Race Against the Stasi

[FlashUNC]

Not sure if anyone else has picked this up, but I'm working my way through it now and it's a pretty fantastic read.

The author, Herbie Sykes, did a phenomenal four-part series on cycling in the GDR (East Germany) for Rouleur a year or so back. The series was part oral history/part long-form magazine piece interviewing a cross-section of riders and those closest to the sport about this wholly unique era in cycling that was largely closed off to the West. I found it some of the most interesting stuff I've read on the sport in years.

Now, he's got a book out and I'd highly recommend it to those who like reading up on the sport's history. The Peace Race and the politics behind it are fascinating stuff.

Inrng has a more in-depth review here: http://inrng.com/2014/10/book-review...nst-the-stasi/

[martl]

Thanks for directing us to this, didn't know about it!

For those interested in such stories, the movie "Sportsman Lötzsch" is worth a shot. (It is available in german with subtitles).

Wolfgang Lötzsch from Chemnitz, GDR, born 1959, was arguably the most talented allrounder of his generation. A tall lean rider, equally good in the mountains and in TTs, speciality: solo breakaways.
In 1972 he is a cert for a start at the Munich olympics, but the regime refuses to let him travel to the west because one of his cousins had fled the republic shortly before.

Both unpolitical and stubborn, he refuses to join the SED party which is mandatory for top sportsmen then. Consequentially, he is banned from the national team, denied training opportunities and top material.
Being forced to ride for a second tier "Betriebssportgruppe" (BSG) he beats the other top riders often when they met.

His solo win at "Rund um Berlin", beating the créme of the GDR cycling elite by something like 10 minutes became a legend.

In 76, he dominates the trials for Montreal.
Th solution: BSG riders get banned from competing national team riders.

Frustrated, his attempt to approach western contacts and a few angry comments in direction of the GDR lead to a jail sentence of 10 months. He manages to get granted a cheap stationary trainer for his cell (which he destroys in short time) and does thousands of pushups and knee-bends to keep his fitness.
After his sentence, he continues to ride although the Stasi keeps to harass him, and he scores third place in the GDR championships behind Ampler and Ludwig in 1986.

The fall of the Berlin wall comes at the end of his career, nevertheless he rides a few more years in the west, promoted by his supporter Rudi Altig, and becomes a german champion in the 100km Team TT at the age of 40.

Today he serves as mechanic for pro teams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2udcVgw8r8

[ceolwulf]

Thanks for this, was just nearly done my last cycling book

[FlashUNC]

Lotzsch is mentioned throughout so far as an example of those who didn't toe the party line, as a contrast to those, like Schur, who did.

I'm generally a fan of Sykes' writing -- I really enjoyed Maglia Rosa and Coppi -- but this is particularly good stuff.

[torquer]

Not cycling related, but the 2006 movie, The Lives of Others, is one of my all-time favorites for its uncanny capturing of the physical (and psychological) environment of the DDR, which I was exposed to when visiting relatives there in the 60's and 70's.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/swf/