetime was an outstanding road and trackman, and a six day super star. When that was over he became one of the world’s greatest in the role as Directeur Sportif.

Although a tough team manager, he no doubt had the respect of his riders because he had previously earned respect himself as a rider. It is always easier to take directions from someone who knows first hand exactly what you are experiencing.

Peter Post’s nickname as a rider was “de Lange,” or “Big Man,” because he was tall for a cyclist. Last Friday 14th. January 2011, the world of cycling lost a Big Man indeed.