"I'd like a time trial helmet, made out of hair, please"
We’ve remarked many times on the connection between the pained musician and the Cyclist. Layne Staley and Marco Pantani being a prominent example of a reflection in a pond of mental strife. Perhaps something about finding strength – or at least some kind of peace – through suffering is a personality trait that Cycling shares with being an Artist. But sometimes it is much more simple than that. Sometimes, you just want to get psyched to get out and ride. Or to stay in and ride, as the case may be. @blackpooltower lets us in on his own dirty little secret.
Yours in Cycling, Frank
Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee and the other assorted Ramones like Linda (yes, really, I checked) might not look like God’s gift to the performance-minded cyclist, despite Johnny’s quite aero hair, but in fact they’re practically a secret weapon.
I’d love to say that my training is all Man-With-Hammer-seeking epics and Moser hill repeats but frankly I live in central London, an hour from anything resembling countryside so, whisper it, I do also spend some time on the turbo. Filthy habit, I know. Sorry.
Although, you know what? Graeme Obree did a fair bit of indoor training and if it’s good enough for the JK Rowling of cycling (which is to say: made it with no one’s help, on welfare/benefits, therefore a total hero) then it’s good enough for me.
Of course indoor training is a bleak prospect without music. And it can’t just be any music. It has to be the right music.
So, if there wasn’t a band whose entire output was recorded at between 90 and 100 bpm, with irrepressible energy levels and just the right blend of anti establishment individualism (totally fake in Johnny’s case), catchiness and outright dumbness to keep an underperforming wanabe racer spinning those stupid fan blades round for one more effort … you’d have to invent them, no?
But no need. The Ramones, AKA punk rock pot belge, exist. Or at least their music does, and that’s the bit you need.
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@Cary
It's true, musicians rarely look well.
I've always reckoned that music is something I can get back into when I'm older, but the best time to be cycling is now.
And yeah, I spent a whole summer trying to get a band together and couldn't manage it. That killed off a lot of my enthusiasm. Bear in mind I'm a songwriter/singer and guitarist and wanted to be in a 3-piece, so was only looking for a drummer and bassist.
I do miss performing, but there are always open mic nights.
@Cary @RobSandy
Try a looper pedal. BOSS makes a cool one and they're a riot to mess around with. I run a stereo out signal from a slick guitar loaded w/both hum buckers and transducer. You can loop an acoustic rhythm and then switch over to the hum buckers and it's nothing to also loop in a little percussive beat as well. Cheers
@Randy C
I've got one, the Hardwire delay has a loop facility.
Something else I haven't really had the patience to learn to use properly...
@RobSandy
i made my living with my guitar for 15 years. it’s why i quit riding years ago. you really can’t take a Merckx Corsa on the bus with you.. lol it was a lot of fun, and i was very privileged to be able to put my daughter through school with music, but when it’s not fun anymore, it’s REALLY not fun. i would surmise the life of a pro cyclist is similar in that reality spares NO disillusion..
@Cary
I can imagine. Childhood dream was to be a pro musician but I'm not sad it didn't happen - seems like a grind at best case. I have a friend who is a multi-million album selling rock musician (not going to name him) but he's had what you'd class as an extremely successful music career but he still doesn't have a lot of security - has trouble getting a mortgage because his income could dry up any day.
So you did the full gigging, living out of a bus, travelling a lot? Do much recording?
Like cycling, very happy to keep it as a hobby. I haven't ridden hard for nearly 2 weeks now due to being as ill as I've been in many years. Some sort of flu bug knocked me off my feet last week and I'm slowly, slowly, recovering. I might become an indoor cyclist for the next few weeks to keep my lungs away from the cold air as I fully recover.
@Cary
Need to go back to WAR, BOY, Under a Blood Red Sky and the Unforgettable Fire....that's where it was at.
@Deakus
Achtung Baby was a great album. U2's new one is ok. Better than the one before though. I have a sweet spot for The Unforgettable Fire too - after War, they could have done quite nicely just recycling that sound, but they ditched Lillywhite and brought in Eno. That was kinda ballsy I thought.
What's scary is that I first saw them 35 years ago. Yikes.
@wiscot
Achtung is my favorite. after i heard “The Fly” i used a gated delay on just about everything i played for about a year. lol what an outrageous album!
@wiscot
Here's a scary 'I'm an old fuck' story.
We had a cycling club Christmas dinner, and I was sat with one of our junior racers - a super strong 16 year old road and 'cross racer who got to Cat 2 easily in his first year of senior racing.
Anyway, he was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt, except when I looked closely it was an Australian Pink Floyd t-shirt, a tribute band which I'd seen play. He'd seen them that autumn and I worked out that when I went to the Aussie Pink Floyd gig he hadn't even been born.
@RobSandy
I remember the days when they were all original and tribute bands had not even been thought of..........