Who's your cycling hero? And why?

At the moment, Mike Hall

Just rode around the world in 91 days. Averaging 200 miles a day.

Yep mental.. here is his route:

http://trackleaders.com/worldcycleracei.php?name=Mike_Hall

Danny Macaskill. What a humble bloke with mountains of talent.
Can cycle nearly every discipline.

Joe Barns is up there too.

Mcnasty is just a legend.

Started durness duress 300 with him – wearing a cyclin cape and riding a raleigh twenty.

He came in only an hour after me.

the death riding guru who will rather die than let a rider go past him 😀 inspiration to us all

Bernard Hinault
When wearing the yellow jersey in the 1979 TdeF he won the final stage.
When wearing the yellow jersey in the 1982 TdeF he won the final stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HOtPQFyoCY&feature=related
Paul Sherwin was third across the line, winning the bunch sprint, on the final stage in 1979: what ever happened to him?

Sherwin does some commentary work now I believe

Real life rider = ash from trailaddiction, the rolling Endo switchback guru!

Mtber = Cedric gracia for being a mentalist and spending the whole run on the back wheel 🙂

Road = cuddles ! = cadel mostly because he puts alot of heart into his riding and I starting mtb when he was winning xc mtb world cups

Or
Freddy Maertens

http://www.flandriabikes.com/heroes/freddy-maertens

“Maertens won the 1976 and 1981 World Road Race Championships, and came a close 2nd in the 1973 race amid much controversy.”
If you are a Merckx fan then do not read Maertens book Fall from Grace: interestingly nobody disputes what Maertens says in his book.

“Maertens most stunning achievement was in the 1977 Tour of Spain, where he led from start to finish, winning 13 stages along the way – a feat of dominance that matched anything Merckx achieved.
During the previous year Maertens won 8 stages in the Tour de France, which equalled Merckx’s record.

In 1976 Maertens recorded the most wins for a professional in a single season, with his total of 54 equalling Merckx’s record set in 1971.”

My grandad. He was looking good for a great road cycling in his day (1930s and 40s) but crashed into a truck on a time trial and smashed his pelvis. After a year and a half in hospital then the rehab got back on the bike and was still cycling well into his 70s!! He’s 93 now and I am still riveted when he talks about his racing… cycled 30 miles to the start of his race, raced for 100 miles, then 30 miles back home in some cases!! All on a fixed gear!

Taught me to ride, built me the best bike I’ve ever owned during his work as a welder! My Dad made him a book for his 90th…

Kelly. Nails.

Selby Dickenson, you probably won’t know who he is.

But when I was 19 and studying in Banbury, I spent the 2 years cycling with him at college. He taught me how to be a weight weenie, introduced me to Konas, Pace, Merlin. He had 5 bikes 8O, lived in a ‘proper’ nice house and his wife was(probably is still well) hot.

Oh yeah and he was a cycling machine – he was in his 30’s (which is well old to a 19 year old) and rode like the clappers, probably still is.

Sounds like a love-in this but the bloke was and (probably still is) brilliant. If you know/knew him you’d agree.

I WANTED TO BE LIKE HIM.

My mum, beat Beryl.
(once) 8)

Tara llanes,just awesome
John Tomac
Greg lemond

Jens Voigt, Chris Hoy and Graeme Obree……all for various reasons, but the one thing they have in common is that they disprove the oft-quoted theory that to be a winner in sport you need to be mean, nasty and selfish.

Also a bloke in Edinburgh called Darren Mirfield who has spent many years encouraging beginners and novices to get into cycling, and who shows huge patience and dedication that sadly goes largely unnoticed.

Or
Ian Steel
one of the best cyclists to come out of Scotland
http://www.veloveritas.co.uk/2011/12/29/ian-steel-interview-part-one/

Ian Steel

Nick Stormonth – rode Milan San Remo at the weekend. Hopefully riding Etape Pennines with him in the autumn (fingers crossed).
Other cyclist: Lemond, JMC, Missy Giove, Cadel, Rog Hammond…

George was on BBC Scotland Out of Doors this morning.
What a character.His efforts are surely unique.

kcr – Member

It’s got to be McNasty (aka George Berwick):

Now in his 70s, George is still outriding people that are half a century younger.

A former winner of the Mersey 24 hour, George has ridden the event since the 1960s, and has now completed a lifetime total of fifty-one 24 hour races. George is still the holder of the Scottish 24 hour record (set in 1967) and York-Edinburgh and London-Edinburgh RRA tandem records (set with John Murdoch).

Recently referred to as the “James Bond of Audax”, George has ridden multiple Paris-Brest-Paris events (a 1200km Audax) and countless shorter distance events. When his downtube sheared during a 1500km Audax in Germany a couple of years ago, he famously completed the final 500km with this zip-tie bodge:

(more on the West Lothian Clarion forum).

George started recording his cycling mileage when he was 18, and hit the half million mile mark back in 1996. No idea what his current total is.

About 740,000 miles

In case anyone thinks George’s palmares are all road based, he has been a member of the Rough Stuff Fellowship since the ’60s and is famous for hauling his bike over mountains and bivvying in bothies and caves all over Scotland, decades before the arrival of the mountain bike.

George Berwick – cycling legend and style icon. I don’t think he spends a lot of time worrying about whether his anodized top cap matches his handlebar grips…

http://www.davebuchanan.co.uk/ 😉

The missus.

– For being first out of bed and prepping the kit every time we go riding.
– For having a go on all the black DH runs on an XC hardtail.
– For being the only woman I know of her age group who’d rather have a new helmet and a Garmin for her birthday than some shite handbag.

I also like Brian Lopes because he’s just awesome.

For me it’s the guys who cycle for cycling’s sake. Those mentioned previously, such as Sheldon, Tommy Godwin, Guys who walk out of the trenches and win races on borrowed bikes, and George Berwick, who I had never heard of before but that cable tie job speaks volumes – clearly a lunatic.

I will also add Frank Lenz. He embarked on a round the world trip during the early 1890s. No Lonely Planet guides here. After crossing America and Japan he became the first person to cycle across China, only getting beaten up once! Sadly he went missing shortly before entering the safety of Europe when he was killed by Kurds in Turkey having ignored advice to detour through Russia. He wasn’t the first to do it, but he documented it well. Serious bikepacking shizzle.

I’ve never been one for heroes..

I guess my mate Steve has always been quite an inspiration to my riding, as was another very old friend who was riding since the mid eighties and made the teenaged me look at MTB as something cool rather than just seeing a bunch of uber nerds in lycra trying to be different..

Sadly he passed last year

As for folk in the public eye.. Dervla Murphy inspired me with her adventurous spirit and powers of endurance..

Tommy Simpson, Hans Rey, Lance Armstrong, Graeme Obree, Martin Ashton and Tommy Godwin.

Real life heros; Carl Cording and Sam Fowler, the former was the first person I saw doing mind bending stuff on hardtails.

Matti Lehikoinen. Talented with such bad luck.

Yet just as hes on it ..bang! 🙁 gets back up and rebuilds himself.

Sorry I cant support anyone with any dealings with Sky until we know they are all clean.

John Stamstad. Ultra endurance is his department

Anyone else?

Not a hero as such, but i’ve always admired Eddie Fiola.

first one would have been Phil Anderson australian- from seeing him first hand in the Kellogs city centre tour back in the 80’s.

then lemond and delgardo, miller

Not that original and in no particular order:

Peaty for just evolving with the sport. Looked up to him as a youngster, look up to him now. If he can still do it, so can I!
Martyn Ashton for still rocking it and his involvement in grass routes events and being a thoroughly nice chap.
Sheldon for his dedication to making the mechanics of the cycling accessible to millions on the Internet.
Chris Broadman for bringing excellent bikes at great prices to the masses and his work campaigning to make the roads a safer place to cycle.
My grandad for touring well into his 70’s, without who’s bike I would never have considered exploring other countries on 2 wheels.

Not a hero as such but i admire Graeme Obree immensely for what he has achieved off his own back, and he is one cyclist that i have absolute faith and belief in that has not taken performance enhancing drugs at any point throughout his career, apart from a sugary jelly piece 😀

my Uncle Jim. Charlotteville CC 12 hr TT 1935. 215 miles. On a fixed.

Missy -enough said? then Hans ?then Nigel Atkinson and if you dont know you never will x

Andy Ruffell.

Burry Stander. RIP.

Interesting that everyone names road riders or DH mtbers. No XC Heroes? Thomas Frishknecht, Nick Craig, Tim Gould, John Tomac and Ned Overend who all sparked my interest and love of xc racing.

Andy Ruffells brother Neil was my hero back in the mid 80s

Andy Ruffells brother Neil was my hero back in the mid 80s

Francis Birtles – trans continental rides in Oz when there were no paths or roads.

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Francis Birtles, Warren & Robert Lennie, at Eucla WA, 1907. Lennies attempting Perth-Sydney record

and..

Wayfarer -anywhere on a bike
Obree – the complete cyclist. Who else can design, build their own bike and win on it? apart from:
Jack Lauterwasser – olympian, making 17.5lb steel bikes in 1930
Hoy – for needing a mattress for his dismount after training
Beryl Burton – for beating men
Annie Londonderry – for solo around the world on a bike in 1800s.

and…

Lance Armstrong – overcame incredible odds to become the best of the drug cheats

I’m old school so Tomac, Herbold etc

Tim Gould was ace, though. Mountain bike world champion hillclimb at Durango. When men were men and did it all.