Categories: Breaking The RulesCyclocrossDefining MomentsRantings from the V-Bunker

Motorhead

Motors are acceptable for this.

Motherfucker.

I honestly don’t like swearing in an Article, much less using such a word to open an article, but seriously. Motherfucker. A motor discovered in an U23 rider’s bike at the Cyclocross World Championships has to be the lowest of the low that anyone can go. I’m so pissed off, I’m rhyming. Which itself makes me madder than a hatter.

I have a pretty lenient stance on doping, which I hold to fairly wide criticism. I believe that the path towards doping is full of shadows and gradual steps towards the darkness. It is easy for me to imagine a young, ambitious rider who has sacrificed education and other vocations for the chance to become a Pro Cyclist, who is taken under the wing of an older, more experienced rider and to whom is explained the ways of the sport. If I was 18 and following that path, I cannot say with certainty what choice I would make, given the limited perspective one would have under those circumstances. While I hate doping and wish for clean sport, I hold limited judgement over those who have strayed down that path.

But we ride bicycles for the pleasure of propelling ourselves along the road under our own power. We push the pedals and we go faster, it is as simple as that; the motor resides in our heads and in our hearts. Performance enhancing drugs will, to various degrees, fine-tune and modify that motor, but there remains alive a notion that even a doped rider is holding true to this basic notion.

Competition is about finding out who is the superior athlete, it is as simple as that. We train, we fine-tune our equipment, we learn the strategy and tactics required to rise to the top. Doping certainly obscures that concept, but that a rider would abandon this fundamental principle of our sport by utilizing a motor in their bike seems to me an order of magnitude removed. It is gratuitous to the extent that there is no possible justification apart from an unabashed desire to win over all else.

This is bike racing, not motorcycle racing. For fucks sake.

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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frank says:

Feb 1 2016 at 7:26 pm

@EBruner

@litvi

If I can capture MY OWN energy and re-apply it later, through carbon layup nanoseconds later, oval chainrings microseconds later, and both are legal, maybe applying my own power from a flywheel or a dynamo later on isn’t cheating after all.

Is that like capturing your own blood and Re-applying it later?

Oh, ouch!

Great point. Its different, my gut tells me, but I'm not sure I can articulate why!
frank says:

Feb 1 2016 at 7:27 pm

@wilburrox

@Gianni

@brett

@Gianni

Inconclusive. I ride up the Koppenberg at that same pace!

(Ok, I’m comment doping there…)

OK, besides Brett, people don’t ride away from such powerful cyclists on that kind of grade. To my eye it looks totally evident she has an assist.

Sure does to me too.

The big thing is she accelerates without changing anything in her pedalling style.
Oli says:

Feb 1 2016 at 7:33 pm

@EBruner

Gold!
EBruner says:

Feb 1 2016 at 7:45 pm

The only stored energy doping I am guilty of is hauling my fat ass up climbs just as fast as the skinny 20 somethings, and crushing them on the decent with my "stored" kinetic energy.
litvi says:

Feb 1 2016 at 8:10 pm

@frank

@EBruner

@litvi

If I can capture MY OWN energy and re-apply it later, through carbon layup nanoseconds later, oval chainrings microseconds later, and both are legal, maybe applying my own power from a flywheel or a dynamo later on isn’t cheating after all.

Is that like capturing your own blood and Re-applying it later?

Oh, ouch!

Great point. Its different, my gut tells me, but I’m not sure I can articulate why!

They aren't a whole lot different, after all. Pharmaceuticals : battery powered motors :: my own blood stored in bags : my own energy stored in a flywheel. One is clearly outside help, whereas the other is a little murky.

What's important is what the rules are. Rules are rules, and agree or disagree, you Obey the Rules. (That's even codified somewhere.) Because the rules are known. The rules keep the playing field level when they are "out in the open," everyone knows them.

However I'm not sure being "out in the open" is always enough to decide if a thing is cheating or fair play. The proprietary nature of new and innovative technology is part of its appeal, right? The first electronic shifters were kept under wraps for a while. Ferrari's first spoiler was visible, but the concept was concealed ("keeping fuel splashes from hitting the hot tailpipes"). But that doesn't make them cheating, or more to the point, Wrong.
Barracuda says:

Feb 1 2016 at 8:37 pm

@frank

@EBruner

@litvi

If I can capture MY OWN energy and re-apply it later, through carbon layup nanoseconds later, oval chainrings microseconds later, and both are legal, maybe applying my own power from a flywheel or a dynamo later on isn’t cheating after all.

Is that like capturing your own blood and Re-applying it later?

Oh, ouch!

Great point. Its different, my gut tells me, but I’m not sure I can articulate why!

a ) Your dutch

2 ) that's why

* ) no artificial articulation needed.

I like @EBruner thinking though, as in, its my blood and I'll do what I like with it.
Major VVald says:

Feb 1 2016 at 8:56 pm

Going back to the beginnings of Frank's article: 100% agree, traditional doping (of your body - FFS now we have to call that "traditional!") still requires you to lay down maximum V in the moment of truth. Gruber assists/motors/magnetic drives are more akin to holding onto a team car or grabbing onto a passing press motorcycle in a race - for just a bit you get relief from the suffering and hell, that does help (as long as you don't misjudge and crash or get caught by the commisaire). And there is no way in hell the riders who have these don't know they are in there. I can tell when I have a full bidon or an empty one, a motor and power pack would definitely be noticeable on a pro peloton bike.

I'll wager the UCI was immediately suspicious of dear Famke after her Koppenberg performance, and waited for just the right opportunity to catch her out somewhere that was sure to garner more press coverage. What's better than World's. Message sent and definitely received.
frank says:

Feb 1 2016 at 9:32 pm

@Barracuda

@frank

@EBruner

@litvi

If I can capture MY OWN energy and re-apply it later, through carbon layup nanoseconds later, oval chainrings microseconds later, and both are legal, maybe applying my own power from a flywheel or a dynamo later on isn’t cheating after all.

Is that like capturing your own blood and Re-applying it later?

Oh, ouch!

Great point. Its different, my gut tells me, but I’m not sure I can articulate why!

a ) Your dutch

2 ) that’s why

* ) no artificial articulation needed.

I like @EBruner thinking though, as in, its my blood and I’ll do what I like with it.

Your Dutch or my Dutch?
Barracuda says:

Feb 1 2016 at 10:01 pm

@frank

just dutch
frank says:

Feb 1 2016 at 10:11 pm

@brett

@frank

“I honestly don’t like swearing in an Article…”

This is as big a joke as “it’s my friend’s bike”!

Ok, searching for the word "fuck" does show an increasing incidence of that word in my articles, but it's still a significant minority. You and Gianni have almost a perfect record! Chapeau to both of you.