Categories: Anatomy of a Photo

Anatomy of a Photo: Depletion

One eye open and dreaming; were the building on fire, I suspect this shell of a man could hardly be bothered to move from his bench.

As a Cyclist, the enormous weight of the total exhaustion felt by LeMond at this moment fills my spirit with equal measures of dread and envy.

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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BrianG says:

Feb 18 2012 at 6:04 pm

@silkrider
Feels good just looking at it.
Zoncolan says:

Feb 19 2012 at 5:41 pm

And yet how about this for Rule V? Panache and reserves in spades. Chapeau!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/6447334/100-year-old-sets-cycling-world-record
The Oracle says:

Feb 20 2012 at 6:26 am

@frank

@The Oracle

Does anyone else think he looks like Ryan Gosling in that picture?

No. If Ryan Gosling* underwent a full-body Rule #5 cleanse and a rigorously studied "Not Being a Pussy, A Beginners Guide" and then learned to ride a bike and then became a Pro who revolutionized the sport and then rode Paris-Roubaix and sat in the shower like a wet fucking sock, then maybe Ryan Gosling would look like Greg LeMond.
*I actually like Ryan Gosling, but lets not mix apples and hardmen.

Just to clarify, I was in no way suggesting a comparison of anything other than facial features.
Mikael Liddy says:

Feb 20 2012 at 6:14 pm

This thread is just further proof, cycling photos simply look better in black & white.
razmaspaz says:

Feb 21 2012 at 9:14 am

@frank Do you credit these photos somewhere? Went looking elsewhere for this one, and can't find it.
Dan O says:

Feb 21 2012 at 11:11 pm

Fantastic pic of LeMonster.

At this point of the year, I resemble this after a slow mountain bike ride. It's been a lazy winter...
Dan_R says:

Mar 1 2012 at 2:55 pm

@DerHoggz

@ChrisO
Basically a more tucked in aero position, I think there is some video of him descending on them.

While lookiong for example pics I found this, completely OT, but RDV doing some 'cross.

Of late, RDV has been my training oppenent in my head - I still get dropped like a red-headed step-child on the Muur by him...
unversio says:

Oct 25 2012 at 6:45 pm

@scaler911

Ottavio: Casual, deliberate, wrecked;

Ottavio to be portrayed by Willem Dafoe.