Cycling Landscapes and Cultural Representation in Colombia, 1930-1958
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Impossible Roads: Cycling Landscapes and Cultural Representation in Colombia, 1930-1958. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Manuel Morales Fontanilla Committee in charge: Professor Christine Hunefeldt, Chair Professor Robert Edelman, Co-Chair Professor David Serlin Professor Eric Van Young Professor Daniel Widener 2018 © Manuel Morales Fontanilla, 2018 All rights reserved. SIGNATURE PAGE The Dissertation of Manuel Morales Fontanilla is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Chair University of California San Diego 2018 iii DEDICATION Para Marta, Julia y Pedro. iv EPIGRAPH El ciclismo es dolor, soledad, pero también alegría por la victoria. Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas v TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNATURE PAGE ............................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................... iv EPIGRAPH ........................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... x LIST OF MAPS ................................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. xiii VITA .................................................................................................................................. xvi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................... xvii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1. Sports: A Relatively Autonomous Social Field. .......................................................... 2 2. Historical Literature on Latin American Sports ........................................................ 11 3. Methods and Structure.............................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER ONE. SPORTS AND THE POPULARIZATION OF LEISURE 1930-1938. ..... 28 1. Sports and Leisure .................................................................................................... 28 2. The National Commission of Physical Education ..................................................... 33 3. The Spaces ............................................................................................................... 55 4. Sporting Spectacles .................................................................................................. 66 vi 5. Sports Media ............................................................................................................ 72 6. The 1938 Bolivarian Games ..................................................................................... 75 7. The Games’ Aftermath ............................................................................................. 90 CHAPTER TWO. TURNING THE PEDALS, THE MAKING OF COMPETITIVE CYCLING 1930-1946 ......................................................................................................... 96 1. The First Pedal Strokes............................................................................................. 96 2. Adventurers and Travelers...................................................................................... 100 3. A Race That Only the Strong Could Finish ............................................................. 104 4. The Making of Competitive Cycling ...................................................................... 110 5. Cycling and the National Athletic Games ............................................................... 122 6. Representing the Nation ......................................................................................... 127 7. The Consolidation of Cycling Networks ................................................................. 136 8. Cycling During the World War II ........................................................................... 141 9. Cycling and the Fall of the Liberal Republic........................................................... 148 10. The First National Cycling Championship .............................................................. 152 CHAPTER THREE. COLOSSAL BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE: THE INVENTION OF THE VUELTA A COLOMBIA ................................................................................................. 157 1. Postwar Sports ....................................................................................................... 157 2. Cundinamarca’s Cycling Dominance...................................................................... 161 vii 3. “More Sports Less Politics” ................................................................................... 165 4. Feinco and the Industrial Cycling ........................................................................... 172 5. An Inter-Andean Adventure ................................................................................... 180 6. Winning Abroad ..................................................................................................... 187 7. Imagining La Vuelta............................................................................................... 191 8. The Pre-Race Build Up .......................................................................................... 199 9. Sign-ups ................................................................................................................. 206 10. An Event of Historic Proportions ........................................................................... 212 CHAPTER FOUR. LA VUELTA AND THE CYCLING NATION, 1951-1952. ............... 217 1. “The Sensational and Dramatic” First Vuelta a Colombia. ...................................... 217 2. Virtuous, Righteous, Honorable ............................................................................. 225 3. “The Colombian People are Called Efraín Forero” ................................................. 231 4. Cycling and What it Meant to be “Paisa” ................................................................ 239 5. Cycling Without Boundaries .................................................................................. 245 6. Don’t Make the Same Mistakes Twice ................................................................... 255 7. The Second Vuelta ................................................................................................. 264 8. The Race’s Aftermath ............................................................................................ 277 CHAPTER FIVE. CYCLING, HEROISM, AND REGIONALISM, 1953-1958. ................ 284 1. A Race of Changes. ................................................................................................ 284 viii 2. “The Hardest Race on Earth” ................................................................................. 291 3. Cycling New Paths ................................................................................................. 300 4. Beetles in the Mountains ........................................................................................ 305 5. The General’s Vuelta ............................................................................................. 309 6. The Pan-American Champion ................................................................................ 323 7. The Making of an Idol ............................................................................................ 331 8. Flowing Like a River.............................................................................................. 336 EPILOGUE ....................................................................................................................... 348 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 357 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Working class men playing turmequé. ................................................................... 29 Figure 2. Bogotá’s racetrack inauguration 1931. .................................................................. 58 Figure 3. Boxing match Plata VS Williams. ......................................................................... 70 Figure 4. Bolivarian Games’ poster. ..................................................................................... 80 Figure 5. Mundo al Dia race............................................................................................... 115 Figure 6. Rafael Osuna. ..................................................................................................... 125 Figure 7. Guillermo Pignalosa and the Independent Athletic Union. .................................. 135 Figure 8. Riders preparing for a departmental race. ............................................................ 139 Figure 9. Bicycle advertisement. ........................................................................................ 151 Figure 10. “Damn savage! ................................................................................................