Anatomy of a Photo: Just Go Faster

Phil Anderson does the Cipolini "Where are you guys?"

This photo of Phil Anderson’s genuine surprise at the gap between himself and the guy who won at losing reminds me of a story my dad tells of a crewmate from his boat at Laga. My dad was the stroke in a boatful of guys who went on to the compete in several World Championships and the Olympics, some of whom actually won medals there.

Two of the guys even became World Champion in the double one year, winning the race by a few boat lengths. During his post-race interview, one of the two was asked what the secret was to their dominating win. In all seriousness, he responded as follows:

For an important race like this, I’m a little surprised the other guys didn’t pull on the oars harder.

I loves me a good, Stead Up with More Speed Paradox.

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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View Comments

mouse says:

Oct 6 2011 at 11:00 pm

@all

Oh, and by the bye, could we please collectively refrain from referring the old helmets as 'sausage helmets'?
They were, are 'hairnets'.

That is all.
mouse says:

Oct 6 2011 at 11:01 pm

Gah.
edit.
referring to the old etc...
michael says:

Oct 6 2011 at 11:35 pm

@frank

It's not lens flare unless there's some sort of space/time anomaly around his right leg (or it's just made from nurtrinos).
Mikael Liddy says:

Oct 6 2011 at 11:53 pm

@michael

Based on those two images it looks a lot like a vintage version of the logo for Valvoline, a car oil.
Mikael Liddy says:

Oct 6 2011 at 11:53 pm

@michael

PS. How fucking good does that Aussie national champ's kit look?
ChrisO says:

Oct 7 2011 at 12:07 am

@wiscot

That's class - there was a piece on Danny Clark on CT recently too.

Love the bit about the Penny Farthing championships. Anyone else would be doing it for a laugh but he's using the cross wind to put them in the gutter... that's a real hard nut.
michael says:

Oct 7 2011 at 12:28 am

I don't think it's a Valvoline logo though, here's a crop of the full sized image.
mouse says:

Oct 7 2011 at 12:33 am

@michael
Speaking of space time anomalies, WTF is that chicken doing there?
Ooh, ooh. I think I've just won the 'stump @Oli' competition.
Oli says:

Oct 7 2011 at 2:09 am

Yep. I got nothing.
Blah says:

Oct 7 2011 at 2:21 am

@mouse

@all
Oh, and by the bye, could we please collectively refrain from referring the old helmets as 'sausage helmets'?
They were, are 'hairnets'.
That is all.

So 'bunch of bananas' is out also?