Categories: Belgian AffirmationsDefining MomentsEtiquetteThe Rules

Cut Like a Buffalo

We need to be tough on and off the bike.

Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule suggests that mastering a skill comes down to an incredible amount of practice; however talented you might be, it is the cultivation of raw talent into skill that distinguishes between success and failure. To train is to practice, and every hour we spend devoted to our craft is one spent chipping away at our facade to slowly reveal our true selves, like Michelangelo swinging his hammer to chip away the fragments of marble that obscure the masterpiece within.

Becoming skilled at our chosen craft requires discipline and perseverance. Toughness. Not only on the bike, but in all aspects of our lives. It demands that we get enough sleep, that we eat well, and that we manage our personal lives such that we are still able to Train Properly. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, anyway.

But mastering the art requires that we go out when the skies are dark and the clouds are laden heavy with rain. It requires that we commit to early morning roller or turbo sessions, that we submit to long, cold rides on short winter days, riding within the light cone cut from the darkness by our headlights. Even in Spring and into Summer, as the demands of bad weather and dark days diminish, we are still torn between the work that lies before us and the temptation of the easier path.

Keeper @Marko sent me a set of rollers, which I am ashamed I did not previously posses. I am also ashamed to admit I have not yet ridden them apart from a short spin to make sure they didn’t have any grenades in them. In my defense, just as they arrived, the weather in Seattle morphed from caterpillar into butterfly and I have taken every opportunity to cultivate my tan lines, so faras a Seattleite might have a tan line in April. But I know that starting in May, my training for the Festum Prophetae Hour requires two-hour sessions on the rollers to cultivate my stroke, so I have to wrench myself from the sunny streets to do The Work for the greater objective. Especially because I have heard tell two hours on The Rollers in a nasty thing. Especially on a fixed-wheel track bike.

Picasso said that you should learn The Rules like a Pro so you can break them like an artist. To that end, I am prepared to start riding my rollers for the sake of my Hour efforts in June and August. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to like it. Not one stinking little bit. But it is required, so it will be done.

And speaking of track bikes, my Don Walker Hour bike is being redone in a VLVV paint scheme.

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

piwakawaka says:

Apr 19 2016 at 12:09 am

ask not what you can do for the rollers but what the rollers can do for you.
RobSandy says:

Apr 19 2016 at 12:56 am

Think of riding the rollers as an extension of Rule #9 - doing something that on the face of it, you don't want to do. Because you know the results will be worth it. Because it will make you harder, faster, better.

Rule #9 and Rule #5 = a shitload of Rule #10, i.e. Strack going lots faster for an Hour.
Teocalli says:

Apr 19 2016 at 2:11 am

There are so many way in which you can work them into your normal routine too....
Buck Rogers says:

Apr 19 2016 at 5:04 am

Great stuff again.

First about the 10,000 hours. Love this Messi video (of course, Barca are tanking in epic style right now but I am not a fair weather fan and I still love them, Messi and most of all Iniesta). Skip the first 14 seconds of the video. Reminds me of the "You're so lucky/so gifted" discussion we had last week. Very little in life comes down to pure luck. We make our luck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALMQUaKhxF0

And Rollers. Brother, I have come to embrace them in a weird, sick masochistic way where it is a pure love/hate relationship. But I do love rollers.

Finally, got to love the music exposure I am getting here. I had never heard of "Cut Like a Buffalo". Great stuff!
Oli says:

Apr 19 2016 at 5:22 am

Rollers are definitely best in Dead Weather.
chuckp says:

Apr 19 2016 at 6:44 am

You had me at the pic of Fausto Coppi.

Used to ride rollers ages ago. Great way to learn how to ride no hands. If you can take off and put back on a jacket riding rollers, you know how to ride.
wiscot says:

Apr 19 2016 at 7:04 am

Seattelite tan? We finally got some 70 degree days here in WI on the weekend and the legs were finally uncovered sans knee or leg warmers. Holy crap were they white! This song kept going through my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA
frank says:

Apr 19 2016 at 7:13 am

@Oli

Rollers are definitely best in Dead Weather.

Totally.
Ron says:

Apr 19 2016 at 7:31 am

Very nice piece! Enjoy the suffering, Frank. I left my rollers behind when I moved 1000 kms south a few years back. The weather in NC is always, always okay for someone used to the snow belt. If it's truly bad, which is rare, I can ride in the woods.

I often think about that 10,000 hour mark. I spent every day of every summer from around 10-18 practicing my favorite sport, at the time. Friends were off to summer camp, to their family's lake house. Me, I was riding my bike to the local school field to practice, often alone. I'm not that big, I'm not that naturally talented. But, I still played at the highest collegiate level and that is something I'll forever be proud of, as I truly earned it.

I needed some time away from the sport after a tough college career. Just got back into coaching 2nd and 3rd graders. How special! Nothing like sharing a game you love with a new generation of players. Even cooler that the VMH is about ready to give birth to our first son! I'll become a sensei sometime in the next 3 weeks.
KogaLover says:

Apr 19 2016 at 7:34 am

@Frank, you opened Pandora's box with your Meatloaf "2 out of 3 ain't bad" link. This was my first record I bought, when I was a teenager and I still know all lyrics by heart. So for training purposes, think about getting out of bed like a bat out of hell, see the cycling paradise by your dashboard light, during the Hour you'll be all revved up with basically no place to go, we'll all be crying out loud for you. Heaven for you will wait until after the Hour is done, after which you will be able to pop your malted recovery beverage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAce1jH4OmE) at which moment you will say "you took the words right out of my mouth".