Categories: Keepers TourKitLa Vie Velominatus

Q1 2012 V-Kit Order

It hasn't always been this way, where we thoughtlessly disembogue 140 characters or less in messages sent into a medium where our crimes against language, spelling and grammar will live for ever.

There was a time when we wrote letters. These letters were carefully composed and penned onto thick, quality parchment paper and sealed in wax. These letters were then dispatched to the farthest reaches of the world where they would be carefully read and digested before a response was given. Technology and innovation are often taken as synonyms for progress, but with that progress usually comes the death of ritual and tradition.

As we close the books on the Q4 2011 V-Kit order, we open the books for the Q1 2012 order. Our insistence on the highest quality products made to our exacting standards translates into a long wait while the kit is manufactured. This presents a challenge when loving family and friends want to give the kit as a gift to a velominatus, because the timing of our delivery timetables rarely coincides with the intended occasion. To work around this problem in the past, we have arranged for a letter which is carefully crafted and personalized before being printed on thick parchment paper and sealed with a hand-dripped wax V-Seal for wrapping and giving on the day.

With the holiday season coinciding with our next kit order, we introduce the V-Gift Letter for wrapping and laying under the tree, announcing to the recipient the impending Glory of Merckx which will befall them upon the arrival of their kit several weeks later. We also offer a version of the letter for the Keepers Tour in the event that any loving family or friend intends to make a gift of the ultimate cycling trip to their Velminatus/a. The letter is free, with the cost going towards postage only.

With that, we officially open the 2012 Q1 V-Kit order. The only thing that remains is the choice: Zwarte, Witte, or Winter. However you choose, choose wisely and choose carefully as orders are custom made. Place your order by midnight on January 6 for the next V-Kit shipment, scheduled to arrive in late February.

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/V-Gift Letter/”/]

A point of clarification: all packages from the Q4 2011 V-Kit order have been dispatched.

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

itburns says:

Dec 1 2011 at 10:41 am

@RedRanger

@Buck Rogers
I have a set of rollers. They scare the shit out of me. Any advise?

Put them in a doorway and remember that learning to ride a bike was exponentially harder than the minor adjustments needed to ride on rollers. I prefer to place my bike in front of the rollers (front wheel on ground in front of front roller, back wheel on ground in front of back rollers), swing the leg over, then back the bike up on to the rollers to mount instead of climbing aboard with the bike already in place.

Also, as @Buck Rogers found out the hard way, make sure the front roller is adjusted properly under your front wheel. Crucial for stability. The web site has a good setup video.
mcsqueak says:

Dec 1 2011 at 11:15 am

@frank

@Buck Rogers, @Chris
You're both reminding me that trainers are such a great way to do interval training. No other way of controlling your effort for precise periods of time. Might have to set mine back up for that, I'm getting great base mileage in this time of year, but I need to do some speed work - noticed I was really flat on my last ride. Wooden legs.

Indeed. Trainers are almost insufferable for anything but intervals.

I find my indoor training goes by quite quickly when I'm doing structured intervals, because the effort is hard enough that it distracts me from how freakin' boring it is.

But you can't just do intervals, as that isn't good training. Last night I did my weekly "easy" trainer ride, which I tried to keep around 28 KPH/100 RPM for an hour, with some TV from Netflix on the laptop to keep me occupied. Boy, I don't think I've ever watched a longer episode of Battlestar Galactica EVER.

I'm going about all this without a coach or cycling sensei, but so far 2x a week on the trainer (one ride structured intervals, one not) and a good outdoor ride on the weekend with climbing is keeping me from at least sliding backwards as far fitness goes.
Chris says:

Dec 1 2011 at 3:53 pm

@snoov
It's aimed FTP improvements my understanding of which is sustainable power.

One of my week areas is leg strength toward the end of longer rides, I get dropped at the merest hint of a hill so that one of my targets apart from just improving as a cyclist.

When we started putting training plans together, I sat down and identified a number of specifics that I'd like to achieve. The base plan is two sets of intervals, a set of hill reps and a 30-40km ride and a 70k plus ride. So far life has conspired against actually getting that down but we're getting there.