The Hardmen: Legends of the Cycling Gods

by The Velominati, Frank Strack, Brett Kennedy

It's time we all stopped whining and learned a thing or two from The Toughest Cyclists Ever. 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.

Genres: Cycling

256 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

The Velominati, or Keepers of the Cog, are founder and main author Frank Strack (Seattle), Brett Kennedy (New Zealand), Gianni Andrews (Hawaii), Marko Carlson (Minnesota), and Jim Thomson (Seattle). Their site, Velominati.com, receives over two million views per month.

Reviews

[Pip Snort · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like sport. I enjoy wit and have watched a stage or two of Le Tour on SBS in the wee hours. Phil Liggett is a delight, but I am not a cycling nut and fail to conform to any of the Rules of the Velominati. Still this book was not bad. I could, as a feminist, object to the criteria of Hardman as being an extremely masculine driven ideal, even though the authors cheerfully include women in their list. But I know what they mean, and each of the Hardmen are impressive athletic nutjobs and I knew what I was getting into. Mostly a book for cycling nuts.

[Radu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for the generic reader, if one does not have some interest in the cycling world the book could quickly get dull.

Otherwise (and more for the cyclists familiar with Velominati terminology and "rules") - it is quite a nice read, a bit short for my taste. They left out a lot of big riders - and they tried to explain why, but still.
Perhaps in a future sequel.

[Richard Drinkwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I have read in ages. A really eclectic selection of 38 great cyclists, men and women, and their incredible achievements in professional races in Europe including the Grand Tours and the Monuments. The book is bursting with quotes and is very funny.

[Harry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.