La Vie Velominatus, Part IV: The Great Escape
One of the most magnificent things about Cycling is that not only does it represent different things to different people, it represents different things on different days. Some days, it’s training – a means to an end. Other days, it’s the culmination of a body of work; rather than a means to an end, it represents that end itself, whether that end is exhilarating or devastating. But these two facets represent Cycling only as Sport, the complex simplicity of the balance between dedication and results.
Cycling stands apart, however, in its many dimensions beyond Sport. For me, Cycling is meditation, a time to clear my mind of ancillary concerns and contemplate on those that require my focus. It is thoughtlessness, a time to eliminate everything through the simplicity of pain. It is simultaneously medication and therapy; even a short ride can shake a heavy lethargy from my bones and rejuvenate aching muscles and joints. It is simultaneously tension and release; Cycling can fill my being with effort, an effort that overflows my legs and lungs and spills over to fill every fiber of my being, flushing from me all those things I wish not to keep.
Cycling is penance for my mistakes; a few hours at the mercy of the Man with the Hammer can help me understand the error of my ways. It is cleansing of other’s mistakes – here the Man with the Hammer helps pound out the ripples in the surface of Life they cause me.
I am by no means a great man and never will be. But I am a better man for my bike, and for that I am eternally grateful to it.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
A-Merckx
A-Merckx, brother. A-Merckx.
Ah, well said, Frank.
All too true. Cycling is a necessary yet completely optional aspect of our lives; it enables our delusions while continually shattering them on the cold, hard reality of genetics. It has quite literally saved my life while putting me nearly daily in harm’s way. It saves my marriage from me (too tired to argue, too tired to cheat), yet is That Fucking Bike.
So shall it be.
Stunning!
It isn’t just talk you are spouting there, science backs it up. For those of us magpies out there, give a read to Riding is My Ritalin, http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/riding-my-ritalin, from Bicycling a while back, and if I can find it, a great article about Tom Danielson getting his head together and being able to focus. I can’t find it, but when I do, I’ll post it.
Now, must go focus on something else.
Nice Frank, just reading “It’s all about the bike – Robert Penn” so will borrow a paragraph …..
The bicycle saves my life every day. If you’ve ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle; if you’ve ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt the resurgence of hope pedalling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you’ve ever wondered, swooping bird-like downhill on a bicycle, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it’s all about the bike.
If those words accompanied by the picture of that Col do not resonate with you, then you need to hang the bike up for good. I wish I could go ride a Col now instead of face a full day of the office.
Nicely put Frank.
The bike & cycling are a good metaphor for life. I learned pretty fast as a teenager after getting into cycling to smile when it rains, work hard and take my turn on the front & most importantly to really savour the few wins or days every year where you couldn’t feel your legs, but could rip everyone else’s legs off. This pretty much sums up life in general for me too. As you said, most of the time we are ‘base training’, with a few podium spots along the way.
I met my wife while working on a pro bike race 18 years ago, 2 kids later & still happily together, a day doesn’t go by where I don’t think about what cycling has added or introduced to my life. Still have to try & hide any new equipment or gear that I buy after all these years though! As long as the frame colour stays the same it seems to work!
@mblume
A-Merckx. And very well put, Frank. Just back from a little Great Escape myself, here – http://www.heaphytrack.com/. More wild weather and rugged terrain than warm sun and smooth tarmac, but equally facilitative of mind-clearing contemplation. Damn I’m glad I ride.
Nice read! I like the picture of the Man with the Hammer “… pounding out the ripples in the surface of Life …”
@fronk
thanks brother Fronk – I have just set that picture as my desktop wallpaper – I’ll be climbing it next June, so gives me a great focus
More importantly, when I look at it, it is as if the path to freedom is mapped in front of my eyes – I just can’t wait to ride it – I know that nothing else will matter, the shit of the day will be all left at the bottom of the hill, and life will feel good, as good as it gets – up, up, up, up, up……..and away
I talked to a few guys at my yottin Champs at the weekend, turned out they were keen cyclists too, and we all chuckled how our dream day would be to be somewhere quiet, say nothing, hear no voices for a whole day – some floating around a reef looking at corals, for others, buying a yot and heading off alone – I think all of us would have also pictured this scene in our mind’s eye too – Heaven is around the corner – respect the Silence – Vive la Vie Volaminati
A-Merckx
As a youngster I ran a lot, middle distance athletics, cross country and road races. I never had a problem with running in foul weather (which was lucky being at a boarding school in Scotland) and often used to relish it as I knew that it would allow me an advantage over my competitors who would be thinking of nothing but the hot shower and pie, beans and chips at the end. I was also pretty good a running up and down hills. I don’t think, though, that I ever truly loved running rather that I enjoyed winning and the kudos that went hand in hand with it.
I certainly never felt disappointed when I reached the end of a run in the same way that I do know when I’m on my bike. It doesn’t really matter what sort of ride it is either, there’s always an element of regret at the end (although it’s matched with a level of serenity and optimism that I can take into the rest of the day). I suppose it’s an indication of the level of release that you can achieve on a bike.
@Dr C
best you bolt some rollers to your garage wall then, I’ve driven up there, it’s a bit steep!
@Dr C
No matter the weather, I’ve never stepped off a yacht without wistfully thinking that I could have quite happily carried on off over the horizon
@ Dr C – good luck for the Tourmalet, it’s such a beauty. Only been over on motorised 2 wheels but still magnificent!
@ Frank – Word. It’s all about the chemistry. Addiction, but with a positive psychological manifestation. I make sure to offset all those happy waves with a bit of alcoholic fear and loathing from time to time. Balance in everything.
Oh Lordy: good stuff! Usually I go out for a quick, 30-40km loop on a Saturday morning. Due to a variety of factors, including a Rule #11 breach, I got out on Sunday instead, and only for 20km. That 20km might have saved the weekend. And yet, it wasn’t nearly enough to get my head straight. Methinks this great write-up needs a twin from the other side of the of looking glass, which articulates the addiction that is our “agony – our badge of honor – our sin.”
frank – yes, yes and yes! The clearing of the mind of the daily grind; thoughtless yet full of focus; aware of ones surroundings yet ensconced in ones own bubble.
Being able to exhale life’s crappy pieces and inhale a fresh outlook, bliss.
For me, who does the majority of his riding very early in the morning, this is a hard time of year. The sun is still abed when I set forth, and this morning there was only a hint of its awakening when I returned home. By next week, there won’t even be that hint.
This time of year I find excuses for not getting out of bed and getting on the bike, even though I know that, when I do, my soul will be better for it, for the reasons described so eloquently in this post. I got out this morning and, just as I do after every ride, I am questioning how it is that I ever choose to stay in bed over the focus and peace I find through cycling.
Well said as usual, Frank. As someone who grew up ‘athletically challenged’ shall we say, the discovery of the bicycle indeed has made my life better in ways I could have never fathomed. Never one to excel in team sports, loathsome of weight training and running, it was not until I threw my leg over a top tube and set off on my first proper ride that I learned what I my body was capable of – and enjoyed every moment of the suffering.
I cannot imagine that the freedom that cycling provides, not only from the stresses of work and other commitments, but also from myself could ever be matched by anything else. I believe it to be the only therapy, meditation and method of self-discovery I will ever need.
I hear you loud and clear. Work right now is a bit busy and stressful to put it mildly and will be for the forseeable future. People ask how I cope. “Long bike rides” I reply. Seriously, if I didn’t have the bike, I really don’t know how I would deal with the stress. Even as it’s getting darker earlier and earlier here, I’ll just get the lights out to keep riding as long as I can before the inevitable snow flies.
@Chris
stop that, you’re scaring me with the steepness chat – it’s also the other 19 col’s we’re doing that is really frightening me though!
@Joe
thanks Joe – I suspect I will start on the 2 wheels and legs combo, and finish in the 4 wheeled motorised broom wagon combo….
@Frank
OR, in other words, Cycling Effing RULES!!!!
As someone who hasn’t been able to ride for three weeks due to travel obligations, this post really hits home for me. I am really missing the meditative aspects of cycling, that time of being alone with one’s thoughts and one’s own effort. I’m eager to get home and go for a ride with not an eye for training or power numbers or anything else but the pure and simple thrill of being on my bike, escaping.
Thanks for this post, Frank.
Frank, I need you to come and sit beside me at work – I just don’t seem to sell this whole thing as well as you can, to my patients who are struggling though their lives, but don’t actually have anything physically wrong with themselves (happy to excuse the genuinely ill) – that said, I can’t refer them to this website, for all the obvious reasons!
@all
try sticking that picture on your desktop background – it’s amazing how often your fingers go to the windows/D keystroke, and you are drawn into your screen and up that path – wierdly mesmerizing….
@drsoul
I was going to go home tonight to lie on the sofa after a hard day’s work, but I am not now – the hill beckons
@Cyclops
Well said.
the eyes, the eyes
Frank – Finely composed!
I feel a similar attachment to cycling in many ways, especially the duality you describe, how you can exert maximum effort and yet experience a calming of your inner turbulence. This is a magical benefit of swinging the leg over the top tube. As long as I ride, my body feels better & my mind calmer.
That, and I get to ride cool bikes & wear Colours That Don’t Run!
A-Merckx Frank, poetically penned bro.
My passion reaches back into my childhood. The bike, was for me a portal of entry into the world around me. I lived in rural Missouri and would daily hop on the bike and ride dirt roads all over, to town, to friends houses, to school…it was the bike.
Then, as a teenager, I saw something that changed my life, it started w/seeing the TdF riders effortlessly and w/souplesse ride….then Lemond WON!
I wanted to do the same, ride w/souplesse and panache and as I entered college, it was the bike that took me to class and there were ‘more of likeminded me out there’.
And cycling fits my personality so well, because not many others around here ride, so cycling is counter-culture in this part of the world, which simply convinces me it must be right. At 41 now, I AM A CYCLIST, its me, everyone knows it.
And it represents so much, how do you put it into words, really….
It started so long ago
And I have never looked back
@Dr C
those eyes…w/laser pinpoint focus…is in the V-loci
Cycling, like climbing (mountaineering in particular), is a sport of the love of suffering. You clear your mind of everything but the task at hand. I’m not a religious guy by any stretch, but the mountain (roads or glaciers) is my temple. Very nicely done Frank.
@Dr C
Hey Brother. When are you going to be climbing it? My trip to France next year with my family in April looks like it will be pushed into June instead (HUGE BUMMER as I will miss seeing, and was going to try to ride the cyclo as well, Paris-Roubaix) as it conflicts with the kids school too much.
So now I am looking for something to ride in June in France. I am trying to take a day to see the Dauphine’ and also do a cyclosportif or something like it.
Just curious as to your plans, which might help me plan something!
Thanks,
Buck
So very well said, Fronk.
Riding just sheds all of the bullshit and leaves the core.
It’s my personal “reset” button.
Even my wife has finally come to the realization that some days, I just need to ride, for the sake of the family, if for nothing else!
@Buck Rogers
My wife also.
An unfortunate side effect of my cycling habit is that I become a grumpy whining brat when I miss out on a riding day. My mood becomes less than tolerable to my wife if I don’t get at least an hour in every other day. It actually took some time for me to figure out why I was so damn pissy on occasion. No other sport has ever influenced me in such a manner.
@Dr C
Something I’ve planned from the beginning of Velominati is to provide wallpapers, but I’ve never gotten to it. Eventually I’ll find a place to house these, but here are two wallpapers for you – the main photo from this article in full high-resolution, and scaled to the typical aspect ratio for modern displays. Also adding the photo I took from the top of Luz Ardiden that same day. What a magical day of riding that was…high up on these Pyrenean climbs, you’re just up there in the clouds with only cattle for company. The eery effect of the sound of your wheels, breathing, and the clanging in the distance of a cowbell. Amazing.
Wallpapers: click the link below and right-click to save to your computer or, depending on your browser/computer you may have a “Set as Desktop” option.
le Col du Tourmalet
Luz Ardiden
Back when I was in high school I lost a close friend, my dad, and his dad all within two months. Even though I rode at the time, I was mostly a climber and went out bouldering almost every day. When I was on the rocks I found that quiet spot in my head that let me be at peace with the world. I find it now when I’m out on my bike. When I had my kidney out from cancer I threw myself into riding to a)get myself back into shape after the surgery and b)to get my head back into shape. Not being to ride for the last 4 months explains the crap mood I’ve been. Can’t wait for this knee to finally get healed up so I can get out again without it swelling up in a short time.
Never get off the bike!
Great pictures but they should come with a warning. I set the Luz Ardiden as my wallpaper on my work computer. After 15 minutes, I realized I had a sudden bike ride emergency brewing. This day will definitely be cut short.
I read words like this and they are so familiar. I too feel the spirit of Merckx upon me as the pedals spin, as the wind swirls by. The more alone I can be with my suffering the more I feel in tune with the machine. it is easy to forget everything off the bike, and simply ponder the white line, wherein the answers to all great questions are found. Nicely said, Frank.
@frank
Thanks for the wallpapers. Boy, I want to tackle these climbs. It’s amazing to think that normal folk can ride these legendary roads (no offense, Frank). I mean, not everyone can play at Boston Garden or Cowboy Stadium or Candlestick Park (yes, duly noted that all three of these professional stadiums are gone…I’m nostalgic..). But in cycling, we get to ride what they ride. Ain’t that grand?
Have Tourmalet on your wall
Click on this to set the Col du Tourmalet on the wall of your bedroom rather than just your laptop!
I think I’ll get that picture of Jens on the wall of my surgery – that’ll get the message across!
@frank
Tourmalet on all my screens now thanks!
@Buck Rogers
we’re going with GPM10 Buck, a supported group tour – a bit expensive at £1400, but you get to nail all the Pyrenean classic climbs in one week, and they carry your water and clothes in a spare car (come on guys, you don’t expect us to do this without some assistance!) and this includes all hotels and food, plus bike strip and tune every day and two pro support riders – sadly we have to rub each others legs afterwards – I will of course be wearing my Witte Kitte!
Schedule
Day 1: Bayonne to Lanne-en-Barétous
Distance: 120km
Climbing: 1209m
Key climbs: Col d’Osquich (500m),12km at 2.9%
Day 2: Lanne-en-Barétous to Saint Savin
Distance: 98km
Climbing: 2138m
Key Climbs: Col de Marie Blanque (1035m), 9.5km at 7.5% – Col D’Aubisque (1709m), 16.6km at 7.2% – Col du Soulor (1474m), 2.1km at 5.5%
Day 3: Saint Savin to Bagneres de Luchon
Distance: 109km
Climbing: 3092m
Key climbs: Col du Tourmalet (2115m),19km at 7.4% – Col d’Aspin (1498m),12.8km at 5% – Col de Peyresourde (1569m),10km at 6.6%.
Day 4: Bagnères de Luchon to Garrabet
Distance: 135km
Climbing: 1800m
Key climbs: Col de Ares (797m), 8km at 4% – Col de Portet d’Aspet (1069m), 4.3km at 10.1% Col des Caougnous (947m from half way up Col de Port) – Col de Port (1250m),12.8km at 4.7%.
Day 5: Garrabet to Collioure
Distance: 192km
Climbing: 2056m
Key climbs: Col de Marmare (1361m), 11.5km at 4.5% – Col des Sept Frères (1253m), 5km at 2.3% (form Marmere), – Col d’Aussieres (1020m),10km at 5.4% – Col des Auzines (1506m), 3km at 3.5%.
June 20-26 planned….
@Dr C
A prescription of V and a course of hill repeats for all the malingerers!
@Chris
It’s the pure antithesis of the X-Factor
@Buck Rogers, @pakrat
It’s interesting how that begins to form a pattern. Same here; the VMH and I have different tolerances for how long we’ve been off the bike before we go nuts. Recognizing that threshold becomes something to focus on as well, from both sides; Oooooooooh, you’re acting like a dick. Need to go on a ride?
I guess it’s summed up best by Calvin and Hobbes (in reverse) but sometimes when you’re a big enough cry baby, you get to go on a ride.
@pakrat
I try to get my rides done in the morning for this very reason. (Everyone can tell when I don’t get my ride in.) I struggle to concentrate unless I’ve ridden first thing in the morning.
I don’t even like to be around myself when I don’t ride. I become my own worst manager.
For various reasons, including egregious violations of Rule #11, I haven’t ridden in four straight days, nor have I ridden more than ten days total in the last month. It’s all I can do not to chew the trim off my desk. However, I’m cleaning the LOOK 595 this evening in preparation for a nice 90 minute ride in the morning. All will be right with the world soon.
@drsoul
Ugh, yeah – I’m just getting back from over two weeks of vacations in three different locations, and only one of which involved the bike (I know, rough life).
When I’m out for a ride, it’s not so much that I’m trying to escape anything or do any deep thinking (I’ll often return home and not really remember what all passed through my head while I was out), but it’s just being able to enjoy time doing an activity that I love without anything else distracting me – no cell phone (I carry it for emergencies but don’t answer it while out riding), no partner (my girlfriend doesn’t ride, and I’m OK with that – I like having *my* activity), no work stresses – just being outside in my awesome state and enjoying the same simple pleasure of riding a bike that folks have been enjoying for over 100 years now.
Becoming more healthy because of it is an awesome side benefit, as well.
@Dr C
Great cols you’ll be riding, mate. I’ve done all of those (every few years we stay for a month in Aspet). Most of those are really not too bad…they’re passes with steep bits, but they are all very doable – even the Tourmalet, which is my favorite pass ever.
The ride over the Col des Ares is a big-ringer, no big deal at all. Then down the valley and up the Portet d’Aspet, which is in my opinion the hardest one in the Pyerenees. The real climb is only about 4km (once you split off from the Mente) but those 4 km are a beast; significant stretches of 17% will put you in the hurt locker like no other climb in those hills. Fantastic. Wicked envious.
@drsoul
Absolutely – excellent point, and amazing distinction between Cycling and other realms of sport. Incredible. Even what @Buck Rogers is talking about, going to hit the great roads…there’s no feeling like it. And after you’ve ridden them, when you watch the races, you feel it all again – Look out, Grimpelder, that’s a steep bit you’re coming up to!!
@Souleur
I’ll say it with you, brother: I AM A CYCLIST. Part and parcel of what I am.
@Steampunk
Great idea! On it!
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Word on that, brother. Tension, aggravation…I’ll tend to hate the world. Also the genesis of this article; I had a hateful morning yesterday, topped off with a doctor’s visit. The nurse took my pulse and said, “Are you a runner?” I said, no, I’m a cyclist. “Oh, that explains your low heart rate.” What was it? “51bpm.” Oh, man, that’s high. I’m really tense right now. “That’s high? What is it usually?” 42. “Oh.”
I don’t even like to be around myself when I don’t ride. I become my own worst manager.
@frank
Bring it on!! (I suspect with about 2% chance of actual success/completion….. my local Hurt Locker climb is 18% for about 30 metres – HELP!!!)
Shall bring a running commentary next year when I get there, if I have any blood left in my fingers
@mcsqueak
Fucking awesome photo. Mount Hood, I presume?