Sad to announce the passing of one of the original FOAers, Tristan the Hardman.
Committed singlespeeder, destroyer of 24hr races, conspiracy theorist, volvo driver, gross bet maker*, endless giver of excellent advice. He’s been struggling with his health for some time, and hasn’t been on a bike or FOA for even longer, but I’ll miss knowing he was out there, cooking up epic, barely possible adventures. One of the true hardmen of cycling.
I can’t find his blog, which I doubt still exists, but here’s a link to all his adventures on FOA, from his first one in 2006:
*One of my favourite bets of all time: If Tristan was somehow able to ride from Melbourne to Sydney via the coast in 48hrs or less, Dan Shifter said he would eat a piece of his own shit. I guess now he’ll never have to.
Stuff I dug up:
The list of challenges, all were fixed gear challenges.
Double Bay In a Day
Mega Alpine Challenge
Sydney to Melbourne in 48hrs
24hr Velodrome distance attempt
Coast, Summit, Coast in a day
Offroad Mega Alpine Challenge
Castlemaine hell loop of pain
40+ km hour (Brunswick Velodrome) <— He came so close, 39km, Merckx style.
He’s the one who rode out to Donna Buang from Brunswick on a brakeless fixie, did the climb, took off his chain, descended with next to no method of slowing down his bike, put the chain back on, then rode home.
I never met Tristan but did love reading and hearing about his adventures. I knew he was off the bike for a long time but I always hoped that he’d come back one day and knock off some of those things on his list. I visited that hard man blog way too many times over the years, hoping for a new update, a new story, some inspiration. Even though it hadn’t been updated for years, it always left me psyched to go riding, to plan something big, to dream bigger than I ever have before.
Such a big influence on my riding life. So sad to hear he’s passed.
Wow, such sad news to hear. I loved reading about his feats in the early days on my fixed.org days… perhaps a “Hardman’s Day Out” could be something great to get people involved and remember Tristan?
[QUOTE=AL9000;
Stuff I dug up:
The list of challenges, all were fixed gear challenges.
Double Bay In a Day
Mega Alpine Challenge
Sydney to Melbourne in 48hrs
24hr Velodrome distance attempt
Coast, Summit, Coast in a day
Offroad Mega Alpine Challenge
Castlemaine hell loop of pain
40+ km hour (Brunswick Velodrome) <— He came so close, 39km, Merckx style.[/QUOTE]
Here’s a little story in memory of the Hardman.
I had the pleasure of being Tristan’s lap counter during his Hour Record attempt (the last of the challenges listed above). 10 meters after the group start, he pulled out of the track as his rear wheel came loose. I remember that we got it fixed up pretty quickly and off he went like a madman passing pretty much everybody. I don’t think he had a plan other than to go hard. The end of the Hour was chaotic. He was given extra time because of the earlier mechanical but the rest of the riders didn’t know. The other riders were scattered around the track slowing down while Tristan was weaving through them at full speed trying to finish his Hour. NDF was the timekeeper and we were on the edge of our pants as it looked really close. He made it! Right on the end of time, 120 laps in 60 minutes. Based on what we thought the length of the track was at the time, we all thought that he had done 40km. It was only later that it was calculated to be 39km. But it didn’t matter. He was the Hardman and he showed it that day. Among us group of riders that day, he had achieved something special. After the event, Tristan was so exhausted that he couldn’t even ride home, a distance of only 3km. I rode with Singlespeed Steve to his place so that he could get Tristan’s car and pick him up.
Tristan’s apartment was behind my place and our paths crossed occasionally. I remember his everyday bike, a Fuji, simple and understated, much like the man that rode it. There was nothing externally flashy about this package of man and machine. He just went about his business of being the Hardman. This is what I remember most.
We will be meeting at the Fairfield Pipe Bridge at 2:00PM.
Our plan is to casually ride upstream on the trails and bike path that is along the Yarra River. Then we will turn around and return to make our way to The Fox Hotel at 351 Wellington Street, Collingwood. We would expect to make there by about 4:00PM or so.
Please note that we will be riding no matter what the weather conditions, It is how the Hardman would have wanted it!
Please share so that people are aware of the plan.
