Marking the release of his new authorised biography, Maurice Burton speaks to us about a wild era on the boards <\/p>

Early last year, Maurice Burton was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.<\/p>

The 68-year-old Londoner joined only 68 others, who\u2019d made \u201can outstanding contribution to cycling across all levels and disciplines\u201d.<\/p>

Over the phone from his holiday home in Lanzarote, where he\u2019s often to be found when not in his South London bike shop, De Ver Cycles, Burton tells me he was humbled by the accolade.<\/p>

\u201cThey asked me if I wanted to accept it and, of course, I did,\u201d he says.<\/p>

\u201cBut I did feel when I looked at some of the other people in it, the likes of say, Tom Simpson [Britain\u2019s first road world champion]\u2026 I mean, I did okay as a rider but I didn\u2019t do anything that was on the level of someone like him.\u201d<\/p>

Burton is being too modest, so I remind him of his own quote from the newly released book<\/a>, The Maurice Burton Way<\/em>, where he tells Paul Jones, his collaborator, that \u201ceveryone has to fight to get what they want, but they didn\u2019t have to fight the same fight as me\u201d. <\/p>

This prod leads to a necessary qualification.<\/p>

\u201cEveryone has to fight to get what they want, but they didn\u2019t have to fight the same fight as me\u201d. – Graham Watson<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\u201cIt\u2019s true\u2026 things were different for me back then. They had doors open for them, not just in cycling but in life in general.\u201d<\/p>
The \u2018they\u2019 refers to the white bike riders from Burton\u2019s racing career in the 1970s and early 80s, which is to say almost everyone else he came up against. Little has changed, you might observe \u2013 cycling remains a glaringly white sport. British culture and attitudes, however, have, thankfully, evolved.<\/p>
Racism and prejudice remain stubbornly present<\/a> though \u2013 you don\u2019t have to spend too long on social media to realise that. However, what Burton endured throughout his racing career, whether from the British Cycling Federation, fellow riders, the media or fans \u2013 as documented extensively in the book \u2013 is particularly shocking through the lens of 2024.<\/p>
$\"The$
Signed copies of Burton’s book are available from source at De Ver Cycles. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Perhaps the most notorious incident was at the 1974 British National Track Championships, where Burton won his first senior amateur title, aged 18, in the 20km scratch race.<\/p>
On the podium, in his moment of glory, he was booed by the crowd.<\/p>
What should have been a defining event in his young career was remembered for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>
\u201cThey didn\u2019t like the colour of my skin. That\u2019s what I think,\u201d he says in the book. It was a catalyst for Burton turning away from British racing and forging a career as a pro in Belgium.<\/p><\/div><\/div>
The joy of Six<\/h2>
$\"Maurice$
Burton paired with Jop Kristens at the 1982 Six Days of Ghent. – Graham Watson<\/figcaption><\/figure>
As a track rider of that era, the ultimate career plan involved becoming a regular on the Six Day circuit.<\/p>
This racing format originated in London in the late 19th Century and was popularised in the USA in the early 20th, continuing to burn brightly in Europe (particularly in Belgium) in the 1970s and 80s.<\/p>
Burton would eventually race against the likes of Eddy Merckx, who once asked Burton to gift him a race.<\/p>
In a fairly common \u2018you scratch my back, I\u2019ll scratch yours\u2019 sort of deal, Burton was delighted to oblige the greatest rider of all time.<\/p>
The Six Day format involved an inordinate volume of high-intensity racing, across different formats, six days a week, in teams of two. <\/p>
In Burton\u2019s era, the circuit was a carnival of excess \u2013 racing, travelling and, of course, drug use. Drugs to stay awake and drugs to get to sleep.<\/p>
Burton speaks of a round-the-clock circus of activity in smoke-filled velodromes<\/a>, where he\u2019d often sleep over at the velodrome and not see daylight until the six days were up.<\/p>
For the main event, they\u2019d ride nightly from 8pm till 4am, then they\u2019d be back on the boards at midday \u201cmostly for the old people, then we\u2019d have the children\u2019s matinee in the afternoon\u201d.<\/p>
Six Days, admits Burton, were a combination of \u201cathletic performance and showmanship\u201d.<\/p>
If results weren\u2019t necessarily fixed, consideration had to be paid to both prolonging the jeopardy at the top of the leaderboard and giving the local crowd, wherever you were in Europe, a chance to cheer their home heroes.<\/p>
He recalls a Dutch rider, Herman Ponsteen, at the Six Days of Milan.<\/p>
\u201cHe was a very good rider, second in the pursuit at the Olympics in 1976, and here in Milan he kept winning the sprints. I said to him, \u2018you keep on doing that and you won\u2019t be coming back next year. They didn\u2019t bring you here to beat the Italians. You\u2019re here to make them look good\u2019.\u201d<\/p>
Life as a Six Day rider was a precarious existence<\/h2>
$\"Maurice$
An innate business brain made a career as a bike shop owner a good fit. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\u201cYou were only ever as good as your last Six Day,\u201d says Burton. It was a gig economy, albeit a very good gig when the contracts \u2013 handed out by agents, which mostly meant a chap called Jan Dirksen, a Mr 10 per cent who handled 95 per cent of the riders \u2013 were doled out. \u201cWherever the Six Day was, Dirksen would come to the last couple of days with his briefcase of contracts,\u201d Burton recalls.<\/p>
Burton competed in 56 Six Days throughout his career (six in Ghent), never winning but playing his part. He would typically earn \u00a32,000 a week, although he\u2019d have overheads including paying for his staff, such as soigneurs. In today\u2019s money, that’s around \u00a310,000. Really good money, I suggest.<\/p>
\u201cYeah, well, I don\u2019t know. Not so bad. But I\u2019d dare say the likes of Merckx got paid quite a bit more. I\u2019m actually going for dinner with Roman Hermann later; he\u2019s also got a place out here. After he finished racing, he promoted a Six Day in Stuttgart and he told me Erik Zabel [German six-time Tour de France green jersey winner between 1996 and 2001] would get \u20ac200,000 a week.\u201d<\/p>
Burton\u2019s exile in Belgium was hardly an escape from the racism he experienced in Britain<\/a>. He talks in the book about being called names by fellow riders and having dangerous tricks played on him, such as having his bottom bracket tightened. He could, however, as a person of colour, forge a career in Belgium, even if the intentions of his employers weren\u2019t entirely noble.<\/p>
\u201cI was something of an attraction, because I was different, because I was the Black guy,\u201d he says in the book. He still needed the talent to race though.<\/p>
\u201cIf they put you in the race and you come in 100 laps down, then that\u2019s not going to work. The thing is, I could do it, and they knew that, but it really wasn\u2019t easy to get in, not at all; being Black helped me get in, while holding me back.\u201d<\/p>
$\"Inside$
High-end Colnagos are among the bikes for sale at De Ver Cycles. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Drug use was prevalent at the time. Before the pharmacological excesses of the EPO era, the go-to substances of Six Day racing in Burton\u2019s era were stimulants, from caffeine up to amphetamines.<\/p>
In the book, Burton admits taking things to help him keep going and reveals his shame about doing so, which he carries to this day.<\/p>
He recalls that he\u2019d be approached by parents of children asking if he had something to help them go faster and says that riders from back then who deny it are kidding themselves. \u201cLet\u2019s live in the real world!\u201d<\/p>
He also says it wasn\u2019t until he became professional that he took anything; if you had to do it as an amateur, he believes, then there was no way you\u2019d survive in the pro world.<\/p>
Typically, he says, the final day of a Six was when you would use something.<\/p>
\u201cNot for the racing, but for after the race, because we had to get straight in the car and drive through the night to the next race.\u201d <\/p><\/div><\/div>
One-track mind<\/h2>
$\"Maurice$
On a visit to Trinidad in 1975 for a spell of warm-weather training.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In Burton\u2019s era, all roads led to the Six Days of Ghent \u2013 the biggest meet of the season.<\/p>
They still do and it still is. The Six Day calendar in 2024, however, is a shadow of what it used to be in the 1970s. A reason for that, Burton believes, is the increased access to riders of today, in the media, on television and via social media.<\/p>
\u201cBack then, in Milan, say, you\u2019d have fans standing all night to get close to the riders: they were fascinated by them.<\/p>
\u201cA lot of that mystique is gone now. You think back to even before my time to riders like [Fausto] Coppi: they weren\u2019t seen as quite human, they were like demigods.<\/p>
\u201cI think it\u2019s also missing the top riders, like [Wout] van Aert or [Mathieu] van der Poel. Sure, we\u2019ve seen Mark Cavendish team up with Bradley Wiggins [at Ghent in 2016], but it\u2019s just two of them. You used to see all the top riders.\u201d<\/p>
Despite the collapse in the profile and calendar of the Six, the meet in Ghent remains a huge draw.<\/p>
\u201cI once read there were two professions in Belgium that were looked upon highly,\u201d says Burton.<\/p>
\u201cOne was the priesthood and the other was a cyclist. Cycling is ingrained into the whole culture, and Ghent is the heartland.\u201d<\/p>
He recalls Belgian road races in the summer, which he\u2019d use for Six training ahead of winter, to illustrate the public obsession.<\/p>
\u201cThere\u2019d be no changing rooms at the race, so you\u2019d go knocking on doors. Sometimes you\u2019d go inside, sometimes the garage. Occasionally there\u2019d be five people in the garage with a bucket of water and soap, all washing themselves down.<\/p>
\u201cA lot of people would let you in, because they could tell their friends that they\u2019d had the winner in their house.\u201d<\/p>
His last race in Ghent was 1983, shortly before a career-ending crash at the Buenos Aires Six, and he didn\u2019t return until 2015, when British Cycling paid his expenses to support his son, Germain, who was racing in the U23 event.<\/p>
$\"Maurice$
With wife Mia, supporting their son Germain at the 2015 U23 Ghent Six. – Tom Jenkins \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Then there was that trip the following year to see Cavendish and Wiggins win in the latter\u2019s final year as a pro.<\/p>
\u201cI was there when Bradley won the Tour and I wanted to be there when he rode his last Six in Ghent. I rode with his dad, Gary, and have known Bradley since he was two weeks old.\u201d<\/p>
Explaining his reason for seldom returning to Ghent\u2019s velodrome, \u2019t Kuipke, the scene of what used to be his biggest week of the racing year, he says he\u2019s not one to indulge in nostalgia.<\/p>
\u201cIf there\u2019s a reason to go, I go, but you can\u2019t live in the past. It was a great time, but to go back and see it can be emotional.\u201d<\/p>
In the book, Burton describes himself as being businesslike in the way he operated as a racer; as long as he and his staff were paid, he\u2019d ride with anyone.<\/p>
Was this innate to his character, or how the dog-eat-dog Six circuit shaped him? He leans more to the former. <\/p>
\u201cI started riding bikes at 12, and raced from 15. I had to fix the bike myself because I couldn\u2019t afford anything else. I\u2019d sell bikes to other kids at school, then do advertising in the Exchange & Mart.\u201d<\/p>
He also sold a bike in part-exchange for a car, to get him across to Belgium for the first time. \u201cI was 19, so I\u2019ve always been business-minded.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div>
Heart of the matter<\/h2>
$\"De$
De Ver Cycles in Streatham is an iconic landmark in the cycling community. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
It would serve him well after his racing career, which ended in 1984, before his 30th birthday, with a crash in Argentina that broke his femur. Like many sportspeople, he struggled with his career ending at such a young age.<\/p>
Initially jumping onto the burgeoning bike-courier boom in the 1980s, he took over De Ver Cycles in Streatham, London \u2013 the bike shop he still owns and runs today.<\/p>
Like any independent bike shop owner, he\u2019s had huge ups and downs with the shop through the years.<\/p>
He sold vast amounts of stock during the pandemic<\/a>, for instance, and such periods help to counter leaner times.<\/p>
He continues to ride, barring injury, every day, for the enjoyment and, he says, to keep the heart arrhythmia at bay that rears its head during any period off the bike.<\/p>
$\"Maurice$
Injury aside, Burton has ridden his bike most days since he was a teenager. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\u201cI\u2019ve got a large heart from racing. The worst thing somebody like me can do is stop exercising,\u201d he says.<\/p>
That riding has taken him to places that his pro career, largely confined to the boards and cobblestone roads of Belgium, couldn\u2019t: tours across Europe, training camps in Lanzarote with his own London club, Team De Ver, and numerous \u00c9tapes du Tour<\/a> and Marmottes in the French Alps.<\/p>
\u201cI never rode the Tour de France but [as a kid] I remember seeing a photo of Coppi high on the Galibier. I wanted to know what it felt like to ride these climbs.\u201d<\/p>
The days of pushing himself in these events, he says, is over, although he still has his eye on the Passo dello Stelvio, Italy\u2019s most renowned mountain pass.<\/p>
$\"Team$
Team De Ver is a bike club of 70 members based in Streatham. – Joseph Branston \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Burton is planning on taking a trip to Italian frame builder and friend Luigi Daccordi to collect a custom-made ebike<\/a> designed for his wife, Mia.<\/p>
A previously focused conversation has lapsed into the minutiae of bikes \u2013 the \u201cnightmare\u201d of tubular tyres, the absence of a Lanzarote Campagnolo dealer for his beloved Bianchi \u2013 and he\u2019s got an appointment elsewhere to keep, so it\u2019s time to go.<\/p>
A sandstorm continues to blow outside his home and the enforced time off the bike is making him twitchy.<\/p>
Burton may have made his name going round in circles, but having jumped barriers that would have felled many others, he\u2019s proven his real talent is for moving forwards in his own way.<\/p><\/div><\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n
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