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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frank says:

Sep 19 2011 at 10:10 am

@cantona

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

Neil, just saw this. I'll see what I can drum up. I've done some riding on Whidbey island and I know a guy who has the routes on that particular island worked out completely. Whidbey is quite a bit farther south than the official San Juan Islands, but San Juan island itself is a great, big island with lots of bike shops. I haven't ridden on it myself, but I'll do some investigation and see what I can find, at least to give you a starting point.

You're heading into one of the most beautiful parts of the world, by the way. Pack some raingear; even though it rains here, the beauty of the place is not diminished at all with some wet - you'll still want to get out and do whatever it is you're planning to do.

Cheers mate!
frank says:

Sep 19 2011 at 10:11 am

@brothersbutler

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

OUCH!!!! I did the same back in highschool. Bolting down the road and a car passes, then slams on their brakes to turn into a parking lot. These people aren't trying to be malicious, they just don't have a clue about cyclists. Glad to hear you're back on the bike!
frank says:

Sep 19 2011 at 10:17 am

@Pedale.Forchetta

In contemporary cycling a rider like 'Thor' would never take part in a race like LBL,
but those were different times with different riders.
I'm happy to see his son in the peloton.

Yeah, it's amazing what the specialization has been doing. Back then, the Super-Prestige and other rankings meant a great deal more to the peloton than they do now, which encouraged riders to ride all the events.

I haven't seen Phillipe racing Roubaix (at least not at the front), but he does do the other cobbled classics as well as the Ardennes (and the Tour and the Summer classics and the Fall classics). But it's a different class of rider.

Even in 1985, Sean Kelly was third overall and won the green jersey. I'd like to see Cav get third overall. It's hard to say what's better for the sport and what's worse for it, but this specialization doesn't seem to do much for me. I'd rather see these guys battle it out, like they did in the 50's, 60's, and 70's.

Of course, I didn't watch those races on the tele, so we're back to reading about them and the distorted (if more magical) account of the events that brings. I have every reason to believe I wouldn't have been a Merckx fan. I certainly wouldn't have been an Anquetil fan. Louison Bobet, on the other hand? Yes, please.
scaler911 says:

Sep 19 2011 at 11:02 am

I have that photo up in the shop (er garage). Never know when shit's going to happen.
scaler911 says:

Sep 19 2011 at 11:07 am

Davis has taken it in the face more than once:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFbSnACJA54
frank says:

Sep 19 2011 at 11:21 am

@scaler911

Davis has taken it in the face more than once:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFbSnACJA54

I remember that...Mike Zanoli was an orangoutang. Phinney's arms, man...you just don't see guys built like that anymore, huh? Phinney was a big Nordic skier as well; I met him many, many times training on the Birkie trail in Wisconsin. LeMond, too. Both of them the nicest people on the planet.
Buck Rogers says:

Sep 19 2011 at 11:58 am

@frank
Too cool! I would love to meet Lemond. I've only heard great things about him.

As for Phil-Gil, he has "only" ridden P-R once and says that he will wait a few more years until he tries to win it. That is a tough one for me. I love him as a rider but cannot completely get behind him as he refuses, at presnt and for the last 4-5 years, to ride P-R.

He says his next goal is to win MSR. For a Belgian, you'd think he'd want to win Flanders or Roubaix next.
Oli says:

Sep 19 2011 at 1:37 pm

@frank
Kelly never finished higher than 4th.
Oli says:

Sep 19 2011 at 1:37 pm

Although of course he did win the Vuelta once...
frank says:

Sep 19 2011 at 2:06 pm

@Oli

@frank
Kelly never finished higher than 4th.

How could I have possibly made that mistake? '85 was the other badass Irishman's chance for the podium...

That fact doesn't, however, change the point in the slightest. The Green Jersey was better this year than in a long time because Gilbert was fighting for it. Ever since it became the domain of the sprinters, it's been as meaningless as the polka-dot jersey.

Kelly, while a superbly fast finisher, was nowhere near the same kind of specialist as the Green Jersey contenders these days.