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As I said last week when we announced the new book, The Hardmen, we had a much harder time of it writing this one than we did with The Rules. There are a variety of reasons why this is true, not least the fact that we had to actually choose which Hardmen to include in the book, a bigger chore than it might seem. Some of them were pretty obvious, some were pretty obscure, but mostly it was simply a difficult chore to narrow down the list to something we could fit in a single book without turning it into War and Peace.
Not to mention that we were basically working from memory, for our oft-stated Anti-Research Policies.
Given that, there are some major omissions, whether deliberate or otherwise. Maybe we simply didn’t like a particular rider, hardness notwithstanding (Pharsmstrong). Maybe we loved a rider and we acknowledged their hardness, but the hardness was so universal that we couldn’t zero in on a particular ride that would make the book (Boonen). Other riders featured more than once because they were so universally hard but still managed to drop majorly epic rides in often enough that we simply couldn’t keep from adding a few of their stories (Kelly, Merckx).
With that, I give you your weekend assignment: which is the most glaring omission from the book, and why? But here’s the catch: you have to be specific on which rider, and you have to be specific on preciesely which ride/action merits inclusion. Vote for your favorite omission by using the (new) like button*. If you’d like to add your own notes to someone else’s entry, just respond inline as usual. Top three omissions** will receive a free copy of The Hardmen, signed by all three authors (this will take a little time as we have to ship them around the world.)
* I have resisted adding a Like button to posts since Velominati’s inception in 2009, feeling strongly that if you have something to say, you should take the time to say it rather than anonymously tapping a like button. However, given my own limited available time to commit to posting, I have come to appreciate the elegance of being able to recognize a post for its humor without needing to respond to it with something unimaginative like, “Ha!” I hold fast on my view that there will never be a “Dislike” button, as I firmly believe that while you are welcome to dislike something, you need to hold yourself accountable for your remarks.
** We reserve the right to override the voting system and choose the winner at our discretion.
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Bartoli was a Hardman many times but the specific intense that most stands out was when he was riding with hidden documents during the war to save Jewish lives. That is about as Hardcore as one can get since he would most likely have been literally shot if he were caught.
Mike Cotty. First he rode Raid Pyrenean. 685km 11k metres of ascent right across the pyrenees. But fuck that. Easy shit so Cotty rides Les Alpes, from Evian Les Bains to Nice, a distance of 666 kilometres with 17 mountain passes – including the Col de la Colombière, Madeleine, Glandon, Croix de Fer, Télégraphe, Galibier, Izoard, Vars, Bonette and Madone – with over 16,000 metres of elevation and five cols over 2,000 metres. Comparable to four mountain stages of the Tour de France or close to scaling Mount Everest (twicel
Then this.. The road to Mont Blanc. That's when shit got real.. 1,000km non-stop crossing of the Dolomites, Eastern Alps and Swiss Alps with 21 climbs and over 23,000 metres of elevation.
Read his blog. Did this whilst setting off in driving rain and suffered hallucinations whilst riding. Fucking hard-core.
So yeah, I see the difficulties with coming up with specific rides for Leman and Le Professeur off the top of my head and I do not know my history well enough with Coppi and Gimondi. That's a good point.
Maybe you could have a supplemental chapter dealing with riders who just exuded Hardness their whole careers even though one cannot pinpoint a specific instance?
I was so going to jump on Beryl Burton as a usually-unsung heroine, but lo and behold she's in there! Chapeau, Keepers.
I think I'd have to nominate Tom Simpson for the 1965 World Championships with support crew; he and his teammates apparently had to steal food and drinks off other teams. What's more, five weeks earlier, he broke his hand on stage 9 of the Tour, but he only stopped racing on stage 19 because the Tour doctor basically kicked him off the race and sent him to hospital for surgery and treatment for various related infections. Obviously, it was stupid to reach that point, but the fact he kept riding, and to win Worlds such a short time later!
Seriously? No Fiorenzo Magni and the 1956 Giro? Magni was 36, his last Giro. He had announced his retirement and was determined to finish. On Stage 12 from Grosetto to Livorno he fell on the Volterra descent, breaking his collarbone. They put an elastic bandage on it and his mechanic (Falerio Masi) padded the bars and he went through four pairs of shoes because he couldn't brake. There were still ten stages (almost half the race) left.
For the San Luca uphill time trial on Stage 16, he bit down on piece on inner tube tied to his bars as he couldn't pull on the bars because of his injury. Then, on the Modena-Rapallo stage he fell and broke his upper arm.He passed out with the pain and was put in an ambulance. Coming to, Magni got off his stretcher and exited the ambulance. The bunch waited for him. Stage 19 went up the Stelvio, and Magni rode it well..
Then, on Stage 20 from Merano to Trento he finished in third place to Charly Gaul on the infamous Bondone stage held in apocalyptic snowy conditions when sixty riders retired. The Maglia Rosa retired. Gaul went from 16 minutes down to take the stage and the race.
After the race they put a plaster cast on Magni who had his mechanic remove it with sheet metal shears so he could continue to train.
Over the course of his career, Magni won three Giro titles and three Tours of Flanders. He considered his 2nd place n 1956 his greatest win.
That's a hardman.
Honourable mention for the late, great Mike Hall. His style of cycling doesn't lend itself to adherence to the Rules (cf. saddle bags, aero bars), but he was indisputably one of the hardest guys on a bike out there, and his untimely death earlier this year when he was hit by a car during the Indian-Pacific Wheel Race was another reminder of how fragile we all are out there on the road.
There's a "ghost" pin on the TransAm tracker for his record time, and he's in the lead. What a guy.
@Charles Barilleaux
Good call. If I remember correctly, he was sick with a fever during the 1986 Tour de France and advised by doctors to abandon, but finished as 7-Eleven's top place in Paris.
@Buck Rogers
"Fuckin spot on, Bevin!"
We have a winner.
I don't have a copy of the book yet, much to my chagrin, so please forgive me if this example is already used in either of the ones for Sean Kelly. I recall reading that he had a saddle sore that blew up to the size of a golf ball while he was leading the Vuelta a España. Legend has it that he had the team doctor remove it at the hotel, before the start of a time trial. If true, that example should be in there!
And then there were also the stories of how long he would abstain from sex before major races, prompting Paul Sherwen to speculate that Sean's wife was still a virgin. (Insert pun about book title here.)
Thor Hushovd forgetting that he was a big guy, and attacking on stage 13 of the 2011 Tour.
It was a mountain stage and he rode off the front, like a boss. If memory serves he also set the fastest kph that stage (111 kph)