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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Bianchi Denti says:

Feb 17 2012 at 11:24 pm

@frank

@itburns

@Roadslave525

@chris. Starting new job on Monday... Let the dust settle, let me get feet under desk and build cover story... Then we shall drink, and talk about @frank's Diva tendenciesBTW FUCK ME.... Track senSATional this evening... I thought WRs were rare.... But, wow! I *heart* Pendleton

The start of a job is the only chance you have to set the bar. Go for an eight hour V session on Sunday followed by a good piss up. Work will think a limp, glazed corneas, and whiskey cologne is normal. Smooth sailing from then on.

I use the Castanza Model myself. Walk around with a furious look on my face and anytime someone asks me to do something, I wave my hands about and say something to the effect of, "I DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE ENOUGH TIME!! I'VE GOT A FULL PLATE RIGHT NOW!"
And then they leave me alone. And then I go have a leisurely tea.

I say I'm workingin on the Penske file.
Roadslave525 says:

Feb 18 2012 at 12:08 am

@Gianni
Give him a couple of years... But Sagan? Geraint Thomas? I'm secretly hoping there'll be a renaissance in pros trying to do more, and becoming less specialised... I remember hearing The Prophet speak (at the Maglia Rosa / Rouleur dinner last year) where he talked about how he managed his weight through the year to optimise his performance... adding +2kg for cobbled classics (of muscle), then -4kg (i.e. 2kg less than 'normal weight) for Grand Tours so could fly in the mountains and take the distances... Very matter of fact, but Inspiring stuff... For him, cycling was his office, and you went to work all year round
Oli says:

Feb 18 2012 at 12:43 am

@SuperFed
It's the initial of [Something] Zannier, the owner of Vetements 'Z' a childrens clothing brand/chain.
Oli says:

Feb 18 2012 at 12:46 am

Roger Zannier!
Bill says:

Feb 18 2012 at 12:54 am

@mcsqueak

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.

Excellent point! One that I made frequently when I had a boss who was an ex college football (American style) lineman. Big, muscular, overweight dude. He'd give me crap about the lycra and riding a bike for six hours. Then I'd remind him that he'd sit on the bench for 57 minutes out of a 60 minute game.

He never liked that.

@frank

Excellent pic. Even better choice of little words. I suspect I'll look somewhat similar on March 31st.

And glad to see I wasn't the only one that invoked Rule 9 yesterday
napolinige says:

Feb 18 2012 at 1:58 am

@frank

@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 may swap out the Coca-cola for beer.

We've already discussed doing a Quickstep photo, except with Cobblestones.

Send a copy to the PR folk at Quick Step, WTF were they thinking? I fail to believe they've not heard the term 'Pillow Biter'.
sthilzy says:

Feb 18 2012 at 3:16 am
itburns says:

Feb 18 2012 at 3:31 am

@Nate

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.

A great quote I came across along those lines from an impeccable source:

Anquetil stated "In Bobet's eyes there were no little races or unimportant victories. Every race mattered and he wanted to give his everything to his public. Bobet knew only one way of racing and that was to race to win, whatever the sacrifices demanded."
JC Belgium says:

Feb 18 2012 at 8:06 am

@sthilzy

was that when he was suckerpunched in the liver during the Tour de France?

and about the nickname LeMan: there was a flandrien whose real name was Leman, Eric...
frank says:

Feb 18 2012 at 9:16 am

@Louutah

" It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who's face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
Teddy Roosevelt.

Beautiful. So common - and not just in Sport. Some people simply can't resist the urge to point out the mistakes of those who take chances. Their quickness to judge tends to be inversely proportional to how likely they themselves are to take a risk.

Humans are fascinating. Great quote!!

@Rob

I have even spent a night in a hotel with a stranger I met on the interweb...

A night I'll never forget. And something that's been happening more and more, I might add.