“I’m by no means happier than after I’m writing.”
~ Ed Hood, as spoken to Martin Williamson from the passenger seat, driving alongside a stage route on the Tour de France.
Expensive Readers – Our beloved colleague and buddy Ed Hood suffered a severe stroke in February. We don’t count on Ed will make it again into our bunch, so we’ve began a GoFundMe web page to assist Ed together with his future. Learn the complete submit right here – and please think about donating.
** Click on this hyperlink to donate to the GoFundMe web page to assist Ed **
We’ll be posting a collection of Ed’s work from the previous 16 years, as a result of nice story-telling by no means will get outdated.
The Wild Males of the Bunch: The peloton has its characters, however biking is such a tough sport that having a wild time is just not a good suggestion. Alternatively there are just a few riders who’ve managed to have a great time between racing. Ed Hood has his decide of the ‘Peloton Occasion Animals’.
Gilberto Simoni didn’t make the record
It’s mentioned that former world champion and Primavera winner, Maurizio Fondriest’s thought of a ‘wild night time’ was to cosy up in mattress and watch a DVD on his laptop computer. However we’re not right here to speak, ‘Monastic,’ the topic of as we speak’s outpourings is, ‘celebration animals.’ How far more might they’ve carried out in the event that they’d left off the sauce, the quick automobiles and the women?
Jacques Anquetil – ‘a great pheasant, some champagne and a girl.’
Jacques Anquetil: ‘Maitre Jacques,’ 5 time Tour winner, Giro and Vuelta winner, and the ‘chronoman’ supreme with at least 9 Grand Prix des Nations wins; and this was no 40 or 50K ‘jolly,’ 142 kilometres, ‘alone and unpaced.’ However the Norman favored the finer issues in life, he owned a riverside chateau, drove sizzling automobiles, wore the best threads and was an actual ‘bon viveur.’ His most well-known quote on the topic is; ‘To organize for a race there may be nothing higher than a great pheasant, some champagne and a girl.’
Not a porn star on this photograph, however there are pictures on the market
Mario Cipollini: Ought to we embrace him? Regardless of his declare that; ‘If I weren’t an expert bike owner, I’d be a porn star,’ nobody wins 42 Giro levels after partying all night time. Nonetheless, the ‘celebration animal’ picture grabbed the headlines for his sponsors and it’s true that he by no means gained the race which was made for him – Paris-Excursions. He’d been on the seashore for weeks by that point of the season.
‘Occasion boy’ Colombo
Gabriele Colombo: The 1996 Milan-Sanremo was Max Sciandri’s to lose – and he did simply that. It was the Italian with the boyish attractiveness and flowing locks who ‘stole’ the win. I put it to Sciandri that Colombo by no means actually gained that a lot earlier than or since; ‘That’s true however he was an aesthetic rider, he favored to celebration although – the great life, you realize?’ So you may celebration AND win the Primavera, if not a lot else. . .
Hair too lengthy for an actual professional – Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker: Tirreno-Adriatico is a prestigious race, gained by a number of the greatest names within the sport – De Vlaeminck, Moser, Rominger, Contador, Nibali. . . Dekker gained it as a second yr skilled, he was class. The ‘however’ is that the great wanting Dutchman was additionally a celebration animal with maybe the, ’too lengthy for an actual professional’ hair giving him away, quick automobiles, drink, ladies and the inevitable medicine. Not only for partying however for his career too, leading to a two yr suspension. Learn his guide, The Descent then record the contemporaries he names who gained’t be exchanging Xmas playing cards with him.
Class act and the perfect title in biking – Fons De Wolf
Fons De Wolf: One other man whose hair gave a clue as to his extra-curricular actions. However few males have seemed cooler on a bicycle than Fons – and he might speak the speak when he was within the temper; two wins in Het Volk, Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Lombardy, Trofeo Baracchi and levels within the Vuelta and Tour de France. However his palmarès might have been a lot broader had he favored the ‘good life’ much less. Paradoxically, for a ‘celebration animal,’ he’s now an undertaker.
Robert Dill Bundi – Prime performer, however…
Robert Dill Bundi: Twice a world junior pursuit champion, Olympic pursuit champion in Moscow 1980, the tall Swiss was pure class. However it was, ‘an excessive amount of too younger’ for the person from Chippis, as with many precocious athletes, sustaining the self-discipline that’s required to perform on the highest ranges of the game is troublesome if the ‘life-style of denial’ begins within the early teenagers. There was a Giro stage win, while on the observe he was a great performer within the six days and bagged a world keirin title in 1984; however there’s a clue to his thoughts set by wanting on the day he deserted the Tour – then requested the driving force of the sag wagon to cease at an off licence so he might purchase a bottle of vino.
Dmitri Konychev – Fashion factors for the glasses
Dmitri Konychev: One of many first Russian riders to trip within the skilled peloton he burst onto the scene with a silver medal, behind Greg Lemond within the epic 1989 Worlds. However maybe it shouldn’t have been such a shock, he’d gained the ‘Child’ Giro the earlier yr and was an aesthetic rider. He spent plenty of his profession using for Italian groups, a nation the place there are numerous distractions – seashores, discos, good automobiles and people huge haired lovely Donnas. Dima was famed for pulling a rabbit from the contract renewal hat at simply the fitting time, leaving his DS’s shaking their heads and pondering; ‘why can’t he trip like that on a regular basis?’ as he pulled off a late season huge win to safe his future for an additional yr.
Nico Mattan – Appreciated a drink
Nico Mattan: I interviewed Nico as soon as, after a stage on the Three Days of De Panne, a race he gained in 2001, I enquired; ‘can I get you a Coke or mineral water, Nico?’ The Belgian checked out me quizzically; ‘no, a Carlsberg!’ After he gained the 2005 Gent-Wevelgem he headed straight to his supporters membership the place he; ‘danced on the tables into the small hours.’ No warm-down on the rollers or ice baths for that man.
Merckx would have greater than tea
Eddy Merckx: Regardless of taking his career very severely, Merckx’s urge for food was legendary. The rationale his weight ballooned after he retired was that he was nonetheless consuming like a horse however not doing the 300 kilometre coaching runs to burn off the dreaded energy. And he favored a drink. On the French criterium circuit – which have been normally ‘choreographed’ there’s a convention of partying after the race. Maitre Jacques Anquetil was nearing the tip of his profession with Merckx the rising star. The French star reckoned that while his bike racing prowess could also be on the wane, he might nonetheless out drink the upstart Belgian. Lesser males slipped quietly off to mattress while Jacques and Eddy went at it till certainly one of them needed to be carried to his mattress – it wasn’t Eddy.
Stoned?
Stuart O’Grady: Is a pleasant man and was a prime rider; an Olympic champion on the observe and a winner of Paris-Roubaix, to not point out a Tour de France yellow jersey wearer. However like many Antipodeans, he does like a beer. Folklore has it that having had, ‘one too many’ throughout a stage race, he discovered himself locked out of the group resort and needed to sleep in a group automobile. The subsequent stage was a time trial, he was in such a nasty means that he needed to be assisted onto his bike. Not solely did he get around the time take a look at, he gained the race total. Legend.
Bruno Risi – Helpful with beer
Bruno Risi: Seven instances a world champion on the observe between the factors race and madison, Olympic silver medallist within the madison and fifth within the all-time six day wins rankings with 61 victories, the mulleted Swiss star was additionally useful with beer, wine and Schnapps. When runners like me have been forcing ourselves to remain awake to get the washing carried out, Bruno and his brother-in-law and 6 day companion Kurt Betschaert can be utilizing up their surplus adrenaline.
Fredy Schmidtke (left) – had an eye fixed for the ladies
Fredy Schmidtke: I used to be there that chilly night time at Leicester Velodrome in 1982 when the unthinkable occurred, East German Kilometre King – he’d gained the final 5 world championships straight – the late Lothar Thoms ‘parked up’ on the final bend and the late ‘Quick Fredy’ turned champion of the world. Freddy went on to take Olympic kilometre gold in LA in 1984. However for all his successes on the bike, biking was properly down his record of ‘favorite issues’ coming someplace round fifth after women, extra women, automobiles and extra automobiles. . .
The unhappy story of Frank VDB
Frank Vandenbroucke: He was cool, pure class, proficient, winner of Het Volk, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Gent-Wevelgem, Paris-Good, GP Plouay, the Scheldeprijs. . . Adored by the Belgian public, the late ‘Franky Boy’ was a basic case of ‘an excessive amount of too younger,’ residing the lifetime of an expert bike owner from his early teenagers. As his profession spluttered amid doping investigations his column inches turned extra about nights in town, rushing fines together with his Porsche and his tumultuous relationship together with his spouse, relatively than palmarès. A tragic means for an exquisite athlete’s profession to finish.
Not fairly the ‘Wild Bunch’
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