La Vie Velominatus: The Choice

Koblet in all his Cyclist Majesty

The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.
– Oscar Wilde

I have a theory that every living being is designed to cope with a certain level of stress in their lives, that if our lives are somehow free of stress, we will invent new ways to meet our mind’s infinite capacity to worry about things it can’t control; I call this phenomenon the Suck Equilibrium.

The ability to cope with stress is what makes a person great; in Einstein’s case it was the stress caused by a desire to discover the Unified Theory, in other cases it might be to balance the checkbook. The driver isn’t important; that it pushes us to do more in life is what matters.

The Suck Equilibrium dictates that we adapt to the amount of stress we carry; no one is free of this burden – the hungry seek a meal, the homeless a home, the bike-less a bike, and the millionaire more millions. There is no cure, there is no remedy; no matter the level we reach, our natural inclination is to seek more from ourselves. In the end, there is only Rule #5.

The Cyclist is a unique character among the others. While the artist suffers because they must; the Cyclist suffers because they choose. To me, the greatest artist is that who choses to suffer, and who discovers the beauty in that choice. I am proud to call myself a Cyclist.

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.

Next Front Chainrings and The Theory of Relativity »

Previous « Velominati Super Prestige: Men's Elite Road Race 2013

View Comments

ErikdR says:

Oct 1 2013 at 8:58 am

@Ron

I do a lot of food system research for my job. Was also just thinking about self-created stress along the lines of eating agriculture-industrial food and the constant public health fears of contamination. Many people have no option but to eat these foods (though I know sweet potatoes, venison, and squirrel are cheap!) and there are continually outbreaks that send fear, and death, through the population.

Interesting as very conscientious consumers as cyclists how the American food production system is now poisoning people, animals, and the land. So much for the bucolic, pastoral farm.

Amen to that. Here in Denmark, pig farmers have been using strong antibiotics for years now (apparently, they work as growth-boosters). The medical world has been sounding the alarm for almost as many years, because they are confronted with more and more cases of 'multi-resistent' disease, that are almost incurable. The result of the outcry from the whitecoats? Sales of antibiotics to the agricultural sector have reached a new record high this year... Sigh.
Teocalli says:

Oct 1 2013 at 8:59 am

@the Engine Neat, I never realised they had those back then. Given engineering tolerances back then they must either have been pretty heavy or I hope not prone to explosive failure.......the end looks pretty square which is not good for a pressure cylinder.
ErikdR says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:04 am

@Mike_P

I just need to post a reverence comment as thanks to @Frank for the truly wonderful Hugo Koblet photo at the top of the article. You can almost hear his tires and smell the farmland he's passing. Just look at him. Pure class.

And amen (A-merckx) to that, too: the Koblet photo is sheer class. What is he running up front, anyway? 52-46, or thereabouts? And with a straight block on the rear? Great stuff.
ErikdR says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:16 am

And cottered cranks??
Donnie Bugno says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:17 am

Beautiful. If i could only pedal my bike as elegantly as that.
HMBSteve says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:34 am

@starclimber - too true. I often use the suffering of others to motivate myself. I ride charity centuries for just that purpose and sometimes wear a jersey with reminder markings or colors. Hard to drop or back down when riding for the memory of someone else who has suffered the ultimate.
Teocalli says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:37 am

@ErikdR That is a worry as you ship all your bacon over here don't you?
Buck Rogers says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:45 am

@Mike_P

@Teocalli

@Buck Rogers Ahhh of course. I was trying to work that out too. What about what appears to be an extra pump behind the seat tube just behind his knee?

It's Hugo Koblet so is probably his eau de cologne.

Ha! Well played! Cologne or hair gel and a spare comb. I'm betting on the latter!
freddy says:

Oct 1 2013 at 9:53 am

Thanks for the great post Frank. Beauty and suffering. As post-modern angst-fueled folks we might view them both as constructs needing to be dismantled. I'm with Oscar though. And Koblet.
freddy says:

Oct 1 2013 at 10:01 am

One of the things I appreciate about this community is how willing we are to play with the fringes of spirituality when expressing our cycling experience and how respectful we are when listening.