On Rule #5: Not Minding That It Hurts
In my favorite scene from Lawrence of Arabia, T.E. Lawrence, after lighting a colleague’s cigarette, allows the match to burn down to his fingertips before snuffing it out. Having witnessed the stunt, the dim-witted associate attempts it himself, only to blow out the match before it gets anywhere close to burning down. “That damn well hurts!”, he states, barely concealing his amazement. “Certainly it hurts,” replies Lawrence with the cool calm of a man who is at ease with The V. “Well, what’s the trick then?”
“The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.”
The trick to becoming a better Cyclist depends, they say, on one’s capacity to suffer. Riding faster is easy, after all; all you have to do is push harder on those flat things attached to your feet. But that, as many of us have discovered, is the complicated bit.
Our ability to suffer is driven by our willingness to push ourselves, to resist the signals our bodies are sending – whether those signals tell us to stop an effort, to stay inside when the mercury drops, when the rain falls, or dipping into the cellar for a session on the trainer rather than for a bottle of wine. To walk the difficult path of becoming a better cyclist requires, in a word, willpower.
Many of the obstacles along that path require us to eschew the wisdom taught to us by our elders and society. Listen to your body, they tell us, when in fact our bodies are chatty things that have only a few sensible contributions to make. Stay inside when it’s wet, or you’ll catch cold, the folk knowledge claims, while in reality those who stay indoors are more likely to catch cold and if we were to heed that advice, we would rarely throw a leg over a top tube during non-summer months. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger… well, I suppose they had to get one right.
In practice, weakness breeds weakness and strength breeds strength. We may not allow ourselves to take the easy path, for nothing worth travelling to lies at the end of it. If we relent to the pain during an effort, it only makes it easier to do so again next time. Allowing ourselves to stay off the bike for today’s bad weather makes it easier to do so again tomorrow. On the other hand, enduring today’s cold steels us for tomorrow’s chill.
To claim we enjoy suffering, that we enjoy the pain of an effort, or that we enjoy riding in the wet and cold is a bit misleading. While I believe there might be those who possess a perversion that does indeed allow them to enjoy pain, for most of us, we have merely discovered that the burning of our muscles today strengthens them for tomorrow. We have learned that submitting to the deluge or climbing aboard the trainer in winter helps build towards a result that won’t be realized until our planet reaches the next equinox. Rather than enjoying suffering, we enjoy what suffering does for us and have learned through practice to associate current pains with future gains.
Personally, I enjoy riding in the rain more than most, certainly when it comes as a refreshing change from riding on dry roads. I enjoy the rain splashing up from the road, or the cold air in my face. But to say I cherish riding throughout the cold and wet Winter months is certainly an overstatement. During this time of year, I have to push myself to go for a ride every single time. When I am warm inside, there is no part of me that wants to pull on cold-weather gear knowing I will be cold and uncomfortable for the duration of the ride. Instead of thinking about whether I want to ride, I simply do it; focusing on desire or comfort does little to improve the condition. Quite the opposite, in fact – a frozen toe is better left not contemplated when one lacks the means to warm it up.
The trick to becoming a better cyclist doesn’t have so much to do with our capacity to suffer. Certainly we suffer; the trick is not minding that we suffer.
@minion
I’ve worked damn hard for every sweater I own, including the argyle one I have on now.
@G’phant
Look out the window. I blame you.
You’re right though, since i’ve been crook I’ve been inside and the posts I’ve been reading here has got me fired up for winter riding, even though it’s summer. The best thing about riding through winter is the form you have in summer. Being able to turn up early in the season ready to race, fronkly, rules.
@G’phant
I actually was going to add a disclaimer that this newfound leaf that has been overturned applies only to the articles. But of course I didn’t. And then I thought, “I’ll probably make an error here and I will get called on it” and then I got distracted by something shiny.
@mcsqueak
Thank you. At least you understand me.
@G’phant
It’s part of the high road around the mountain that cuts between the Kaitaki ranges and Pouakai – climbs up to about 450m then plenty of uppy-downy bits through the rainforest, rickety bridges, dead possums, etc, fun descents to follow…
See if this works…
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/59768686/ – that kind of area
I’ll be at the round the mountain (the one on the 14th, not the one at then end of the month), I’ve just moved back here after a couple of years away so it’s kind of like a homecoming…
@minion
Hey, Einstein, what’s that saying about those who throw stones?
There’s enough anti-science in this thread to fill a Republican presidential debate. I guess I’ll have to go play with my dinosaurs by myself.
@frank
They hit what they throw stones at?
Hypocricy is something I’ve had explained to me many, many times. Still don’t get it.
@xyxax
Steampunk likes this!
Enjoying the the heck out of this article Frank and the usual high level of banter from ALL…
Sorry, but Lawrance comes in second after Zhivago for me. It’s something about being 12 and Julie Christie… but it is very close from the opening scene on the Brough Superior and the quick sand not to mention the match scene, which now that I think about it was an early sign that I would race, because I immediately started copying it to all my friends.
(since I do not spell or grammar I don’t sweet mistaeks – there will be no corrections from this unedjumacated sod)
When I was in high school a friend and I had a contest to see who could get the most school colours just to piss off the people who were trying. We ended up in the Drama class (easy) and in a full length, faithful stage version of the movie. 15 schoolboys putting on a 3 and a half hour show about a suspected whoopsie and a bit of a wierdo, sure as chips got a few parent worried about their kids.
@frank
Amen to your new leaf Frank.
I heartily agree it is within the spirit of The Rules.
Just as we assess the rider who turns up on Sunday by the state of his (or her) bike, the state of the guns and the level of rule compliance so I judge people’s writing and opinions by their spelling and grammar. It’s not definitive or final and it’s not personal but it says something about them – about their effort and respect and how much immediate trust they start with.
We all make mistakes though, especially in posts rather than articles, so no excuse for pedantry.
If nothing else I would have been quite upset if my wife felt obliged to run us down on the cobbles next year for crimes against grammar. I can imagine it now: “Mystery Cycling Tragedy… English Woman Held… Pages of Fowler’s Pinned to Bib-Shorts of Fallen Cyclists”
@Rob
I agree that Julie Christie was a total bomb shell in that movie. But I can’t stand that movie overall. It’s been getting below freezing down here and commuting to school has become extra fun in the morning.
@xyxax
Hey man, I was just trying to sound tough. I am a scientist, after all. Well a Computer Scientist. But if it helps, I think referring to software development as “Engineering” is ridiculous. It is not Engineering and none of the principles apply. In fact, applying Engineering principles to software is largely responsible for how much software sucks.
I love Science so much, I capitalize it. Take that, @ChrisO.
@minion
I have no clue what you’re saying. None whatsoever. Not the words, not the message. Nothing. Sorry. Would love to tell you otherwise. I feel like I’m back in grade school asking the cool kids whats so funny, all the while not realizing that I had toilet paper sticking out of my trousers.
@RedRanger
I’m with you. I love old movies more than is healthy, but Dr. Z is just a deader for me. I would love nothing more that to walk up to someone and say in a sophisticated tone, “You know what’s great? Dr. Z. Fucking fantastic movie.” But I can’t make it through.
Arabia does it for me, though. Fantastic film, front to back. Extended ed, widescreen. Also have the old version where they flipped it and his watch was on the wrong side. The tossers.
@ChrisO
You’re right to think that way. I used to be better, but the last few months have been a killer. No excuse. I’ll be proof-reading an extra time her on out.
Not my posts, though. Just articles. Because really, I can’t be bothered if you lot can’t. I’m just one of you when we’re posting.
Just found a typo on the VVallpapers. Before long, I’ll be the pendant.
@jank
+1. Very nicely put.
@frank @minion
I know exactly what he’s talking about having been Head of Drama (ie, as a teacher) at a top Melbourne private school. Getting colours may have been easy if you copied a movie… Not so easy on my watch.
Seriously, it was 3 1/2 hours? Wow. The missus and I didn’t stay to watch Kevin Spacey finish his Richard III a few weeks ago because it was going to go 3.20. Life is just too short.
Frank, your article has given me an excuse to post this link to a recent article on consumate hardman Juric Robic which some of you may have seen.
Suffering is all in the mind apparently: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?pagewanted=all
As a sidebar Marcus and I had the pleasure of meeting G’rilla in the flesh on his recent visit to Melbourne over the weekend after he joined us on our regular Saturday ride along bayside Melbourne. It was quite a thrill and we look forward to hosting other Velominati should they come through Melbourne with a bike in tow.
Lawrie of Arabia is one of my all time favourite movies. Omar Sharif loping up to the well in the desert – Lawrence yelling ‘no prisoners, no prisoners’ – pivotal scenes, magnificent cinematography and a must-see for anyone who enjoys epic movies.
Very good article frank. Everyone elses contributions are certainly making this an interesting thread.
Coincidentally, I was looking up some cycling related quotes yesterday (my life is pretty dull) on the interwebs when I came across this one from one Scott Martin, which I thought was quite accurate at the time but now fits this thread very well….
“Pain is a big fat creature riding on your back. The farther you pedal, the heavier he feels. The harder you push, the tighter he squeezes your chest. The steeper the climb, the deeper he digs his jagged, sharp claws into your muscles.”
It’s for articles like this I come here, and I think that this is my favourite.
@rhys, I couldn’t agree more really.
Since we’re digressing, my favourite part is the scene in the Negev desert where the camera just stays on the sun inching slowly up over the dunes until it fills the screen.
It has an even greater resonance for me in my current location of course. I really do think of that scene frequently when I’m out cycling and see the sun coming up across the sand. For most of the year I know I’ve got another 3, maximum 4 hours, before it becomes intolerable and that’s with a steady supply of water.
Second-best movie based in a desert… Ice Cold in Alex. Sylvia Syms… mmmmm.
@frank
I think the point was this film had a formative effect on me. Our drama teacher wrote the script, we rehearsed it for months and watched the film a number of times. It’s interesting that it has turned up here, though like all the best things, I can’t put my finger on why.
@Blah
The missus and I didn’t stay to watch Kevin Spacey finish his Richard III a few weeks ago because it was going to go 3.20.
Save you the effort… no horse, he dies.
@ChrisO
SPpssh – Sylvia Simms…..Sylvia Simms…..
Actually once I erase the Carry On movies from my mind, she was damnably gorgeous in that – was the entire film an analogy of one of your 180km desert rides @ChrisO? Bet that frosted beer must taste beaut when you get home
So the sun rose on me too, as I commuted in this morning, just in time for me to see the black ice I was just about to hit, as I adjusted my glasses – pointless adjustment in the end, as I had to put them back on a few moments later, after I picked myself of the road – Excelled myself by falling off again about 20 minutes later going over a bridge with a bunch of walkmuters – seems to entertain them, so well worth it – anyway, I think I hurt myself, but I thought of Lawrence Oliver of Arabia, and didn’t really mind, so on I went
Hmm, as far as cold weather riding goes, I’m more Withnail, drinking lighter fluid and covering himself in embrocation than Florence of Arabia.
@G’phant – I agree on the pain. When hammering along, mouth agape with drool in 52/12 or so, there is a tiny little part of the brain, tucked way back, that’s still chuckling, Butthead style, and saying…”cool…”
@frank
Hear hear – no excuses for typos – good to hear someone feel bad about them! By the way, what does extra time her on out mean?
@ChrisO
Never more a noble subject for a film…
I’m extremely envious of your desert sunrises. The last couple of times I’ve set out before the dawn I’ve been hopeful that it would end up sunny. On the first, the fog was too thick and on the second, the starry night had given way to clouds by the time the sun was due up. Maybe next time.
Sunsets are great but sunrises feel so much more special because feel that you’ve done something to earn it, even if it’s just getting out bed in time.
@Dr C
Who are you thinking of Dr C ? It’s definitely Syms with a ‘y’ and according to her Wikipedia filmography she was never in a Carry On film.
You aren’t getting her confused with Joan Sims are you – heaven forfend. A lovely but more homely lady than Sylvia.
I tried to watch Inception last night – WTF was that all about?
Gave up halfway through and went to bed – woke up several times in someone elses head, then wasn’t convinced that my alarm clock was real, so slept in – maybe that wasn’t me that actually fell off my bike twice on the way in this morning – ah bollocks to that
@Dr C
His VMH needs to spend more time proof reading his posts.
@Chris
Fucktard. More proof reading for you. Never more noble a subject for a film…
@Chris
Good lad, that’s more like it (bit rich from one with a garage like mine!!)
@Dr C
Loved Inception despite that Leonard chap being a first rate twatwaffle. First time I saw it was on a plane which did it no favours at all. It need to be in sodding huge HD with big sound.
@Steampunk
You know what I’m talking about, Doc. Anyway, my 4000 year old dinos are so much better than those crap 300 million year old ones. They’re the Di2 of extinct reptiles.
@frank
We were both having a laugh, big fella. Your science bona fides are impeccable, not that I would ever pecc.
@ChrisO
Good Lord, you nailed it – I’m defo winning the twatwaffle competition today! I did think it was impossible for such a horrific decline
I was going to say, this was here in her better days, but will leave the viewer to judge…
@ChrisO
Cheers! Now I know what to say when other staff here ask what I though of it.
@Dr C
Have you been hitting the laudanum again, Doc?
@Dr C
Typos are fine. A typo is a slip of the finger rather than clearly not getting it right. There/their/they’re confusion isn’t a typo. The problem, for mine, if there is a problem (and that’s for the community to decide), is poor grammar, spelling, etc. And that’s not typos.
How do you feel about overuse of punctuation, particularly commas?
As a favor, I would be grateful if we could drop the whole punctuation/proofreading conversation. One of the truly great things about being out of the classroom and on leave this year is that I don’t have to correct papers. I’m actually getting violent shakes reading all this (4000 year old dinosaurs, for some reason, I can cope with””pick your battles?).
It’s all very simple. Typos happen. But attention to detail is a big part of la Vie Velominatus. I suggest a method of self-policing that involves hill repeats. But pointing out somebody’s failings? Show a little class and don’t be a fuckwit. When in doubt about whether you’re being clever or classless, check out the below. What would Hugo do?
Inspiration Frank. Merci!
30+ years of the life. Heat (you know it’s hot outside when you exhale and it cools your skin), cold, rain, driving rain, fog (you know it’s foggy when you see your shadow as the odd car passes you: you know it’s foggy when your damn certain your pushing the pedals but cannot tell your moving). Thank the Merckx for multiple bidons and clip on fenders….
But today is not of minding to suffer: it is of Wanting to Suffer.
Trapped by 4 walls for 6 days. Teased by the sole window to the outside world from 9.2 meters above. Seeing the sun rise from opposite reflections and set past the pillars of our evolution. Not breathing the frosty air of the outside world.
My days for these last 144 hours typically commences at 03:30 with the visit from the vampires. What is thy bidding today: 2, 4, or 6 vials? Then the vitals and the changing of the nourishment bag….and the waiting for results. The sounds of pain from near and far. But not from my room.
This temporary imprisonment will be slayed.
After 30 years, my addiction will pull me out this condition and back to my rightful place: out to my roads of sanctuary.
But spare time enables daily, sometimes hourly, cruising to the site of all good. And Franks latest masterpiece.
I hate the question: “So, on a scale of 1 to 10, what is the pain level?” Pain level? See Rule V bitch. Or my reply (in my head of course), you mean Time Trial pain, selection pain, leadout pain or the W pain (oh wait, that pain dissipates immediately!)??
So the topic of Minding to Suffer vs Wanting to Suffer hit a nerve with me.
At this point I look forward to the next worship in on mobile chapel or with the 3 drums of discipline.
Always a surprise and an inspiration, Gracie Frank!
(Please forgive the typos and missqueues, my Crackberry can do only so much…)
@Oli
No, but just ordered some more on Ebay
@leadout
Well said @leadout – you are either a Medical Intern/Houseman, or you are in Beruit, in which case I hope you get released soon
It hurt to read this yesterday and again this morning. Yesterday I bailed on riding for the first time all year. Doesn’t matter that I wrecked a couple times on Friday and more snow and ice came in since. Or that I put in the best, most painful interval workout of my life over the weekend. I suppose the next few days will have to hurt just a little more than normal.
@frank
Never made it through Dr Z. Bores me to death and I love old movies and have quite a decent collection of the Criterion films. Just, for some reason, Dr Z puts me to sleep.
Love the scene near the end when the French minister, Fisel and the English general are together and the younger aide has to leave b/c he cannot stand to watch the goings on and the French minister says, “There’s nothing further here for a warrior. We drive bargains. Old men’s work. Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men. Courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace. And the vices of peace are the vices of old men. Mistrust and caution. It must be so.” Such a great passage. The whole movie is just amazing.
@Blah
What the hell are “school colours in this context? I’m lost as well (and I thought I was up on my Aussie-speak!)
Colours are a form of honours/recognition system for outstanding or consistently strong performances. The form varies from school to school. Sounds like @Blah‘s school was arty and liberal compared to mine. We could only get colours for sport.
At my school you could be awarded Full or Half Colours for a major sport (Rugby, Hockey, Cricket and Athletics) but only Colours for a minor sport (soccer, cross country, tennis etc). Half Colours and Colours in a minor sport allowed the the pupil to wear a different tie from the masses whilst each of the major sports had it’s own Full Colours blazer and tie.
@Chris
Thanks, mate! I had no idea what the hell you were all talking about. Kind of like “lettering” in a sport here in the States, I guess.
@Buck Rogers
Not really up to speed on the Lettering system but the colours thing sounds like the Anglo/Antipodean equivalent. For most sports you would’t get colours in any shape or form unless you were in the school team, or competing at the highest age group level. Outstanding performances at regional or national level would be the only way to get them at a younger age.
You must have that sort of thing in the military too.
@kiwicyclist: Frank, your article has given me an excuse to post this link to a recent article on consumate hardman Juric Robic which some of you may have seen.
Suffering is all in the mind apparently: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?pagewanted=all
2 years ago I was part of a 4 man team that did a 1,000km race around Switzerland called the Tortour. Jure Robic rode it solo and if my recollection is correct my 4 man team only beat him by about 2.5 hours. We spoke to him after the race for about 20 minutes: My recollections- 1) he saw lights and answered to a calling very different to most cyclists- it seemed like he was driven by something very disimilar than the rest of us. 2) His guns were insanley large and defined…I have never seen so many veins (outside of that nasty thing Hincapie has on his calf) 3) He said he trained 6-8 hours a day every day of the year. 4)He was a very nice, genuine, but complex dude.
In the last year, I read J.Robic died due to a head on collision with a car on a downhill on his mountain bike in his home country in the rain. When I read that he had passed I had this strange feeling that someone very unique had left us combined with the thought that given his OCD lifestyle this was bound to happen.