Weekend Competition: The Hardmen

Contents Page 1

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.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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Cary says:

Jun 10 2017 at 12:38 pm

@Neil Owens

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.

a bit of creative smarts to think of Cotty, here. these rides are indeed quite incredible. Cotty's a stud, world tour or no world tour. his Col Collective YouTube channel is also superb.
Neil Owens says:

Jun 10 2017 at 12:53 pm

@Cary

Yep, the Hardmen book doesn't just include professional riders. Cotty deserves a mention. The video of his Mont Blanc ride is incredible. Excruciating watching him struggle up the stelvio. Any one who experiences hallucinations whilst partaking in a bike ride deserves a mention. One tough guy.
hjh0708 says:

Jun 10 2017 at 1:35 pm

Jonny Hoogerland, TdF 2011, stage 9

"run over" by a car flung into the field, tangled up in barbwire on the way. Brushes of the dust and continue to the finish line to receive the polka dot jersey
davideo says:

Jun 10 2017 at 1:39 pm

John Howard!

Set land speed record of 152.2 miles per hour (245 km/h) while motor-pacing in 1985 (record stood for 10 years)

And, and, and:

Gold medal in the 1971 Pan American Games road race in Cali, Colombia

4-time U.S. National Road Cycling champion (1968, 1972, 1973 and 1975)

Won the first two editions of the Red Zinger Bicycle Classic in 1975 and 1976

1982, one of four competitors in the inaugural Race Across America RAAM, eventually finishing second

Won the fourth Hawaii Ironman (which you Will excuse against Rule 42)
Rick says:

Jun 10 2017 at 1:46 pm

Eugene Christophe

Copied and pasted from Wikipedia:

1913 and the Tourmalet incident[edit]

Eugène Christophe in trouble on the road.

In 1913 Christophe was well placed to win when a mechanical failure cost him the race. He rode the first part, from Paris to Cherbourg and then down the coast to the Pyrenees cautiously.^[1] He was in second place when the race stopped in Bayonne on the night before the first day in the mountains, when the course featured a succession of cols: the Oschquis, Aubisque, Soulor, Gourette, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde. The field set off at 3am with Christophe 4m 5s behind Odile Defraye, of Belgium.

Christophe rode for Peugeot and his team attacked from the start to demoralise the rival Alcyon riders and, in particular, Defraye. It worked. Defraye was 11 minutes behind at Oloron-Ste-Marie, 14 in Eaux-Bonnes, 60 at Argelès. He dropped out at Barèges, at the foot of the Tourmalet, the highest pass in the Pyrenees. Christophe dropped all the field except another Belgian, Philippe Thys, who followed at a few hundred metres. Thys was of no danger, however, because he had lost too much time earlier. The two were five minutes ahead of the rest.

Christophe stopped at the top of the mountain, reversed his back wheel to pick a higher gear^[2]

Christophe said:

I plunged full speed towards the valley. According to Henri Desgrange's calculation,^[3] I was then heading the general classification with a lead of 18 minutes. So, I was going full speed. All of a sudden, about ten kilometres from Ste-Marie-de-Campan down in the valley, I feel that something is wrong with my handlebars. I cannot steer my bike any more. I pull on my brakes and I stop. I see my forks are broken. Well, I tell you now that my forks were broken but I wouldn't say it at the time because it was bad publicity for my sponsor.

And there I was left alone on the road. When I say the road, I should say the path. All the riders I had dropped during the climb soon caught me up. I was weeping with anger. I remember I heard my friend Petit-Breton shouting as he saw me, 'Ah, Cri-Cri, poor old lad.'^[4] I was getting angry. As I walked down, I was looking for a short cut. I thought maybe one of those pack trails would lead me straight to Ste-Marie-de-Campan. But I was weeping so badly that I couldn't see anything. With my bike on my shoulder, I walked for more than ten kilometres. On arriving in the village at Ste-Marie-de-Campan, I met a young girl who led me to the blacksmith on the other side of the village. His name was Monsieur Lecomte.^[1]^[5]

It took two hours to reach the forge. Lecomte offered to weld the broken forks back together but a race official and managers of rival teams would not allow it. A rider, said the rules, was responsible for his own repairs and outside assistance was prohibited. Christophe set about the repair as Lecomte told him what to do. It took three hours and the race judge penalised him 10 minutes - reduced later to three - because Christophe had allowed a seven-year-old boy, Corni, to pump the bellows for him.^[1] Filling his pockets with bread, Christophe set off over two more mountains and eventually finished the tour in seventh place.^[6] The building on the site of the forge has a plaque commemorating the episode.
hjh0708 says:

Jun 10 2017 at 1:57 pm
Johnny Hoogerland

TdF 2011, stage 9
- Run over by TV car
- flung in to a barbed wire,
- brushes off the dust
- contiues to claim the polka dot jersey
- Hardman
Erik says:

Jun 10 2017 at 2:50 pm
- Eric Breukink won the famed Gavia stage. He is the forgotten hardman of the 1988 Go to.
Erik says:

Jun 10 2017 at 2:50 pm

@Erik

Giro. Stupid autocorrect.
Bob Forrest says:

Jun 10 2017 at 4:12 pm

Wayne Randle. Ask any British roadman of the 80's/90's. That man was Nails.
litvi says:

Jun 10 2017 at 5:40 pm

Tom Simpson. Literally rode himself to death. Doesn't get harder than that.