Dave 123
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire alps
I was going to mention my grandad. He rode 2 miles each way daily from Rock Ferry to his allotment daily until his mid 80’s on an old postman’s bike.
Your Favourite Cyclist
- Thread starter Rockn Robin
- Start date
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- Tags
- cyclist
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I was going to mention my grandad. He rode 2 miles each way daily from Rock Ferry to his allotment daily until his mid 80’s on an old postman’s bike.
midlife
Guru
He shouted at me!
Beryl Burton
Perhaps the greatest of them all - it took a couple of years before a man beat her 12 Hour record.
An honourable mention must go also to Philippa York who, as Robert Millar, was the first Brit to take a major Tour jersey and was cheated out of a Vuelta win by a Spanish conspiracy.
The Crofted Crest
Veteran
My dad raced against Reg many times on the track. Never came close to him. He (my dad) used to buy his bikes from Ces Duckworth at the bottom of Hyde
Lane in Hyde. When he (Ces) died the people who came to demolish his shop found that Ces had pinned all his takings for many, many years to the bottom of his counter.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
OP
OP
Rockn Robin
Senior Member
- Location
- Arizona
I’m glad he was one of the few that had the courage to take on that fraud. Sounds like a good read, for sure. I’ll look it up on Amazon.
Just checked. Is this the book?
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snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
That would have been Dick Phillips.
The CTC used to send out Fact Sheets for those planning a tour and I sent off for their Icelandic Fact Sheet. My departure date arrived before the Fact Sheet and away I went and thoroughly enjoyed a few weeks in Iceland. By the time I got home the Fact Sheet written by DP had arrived and on reading over I realised I would never have gone to Iceland had I read the Sheet before leaving home, it was frightening. Although Philips was still revered 40 years on in CTC circles for his knowledge of Iceland, his information was so dated as to be useless. It was utter mince!
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fatjel
Guru
- Location
- West Wales
Obree who I only found out about recently is pretty awesome
Martyn Ashton would be joint hero
Martyn Ashton would be joint hero
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Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
https://www.planetx.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders/q/date/2016/02/08/wayne-randle-non-sportive-rides
Hard-Rider
As that thread states;
QUOTE
Too many tales of ultimate hardness to list but there's a scattering of bodies and former cyclists all over South Yorkshire that have been forced to rethink their cycling careers after suffering extreme bouts of Randleism.
As Steve Farrell the former top road rider famously reported when asked who was the best ever roadie
"It's got to be Randle his legs are carved out of granite and he's evil looking
When he accelerates it's like being behind a Porsche and you know you're in for some pain"
UNQUOTE
He's as hard as nails and he's me and my mums hero"
Also, Andy Hampsten, for the Gavia stage, in the '88 Giro
Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
John Tomac. Absolute mountain biking god.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
He did as much as LeMond did, on the road, to popularise new inventions/technology
I still remember the drop-bars (with road STI), Manitou forks, Tioga 'Disc-Drive' (floppy discs)
Just a pity about the dire tyres, like 'Farmer Johns'
Vantage
Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
- Location
- Behind everyone else, Bolton
I remember him mostly because he was the big cheese at the time when I first got into mountain biking. There was him and Hans Ray.
Huge mega stars at the time.
Huge mega stars at the time.
OP
OP
Rockn Robin
Senior Member
- Location
- Arizona
If you get a chance, watch the movie, “The Flying Scotsman.”
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
OK. Prepare to be a bit weirded out by this one. By "favourite" cyclist, I take this to mean the one who has inspired you the most. As usual, couldn't actually decide between two of them. I give you ...... (1) Clare Balding and (2) Andrew Flintoff (!!!!). I shall explain.
Back in 2012, both of them appeared on the telly as rather unlikely stars of cycling programmes.
First up, our Clare:
![61KybtVlOAL._SY445_[1].jpg](https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/61kybtvloal-_sy445_-1-jpg.433986/ "61KybtVlOAL._SY445_[1].jpg")
Clare Balding's "Britain by Bike" was a tribute to Harold Briercliffe's 1950s travels on a vintage touring bike. Bits of it were more watchable than others, but it was mostly a pleasant aspirational odyssey for anyone tempted to do a bit of cycle touring to dream of replicating some time. The final episode was the one which really caught my attention, as we had recently started to enjoy holidaying around Loch Duich in Scotland, and she took on the (to me) mighty and daunting Mam Ratagan Pass from Shiel Bridge over to the Skye turntable ferry. This involved a steep and unremitting climb up to an amazing viewpoint that I already knew well, but had never even considered cycling up to. Clare's cycling was heavily edited. In the cold light of day, whether or not Clare actually rode all the way up, (and her efforts were just edited out
), the next time we were up that way in September 2012, I got my 20 stone backside on my bike and rode all the way up that mountain. She had inspired me to do what seemed the impossible, and to conquer my very first mountain.
In equal first place, our Freddie Flintoff:
![article-0-12A69970000005DC-708_634x486[1].jpg](https://www.cyclechat.net/attachments/article-0-12a69970000005dc-708_634x486-1-jpg.433987/ "article-0-12A69970000005DC-708_634x486[1].jpg")
As a 6'6", 20 stoner of a second row forward type, I was quite blown away by Andrew Flintoff and Lawrence Dallaglio's charity ride from Mount Olympus to the London Olympic stadium .... up and over the Alps on the way. I had religiously watched several editions of the incomparable Tour de France, where most of the sprinters seemed to habitually make hay during the first week of the tour and then bugger off home as soon as the race hit the Alps. I had never even considered the possibility of anyone my size ever cycling across the Alps, cresting some of the cols that you see in the TdF. OK, they were both former professional athletes, but still, this was mightily impressive stuff. I remember the difference between the two of them, character wise. Dallaglio the alpha male, ultra competitive, target driven type, racing off on his own at the front, and Freddie was the exact opposite. He would routinely stay with the non VIPs, checking that they were OK, and motivating them to keep going. One day he even saved the life of a fellow rider who had a heart attack, staying with him until the ambulance arrived, then trudging in to that night's hotel in darkness long after Dallaglio had sprinted in. Apparently Dallaglio wanted to bring in a fine system for those who overdid the refreshment in the evenings, and regarded Freddie as a "drinker with a cycling habit"! They both made it to the end on time though. Freddie Flintoff .... what a man. Straight after the final episode of that series, Mrs Donger and I booked our first holiday in Annecy in the Savoy Alps, and in September 2013 I rode my own bike up a category 1 climb from the recent 100th edition of the Tour de France .... non-stop up the Col de l'Epine.
I have since gone on to ride bigger and tougher mountains in the Highlands, Alps and Vosges, but I can honestly say it would all have been pie in the sky if it hadn't been for my cycling inspirations, Clare Balding and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff. Odd but true.
Back in 2012, both of them appeared on the telly as rather unlikely stars of cycling programmes.
First up, our Clare:
Clare Balding's "Britain by Bike" was a tribute to Harold Briercliffe's 1950s travels on a vintage touring bike. Bits of it were more watchable than others, but it was mostly a pleasant aspirational odyssey for anyone tempted to do a bit of cycle touring to dream of replicating some time. The final episode was the one which really caught my attention, as we had recently started to enjoy holidaying around Loch Duich in Scotland, and she took on the (to me) mighty and daunting Mam Ratagan Pass from Shiel Bridge over to the Skye turntable ferry. This involved a steep and unremitting climb up to an amazing viewpoint that I already knew well, but had never even considered cycling up to. Clare's cycling was heavily edited. In the cold light of day, whether or not Clare actually rode all the way up, (and her efforts were just edited out
), the next time we were up that way in September 2012, I got my 20 stone backside on my bike and rode all the way up that mountain. She had inspired me to do what seemed the impossible, and to conquer my very first mountain.In equal first place, our Freddie Flintoff:
As a 6'6", 20 stoner of a second row forward type, I was quite blown away by Andrew Flintoff and Lawrence Dallaglio's charity ride from Mount Olympus to the London Olympic stadium .... up and over the Alps on the way. I had religiously watched several editions of the incomparable Tour de France, where most of the sprinters seemed to habitually make hay during the first week of the tour and then bugger off home as soon as the race hit the Alps. I had never even considered the possibility of anyone my size ever cycling across the Alps, cresting some of the cols that you see in the TdF. OK, they were both former professional athletes, but still, this was mightily impressive stuff. I remember the difference between the two of them, character wise. Dallaglio the alpha male, ultra competitive, target driven type, racing off on his own at the front, and Freddie was the exact opposite. He would routinely stay with the non VIPs, checking that they were OK, and motivating them to keep going. One day he even saved the life of a fellow rider who had a heart attack, staying with him until the ambulance arrived, then trudging in to that night's hotel in darkness long after Dallaglio had sprinted in. Apparently Dallaglio wanted to bring in a fine system for those who overdid the refreshment in the evenings, and regarded Freddie as a "drinker with a cycling habit"! They both made it to the end on time though. Freddie Flintoff .... what a man. Straight after the final episode of that series, Mrs Donger and I booked our first holiday in Annecy in the Savoy Alps, and in September 2013 I rode my own bike up a category 1 climb from the recent 100th edition of the Tour de France .... non-stop up the Col de l'Epine.
I have since gone on to ride bigger and tougher mountains in the Highlands, Alps and Vosges, but I can honestly say it would all have been pie in the sky if it hadn't been for my cycling inspirations, Clare Balding and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff. Odd but true.
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