Anatomy of a Photo: Allez le Douze

Davis Phinney crashes into a car during Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Photo: Graham Watson

A mechanical of any kind thrusts a professional cyclist into a kind of paradoxical isolation; swarmed by cars and motorcycles, yet they are often left alone to find their way back to the peloton by their own strength.

But this isn’t their first rodeo, and these aren’t cowboys. Put it in the Big Ring, set the lazy-lever to 12, put your head down, and get on with it. The downside is that when the legs are yelling “Allez le Douze”, the eyes have a tendency to check out the guns instead of paying attention to the direction of travel. A pity, that.

The irony that Davis Phinney’s isolation was ended by the rear glass of a car bearing the logo of a company called “Isoglass” is not lost on me.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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KTB says:

Sep 16 2011 at 2:55 pm

AS I recall the 7-11 Team Huffy's were actually rebadged Serotta frames.
eightzero says:

Sep 16 2011 at 2:58 pm

There was a guy that pulled this stunt in CA a year or so ago. Decided to "teach those cyclists a lesson." Passed some riders on a downhill, got in front, then slammed the brakes. Fucked one of them up bad. Blew the rear window out, but the driver dude was a rich doctor, and didn't care. And as they say in Scooby-Doo, he'd gotten away with it except a neo-pro recognized the driver dude from the news report and called the cops to say that same driver did it to him a few weeks before too.

Driver tried to claim innocence, but lots of witnesses and now a documented past as well. He went to jail for a significant period of time.
Oli says:

Sep 16 2011 at 3:40 pm

@michael
Thanks Captain Obvious!

I was adding to your comment rather than correcting it...
michael says:

Sep 16 2011 at 6:33 pm

@Oli

You're welcome. I wonder if the wheel was only damaged because it ran into the bb.
Nate says:

Sep 16 2011 at 9:16 pm

@KTB
That's right.
Unica says:

Sep 17 2011 at 2:01 pm

I remember that same photo from Winning. I really wish I hadn't got rid of those...
ron says:

Sep 17 2011 at 3:59 pm

If I ever own a car, maybe it'll be a Renault Nevada!
Ron says:

Sep 17 2011 at 4:00 pm

If I ever own a car, maybe it'll be a Renault Nevada!
cantona says:

Sep 18 2011 at 12:51 pm

Frank,
Not sure where I should post it so I'm firing it in here. I'm planning on being in the San Juan Islands shortly. Any good resources for riding on the islands? I hear there are some great routes and thought you might no of them since you live in the area.
Thanks in advance,
Neil
brothersbutler says:

Sep 18 2011 at 7:40 pm

Wow, I did just this two weeks ago. 35 stitches to the face later and I'm back on the bike!