Weekend Competition: The Hardmen
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.
@sthilzy
He always did look spectacular on a TT bike. And look at Andy, he’s like a parachute.
@frank
Ha! Just giving you shit, Mate!
@frank
I think that would be Stage 3 of the 1983 Tour: Valenciennes to Roubaix. The stage was won by Rudy Matthijs. Fignon won that Tour at his first attempt in only his second year as a pro. He was 22 years old. Hinault was out injured so Fignon and Marc Madiot were co-leaders of the Renault team. Stage wins were the goal, but after Pascal Simon retired with a broken shoulder, Fignon inherited the Maillot Jaune and won the race.
In case there was any doubt that he was a deserving winner, in 1984 Fignon won five stages and the race overall by 10:32 from Hinault and 11:46 from LeMond. Robert Millar was 4th at 14:42 and the top 10 was rounded out by Phil Anderson at a whopping 29:16 down.
Who won @frank
@Buck Rogers
I had lunch with Steve (Hampsten) today and we both agree you must be mainlining amphetamine. No normal person has as much energy as you!
@Neil Owens
Now that’s the interesting part. Now I have to read all this bullshit you guys wrote!
I’m going to call the comp now, though, and will announce the winner later this week after the other authors get a chance to weigh in.
@frank
@Frank: I do not know him but a certain Sam Garrett translated De Renner into English. He’s also translated a whole bunch of other Dutch books into English. So Q is whether he did a good job on The Runner (I only ready De Renner) and whether he can translate VV (sorry, this is vice versa here, not Dime). He may know someone who would be able? And better check out @Alex?
And FWIW: I do not like the like buttons. It’s OK to use them whenever you want to poll something, but it means scrolling down even longer on my phone because of all the zeroes and hands that are added.
@frank
Will be a tough decision some brilliant entries here…should provide a good few ideas for volume 2!
@wiscot
I think Fignon as a cyclist is the biggest and most obvious omission from the book. He was our kind of guy, a badass and a Hardman. And he looked Fucking Fantastic.
Who else has dominated the Badger so utterly as Fignon did in the 1984 Tour?
Also worth a mention, didn’t Fignon win the stage to La Plagne mentioned in the book where Roche put himself in and ambulance?
There are too few hardmen from the early days, or so it appears to me. Surely Charly Gaul should be included. If only for his ride up the Bondone, securing him the Giro win in in 1956.
@KogaLover
As a stickler for the facts and figures, allow me to confirm that Adam Hansen’s current tally of Grand Tours in a row stands at: all of ’em…
…and counting.
@frank
Ha! You should have seen me when I was 19! Fuck, looking back I do not know how anyone could stand to be around me. Hell, most people that know me now at 45 try to sneak away when they see me coming!!!
Ha! You should have seen me when I was 19! Fuck, looking back I do not know how anyone could stand to be around me. Hell, most people that know me now at 45 try to sneak away when they see me coming!!!
i can relate to this.
If this is just an attempt to get enough suggestions so you can print a second volume then that’s great . . . If you want Hardmen then look no further than Eileen Sheridan … surprised she didn’t make the cut …Here are some figures … In 1954 she broke the 12 hour record where she covered 250 and a half miles, and the 24-hour record in 446 and a half miles. She broke 21 of the women’s distance records by large margins. Five have yet to be beaten, including the London-Edinburgh record of 20h 11m 35s, set in 1954. Her 1,000-mile record of 3 days and 1 hour stood for 48 years, until it was broken in 2002 by Lynne Taylor. and Land’s End to John O’Groates in 2 days, 11 hours and 7 minutes.
I’m going to cast a vote for Tommy Godwin. 75000 miles, 200 plus per day, in 1939. Knowing the British climate I imagine he rode in just about every kind of weather, with the exception of extreme heat.
Pressed submit a bit early there. Anyway, Tommy Godwin, 200 miles a day for a whole year is an unthinkable target for most of us I reckon. The physical and logistical demands alone are mind boggling even by modern standards, let alone on a heavier pre-war bike, with poorer roads etc.
@Steve Trice
Back end of the year I believe he also had to ride with no lights in the blackout.
@frank
another translator could be Wilfried de Jong. He’s written books himself on cycling and does columns in national newspaper. Witty but maybe expensive.
@frank
Reckon you’ve both combined bits & pieces from stages 18 & 19.
18 was when Andy threw a hail mary from 65k with the Izoard & Galibier left, opened a mahoosive gap & the Cadelephant dieseled everyone up the Galibier to within about 2m, which was enough to pop Bertie with once the Spanish Steak ran out & kept Tommy the Tongue in yellow.
19 was when he had a Phycanical going up Telegraphe/Galibier & could “feel” his brakes rubbing, a couple of stops & a bike change later he was off the back. Bertie had topped up on bovine supplements the night before & kept pushing with Andy tucked in behind. Cadel (and others) bombed down the descent & caught the lead group at the bottom of l’Alpe, at which point the Clenbutador went again, but having lost minutes the day prior was allowed to go. Frandy reprised their stinging 1-2 combination work last seen delivering Phast Phil Gil LBL on a silver platter & even had the cheek to ask Cadel to take a turn, a request politely declined with what looked like a “go fuck yourself”, before Cadel very nearly snuck a second on the line with a cheeky sprint finish.
Stage 20 was fucking amazing.
July 2011 will go down as a month long lesson in cadelephantiasis!
@Trickydicky
I’m a fan of LeMan, but I have to agree with some of this. Looking back, he was relatively pampered. He was collecting a massive salary compared to most of the peleton and traveled with his wife. When things didn’t go his way, I thought he could come across as a whiner. It’s kind of like watching Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars.
Lemond is totally Skywalker. he was probably so strong as a junior, and even as a neopro, he didn’t have to learn reality, as most do before they become Tour contenders. he certainly aquitted himself well after ’86, though. Watching Fignon, Lemond, Hinault, and Kelly battle through the ’80s was awesome.
@Cary
Does that make Hinault Darth Vader?
@RobSandy
Does that make Beryl Burton Padmé?
@sthilzy
I’m not sure, but I think Andy Schleck is Jar Jar Binks.
@RobSandy
Surely on the Light side, more like Yoda?
@Teocalli
to charcterize Vader as purely evil does him, and the Sith order, a disservice. Hinault totally validated Lemond’s legitimacy in 1986. the kid needed some scars. Vader, he is!
Guimard is Yoda, obviously.
hold up.. maybe not. upon further consideration, Guimard is more likely Obi Wan Kenobi. Koechli is Yoda.
@frank @all Speaking of LeMan. Down under manufacturing not dead after the car companies leave it seems. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/greg-lemond-in-new-carbon-fibre-venture-with-deakin-university/8637092
Alf Engers — there is no other. For the uninitiated…
http://www.purelyaloveofthebike.co.uk/engers_4924.htm
http://www.purelyaloveofthebike.co.uk/engers.htm
Amongst King Alf’s many achievements, 25mile TT in 1978 at 49:24. And the boy had some attitude to match his prowess in the big-fuck-off-ring.
@a_p
Thanks for posting! What a read! I began my TT career in the very early 80s but Engers was a legend. The pic of him post-race at his van says it all. In the 80s there was a very talented roadie called Darryl Webster who had massive talent an ego to match. All sports need such characters.
@wiscot
These fellows kept it real. We can only be inspired to aspire… Dartmoor Classic next weekend!
@frank
Let’s not forget Chambery 1989. I watched it on live television and I will never forget the relentless attacks and counter-attacks. Glorious weather and a technical run-in leading to that sprint consisting of the era’s finest riders. And that post race interview “All day long I felt just awful, then my wheel broke but I suddenly felt good and thought I better not stop to change it now!”- LeMan
@Art G
OOOOH. That’s a good one. Merckx, this is why we should sober up every now and again.
Another one we missed was Sagan in the 2015 Worlds at Richmond. What a race.
Does anyone not remember Jonny Hoogerland being punted into a barbed wire fence in the 2011 Tour? As my senile memory serves not only did Johnny look like he fell out of a meat grinder, he changed clothes on the side of the road, finished stage 9?, then finished the Tour.
Jonny should have been your book cover.
HTFU indeed
@Peter
I think if you look on page 2 of this thread you’ll see that one mentioned with a bunch of “likes”. Hardcore, indeed!
@Cary
And Raphael Geminiani as Darth Vader?
Late to the party.
No mention of the cunts. Vos, K. Armstrong, Cooke.
Disappearing until the next Cogal. Too fat to climb.
I miss this.
@Buck Rogers
Jan Raas 1983 Ronde. He won 4 monuments and 5 amstel gold races. He was a sprinter but he was no Cipo or Kelly. He was not quite as fast but he could launch and hold his sprint for 700M; something no one else could do. In the 83′ Ronde he attacks with 21 Km to go holds off the pack in true hard style. Runner-up the 96′ 3 musketeers of Mapei riding into Roubaix.
There are hardwomen too. Junior rider Lauren Dolan completed competition despite horrible wounds after crash. http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/lauren-dolan-finishes-junior-womens-time-trial-despite-crash-injuries-351650
Enjoyed the book but hard to believe you had a chapter for Tyler Hamilton but not Lucho Herrera, Tom Simpson, Ferdi Kubler, Robert Millar or Federico Bahamontes. Great tribute to the Badger but could have included the 1980 Liege Bastogne Liege, one of the all time great displays of hardness.
Always great to see Andy Hampsten on The Gavia. “The day strong men cried”