Cycling Heroes

@ tommid +1
Jason McRoy - I met him at European Championships in 1995 just before his last crash - the most approachable chilled out bike racer I have ever spoken to. A month or so later he was no more.

Hans 'No Way' Rey, Missile Elliot

Joop Ziljaard, Derny driving legend.

pacers are the unsung heroes of track racing, he upped the anti. Having the skill to make the tiny throttle movements so you don't drop your rider, and the balls to go three up on a steep european tracks at 60k+ is something these guys make look easy.

and what can you say about the career of the man he's pacing in that pic? awesome

I went to the Hasselt 6 day and saw the derny bikes there. Didn't really understand how they comunicated between each other and it seemed a bit strange with one of them generally steaming past everyone at the end when he looked out of it earlyier, almost like the dernyer had a more powerful bike. Do the riders generally use the same dernyer or is it whoever gets picked up by each rider?

they draw lots usually, and to be fair, lots of 6 day stuff is staged.

but it's certainly possible for a rider to conserve his energy and attack at the end.

riders communicate to drivers by shouting, and often moving to the right to indicate they want to accelerate, the driver is constantly looking behind to check on the rider.

Hmm....

The Tashkent Terror (what a name, what a sprinter)
Cipo (likewise, and for the if I hadn't been a cyclist, I'd be a prawn star comment.)
Il Pirata (On the drops, up the hills, no.1)
Eddy M - Inherited love from the old man (not belgium style, thank-you)
Chris Boardman - (lotus bike era, I was young)

Jon Tomac - MTB leg! and that crazy Tioga back wheel!
Missy Giove - Jolie/laid, wicked on a bike.
Steve Peat.

Joop Ziljaard, Derny driving legend.

pacers are the unsung heroes of track racing, he upped the anti. Having the skill to make the tiny throttle movements so you don't drop your rider, and the balls to go three up on a steep european tracks at 60k+ is something these guys make look easy.

and what can you say about the career of the man he's pacing in that pic? awesome

Didn't you get your derny license the other week? Is it just an excuse to eat loads of pies to help create a good slipstream for the rider?

yes, and yes!

it's bloody fun too

Djamolidine's crash was epic I'd completely forgotten about how horrendous it was, in the aerial shot at the end, how close does the fella come to his riding straight over him ... 2:14 into the clip

Oh and I forgot mine and my mates favorite Viatcheslav Ekimov, and his insane go for broke rides in the Tour always had us cheering at the TV.

dexter benjamin

http://www.messmedia.org/messville/dexter.html

I'm not a messenger or nothing, but city traffic riding with one leg is hardcore and something to admire.

[FONT=Arial]"He also developed his own emergency stop system he takes his foot out of his toeclip and presses it against his front tire."[/FONT]

I went to the Hasselt 6 day and saw the derny bikes there. Didn't really understand how they comunicated between each other and it seemed a bit strange with one of them generally steaming past everyone at the end when he looked out of it earlyier, almost like the dernyer had a more powerful bike. Do the riders generally use the same dernyer or is it whoever gets picked up by each rider?

they tend to have helmet that look like it have two large vent like the Delorean time machine on the back, which is designed for cyclist to shout into in order to communicate.

Stephen Murray, for refusing to give up and allow his disability to destroy his morale.

Irish road cycling legend Sean Kelly.

Hard as nails - a farm boy who preferred cycling to getting a job on building site.

its got to be sean kelly for me too. the fact he stayed competitive to such an old age makes him a bit special. i like his commentry as well, while he isnt a natural and is boring, i like his insight to racing.

YouTube - 1992 Milan-San Remo

1 Attachment

Cindy Whitehead...One of mountain bikings original heroes.
She will forever be a legend to me after breaking her seatpost less than ten miles into a 60 mile mountain bike race (in proper mountain terrain, not groomed trails) and instead of quitting she rode the remaining 50+ miles standing up and went on to beat the reigning champion for the win.
She continued to be a force to be reckoned with for many years.

Shown here with the remaining seatpost still sticking out of her frame...

If you're interested in the early days of mountain biking then check out the rest of Charlie Kelly's website from the Cindy Whitehead link above...Kelly was one of the true Godfathers of Mountain biking...it's a shame he doesn't get the recognition that Gary Fisher does.

Good revival, can't believe I've forgetting about this topic.

The three peaks video i posted a little while ago reminded me of another cycling hero of mine...

Tim Gould.
A very successful cyclo cross rider who won the Three Peaks in 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 89.

He then moved onto Mountain biking with his team mate David Baker on the Peugeot team and kicked a few asses on the international circuit...famously winning a Gold medal at the 199O mountain bike world championships in the Hill climb...causing embarrassment for a few American favourites.

He had a couple of great years on the International circuit, winning many races.
He was also the first man/cyclist to beat the horse in the man v horse v bike race.

He sadly developed a mental illness which made it almost impossible for him to train properly, but continued to keep racing despite struggling to achieve any results.

He was also a hero for being a completely down to earth guy. He never showboated or sought attention. He just got on with the job at hand.

It's a shame he had to retire while he still had so much talent inside him.

David Baker should also be on here really, as he had even better national success than Tim.
He was also sadly forced to retire early, in his case due to Heart problems.

The pair of them were amazingly talented riders.

Great to see Stephen Murray staying so positive.
Very Inspiring!

Great thread; great posts. Thanks

David Baker should also be on here really, as he had even better national success than Tim.
He was also sadly forced to retire early, in his case due to Heart problems.

The pair of them were amazingly talented riders.

I remember watching both of them race at Stanmer Park in Brighton many years ago - think it was also the first bike race I ever entered (pretty sure I came last too)

I just read a great Interview with John Stamstad, who I spoke about in the first post of this thread.

I mentioned before that he held the record for the most miles ridden off road in 24 hrs which stands at 354.5 miles...however...I now know the full story as John tells it.

Apparently he already held the record, which he set on a 'proper', challenging MTB course.
But then a woman called Amy Regan from Maine claimed that she almost beat his record...and would have if she hadn't been given the wrong information and stopped too early.
According to John, she'd found a really easy course which met the criteria of 2O,OOft of climbing and an unsealed surface, but was far less challenging.
John was so pissed off at her claims and general lack of respect for his achievement that he went and rode the course she'd found and smashed her distance by adding over a hundred miles on top of it.
He then tried to get both his new record and hers struck from the record books and his original distance to be used instead, as he didn't feel the easier course was in the true spirit of MTBing. :]

Just to add to his legendary status even more, the interview also mentioned the time when he ran around Moab's 1O3 mile White rim trail, non stop, and unsupported.
Water is so scarce in the area that he had to carry it all with him.
In typical Stamstad fashion he solved this little problem by hot-rodding his childs push chair.
He replaced the wheels with big fat MTB wheels, loaded it up with 5Olbs of sloshing water, then proceeded to push it around for 27hrs in temperatures over 1OOdeg. :]

Stamstad is a true legend!

I wondered what happened to Tim ,he was a nice guy and very humble
The Badger is my all time hero,hard as nails and nothing stood in his way

Awesome:

http://www.cyclefit.co.uk/tom-staniford-joins-cyclefit

I worked with Tom (and some other track paracyclists) last year whilst doing a level 3 practical.

It was rather humbling to see those guys quietly getting on with it and never a complaint. A lesson we could all learn by when we are moaning about a "bad back" or hangover or "wrong stem" or "wiggle didn't deliver my bartape in time"

Nice thread.

Eugene Christophe stands out for me.

http://www.milansanremo.co.uk/1910story.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/jan/07/cycling.features

One of my cycling heroes Mike Curiak, whom I've mentioned already on here is about to embark on another adventure....with among others Eric Parsons of Epic designs/Revelate...a bag making cycling hero of mine.
They'll be riding around Alaska's 'Lost coast' and using pack rafts to cross rivers, glacier entrances and around difficult headlands.
They'll be riding fat bikes and due to the speeds involved and the speed with which equipment corrodes they'll be brakeless fat bikes, except Mike who is using a front brake.
Eric and his buddy Dylan did a similar trip a while back and the trailer is below...but if it sounds of interest to you go check Mikes Blog post HERE to read about it...Inspiring as always!

Lost Coast Trailer on Vimeo