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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Cyclops says:

Feb 17 2012 at 3:42 pm

Not much suffering today but it sure was cold (0c). Tomorrow calls for snow and 3 hours on the trainer, ugh.

Now if I only had some V-Socks I could die a happy man.
scaler911 says:

Feb 17 2012 at 3:42 pm

Leaving it all out on the road. Wrecked. Done. He was LeMan then.
mcsqueak says:

Feb 17 2012 at 3:54 pm

Frank, awesome photo choice. Love it.

@wiscot

Another great thing about this photo is that in this day and age, the showers at Roubaix are primitive to say the least. In other sports the organizers, or more likely the riders, would demand state-of-the-art facilities. Not here. The showers are part of the hell of the North deal. You ride the race, you take a shower - and if you win, you get a cobblestone trophy and a shower stall named after you. It's about tradition, history and putting yourself up against those who came before you. You're on the same stones as Hinault, RdV, Merckx, Coppi, van Looy et al. Riders come and go, the cobbles - and the pain - stay the same.
Mind you, if you've just done the kind of ride GL has done, you probably don't care what the showers look like - the suffering is over.

Very, very true. When you've just ridden your heart out for 6 hours, I don't you give a shit what the showers look like.

For example, NFL games have an average of only 11 MINUTES of play time per game. The other ~170 minutes are filled with standing around, replays, and whatever else.

So yeah. If I were only working hard for 11 minutes, I might have more time to contemplate and care about nicer showers and whatnot. But after 6 hours, I'd probably be happy with some running water from a hose out behind the building.
SOL says:

Feb 17 2012 at 3:58 pm

When the fatigue sets in during tomorrows ride, that is the picture I will have burned in to my mind.
Calmante says:

Feb 17 2012 at 4:07 pm

I remember when I first saw this picture, I thought that it was either fake or a painting. It was challenging to see your hero in such a vulnerable state.
Nate says:

Feb 17 2012 at 4:21 pm

Merckx bless LeMond and his ilk, like the Badger, for being GC men who'd still go out and shatter themselves at Paris-Roubaix in April.
Nate says:

Feb 17 2012 at 4:22 pm

@sgt
I better get some miles in this weekend!
Xyverz says:

Feb 17 2012 at 4:40 pm

I got to meet this guy last September at the Palo Alto Echelon Gran Fondo. He may be a bit chubbier than he used to be, but he's one hell of a nice guy and still knows how to ride.

Great photo.
brett says:

Feb 17 2012 at 5:35 pm

@napolinige

Wow! What a photo.
I suggest a photo contest for those of you going on the Keepers' Tour. Best attempt to emulate this photo.. you MUST swap out the Coca-cola for beer.

Fixed your post...
brett says:

Feb 17 2012 at 5:43 pm

RE: Showers; My mate Rigid is designing his house to feature Roubaix replica showers. Concrete stalls, benches, hanging shower heads, brass plaque commemorating the Keepers Tour... yeah.