Strack to Lead New V-Studies Initiative at McMaster University
La Vie Velominatus is set to become the subject of intense scholarly analysis next week, as Frank Strack will receive an honorary PhV from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (chapeau to @ten B for the PhV). It’s been a heady week for the cycling types around these parts; Strack will close out festivities that included the Bike Snob and Mario Cipollini. Too fat and slow to overlap with and give Super Mario the reach around, Strack will settle for regaling an audience on the Rules, Lexicon, and the finer details of la Vie Velominatus as the second speaker in the McMaster Rolling Seminar: La Vie Vélo.
On Thursday, October 4, he will sit down with Herr Professor Doktor Steampunk for a conversational interview in front of an enthralled public audience in the lofty and musty confines of McMaster University’s University Club (bow ties & elbow patches are a part of the dress code and polysyllabic pedantry is the language of choice””word is Strack will be sporting an orange ascot). This is a big moment for the Velominati community; as you all know, recognition from within the ivory tower (in all its cloistered wisdom) is the quintessential symbol of success in some cultures. Of course, now that the Velominati are under the intellectual microscope, they will be scrutinized, deconstructed, and proven to be nothing more than some post-modern, fictitious expression of postcolonial angst that doesn’t really exist. Tant pis.
In addition, Strack will also spend an evening at Café Domestique to imbibe fine beers and share his wisdom with the locals in what should be a rip-roaring good time. Come one; come all. This is, in effect, an intellectual Cogal of the mind. Sort of. Not really. But it should be great.
The details:
Seminar Session (open to the public)
When: Thursday, October 4 @ 2:30pm
Where: University Club’s West Room, McMaster University
Soirée @ Café Domestique (Millers Lane, Dundas)
When: Thursday, October 4 @ 8pm
Both events are free and open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. The series is sponsored by the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award. Further inquiries can be sent to egan(at)mcmaster(dot)ca.
New Harris tweed jacket w/leather elbow patches – $195
New polka-dot silk bowtie – $45
New briar pipe, tobacco, lighter – $85
Being an enthralled audience member to this monumental event – PRICELESS !
Hoping these will be filmed and made available viA YouTube…..
Jebus on a hockey stick! Outstanding job Orange Team!
Hamilton is one of the three spiritual holy spots of Canadian cycling. With much angst I will not be there.
I will go now and do hill repeats.
@936adl
Working on it. I expect it will eventually make its way to the university’s YouTube page.
Are you hosting the dialogue Sir Steamy? It would make for a great relaxing drive of 840kms from Boston.
RE: Dress code. I have a tweed jacket, minus the elbow patches. Acceptable, or should I hit up a 2nd hand store?
Also, if anyone wants to ride along with me, and you live in a general path off the route from Boston to Hamilton, I can swing by and pick ya up. @xyxax, I’m looking in your direction!
I’m the wrong end of a Meerlust Rubicon 2003, but “word is Strack will be sporting an orange ascot” is just brilliant
Steampunk, you old dog, that is brilliant. Almost worthy of tenure
@Steampunk
Youtube sometime in the future? We need a simulcast!
@roger: Frank and me at the front of the room. Anything not from a second hand store would look out of place in the academy…
@Roadslave525: Already got me a tenure; don’t know what I’d do with another one.
@Nate: I did actually look into that; the folks running the filming aren’t quite ready for that, unfortunately.
@Steampunk
A man can dream. Props on setting this up, btw.
@Nate
Thanks, mate. I thought a simulcast would have been great, but didn’t provide enough notice. Later in the series. It still boggles the mind, though, that this is “work.”
Holy fuck! Nice going, love recognition from the Ivory Tower!
I’ve refused to wear a bow tie, though I like the idea (no long thing floppin’ around), until I finish my Ph.D. Got it in my sights now, though I’ll always consider elbow patches lame. I can’t wear dress jackets anyway, anything more than one layer makes me very hot except in the coldest conditions and I need to get fired up and argue on a regular basis and all that constriction just makes it hard. Have you ever tried punching someone across a lectern in a sport coat? Not easy.
This sounds awesome! Good luck, Le Professeur!
@Frank isn’t clear that you should be wearing the Sacred Garmets at this event?
Well done Steampunk! Should be a great evening and I am pleased to see true cycling represented in a public forum!
doh *garments
@Ron
A good jacket should fit like good V-kit. Just different.
As for the bow tie…
This is the kind of stupendously wonderful shit the right individual can pull off with imagination, taste, and tenure. I suspect it will be performance art of the highest order. Wish I could attend, look forward to the Youtube broadcast.
@PeakInTwoYears
Sadly, I have only one of these three. Fortunately, it ensures job security…
Would it be faux pas upon Frank’s introduction, to start ringing a cowbell?
What is going on? There must be a wicked time velospace flux. First @Buck posts a wicked cogal at West Point and now Herr Perfessor Steampunk is hosting the man behind the curtain in the hallowed halls of Canadian acadamia?
First I can’t believe he got this by the seminar committee, second I worry that after, they are going to revoke his tenure because what they expect the rules to be and what the Rules are NOT is going to be shocking!
I would love to be there (and take @Roger up on the offer of a ride) but duty and a real fear of getting sucked into the rabbit hole of Franks world are keeping me from this great event….
@roger
Roger, I am dying to ride out with you but too short of notice as I am working both Thursday and Friday and the trip from my place is just under eight hours. Have a blast or me!
@Rob
Ha! +1 Rob! Just saw your post after posting mine!
Chapeau! Awesome poster.
I want more info on Cipo preceding young Strack. What was he talking about? How much pussy a professional cyclists can get if he puts his mind to it? Bike Snob is a very lowly third place in this line up.
FYI
Frank doesn’t need a microphone
He cannot censor his speech, especially when discussing cycling…you have been warned
@Rob
Oh shit: what rabbit hole??
On second thought, instead of a PhV it would probably be more accurate to employ the term Velominatiae Doctor. In keeping with his Dutch heritage, giving Frank a VD seems stangely appropriate…
strangely even
@Steampunk
You’re twisting the knife there, pal.
@Steampunk
Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall….
@Rob
Um, to what degree has this already happened?
Having spent the first half of a working life in humanist academia, I am dying to know how this goes. Nearly empty conference room, with one tenured faculty member and Frank conversing in front of half a dozen confused and defensive grad students? Well-attended informal gathering with faculty and their entourages of wide-eyed acolytes in tow, metric shit-tons of Freudo-Marxist and Derridean terminology launched like volleys of spitballs in a middle-school classroom?
Whatever happens, I suspect that these men will leave it all in that room. I wish I could be there.
@Steampunk
Excuse my ignorance, but with a name like McMaster and the big H on that building (nice Cold War Era Eastern bloc architecture by the way), you sure this isn’t Hamburger University?
@Marcus
If you think that architecture is Eastern Bloc, check out the skyline:
Cipo, RTMS, Strack? This. Is. Awesome.
I hope to god there are some hipsters in the audience wearing caps…
@Steampunk Chapeau Herr Professor Doktor. Does who ever gave this the green light realise what they’ve actually done? Should young Strack not wear a gown and motarboard for his investiture?
Can’t wait for it to appear on YouTube to see which of you will lose it in a giggling fit first.
@PeakInTwoYears
Sreamy, please make sure the videographers capture for posterity the point at which an enraged V-fessor Strack leaps from the lectern to the pompous postgrad in the audience asserrting a post-modern theory of the cycling aesthetic with a scream of ‘Decomstruct THIS, Motherfucker’ before being escorted from the room.
Fantastic initiative. Surely this is only the start of a worldwide lecture tour. TED, anyone … .
Questions regarding this august event:
Will all the undergrads assigned to cater to Frank’s every whim be vetted to ensure rule compliance?
Will attending Les Discourses de Strack be valid extra credit for a class?
Will there be a powerpoint so the poor students understand the pantheon of gods Frank refers to?
Will there be a quiz?
Will anyone wearing a cock ring on their arm be barred from entry?
This is really just a step away from a TedTx. Well played, Steampunk. Giving him some beer before the event may or may not be a good idea depending on how you look at it.
@G’phant
Awesome. +1.
I also agree that Frank needs to show up in full V-kit, as a visible demonstration of how to do it right.
@wiscot
agreed!
Also, will it be streaming over the internet for public viewing like on the independent lens and public tv for us lessers who cannot travel to write names on the sidewalk entry, or to inquisitively ask these Masterful questions?
What would Eddy do?
@brett Oi! The steel mills are in the east end, and McMaster is in Westdale. Which is also sort of known as west Hamilton And that’s how they’re called: the east end, and west Hamilton. West Hamilton isn’t the “west end,” and to call it that would be needlessly dramatic. Heh heh…
It’s in a lovely part of town, no steel mills visible or smellable, and it’s closer to the fantabulous hills of Dundas, wherein exists the essential Cafe Domestique whch has been written up on these boards.
There was a person in too many of my Master’s degree courses who would proclaim each week that she was “taken aback by” something the author had written. To this day I get woozy when I hear this phrase. I hope Frank does indeed jump in the face of anyone trying to deconstruct The Rules.
On another note, does McMaster U. have a culinary degree program? If not, maybe these lads can co-teach it.
@Ron
Looks like they’re just missing Basso – they could be cooking up some “SIDI….cycling shoes”.
More questions:
Will Professor Strack begin his talk by asking:
Anyone here own a fixie?
Anyone here own a recumbent?
Anyone here believe Lance Armstrong is innocent?
If the answer is yes, get the fuck out of here.
And for the math majors: Define n when used in the following equation: n+1+?when s-1=unhappiness
@VeloVita
Any of these guys ever heard of a tailor? In the name of the Prophet, look at the pant leg lengths. Way too long! With the big bucks these guys make, a wee bit of tailoring wouldn’t bust their budgets. Or is this what they call “euro-style? Mind you, give Ryder credit for not wearing lumberjack boots, eh?
@wiscot
Yup – trousers are all wrong here but worse Cavendouche can’t afford patent leather shoes – no wonder he’s looking likely to leave Sky.
The floral shirt may be by Boden – I know this because Mrs Engine makes me wear them when we go and see our posh friends and I’m not allowed to ride my bike.
Wonder if they were cooking steak – or has that gag already been done?
@the Engine
Ooh – and Nibbles for Nibbles – geddit?
@Souleur
The Prophet would ride his bike. Lots.
@wiscot
Whoa? Is Sidi coming out with new lumberjack boots? Awesome, I need to pre-order!
Frank better wear an orange bow-tie.
@Steampunk
Chapeau!
BikeSnob, Cipo and @frank in the same week.
I’m jealous and I’ll be waiting for the youtube clips of these talks and rides.
In the meantime there was a write up of BikeSnob’s visit on his blog today.
Great Stuff
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2012/10/simplicity-money-fixes-everything.html
@Steampunk
I can’t believe you put your name badge on crooked.
That’s it, I’m out.
@frank
I think it must be the camera angle; you’ll have to inspect it for yourself…
@San Tonio
I should clarify that Cipo just happened to be in Toronto; nothing to do with me. We tried to arrange some kind of meet-up between Mario & Bike Snob (because how funny would that have been?), but no dice. Bike Snob seemed to have a pretty good time here; he was almost disappointingly polite in today’s write-up…