La Vie Velominatus, Part IV: The Great Escape

The Col du Tourmalet

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.

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

brett says:

Sep 21 2011 at 3:31 pm

@Minion
Ok, I've touched one or two... not with my arse though.
Chris says:

Sep 21 2011 at 3:53 pm

@Dr C

@Buck Rogers @Chris @all Northern European Velominati @ in fact anyone who is game
I'll try to sort a Paris Roubaix trip for 2013, for those who like to gaze into the distant future, to include the P-R sportive and a few other rides over a couple of days and of course, the race itself - could be a good focal event for the EuroV'ers

Sounds like a plan! It'll be good training for the LEJOG I'm planning on doing with a mate later on 2013.

I may just about have got to grips with my new rollers by then or, more likely, have died trying.
Chris says:

Sep 21 2011 at 3:57 pm

@huffalotpuffalot

@All
Speaking of events and consdering my dismal form right now, I decided to set my self a small target with a sportive in Blighty. I am going to be doing the Epic course so should be a nice little ride and if anyone else is going to be doing this let me know.
South Downs Sportive

Good stuff! Looks like a nice ride. I'm off to do this one in Shropshire the week after. It is going to be my first century (well almost at 98 miles).

Where are you based in the UK?
frank says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:03 pm

@Buck Rogers

Needless to say, myself and the Infect Disease folks were a bit worried about his HIV status so I had to go on the anti-retroviral meds that make you sooooo sick! Even two doses of this stuff has made me feel totally like shit. But, the lab results came back 10 minutes ago and he is HIV negative! So I can go off the HIV meds.
Now if only his Hep C can come back negative, I'll be all clear!!!

Scary shit, dude. You guys do amazing work, and risk alot. The VMH used to be in a similar line of work, and its a very stressful deal.

Very glad you're negative, and here's hoping for a negative on the Hep C.

And, for something completely different, the HIV drugs sound like a great way to loose weight, much like getting ~~gonorrhea~~ giardia in India did for me.
Horace Nmydik says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:09 pm

My friend loves biking. He sent me this article. He's a goddamn idiot but could kick your ace in a race.
Thanks for the indulgence.
Chris says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:11 pm

@Buck Rogers

Not nice shit but glad you got the HIV negative. Fingers crossed on the Hep C.
scaler911 says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:11 pm

@Buck Rogers

On a side note and completely unrelated (or as Monty Python would say, And now for something completely different) I have to share some good news. I was stuck by a needle yesterday during surgery and the patient was a trauma dude that I was fixing his eye. He's some guy from the Mexican border who was stabbed in the eye with a broken beer bottle while in a bar fight.
Needless to say, myself and the Infect Disease folks were a bit worried about his HIV status so I had to go on the anti-retroviral meds that make you sooooo sick! Even two doses of this stuff has made me feel totally like shit. But, the lab results came back 10 minutes ago and he is HIV negative! So I can go off the HIV meds.
Now if only his Hep C can come back negative, I'll be all clear!!!

That sucks, and good news so far. I gotta ask: you a MD, RN or scrub? I myself work in the OR as a anesthesia technician/ technologist. 12 years in the ER before that. Only been stuck once and it was 'clean' (needle off a piggy-back IV). Have a few co-workers that have been though. Nothing like coming home and telling the VMH "hey, know we've been together for 10+ years, but gotta glove up for the next 12 months.
scaler911 says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:14 pm

@Horace Nmydik

My friend loves biking. He sent me this article. He's a goddamn idiot but could kick your ace in a race.
Thanks for the indulgence.

Not sure how to respond to that. But that's a pretty bold statement unless your friend is Jens Voigt.
mcsqueak says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:38 pm

@Horace Nmydik

Awesome. I'll stick with being slow in the legs but fast of mind, myself!
Pedale.Forchetta says:

Sep 21 2011 at 4:42 pm

@Buck Rogers
I'm happy you are negative at the test!