Categories: Anatomy of a PhotoAwesome Belgian Guys

Anatomy of a Photo: Winter Sweat Box Ride

Sweat box riding has never looked so good.

I spent the entire winter doing morning Spanish Interval Sessions, wherein one dons all their winter riding kit (including wooly hat) before climbing aboard the turbo in a hopeless attempt to sweat themselves thin. The flaw in the method is less in its commitment and more in its lack of effectiveness, although the magnitude of the commitment feels a lot like effectiveness when you’re doing it. The irony is that the Spanish do it in an attempt to shed the water weight caused by the bloating effect of cortisone whereas I did it in an attempt to shed the weight caused by the effect of things like “food” and “alcohol”.

Unlike those wealthy Spanish riders and their fancy turbos, everyone knows that in Belgium¹, they can’t afford such luxuries. So instead of sitting in the basement sweat box to shed water weight, those poor Flemish riders are forced to wrap themselves in sleeping bags and Himalayan mountaineering mitts and set out on the snowy roads in order to break a sweat.

¹ I am guessing that these fellows are in fact Belgian. They could be any nationality, but “Belgian” feels right.

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

Lukasz says:

Jun 25 2016 at 12:17 am

It's Polish National Team training in winter 1980.

http://naszosie.pl/hpk/reprezentacja-polski/
Teocalli says:

Jun 25 2016 at 12:51 am

Presumably also with the car heater on full to get a few extra degrees.

The method I have seen is to cut a head and arm holes in a bin liner and put that on as a base layer. However, be warned, there are also stories of folk overheating with sad consequences using the method. Reality is it is only to shed water to meet a weigh in limit (e.g.a boxer or jockey).
RobSandy says:

Jun 25 2016 at 3:36 am

I thought this was going to be about the Scottish game 'hot car', where the occupants of a vehicle have to put on all their clothes and sit in the car with all the heaters on full and the windows shut (preferably on a hot day so this game probably has a very short season in Scotland), and...err...that's it.
Oli says:

Jun 25 2016 at 4:02 am

@Lukasz

It’s Polish National Team training in winter 1980.

http://naszosie.pl/hpk/reprezentacja-polski/

Brilliant!
Owen says:

Jun 25 2016 at 6:12 am

If you sweat yourself any thinner you'll disappear. Knock that off.
KogaLover says:

Jun 25 2016 at 12:15 pm

@Teocalli

he method I have seen is to cut a head and arm holes in a bin liner and put that on as a base layer. However, be warned, there are also stories of folk overheating with sad consequences using the method. Reality is it is only to shed water to meet a weigh in limit (e.g.a boxer or jockey).

Or rowing, speaking from own experience.
KogaLover says:

Jun 25 2016 at 12:21 pm

@Lukasz

It’s Polish National Team training in winter 1980

Therefore, the backdoor of the car is open to protect them from the cold, by heating them up a bit?
Puffy says:

Jun 25 2016 at 5:56 pm

I really shouldn't be bringing reasoned thought to an article such as this but;

More likely they are motor pacing and the door is up so the coach can scream instructions to them. Could be too keep the wind off for the trailing riders I suppose.
Barracuda says:

Jun 26 2016 at 9:14 pm

@Puffy

I really shouldn’t be bringing reasoned thought to an article such as this but;

More likely they are motor pacing and the door is up so the coach can scream instructions to them. Could be too keep the wind off for the trailing riders I suppose.

Now you're just being stupid, bringing reasoned thought into commentary.

That will never catch on !

What were you thinking?
Ron says:

Jun 27 2016 at 7:44 am

Only 9 comments and this went up Friday? Whaddya jerks think you can do, ride your bike all weekend and not even come round to comment? Not cool.

Also, strongest first comment in history? With a name like that, I'm guessing your Polish. Nice work with the link!

And, riding indoors is bad enough, I can't imagine doing it in full clothing. Ugh.