The Lion King was once a Pedalwan cub, just as the rest of us. Guide the uninitiated.
I rode with a rider I know from work a few weeks ago. The first time we sat in a meeting together, we immediately pegged one another as a Cyclist the way Cyclists always peg one another; nothing specific or obvious but everything nonspecific and nonobvious. It’s what we do, you can’t learn it and it can’t be explained. Then he mentioned he had driven to Seattle from SoCal with his dog and his bike and I was sure. This wasn’t a Harley he was talking about, this was a road bike.
As leaders of our respective teams, we immediately directed the agenda to measuring up one another’s bikes.
Me: “What bike do you ride?”
Him: “I brought my rain bike when I moved here. It’s a Pinarello Prince. My good bike is a Dogma. What do you ride?”
Me: “A Veloforma Strada iR. My rain bike is a Cervelo R3.”
Him: “What groupsets?”
It went on a bit before he turned to the everyone else and explained the situation in layman’s terms. “The conversation we’re having here is that we both have a Ferrari except the Ferrari got a little old and we bought a newer Ferrari. Except we didn’t get rid of the old Ferrari because you just don’t do that. Too many memories. So then you wind up with a Ferrari you ride in bad weather and one that you ride in good.”
When our schedules finally meshed to the point that we got together for a ride, he invited two of his colleagues along with him; one a long-time training partner and one a younger guy he’d never ridden with who showed up on a heavy no-name steel bike with a 90’s-era Shimano 105 8 speed groupsan. And platform pedals. And a t-shirt. And sneakers.
“Are you running or riding?”
We all had a chuckle and set off on a jaunty 80km spin, not too hard but not too easy. Sneakers held on the whole way. He got gapped a little on the bigger climbs but laid down the power to catch up again and sat in the group like a Pro; drafting close, taking the corners well, and rotating through into the wind. And always with a smile on his face.
As the ride wound down, the friend I’d sized up in the meeting sat up and pointed at me and said, “You rode like I expected you to ride.” Then he pointed at Sneakers and said, “And you rode so much harder than I ever expected. If you had a better bike, you’d be dropping us all. You’re an amazing athlete.” Everyone agreed.
I’ve been in touch with Sneakers, a new Pedalwan. He picked up some clipless pedals first, then a bit later he scored a new bike off CraigsList. He’s caught the bug, and catching the bug is what its all about.
Never judge a book by it’s cover. Behind every platform pedal riding, sneaker and t-shirt wearing bicyclist lurks a potential Velominatus.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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I got back into riding six months ago after 20 years off the bike. My first month or so, I was an out of shape middle aged guy with platform pedals on a '91 Paramount with 7 speed 105 and a Telekom jersey bought in Getmany in July, 1996.
Then through the winter I was the same thing, only with clipless pedals and climbing a bit better. Now I'm a middle aged guy on an R3 who's in decent shape and can ride up an HC and suffer, but without feeling as if he may die.
And it turns out that these days you don't have to wait a month for your issue of Winning to arrive so you know who won the Giro. Life is good.
This is why we guide the uninitiated. Rule #3.
Always fear the kid in sneakers. He will eventually rip your legs off.
The Cipo photo is priceless. The gloves, just like Eddy.
@LawnCzar
Fuckin' spot on, Bevin.
@frank
One of the things I love about this community is that people can make references to things like "waiting a month for your issue of Winning to arrive so you know who won the Giro" and "fuckin' spot on, Bevin" and they just flow naturally, no explanation needed.
My District Manager is also in to cycling, and we have known each other over 15 years. One day at work, I told him about the article on here about the "Belgian compact". I explained how Museeuw said one of the most awesomely macho things I have ever read, when he said that the problem with a regular compact crankset is that the big ring isn't big enough for climbing. He laughed, and then commented that only about half of one percent of the world would have any idea of what I was talking about.
It's good to be around other Velominati.
VLVV!
@LawnCzar
What memories! They seem to be similar to my own!
Back in 1986, I was starstruck by Lemond and Hinault. For a few years, I was definitely the kid with sneakers and platform pedals. By 1988, my parents had come to terms with my cycling obsession and gotten me a fairly good racing bike (complete w/ index shifting - a novelty at the time, quill pedals, etc). I stopped riding during college, but got back to it in 2010 when I was diagnosed w/ Type II Diabetes. It's good to be back riding (now that I can afford good equipment on my own), doing longer rides, and taking advantage of 24/7 internet coverage of the sport.
I even got a mention in Richard Moore's "Slaying The Badger" for a letter that I had sent to him! I'm a bit of a fanatic on the 86 Tour. Now we can all enjoy Tour fever w/o being at the mercy of non-European TV, and the postman delivering our copy of Winning (though, I really miss that magazine!)
Truth.
I recently did a 600k with a bunch of local guys. At the start line, there was this one guy that had a belly the size of a bowling ball and jowls to match. I refrained from asking him what the hell he was doing there - no way this guy is keeping up with us for 30-odd hours, I thought.
I wasn't laughing when we were riding together toward the finish the next morning. I was dying, ready to fall asleep on the bike, and he was just merrily pedaling along, a powerhouse in a suit of blubber. God only knows what he would have been capable of minus the weight.
@LawnCzar
I remember those days. If I couldn't wait for the magazine as a 16 year old I had two other strategies: bug the wrenches at the local bike shop to see if they knew anything or to sneak into the university library and see if they had recent Italian or French newspapers with results. The internet is awesome and steephill makes it almost too easy. Now if Hesjedal hadn't needlessly lost time in the early stages.
@Kris Fernhout
Yeah, for me it was Winning (man, I miss that magazine, too), whatever ESPN and NBC deigned to give us, and then watching and re-watching my VHS dubs of those broadcasts. I remember absolutely losing my mind one afternoon when I suddenly found myself watching the '92 Worlds -- I had no idea it'd be on, I just happened to click by it. Luck, or the Hand of Merckx? You decide.
@Gabriel David
Yep, that sounds like about the same arc -- I fell away from the bike after high school. Riding buddies went to different schools, new friends didn't ride, college was in a pancake flat part of the state, etc. Then this fall my family went to watch a local cyclocross race and I thought, "Man, this is awesome. Why aren't I riding my bike?" Took me a couple weeks to get my old bike ridable, but even that process had my giddy like a little kid. And it was a good excuse to watch some races and figure out who the hell all these new teams and riders are. ("There are TWO Lotto teams now? It's a whole new world!")