Categories: Etiquette

Universal Message: Metal Horns = Awesome!

T-Bone gives the Metal Horns Salute; Photo: Roberto Bettini

It’s funny how malleable our definition of “local” becomes when emotion gets involved. Seattle is a fiercely independent town where “local” is meant to imply your immediate neighborhood and we struggle to consider people who inhabit a community less than a kilometer away to be little less than an étranger. On the other hand, I have yet to meet a cyclist in town who does not consider T-Bone Farrar a hometown boy, despite the fact that he hails from Wanatchee, which is quite a distance (and an entire mountain range) away from Seattle.

But such are the wonts of fans; we’re not required to be rational, and what a beautiful thing that is. In any event, I was delighted to see hometown boy T-Bone make an amazing jump at the line today. As the bunch approached the finish, he seemed hopelessly poorly positioned and likely to get closed out in the final dash. Cavendouche was in his usual spot, tucked in behind Matt Goss, and I almost walked away, taking another Cav’ win as a forgone conclusion. But, in a masterful jump that showed a combination of skill and power in maneuvering up from a relatively poor position, he accelerated past the front of the fastest leadout in the world to take his second stage of the race and demonstrate what an exciting bunch sprint can do for a race.

And, given his roots in the Hard Rock capital of Seattle, what would be more fitting than the Metal Horns Salute? The answer is, of course, “none”. It certainly is quite a bit easier to understand than the J-Rod Cyclops.

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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Dan O says:

Sep 20 2010 at 10:22 am

Nirvana was inspired by the Melvins, Pixies, etc - though Cobain's pop influence seemed to overpower that. If you listen to early Nirvana, like "Bleach", it's there - much more raw then the "Nevermind" album. Though, when released, I thought "Nevermind" was fantastic. To me, it was a fusion between punk rock and metal.

It's easy to dis on something once it becomes big, but that truly was a ground breaking album and in many ways, changed what was played on the radio and MTV.

I moved to Seattle in November of '88, so was around for the grunge hype, though never witnessed Nirvana live - wish I had. My personal favorite Seattle band would be Gas Huffer and I've seen them numerous times while they existed.

Wacky enough, speaking of Mudhoney, Mark Arm's dad did my taxes for years - though I didn't know it for quite awhile. If interested, I posted about it here: http://yoeddy.blogspot.com/2009/03/tax-time.html

To me, bikes and "the metal horns" have always coexisted...
Cyclops says:

Sep 20 2010 at 10:44 am

Well if you want to talk "Metal Horns" and the PNW, I used to work for Monqui Presents BITD. We did a lot of the metal/punk/underground shows in Portland and Seattle. I was always a head banger/death metaller so I usually only worked those shows. If any of you old school thrashers are listening out there I was room mates with Marko and Duffy from Wehrmacht and ran with that whole Wehrmacht/Spazztic Blurr/Sweaty Nipples crowd. Those were the days.
Dan O says:

Sep 20 2010 at 10:48 am

@Cyclops

Awesome - cool background.

From 1995 - 2000, I was the IT Manger for Mackie Designs, the pro audio company. Was surounded by musician types - fun era. It was a great gig while it lasted.
Cyclops says:

Sep 20 2010 at 10:53 am

@Dan O

Nice. I love the underground music scene.
Geoffrey Grosenbach says:

Sep 20 2010 at 11:44 pm

I've been disappointed with the choice of headwear on the podium. All three on the GC podium were in baseball caps. Wrong sport? Rule 22 applies somewhere here.

Velits redeemed himself by wearing what appeared to be Yellow Princesses.
frank says:

Sep 21 2010 at 6:59 am

@Geoffrey Grosenbach
Indeed. I mourn the passing of the cycling cap upon the podium every time I see a fucking muffin up there with a damn "podium cap", which amounts to little more than, as you say, a baseball cap. Need I remind everyone that baseball sucks and cycling is totally rad? Their headgear should under no circumstances be allowed to mingle.
Ron says:

Sep 21 2010 at 7:08 am

So, do folks think Cav had a spoke/wheel issue? Was he letting Goss go for the line? Or is he just making excuses?

I don't understand all the venom for Cavendish. He is young and fast and wins. To do this you need to be a little cocky. He also gives great interviews and as the EuroSport guys say, "changes gears" a bunch of times in one two minute interview, all of mere seconds after crushing it to the line.

I'm happy to see Farrar win, but honestly, his interviews are so bland.

As far as music - the first time I heard Alice in Chains was while having my first few beers while visiting my older brother, who was already in college. I was in 7th grade (what were my parents thinking?!) Not a bad situation in which to experience college, beer, and Alice in Chains!
Cyclops says:

Sep 21 2010 at 7:28 am

This is what I have gleaned. Cav did indeed have a broken spoke. Apparently he was showing it to the press shortly after the race. OK, this explains Farrar's win, but then supposedly Cav starts whining about TF not acknowledging the circumstance of his win. This is why Cav rubs me the wrong way. Just shut up and let the guns do the talking. Show the broken spoke to the press and leave it at that. We're all rational, intelligent people, we can put two and two together. We all know that you're the fastest thing on the planet right now. STFU and crush people. But when things don't go your way just let it go.

BTW, I think needing to be cocky to fast and win is BS. There are an awful lot of hammers out there that quietly go about dishing out huge helpings of "V" that are a pleasure to be around. In fact those are the guys that make you go faster because they encourage you when you try to hold their wheel instead of trying to prove what everybody already knows.
Steampunk says:

Sep 21 2010 at 11:40 am

@frank
Baseball isn't even a sport.
Marko says:

Sep 21 2010 at 12:38 pm

@Steampunk

@frank

@Geoffrey Grosenbach
Agreed. This adoption of baseball caps for apres-ride and podium photo ops is a travesty. Yet virtually everyone seems to be doing it! Who was the culprit who started this trend and where can he be found? A rule must be made to stop these shenanigans, it's just not right.