Mick Murphy.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2015/0911/727279-iron-man-mick-murphy-dies/

This is for anyone in head-to-toe Rapha.

I wonder what brand of energy gel he preferred

Cow's blood. For real.

I like the detail about how he extracted the blood.

Don't make them like him anymore

Hardcore :)

Wolfram Alpha failed to answer this query:

"how did mick miller extract cow's blood"

I believe that's because I put the wrong effing name in...

Same way the masai do apparently. That's where he got the idea.

Yeah, just stab a cow in the leg. Easy.

I met Mike a few times, hard as nails, used to go gorse bush burning on his zimmer frame. If you cycled past his house he would stop you to chat about cycling, he was very proud of his racing achievments and rightly so. His house was unbelievable. A two storey stone cottage with a sheet of corrugated iron for a front door, it looks abandoned from the road. He cooked on a single ring attached to a gas bottle - the time we were there it looked like a healthy meal of boiled cabbage and underpants and the Mrs said it stank in there, although I did not notice. We did decline a cup of tea so he offered us a budweiser instead (old school Irish hospitality - alcohol regardless of the time of day). The house was beyond basic and he showed us his weight set which was concrete blocks on a bar and he slept on a couple of pallets with what looked like horse blankets for cover.
He also had a a habit of sunbathing naked outside his house which got a lot of comment from the locals, he was a bit odd but was still regarded as a bit of a hero down there..

RIP The Iron Man

A good read,
thanks for posting.

Lovely insight. There was a great radio documentary about him a few years ago... I'll see if I can find a link.

There it is ... http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2009/0605/646409-convict/