enormouslock

Is there a king of cycling? More than one? Who do you propose and why? What do you think of the current visible personalities in cycling? Are any of them worthy of the name, "king"? What would you expect of the "king of cycling"? What is a king, anyway? How would you recognize one if you saw him? Have you ever seen a king in person? What about nobility in general? What constitutes nobility in cycling? What would you do differently as a cyclist if there was a king of cycling? Would your life in general be easier, or harder? Would you expect that you could rely on a king of cycling for certain things? Would you be offended by the idea of royalty in a free democratic nation such as the United States? Do you doubt that a king could exist in the United States?

lilHinault

Eddy Mercks

lilHinault

Woops Eddy Merckx

enormouslock

You have hit the mark in domination, but I think, for myself, a king is more than dominant. He glows in triumph as well. I need to know more about Mr. Merckx before I call him king. I never met him nor met anyone who met him. (Is he still alive by the way?)

zonatandem

Queen of cycling:
My wife! Over 200 thousand miles with me on tandem bicycles in the past 30 years!

Paiyili

Nah. Kings need wisdom and insight. The large view. Experience of age. I nominate Sheldon Brown.

BostonFixed

I'm the king. Bow down to me, *****es!

Greiselman

I don't know about "King" but I think Dave Phinney should at least be a Duke or something. Winningest American cyclist ever and a real inspiration in his fight against Parkinsons.

Hope I'm not the only person that thinks this...

CRUM

I vote for Elvis. I saw him the other day on a fixed gear. He's slimmed down some, but his hair is still perfect.

velocipedio

eddy.

he won everything... the tour, the giro, the vuelta, paris roubaix, tour of flanders, world championships. he did it with a style of complete and utter domination that earned him the nickname "the cannibal." he was not the smartest bike racer in history [i think that title goes to hinault] or the most stylish [jalabert]. but he was the most fearsome and awe inspiring.

* jack *

'Il Campionissimo' Fausto Coppi

FarHorizon

Not even a close race here - Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx. He's still alive - Velo News had an entire issue about him recently. Won just about everything and with primative gear too. He's a class act, still employing old teammates at his bike fab factory. Has a sense of humor (from the article I read), and has enough wisdom to even make up with some old enemies from the day. Grace, speed, record, wisdom, and a sense of humor. Wish we could all age so gracefully! Here's to you, Eddy!

DieselDan

Definatly Eddie Merkx. He won every Sping Classic at least once, the Tour de France 5 times, Giro d'Itlia 5 times, the Vuleta a Espana twice, and two World Championships. Last year he raced the cycling leg of a triathlon in Isreal, and did very well. He still trains with his son's team, Lotto-Diavitimen, and runs a high bike factory.

As for your American King, Chris Horner? Lance Armstrong? Greg Lemond? Davis Phinny? Andy Hampsten? Major Taylor?

enormouslock

Geez, these are excellent replies. I want to hear more about Eddie Merckx. The excitement he inspires is contagious! Let's put him down as the leading contender. And having his wisdom defended is top rate! I don't know the other names, but I'm sure there's nobility in each one of them. This Hinault...why do you say he is the smartest ever? Such a racer would do much for the sport in the eyes of the public, I think. We always expect our noble souls to be smart, able to carry a conversation with anyone.

enormouslock

Oh...and the lady who makes zonatandem king is a great lady I'm sure to beat the band. My compliments to her on knowing how to make a man happy so consistently in his life. How a distance cyclist makes his home is one of his deepest qualities. We take our lives on a bike and the world we see out there is the world we take back with us. It makes us foci of mankind, I think, and though we may not be seen that way primarily by the public, we endure much more with greater stability and more equinimity than your average athelete (who has his own strong niche in some other way.)

Surferbruce

seriously go get a book on the man, or find a recent copy of procycling magazine. you will see indeed that eddy is in another realm from anyone, and probably always will be. he just turned 60, he owns and runs a company that make amazing bikes that bear his name, and he has a son who is a pro cyclist and just raced in this years tour.
you owe it to yourself to find out more.

cydewaze

55/Rad

Joeagain

King of cycling? I nominate Sheldon, too, because it's his passion, and he's sharing that passion with others, as well as ushering in other people through unselfish dissemination of his knowledge.

Heinz Stucke because, though he's probably doing it to escape something, he's living his life the way he wants and "damn-the-consequences."

I personally wouldn't nominate racers because that's a small aspect of cycling, though it certainly has the largest visibility right now; there's something to be said for that. It, too can help usher others into the "hobby," but it also has a prohibitive aspect to it -- the cost aspect, the Bicycling Magazine attitude, the "$500-per-gram" culture, etc.

I guess there's nothing wrong with these aspects unto themselves, but cyclists seem more vulnerable (gullible?) to believing the hype than most other hobbyists. I have a feeling that new cyclists are looking for something much different than the culture that Bicycling Magazine or weight weenies advocate. I know if I was thinking about beginning cycling and picked up a Bicycling Magazine, that would put me off from checking out more about cycling culture. I guess it's like anything else, the extremes are what pushes discourse, and pass for what looks like the mainstream in cycling, but in fact aren't at all. (Though that is also what provides for many others to make a living at it in the US, another plus).

But cycling is about more than racing to most of the people who are doing it across the world.

Joe

Bobatin

Major Taylor

Maelstrom 

Living in a country with supposed royalty still (unfortunately) in charge, I am completely against the idea. Royalty belongs in books and fantasy, not reality. The queen costs too damn much and holds no value to anyone but old people ... well....and old people. Why oh why can't we dump the queen, she costs us boat loads of money and is useless...

In a joking satirical kind of way, I would ve hard pressed to select one king. Since there is no truely versatile rider I can't place that value on one single rider. Roadie, dhiller, xc or otherwise...there is no king

Cyclaholic

I would like to point out to you all that I AM THE KING OF CYCLING!

there ya go, question answered, problem solved... you may all bow before my majestic greatness now

Keith99

One only needs to look at results and see that Eddy is in a class by himself. Only Coppi and Hinault are close enough that if it were a race they might be able to see him

Talking about palmares has become boring (at least to me). But it is fun to look at doing something special, something that combines events in a single year or a special performance in one event.

In 1969 Eddy rode the Tour de France for the first time. He won it by over 17 minutes. That was more than the COMBINED winning margins from the previous 7 years. He also won the KOM and Sprinters competitions, the most agressive rider award and the final stage. His team won the team competition. In short everythnig. Aside from Eddy only Hinault has won all three jerseys in a carreer. The year before Eddy won all 3 Jerseys (and his team won the team prize) in hte Giro. No one else has won all 3 in a career.

In the TDF one rider has won more than one jersey in hte same year only 11 times. 4 of those times the rider was Eddy. Two others did it twice, Coppi and Bartoli.

As beat I can find since the second world war only two riders have won the final stage, when it was not a time trial and also won the tour. Those two were Hinault who did it twice and Eddy Merckx. I guess I should mention that of Eddy's 5 wins only once was the final stage not a time trial.

One of the marks of a great tour rider is the double, winning two grand tours in the same year. This has been done only 16 times by a total of 8 riders. Every rider who has won either the Giro or Tour 5 times since WW II has done the double at least twice, except for Lance Armstrong who never tried. Hinault did it 3 times and Merckx 4 times.

There is something called the triple crown. This is winning the Tour, the Giro and the Worlds in the same year. It has only been done twice, By Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche. If you expand the idea a bit to look at Paris- Roubaix and the Vuelta and ask if anyone has ever won any two of the tours and either the Worlds or Paris Roubaix you find that there is onloy one person who has done so (excluding the two cases listed above). Eddy twice won the Tour, the Giro and Paris Roubaix and once won the Giro, the Vuelta and Paris Roubaix.

Winning multiple jerseys in multiple tours is a great accomplishment. In fact in a career only 4 riders have done it. Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartoli and Tony Romminger. Eddy is the only one to win multiple jerseys in all three tours. In fact the only jersey from a grand tour that Eddy has not won is the KOM fot the Vuelta. In the one time he rode the Vuelta he won the GC and Sprinters jerseys and finsihed second in the KOM.

For Eddy it is easier to list the few major races and awards he has not won than to list what he has won. He does not have a Vuelta KOM jersey and never won Paris-Tours.

enormouslock

I have asked this question about a cycling king with a special point in mind, not just out of speculation's sake, and it relates of course to your comment about a very real monarch.

It seems I was walking about the Yale Law School one day when I was homeless, and came upon a notice that there was going to be seminar for the public about monarchies in the United States. What blew my mind was that it said there are about 555 monarchies currently in the United States. Of course the fact that New York calls itself the "Empire State" came to mind and a host of ruminations occured to me that maybe I didn't know everything about my homeland I thought I knew.

Are there really factual monarchies in the United States? Well, that's for anyone to judge for himself and my testimony of a little post a long time ago may not carry much weight for some. For others, however, it might bring one to pause.

Your dislike for your own real monarch as a part of Great Britain is of course a popular feeling today. And we must remember how our own country, the US, went to war to get rid of that same monarchy. I too felt a little resistent to the notion of a monarch possibly being a factor in all the negative--and positive--things that happen in this country. I resented the fact that no one ever spoke actual speech about monarchies really existing here. Was there a reason they preferred to keep it a relative secret? Well, obviously the law here is at issue. Is it possible someone here plays to a different tune than the US constitution and all its derivative laws?

Then one day I saw my life take a dramatic turn by the appearance of a very powerful Italian man who said to me, "just put on 20 pounds. You'll be first." This occured here in Chicago. I didn't need anyone to tell me what that meant. I had risen to the top of the heap in Chicago, and there is no higher heap, anywhere. At that point I realized that there was absolutely no need for me to tell anyone. I didn't need to build a support team. I didn't need a popular face. I had all I needed in being first. I could go about my affairs without fear of their rejection by anyone.

This event took place in 1992, so since then things have been popping. Foremost is to be mentioned that the term "kingpin" is like a grenade. You take out the "pin" and it explodes.

My grenade exploded in 2002. That's another story, involving cycling, and needs, I think to be told. The topic is vast, however, and a pause for replies would be wise.

TLN

I would have to vote for Coppi as well.

Keith99

Eddy is good, even he would have had trouble winning the Vuelta twice, since he only rode it once. When it comes to Worlds he has 3 or 4 depending how you want to count. 3 Pro and one amature.

Oh and just to add a couple of other bits. One year he lead the Giro from start to finish, something only done one other time since WW II. One time in the tour of Switzerland he lead from start to finish and took all 3 jerseys.

I see a couple of people have suggested Coppi. Might I ask why? I know a couple of points in his favor. One year he took every major prize there was in both the Tour and Giro, a feat never matched. Also he was Eddys idol as a young man. But I'm sure there are more reasons and I would like to learn more of them.