I write this with a heavy heart, and to humbly ask for your help to support our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed Hood. Ed suffered a devastating stroke in February of this year, and faces an uncertain future.
“I’m never happier than when I’m writing.”
Ed used to say to me from the passenger seat of our hire car as we drove along a stage route at the Tour de France, or stood on the Ayr bypass timing riders taking part in the Scottish ’25’ Championship.
** Click this link to donate to the GoFundMe page to help Ed **
As a result of the stroke, Ed has lost his ability to speak and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He’s working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows but will probably not be able to work again.
Ed and I have been working together on VeloVeritas since 2006, and that year he also began writing for PezCyclingNews, based in Canada. His tales on the sites, our Diaries of chasing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, Classics and Worlds, and working on the winter Six Days, are legendary, never the same twice, and gave us something the other cycling media outlets could never duplicate or challenge.
Ed’s ability to think up creative story ideas, rider interviews, previews, rants, and general musings about cycle sport was uncanny and matchless.
He was an editor’s dream. Even if we never knew what his next story would be about, we always knew it would be entertaining, thoughtful, and filled with nuggets of wisdom only someone with his pedigree could bring.
Ed’s polite and respectful manner earned him a rolodex of pro cycling’s illuminati that would be the envy of any journalist. We can only guess as to its size because Ed’s modesty ensured he never bragged or name-dropped about any of it, but suffice to say getting hold of any particular rider, current or historic, was never a problem.
Of course Ed is much more than the journalist described above; he’s been my friend for the majority of my life; he’s been my employer (I had previously worked as a draughtsman and when I was at university Ed gave me a job during the summer holidays in the drawing office – one important part of the role was accompanying him on his lunchtime rides around Loch Leven), team manager at G.S. Modena, my coach, and for the last 17 years my partner here on VeloVeritas. He’s been a valued member of the ‘Pez Crew’ too, and in the world’s cycling media Ed is irreplaceable. There is literally no other writer in cycling who did, or could do what Ed did.
So after many years of giving us so much entertainment and insight, the very least we can do is reach out to what I know are legions of Ed Hood fans, and if you’re reading this you are surely among them.
Ed’s financial future is uncertain so please consider joining us to make a contribution to this GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure Ed’s future.
Also please consider sharing this message across your social media pages.
Read Ed’s 17+ year’s body of work creating cycling stories:
- Ed has written over 1800 stories and interviews on VeloVeritas
- Browse Ed’s stories on Pez
- Read the Meet Ed Hood Interview on Pez
** Please click this link to donate to the GoFundMe page setup to help Ed **
Thank you,
Martin
