Anatomy of a Photo: Greg LeMan
Is it the shades?
The W.C. Jersey?
The Z kit?
The d.t. shifters?
Talk amongst yourselves. I just had to get a pic up that’s worthy of this site. Thank me now.
Is it the shades?
The W.C. Jersey?
The Z kit?
The d.t. shifters?
Talk amongst yourselves. I just had to get a pic up that’s worthy of this site. Thank me now.
It’s the smile.
The greatest American cyclist and a legend. Great photo, great style.
And probably it’s the smile.
Merckx be praised! We are delivered from the Carcass of Authority!
It’s the fucking bottles.
I need me some.
It’s also LeMan at the height of his powers. He’s smiling ’cause he knows it, and so does everyone he dropped on the climb.
He’s the Man! It’s the heart and that Lemond bike
the delta brakes. period.
It’s the pearlescent white handlebar tape and the tan sidewalls.
I’ve ridden one of those old TVT carbon frames “fast” off a real mountain, ANYBODY who could drop down hill like that guy on that noodle of a frame is da’man…that and the waterbottles.
Clearly the bottles. Coolest bottles ever.
It’s the chrome lugwork on the headtube. Moist.
It’s the white lever hoods. It’s the pearl white Benotto tape. It’s all the shiny bits. It’s the stem. It’s the round, deep bars. It’s the glint from the summer sun on the DT spokes and box rims. It’s the 53 x 11. It’s the Number 1 on his rainbow jersey. It’s the violet Avocet and Z’s. It’s the fork rake. It’s the bidons that say, “American Caffeine and Sugar. Serve it ice cold. Bitches.” It’s the blue iridium Oakley Razor Blades that we wish we still had and could wear just one more time. It’s riding without a helmet and not giving it a thought. It’s descending at 80kph with more than enough cool to flash us a smile.
That was twenty years ago. I remember it so clearly, like it was this afternoon.
That’s Greg LeMond. That’s my hero.
His hearing is so good that he uses it for forward navigation.
Also the saddle to bar drop so extreme that his back creates an incline.
Those Z gloves are awesome.
It’s the pink Cycle Computer! LeMan showing that he is secure in his MANLYNESS!
Definitely that grin; which clearly announces (to us, the viewer) exactly who is in control here.
it’s the white socks.
@Jarvis
regardless of who you “like” more, Lemond’s palmares are inferior to COTHO’s.
I remember those bike computers used to be advertised alongside Oreo cookies to show how small they were. Problem was that we didn’t have Oreos down here in the Antipodes so I never knew whether that meant the computer was impressively small. Eventually they (the Oreos) arrived down here and all I ever think when I see them is, “Ooooh, that biscuit is the same size as a bike computer.”
It’s the big ring legs.
it’s the watch.
As Denis Denuto (see “The Castle”) would say, “It’s the vibe”…
It’s the V quads. Attaining The V quads and The V calves is my goal. Was Rule V picked thusly? Our muscles form the symbol once we have begun dishing adequate amounts. I’d like to think it was thought out as much as the 14-cog V-symbol.
“Hey Fabio, how’s my hair look flowing in the breeze”
Its the insouciance of the look – a kind of ‘yeah I’m the fvcking studmuffin in control here maaannn’ look.
@Kiwicyclist
Coupled with the massive balls used to ignore what looks like a freaking quick descent so he can mug for the camera.
It’s the angle of his skewers…
@G’phant
“It’s MABO, it’s the vibe…” Fucking classic! It’s all starting to make sense now, I think I see who you’ve modeled yourself on.
It’s all of it – the total package. From the old school Oakley shades, no helmet, Z kit, downtube shifters, steel frame and fork, and finally – the number 1 pinned to the jersey.
Look at that grin. Look at those legs. If I could de-age myself 20 years, quit my job and ride 10 hours a day, they still wouldn’t look like that. Those are the legs of man blessed, combined with a million miles of training and races.
It’s the LeMonster in his heyday. All hail Greg LeMond. One of the best cyclist of all time.
It’s that damn jersey on a dude so cool he mugs for the photo as he whips by. Good photo Marko.
It’s the yellow and red on the frame. No one can put yellow and red paint on a frame and make it look good. Except Jack Lemmon. A Merckx.
Actually, I hate to break up this party, but that’s not a smile: LeMan is gritting his teeth in fear. Frank’s father, resplendent in wild animal pelts and sporting the biggest bowie knife you’ve ever seen, is just outside the frame of the pic. And he’s coming after LeMan. Just one more skin…
@Steampunk – ah ha ha. Nice. What will he shove into the vest pocket? An ear? A lower leg? Scalp?
And, it’s the beautiful, shiny quill stem.
@Markp
If anybody ever posts ONE MORE PIC OF FABIO on this site they’re getting a lifetime ban!
Its the Gun Envy he knows everyone has.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Roger that, chief. Except it was a Cyclomaster, not an Avocet. He was on Avocet in ’89, with the yellow model, called the Lemon(d). In ’90, he switched to Cyclomaster with an altimeter which operated by using a device that measured the incline and then used distance to compute elevation. Much more elegant than the barometric ones. The only problem was it didn’t work.
I’ve been really busy and not on the site much yesterday (and won’t be today). My side hurts from reading everyone’s posts. Brilliant fucking work, everyone.
It’s the being in a tuck going uphill.
By the way, that picture is everything cool about cycling. That is not a Lemond frame, despite the logs. It’s a TVT. Those lugs, the Deltas, the scott drop-ins, the fucking bomb-diggity. The benoto tape (which you can get at Excel Sports now, by the way, although it’s an order of magnitude more expensive now).
I loved those drop-ins.
(Those are a pair of Deugi shoes I drilled to attach clipless pedals to, and modified to look like LeMan’s shoes.
YES! The TOTAL package! The man would would leave it ALL out there for a 4th place finish in Paris-Roubaix, win and a 3rd in the Dauphine, 2nd in Giro de Lombardia, 3 wins a 2nd and a 3rd at the Tour, a 3rd and a 4th place at the Giro d’Italia, a 2nd a Milan San Remo, a 3rd at Paris-Nice, and finally TWO wins in the World Championships! The Man was the absolute TOTAL racer, not just a one or two race pnoy show!
Exuded class on and off the bike for many years.
…
@xyxax
the mere fact that falling off would grind that stainless band into his wrist means nothing. The boogie man checks for Greg LeMan under his bed @ night.
No Helmet!
@Collin
Actually, we’ll be doing an on-going photo roll (reader-posted) of all the places where you find the V; either in your guns, on the bike, or just anywhere else. The V is everywhere; it surrounds us, penetrates us, binds us together – like The Force. You just have to quiet your mind enough to see it.
LeMan’s guns are outrageous.
its 2 things:
1. the ShamWow Z matching kit gloves and shorts and Greg knowing all about this before anyone else
2. His ego being totally unchallenged and relishing being a legend in his own mind
@Steampunk
He actually did buy a Bowie knife after he watched Crocodile Dundee.
@frank
Hopefully one of our fellow tribe-members can identify the location of this photo. I am at a loss.
@Nate
I think he’s descending the Tourmalet in the 1990 Tour. It’s hard to be sure because you can’t see any of the mountain really.
@Nate
If you’re talking about the photo of the budding hardman in the scrotorola jersey, it looks like Beartooth pass.
Definitely the 1990 TDF but it’s harder to nail the exact stage as he did not don the maillot jeune until after stage 19. I have the old WCP DVD of the 1990 TDF, I’ll have to watch it on the trainer and try to find the exact moment of this photo, if possible, buit I think that Frank is correct on his call.
@Marko , @frank , @Buck Rogers
I am thinking of frank’s photo. As for the first, there doesn’t seem to be enough background in the frame to make a determination, but don’t let that stop you, Buck.
@Marcus
7 wins in the Tour de France does not a great rider make. Lemond had to fight the Badger for one win, his second win was with no team support and his third was wearing the Rainbow Jersey. That, is greatness.
Also, not being a cunt helps.
Greg LeMan and Conan the Barbarian have a similar philosophy on the best things in life:
“To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.”
LOVE that quote! One of my favorites!
@Jarvis
Not only that but look at Lemon’s palmares in the other one day classics and the Giro as well.
If it’s the Tourmalet it must be the very lowest slopes as there aren’t too many villages like that up there. Without any proof I’d hazard a guess that it isn’t an Alpine or Pyreneean descent at all, but a small transition stage descent, perhaps in the Midi – it seems more likely to me that a meaningless downhill is the only place that the motos would be running right alongside LeMond, and that he would be relaxed enough to be gurning at the camera.
Great photo of a great rider.
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet, the championship jersey with black shorts and standard kit. pure class. No need for little bits of rainbow accouterment all over the damn bike, sunnies, shoes, waterbottles, saddle, and shit, lest you become the rainbow turd, the jersey says it all. I don’t know about you fuckers, but that photo transfixes me. La Vie Velominatus!