Who was your cycling hero?

[Pickle]

My old friend and inspiration, Zak Carr (RIP )

Sadly killed by an idiot motorist :cry:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/ ... 339.stm?68

Given my baby Alfie Zak as a middle name in his memory

 

[jonnyboy666]

blimey, didn't know that happened.


i forgot a friend of mine too, a king amongst men, glenn longland! still riding now and well! never a dull moment when he is about!

glenn longland sorry about the crap pic

 

[one-eyed_jim]

I've got to say Obree as well - someone who took on the best in the world on his own and won.

The documentary here's well worth a look if you haven't seen it already:

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=K3DwhbUGUIg

all eight parts.

Pantani was always a favourite of mine - whatever his faults, it was always incredible to see him flying up those mountains, never riding a safe race. His last ever Tour stage was typical of him, riding away on the first climb, all or nothing.

Dervla Murphy, a woman in her thirties who set off from Ireland in the winter of 1963 with a revolver in her luggage and rode her three-speed to India.

Heinz Stucke, who left Germany on his three-speed at about the same time, has visited every country in the world, and has never been back home.

Beryl Burton - the best in the country for 25 consecutive years.

Jean Robic, a pugnacious little man who rode his way to victory in the 1947 Tour de France with a mixture of skullduggery, Calvados, coffee substitute, and brilliant daring.

Jacquie Phelan - just because.

and Eddy Merckx - of course.

 

[Jamiedyer]

Fav riders

I would have to say my favourite riders would be
Pantani
Laurent jalabert
Eddie Merckx
Fondriest (all round nice guy)

followed by
Gibi Simoni
Phil Anderson
Sir Oppy
Stuey O'Grady
( I am Aussie after all)

Long list but its my list

Jamie

 

[kaiser]

Re: Fav riders

I would have to say my favourite riders would be
Pantani
Laurent jalabert
Eddie Merckx
Fondriest (all round nice guy)

followed by
Gibi Simoni
Phil Anderson
Sir Oppy
Stuey O'Grady
( I am Aussie after all)

Long list but its my list

Jamie

Jalabert is still racing and has taken up Ironman, just for fun mind but doing pretty good. Kudos to him I say.

 

[fellrider85]

George Fleming ,first bloke to break 2 hours for a fifty in, 1947 riding a small fixed gear

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Fav riders

Laurent jalabert

You've got to admire someone who starts his career winning green jerseys and ends it in polka dots.

Stuey O'Grady
( I am Aussie after all)

I always liked O'Grady - a real hard-working Aussie battler, and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy unlike some of his stroppier sprinting rivals. His battle with Zabel (another rider I like a lot) for the green jersey in 2001 was one of the highlights of the Tour that year. I got a real kick out of his Paris-Roubaix win too.

 

[Radar]

Robert Millar - remember watching World of Sport, with some highlights of le tour on Mr Millar was in polka dot jersey. A year or so later I bought a Peugeot Robery Millar autograph shonky pile of poop bike. Saw him ride the Leeds classic few times too.

The current Mr Millar is up there too, regurlarly used to bump into him in the local shop when he lived in the village. My boys regularly used to shout "allez millar" as he rode past which got a smile or a wave depending on his speed

* just noticed my typo - bit too accurate*

 

[fellrider85]

By current Mr Miller do you mean dirty drug cheat David Miller,I dont get the reformed drug cheat bit.All the time you are cheating you are possibly depriving a clean athlete of a place in the sport because they may think they are not good enough, as far as I am concerned he can drop dead

 

[terryhfs]

dirty drug cheat David Miller

The trouble is that you're condemning almost the entire rank of professionals back to the dawn of the sport. I'd say it's only the last five years that have seen a concerted effort to fix things.

We'll only know that the problem is solved when the average speed of the grand tours starts declining.

possibly depriving a clean athlete of a place in the sport because they may think they are not good enough

A bit of a spurious argument - most doping is organised and done within the structure of a team. See Liberty Seguros, the mysterious departure of the entire PDM team from a tour in the mid 80's etc... To a very large extent the individual cyclists are very small pawns in a much bigger game - sponsors pay big money and they want results.

Don't misunderstand me - I'm against cheating, but just wishing that David Millar would drop dead isn't going to fix the problem.