Mad Props

My old friend Edgar used to give out high praise to people who earned his utmost respect for something done in an extraordinary way. His eyes would light up and he'd say "Damn! He gets mad props for the way he's climbing the Galibier today." or "Shit! Did you see that? Mad props, man. Mad props." I always liked the ring of it. Especially the way his voice would shoot up a few octaves when he got especially excited about a particular moment in the race. He's probably the most oft quoted friend I've got.

I remember showing a videotape of La Course en Tete to Edgar back in 1994. I was a little hesitant because, in my experience, most of my friends were bored to death by cycling videos. The fact that most of it was in Flemish was even more of a reason to waver. Regardless, Edgar assured me he was interested and commenced watching. That videotape created a monster that day. Edgar sold his Gary Fisher mountain bike a few days later and bought an old Ochsner SL frame from an ad he saw in VeloNews. Soon after that, Edgar was putting in big miles emulating his new hero

As a nod to his verbosity and deep passion for all things spectacular in the world of bicycles I'm gonna start a Mad Props list of persons and moments in cycling that would whet the appetite of good ol' Edgar and whip him into a frenzy. I hope the knee gets better soon, pal. And we see you out there attacking once again until your last breath.

So anyway, the first "Mad Props" goes to the greatest cyclist of all time and inspiration to my good friend. The great Eddy Merckx. I don't need to reiterate all the phenomenal achievements Merckx accomplished, there are plenty of sites out there that document them better than I ever could. Rest assured though, there will never be another cyclist more deserving of Mad Props.