The Hardmen: Legends of the Cycling Gods

Description

It's time we all stopped whining and learned a thing or two from The Toughest Cyclists Ever. Including: Stephen Roche, whose cure for exhaustion was to go up a gear and fight harder, all the way to the ambulance. Eddy Merckx, who hurt himself so badly in breaking the Hour record that, he estimated, he shortened his career by a year. Beryl Burton, who crushed her (male) rival's morale with the offer of a piece of liquorice, before speeding past to victory. Nicole Cooke and Edwig Van Hooydonck, who rejected dope and became legends. The Hardmen tells the stories - the good bits, anyway - of the 40 most heroic Cyclists ever. Their bravery, their panache and their Perfect Amount of Dumb. It reminds us that suffering on a bike liberates us from our daily lives, and that, in the words of Lance Armstrong 'pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever'; proof that even assholes can be insightful.

The Velominati are the founders of a singular online community - www.velominati.com - which celebrates the history of road cycling with a distinctive point of view, best described as (ir)reverence. Their infamous The Rules challenge cycling fans to emulate their heroes in everything from training ('it never gets easier, you just go faster') and equipment ('the correct number of bikes to own is n+1') to sock length and coffee choice. Frank Strack, the Editor-in-Chief, appears at bike shows worldwide and writes a column for Cycling magazine.

Fresh, often amusing, always impressive. The Velominati's relish and innocent love of the sport comes through time and time again-they just get the whole contrast between the pain and beauty of cycling that makes it so irresistible. An unharnessed, joyous celebration. * RideVelo * Full of bravery, stupidity, panache, pluckiness and nerve, each story is a reminder of a certain sense of escapism that sport can provide. But at what cost? For some, it involved shortening careers by up to a year and, for others, being wheeled away in an ambulance. Either way, helping celebrate road cycling with a unique (and, at times, painful) viewpoint, The Hardmen proves that we can learn a thing or two from some of the world's best sportsmen * Men's Health *