@slatanic Brilliant! Abso-fucking-lutely BRILLIANT!!! I must ride this once I have my ’85 Hinault!!!

@frank As f0r the LVC kit order–please remember that my address has been updated to Germany since last year. I gave you the new address last summer when I moved but I can resend it to you if you need it. Thanks.

@frank And look at all of the fucking snot on his forearms and legs. Fucking Snot King forever!

@wiscot Wonder if he plays chess well?

@wiscot Ha! Touche’!

@chuckp One of my favorite cycling Hardman stories of all time. I told it to my five kids with a deep reverence a few years ago and they all just looked at me like I was fucking insane (they might be right). LeMan deserves a whole fucking Hardman book just devoted to him.

@frank And speaking of Le Blaireau, here is your clip that you recommend in the book.

@Duane Gran And that mullet, eh?

@Nero Dammit!!! I ALWAYS do that! Last time Oli called me out!!! Some day I’ll learn (or more likely not!!!). Thanks!

@Teocalli Ha! Not me, Mate! I do not claim to have anywhere near the ability or knowledge to pull that idea off–although it is a fucking great idea! So Frahnk, you can do another book that has … say … 12 chapters starting with the 1890’s and moving up to present day and describe the Hardest riders/rides done per decade per chapter.…

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@Teocalli Fucking Spot on! Super! I think that there must be about 100 amazing Hardmen rides (or more) from pre-1980 that we just do not know b/c we do not know our history well enough. Fucking riding 400 k stages with 2 gears on 12 kilo bikes. These guys in the early days were fucking Legend! We need Oli to weigh in with about 20 off…

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So yeah, I see the difficulties with coming up with specific rides for Leman and Le Professeur off the top of my head and I do not know my history well enough with Coppi and Gimondi. That’s a good point. Maybe you could have a supplemental chapter dealing with riders who just exuded Hardness their whole careers even though one cannot…

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Bartoli was a Hardman many times but the specific intense that most stands out was when he was riding with hidden documents during the war to save Jewish lives. That is about as Hardcore as one can get since he would most likely have been literally shot if he were caught.

@frank Ahh, got it. For starters there’s one of the most famous Hardmen story ever with Fiorenzo Magni riding the Giro with a broken collarbone (and he did not have his unborn twin to help him, either!)

Right, I can see where it could be really hard to limit it but I was baffled not to find Le Professeur, LeMan, Coppi and Gimondi in the pages (but Virenque, Hansen and McEwen made it???). But in life it is so much easier to criticize and destroy than build and do (but Hansen???)

@Phillip Mercer (that being said, my Hampsten has white tape and my new-to-me Eroica Hinault has white tape as well!)

@Phillip Mercer I’m with you. I feel so pretentious putting white tape on my bike. Of course, I am the de facto leader of my “Team of One” but still does not feel like I have perhaps earned the right to ride white tape.

@frank Ha! Talk about covering all yer bases! Well done!

@Teocalli You don’t happen to have a second 1987 or earlier bike in a 56-58 cm size laying around do you???