Cycling Heroes

I don't think i've seen a thread on the subject before...i was just interested to see who people viewed as their cycling heroes and why. Past or present.

I have to start with John Stamstad who i mentioned yesterday.
http://www.patagonia.com/images/common/non_seasonal_images/general_4_150x150/ambass_bio_images/gen4_ambass_stamstad.jpg
I've read so many articles on him and he never ceases to amaze me...most people have never even heard of him, and yet his achievments are amazing in my eyes.
Sure there are people who ride all over the world...but Stamstad is a racer. He put's himself through unbelievable amounts of suffering in his quest to find a race that can truly break him mentally as well as physically.
He's held records in most of the top MTB endurance races including most miles ridden off road in a single day in which he did 354.5 miles and complained the course was too easy, and then tried to get his 'record' removed as he didn't feel it was worthy enough.

His training regime is equally amazing...

A typical day for Stamstad begins with a five-hour ride, followed by a one-hour jog from his house to the University of Cincinnati physics building, where, with his hands clasped behind his back, he makes ten trips up and down 16 flights of stairs, taking three steps at a time. It's Stamstad's favorite, most unfun workout: no windows, no distractions, no relief. The Alaskan tundra looks like Maui after months of stairwells. The day concludes with an hour on the wind trainer. Stamstad says that he knows he's mentally ready for a race when he can do a five-hour stint on the wind trainer, maintaining a heart rate of 155 beats per minute while staring at a blank wall.

The way he deals with pain and suffering is equally impressive to me...he once crashed in the first hour of a 24hr MTB race and compressed a vertebre in his neck which left him unable to move his head or even have the ability to lift his front wheel....he then continued to ride for the remaining 23hrs in that state.
In another race he broke his collarbone 20 miles into it and rode the remaining 100 miles with the broken bone...won the race, and set a new course record.

The following article 'That which doesn't kill me makes me stranger' is one of the best i've ever read...so if you have time it's worth reading...he's truly inspirational in my opinion.

So let's see who you consider to be heroes and why...hopefully there will be a good few that are not so well known to most people.

whoa. he just sounds insane...

Amazing! Thanks Scott.

Bob Lutsky

I met Bob when we were both staying next to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. He's a Corporate Headhunter from Chicago who packed it all in when he hit 40 and decided to ride his bike for the rest of his life. When I met him he was in the process of riding from Alaska to Patagonia. His book about this trip is free online here: http://rangerbobabcd.tripod.com/ . It's an excellent, thoughtful read, not only about distance cycling but demonstrating Bob's strong awareness of the history and culture of the places he passes through, and the mixed blessing of being an American on the road.

When we parted ways Bob told me he'd send me an email before he started his next trip to find out if I wanted to join him. Sure enough, 12 months later I got an email asking if I wanted to meet him in Cairo in three weeks time and cycle with him to Cape Town. Sadly I didn't have the resources (or balls) to join him on that trip, and he has since ridden the whole of the Scandanavia peninsular and the whole way across China.

Best of all, he's just a fucking great guy. He once road a tandem across the US on his own, just so that he could give other people a ride along the way.

"Get a bike box - stuff your stuff and your bike in the box, get ya' a round trip ticket to Quito Ecuador and don't worry that the flight lands in a strange South American city at midnight - and you without the language or a map, just trust in yourself and go!!"

Ok...i've still got 6 yrs to save for my ticket :)

I imagine he has some sort of mental derangement. Sounds interesting though

@Scott:
He sounds like possibly the most inspiring person I've read about in ages.
There is always something so fascinating about individuals who push themselves so relentlessly…
You've totally made my day (feel inadequate). Thank you ;)

It's worth reading other articles that relate more to his domination of the 'Iditabike' and 'Iditasport extreme' races in Alaska too if you're interested.

That artical is truely inspiring.

For me personally, there are many people whom I could list as an example of cyclists whom I admire. From the people who have inspired me to ride, to people whom have overcome the seemingly impossible, from the people who've been there when I've forced myself through rides that I should never have finished to the guys who gave me a little snippet of advice that enabled me to land something I'd been trying (seemingly) for ever.

There is only one worthy of mention by name and I doubt that I can do him the justice that he deserves so I won't even try and explain why; suffice to say that he's a personal friend of mine and that my life would be significantly different if he hadn't been a part of it.

Diggs, I love you. Thank you for keeping me inspired.

Since when did you start calling me 'Diggs' ?
;)

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, incredible man.

Is he a cyclist too?

Since when did you start calling me 'Diggs' ?
;)
You wish bitch.

Is he a cyclist too?

not sure but by the looks of it he's well into vacuum cleaners.

It's worth reading other articles that relate more to his domination of the 'Iditabike' and 'Iditasport extreme' races in Alaska too if you're interested.

ah, that's where i recognise him from, whilst training for the iditabike, he lived in a big block of flats, fill up his rucksac with bricks then proceed to run up and down the building all day jumping 4 steps at a time. looney. and tough as old as old boots.

Bernard Hinault - The Badger - The dominate European when I started riding.

Greg LeMond - America's finest bicycle racer.

Nelson Vails - The Cheetah - The NYC Courier who became an Olympic medalist.

LeMond and Vails were my contemporaries so I'd see and race against them every couple weeks before they went to the big time.

It was great to watch their careers progress.

My father is one of my heroes, he taught me to ride a bike - which given my general spasticity probably deserves a medal for patience. I love him to bits and it was watching him cope as my mother died slowly of breast and brain cancer that he really elevated himself to hero status -just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, incredible man.

not sure but by the looks of it he's well into vacuum cleaners.
Dyson are sponsoring a coke fest snort-a-thon and RF is trying to break a world record.

He may just be covered in snow though, I'm guessing here.

maggie thatcher
my first love

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Bartali

Francesco moser

whoever did the jump first

Joop Zoetemelk!

scott: i read that article last week, your man sounds like a legend. a bit odd, but a legend none the less. that point he makes about not giving yourself an option of quitting is bang on. not that i follow it all the time. it's the same with stopping smoking. anyway. slight digression.
but yeah, it was a great read and really interesting in a will power over tiredness.

Yeah, he's incredible in his approach to things....i've been speaking with him just recently about the subject of food for long rides and he's been really helpful. His opinions are more refreshing to hear than most.
I particularly liked when he said about how he carries sea salt with him on longer rides. He believes that if you're getting stomach ache trying to eat a certain thing then it's not actually the food, but rather an imbalance of electrolytes and lack of salt in your system...i asked if he adds the salt to his water, but he replied with "i just pour some in my hand and lick it"....hehe...that guy is the epitomy of hardcore to me.