One of the most badass working moms in our sport, Kristin Armstrong is the most decorated female cyclist in America, having won gold medals in the time trial at each of the last three Summer Olympics.
She is the only cyclist—male or female—to claim three consecutive golds in the same discipline.
The 43-year-old rider is a big inspiration to everyone, but especially to parents seeking balance and to women riders everywhere.
Italian road racer Angelo Fausto Coppi was an aspiring professional from a young age. A blind masseuse began adjusting him early in his career, and based on his hands-on assessment of the athlete, predicted he would one day be a great champion in cycling. The masseuse prescribed one long rest followed by a structured regimen, to which Fausto Coppi obliged, and it paid off – he dominated the European racing scene from his first win in 1940, at the Giro d’Italia at the age of 20 until 1954. He is remembered today as the “Champion of Champions.”
You already know – The Greatest Cyclist Ever. The GOAT. The Cannibal. With 525 career wins, including the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia five times each, Merckx is a great. He held the world hour record for 12 years and then some. The UCI decided his record could only be considered broken by a rider on a bike similar to the one he rode in 1972, and was subsequently broken, by mere meters, by only two riders until the equipment regulations were changed again in 2014.
Enough said.
Scott Martin is a Paralympic cyclist, Marine and purple heart recipient who suffered a TBI and shrapnel injuries on tour in Iraq. After embracing cycling as a way to get his life back, he was very successful on the road and track. Self-described as a “student of pain,” Martin did his homework and was chosen to represent the USA at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
LeMond was the first American to win the Tour de France, and he did it more than once – three times, actually – one of which he won by a mere eight seconds, the smallest lead in history to win the Tour. He is an advocate of the purity of cycling today.
The novelist wrote a short horror story about a man riding a stationary bike in a basement. He gets it.
After his first mountain bike ride, this Mountain Bike Hall of Famer “quit that to stay alive”. He eventually found his way back, and began building frames out of his garage to better suit his riding style, ultimately developing a suspension fork and prototype aluminum frame. Manitou Mountain Bikes was born, further enabling riders all over the world to continue biting off more than they can chew – and live through it.
