I just finished watching Stage 4 of the Giro, telecast live here in the States on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Phil Liggett, famous Brit announcer, referred to the "sag wagon" which was trailing the field.
We've had some debates on rec.bicycling.* over the years on the origin of the term, which is commonly used here. Is this a common British term or something Phil has picked up on his travels? If the former, does anyone know the origin?
I just finished watching Stage 4 of the Giro, telecast live here in the States on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Phil Liggett, famous Brit announcer, referred to the "sag wagon" which was trailing the field.
We've had some debates on rec.bicycling.* over the years on the origin of the term, which is commonly used here. Is this a common British term or something Phil has picked up on his travels? If the former, does anyone know the origin?
Yes, it is a well used term and not a Liggettism. Some believe it comes from the word sagging, I.e., sagging off the back. Others believe it is an acronym for Support And Gear. Take your pick :-)
-- Mark (MSA) This post is packaged by intellectual weight, not volume. Some settling of contents may have occurred during transmission
I just finished watching Stage 4 of the Giro, telecast live here in the States on OLN (Outdoor Life Network). Phil Liggett, famous Brit announcer, referred to the "sag wagon" which was trailing the field.
We've had some debates on rec.bicycling.* over the years on the origin of the term, which is commonly used here. Is this a common British term or something Phil has picked up on his travels? If the former, does anyone know the origin?
Yes, it is a well used term and not a Liggettism. Some believe it comes from the word sagging, I.e., sagging off the back. Others believe it is an acronym for Support And Gear. Take your pick :-)
I'm pretty sure it predates the term 'gear' (gear meaning 'stuff' or equipment - which I think is a late '60s term)
We've had some debates on rec.bicycling.* over the years on the origin of the term, which is commonly used here. Is this a common British term or something Phil has picked up on his travels? If the former, does anyone know the origin?
Used enough in the U.S. and Britain to show up in some of my older books, including some reprints of books from the 30s and 40s. Treating it like an acronym was not very common until sometime in the later 60s. Earlier treated it like an ordinary word. In the first version of Best of Bicycling (before that would be a satirical name for a book), ?Clifton Graves? uses it as a non-acronym. Was also used in some of the Chas Messenger books IIRC, again as a non-acronym.
I personally never saw the 'Sag And Gear' breakout until Compuserve in the early years, on the bicycle forum. At the time it was more like someone trying to make up words to fit an acronym that wasn't.
Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on two wheels...
On Wed, 12 May 2004 16:46:59 GMT, John Everett <[email hidden]> wrote in message <[email hidden]>:
Quoted message said:
We've had some debates on rec.bicycling.* over the years on the origin of the term, which is commonly used here. Is this a common British term or something Phil has picked up on his travels? If the former, does anyone know the origin?
Old-style cycling term, for sure. I am pretty confident, as the others are, that "Support And Gear" (or the recursive Sag And Gear) are backronyms; sag is less used now but certainly used to be in common parlance for running out of steam, as in "sagging".
Yes, it is a well used term and not a Liggettism. Some believe it comes from the word sagging, I.e., sagging off the back. Others believe it is an acronym for Support And Gear. Take your pick :-)
I'm pretty sure it predates the term 'gear' (gear meaning 'stuff' or equipment - which I think is a late '60s term)
1860s, maybe.
"And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack, Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my own way back!" -- Rudyard Kipling, "The Ballad of East and West" (1889)
