La Vie Velominatus: The Choice
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.
@the Engine Or is it the welding kit? The goggles could be dark enough.
@Ron
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.
@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.
@Mike_P
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.
And cottered cranks??
Beautiful. If i could only pedal my bike as elegantly as that.
@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.
@ErikdR That is a worry as you ship all your bacon over here don’t you?
@Mike_P
Ha! Well played! Cologne or hair gel and a spare comb. I’m betting on the latter!
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.
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.
@Teocalli
Ha, yes; true… But from what I’ve heard, the pork that the Danes export is actually of a much higher quality than what stays in the country for ‘domestic consumption’. I’m not sure if ‘export quality’ bacon is, by definition, ‘clean’ – but there’s a good chance it is actually ‘cleaner’ than what is being served here. Weirdos…
Nothing religious, or anything, but my own consumption of pork has been reduced to practically nil.
@ErikdR
But from what I’ve heard, the pork that the Danes export is actually of a much higher quality than what stays in the country for ‘domestic consumption’.
Ha ha! Yes I did once hear that quote that you should never actually eat the Danish Bacon in Denmark as the best goes to the UK. It is very good over here. Now, as for US bacon ………..(lights the touch paper and stands back)
@freddy
YES! It’s very interesting how little organized religion ever comes up, but how spiritual many Followers seem, or are. And to combine the pursuit of such a wonderful sport with that spiritualism, or to not be albe to separate the two, is a very interesting aspect of many discussions that go on here.
ErikdR & Teocalli – I actually started hunting a few years back because I wanted to go off the grid of the industrial meat system. I don’t even like shooting animals, but I do occasionally enjoy meat and a quick death in the woods is significantly more humane than what pigs and cows and chickens are subjected to on mega-farms. Plus they totally fuck the environment. Inhumane way to treat animals, the meat is dangerous to consume, and it screws the environment. A really sad trifecta. I guess you could say I began killing out of compassion, not bloodlust.
I also stopped patronizing fast food restaurants in 2001, not because I hate fast food (though now I think it should be illegal to bring a feed bag of greasy, stinky fast food on a plane in that trapped air) but because I was traveling abroad and realized even tiny towns thousands of kilometers from home…had the same few chain restaurants. Fuck, I thought, I could stay at home and see these damn things. Again, kind of a weird way to steer away from those places, not the typical concern with eating such nutritionally hollow food products.
There is a Suck Equilibrium because nature abhors a vacuum.
@Ron ….even tiny towns thousands of kilometers from home…had the same few chain restaurants
I’m with you there, though it seems here that the “majors” are discovering that and are opening restaurants and coffee bars with the individual feel but actually backed by the big companies. Makes it harder to pick out the genuine small trader to support. A new place opened in my local town here (Guildford, UK) that looked nice but then I find it’s actually backed by Tesco. It’s a bit like finding that City Market had taken over Bongo Billy’s (now Black Dog) up in Buena Vista next time I pass through heading for the mountains.
@Nate
Very good.
I’m looking forward to next week’s guest article from Tom Boonen called “The Blow Equilibrium”.
@starclimber
I’m sorry that I was not clear enough, but you know I’m Italian and I’m not that fluent in English. My ‘slight discomfort’ has not a beyond point, next there’s only what you call physical failure. But I enjoy cycling even when I’m boiling behind a bunch of youngsters on a steep hill, for me is just fatigue not suffering. Like everyone I have to confront with disease or great misfortune and I do, but I do love these people for what they are, it’s not the disease that qualifies those people.
@ErikdR
Actually, you’re the one doing the twisting. The quote is there as fuel for thought; the article quite independently discusses how we might view suffering, stress, art, and Cycling.
That you’re grabbing onto the quote and tying them together is precisely why it’s there – to get you thinking – but don’t confuse that with all those connections and inferences you are making because they are exactly that – your own.
Great discussion though!
(And for the record, surely you can’t argue with the socially accepted stereotype of the suffering artist; just because you can come up with a few examples that break the stereotype doesn’t mean we should stop judging people and painting with overly broad strokes!)
@Mike_P
Perfect. And its such an easily controlled environment. At work, I have to deal with people and politics and backstabbing and agendas to stand in the way of progress; on the bicycle, I have only myself in the way. It is a beautiful thing to realize that you can indeed put work in at one end of the box and a better person comes out the other.
@Nate
My highschool Chemistry teacher taught us all about vacuums and suck. And at the end of the lecture he walked over to someone’s desk and pointed at the back of the chair and said, “That’s why it doesn’t bother me when someone writes ‘This class sucks’ on the back of the chair. They obviously don’t know what they’re talking about. This classroom has the same pressure as every other in this building.”
@Ken Ho
I’m going to go pop down to the store and start wearing one of these, a local Seattle product and gift to the world.
@Rob
Rob’s wife on phone to Frank: “Are you going to murder my husband?”
Frank: “Would I say yes if I was going to?”
Things went downhill from there.
@Brian
And another quote from one of my all-time favorite artists (whose personality and struggle with depression, I think, mirrored Pantani’s) – Layne Staley:
@mrathbun
Hey!! Great to see you reach out – you saved me on the ride and were excellent company to boot! Fantastic stuff, take care, and see you next year!
Cheers
“If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible.”
Thanks Frank. I needed that. I needed that extra little bit of inspiration to take myself out to the garage to submit myself to the rollers for a couple of hours. It has been a long time.
“There is the solitude of suffering, when you go through darkness that is lonely, intense, and terrible. Words become powerless to express your pain; what others hear from your words is so distant and different from what you are actually suffering.”
@frank
Just saw you placed a respectable 28th! congrats! Can we expect an article on the experience soon?
@Weldertron
I would have placed higher had I not face-planted out of the lead group and flatted out of the second group, and gone off course, adding another 6.5km (right @mrathbun?). Both those things tend to affect the placing! But thanks, and it was such a good experience.
The race is such a cool one – I will be planning on a better showing next year. Its such a demanding race; a race of attrition, plus lots of technical off-road trails, and then – if you’re good enough and strong enough, you can’t have any bad luck. Its fucking awesome.
Yes, we’ll do an article on it; stand by.
Thanks Frank. The suffering on the bike that I crave, the mashing of the pedals, the visits from The Man With the Hammer, the solitude of long miles, the suffering…give my life balance. Makes it easier to not sweat the small stuff. I’ve been a Velominada of late, getting my house ready to sell. And I feel out of balance. I take my first ride for a couple of months in a couple of days, and then a Sunday ride with buds I’ve ridden with for nearly thirty years. Back to balance. It’s great to be here.
All is well indeed, that one must imagine Sisyphus happy.
@frank
Yes, get some breeze up yer nethers. That will take that feeling of suffering away.
I must admit, even though I have had the hammer down a bit on my recent night rides, the absence of heat or any hills of note, and th presence of moonlight, have removed any sense of suffering from me. Every ride has been a pleasure. Interestingly, I often describe myself as non-religious, but very spiritual, in an animistic sense. It’s interesting to me taht others here identify with thatthought too. I don’t think it’s restricted to cyclists. I think that most outdoorsmen feel that way. It’s hard not to feel spiritual when ski-ing backcountry or off-piste steeps, or even when just at the top of a wind-swept mountain. lost in the heart of back country MTB evokes teh feeling too, as does sitting in a crystal,perfect surf break.
The road up to Mt Warning is open again though, so the easy rides might be on hold for a bit while I’m on a home break.
@Chuck
Nice @Meursault will appreciate that.
We had record rainfall in PDX last weekend. Made for some fun spectating for ‘cross. The course was more suited for kayaking than cycling:
@Pedale.Forchetta
Pedale – All of us are just happy that you speak to us with your photographs!
And, communicating on the ‘net is hard enough as it is, I applaud you and others who contribute and share with those of us who only speak English. That takes skill, and courage!
@frank
Thanks for your serious (if slightly patronizing) reply – but I’m not buying it, I’m afraid. First of all: if the Oscar Wilde quote is “independent” of the rest of the article, as you say, why does the rest of the article borrow so heavily from the terminology and general tone of the quote? Or, conversely, if the two were indeed unrelated, why is the quote there in the first place? Your average reader will naturally associate what is written in the opening quote or “header” of an article, with the rest of that article.
Secondly: if, as you say, the quote is there to “get me thinking”, but then immediately after state that I should not confuse “thinking”, as such, with all those connections and inferences I am making in response to the article, then I’m really curious to find out what your definition of “thinking” actually is. As I see it, there is little else to thinking, than making connections and inferences in response to information and input – and yes, you can bet your ass that these connections are ‘my own’. Who else’s should they have been?
Thirdly: I still consider the statement “artists suffer because they must” somewhat inaccurate: I’m by no means an artist and never will be, but I’m fortunate enough to have known a lot of artists – even a few seriously professional ones – and to the best of my knowledge, they don’t suffer because they must. If anything, they create because they must. If they subsequently find out that they cannot support themselves by being creative, suffering usually ensues, yes. And as a consequence, a lot of artists actually do suffer, yes.
Finally (and I cannot stress this enough): let me state for the record that I am in deep awe of all the work you and the other Keepers are doing to keep this site going, and add that I enjoy practically all of your posts tremendously. You write well – and quite often brilliantly – and your posts have had me laughing out loud at times, and deeply moved at others. I just found this particular one somewhat erratic, and I happen to think(!) that you have, on numerous occasions, done better. No offense intended.
PS: yes, please do continue generalizing things and painting in the broadest brush you can find – I wouldn’t have it any other way.
@Pedale.Forchetta
One man’s slight discomfort is another man’s V. Love this shot!
@ErikdR
I realize I’m arriving late, but mind if I hop on? I’ve been following for a while, but don’t want to be a wheelsucker.
This post, indeed the way of the Velominati, encapsulates what I have attempted to convey to family, friends and co-workers for decades. I have often said, whenever we employ a labor-saving or time-saving device, our minds and bodies find a way to compensate. As @Buck Rogers alluded, with that extra time and energy we can CHOOSE to do things, or we can CHOOSE to be a couch potato. But if we choose the latter, we will be REQUIRED to spend that extra time and energy hauling our fat arse around.
At times, when I’m exploring the Pain Cave, a thought will creep in saying “you know you could slow down.” Instinctively, my response is “why would I want to do that?”
@Optimiste
Yes, well put. As I hope I have made clear, I absolutely agree with the ‘gist’, the message, of the post. Absolutely..Physical exertion does make us healthier, more focused persons.
All I was trying to say (clumsily, perhaps), is that as much as I agree with the ideas behind this particular post, I have often seen @Frank make his point in a more concise, clear manner – but that doesn’t detract from the point itself. And as mentioned, no offense intended – just an opinion (a grumpy one, perhaps…)
@Mike_P puts it into words very well too, in fact – in post nr. 69 – and @Frank himself tops it off with a very memorable line of prose: “On the bicycle, I have only myself in the way. It is a beautiful thing to realize that you can indeed put work in at one end of the box and a better person comes out the other” Unquote. I agree fully with the sentiment, and I find that this one sentence (well, two, actually) really says it all – and beautifully, at that. I wish I could be that much ‘to the point’, sometimes.
@Optimiste
Thought – “You should take the next turn and head back”
Response – “Why would I do that?”
@DeKerr La gloriosa strada
@DeKerr
Thought – “You should take the next turn and head back”
Response – “Why would I do that?”
Stunning shot. I have a similar climb but maybe not quite on that scale but the same principle in that at first it does not look like a climb but it gradually winds up on you until you start to wonder where the ammo went for the old guns. Someone named it as a segment on that Staravara thingy “Bastard Climb” and I used to think that but by working at the above this summer I now actually enjoy it. Particularly getting to the top and waiting for my buddies – of course making sure I focus on breathing normally and also being fully Rule #80 compliant when they arrive.
@Optimiste
Awesome first post, mate.
In a way, what we’re talking about is the conservation of energy. I love it!
@frank
Thank you for the warm reception. And from the Founding Keeper no less. I can only imagine the lashing I’ll get for my first bone-headed comment…said the optimist.
@Optimiste , @Frank
Guys, I just heard/saw something amazing on the Danish 18.30 TV news. They interviewed this lady (in her thirties, at a guess) who explained that she had been (and in a way, still wás) mentally ill, to a degree that she had to be committed to a psychiatric hospital on a regular basis and, while there, physically restrained at times (i.e. strapped to a bed or cot, and left there for a considerable time).
At some point about a year ago, her doctors/therapists decided to try out a form of treatment that included physical exertion – so they put her on a mountain bike. (Cue footage of the lady grinding her way up some steep forest paths, with her therapist/coach shouting encouragements)
After about a year of this, they realized that it hadn’t been necessary to physically restrain her even once, and today, she is basically ‘discharged’ from her hospital regime… How cool is that?
They didn’t mention the exact nature of her affliction, or whether she (still) has to take medicine, or anything (for reasons of discretion, no doubt) – but apparently, she will have to continue her ‘cycling therapy’ – and she seemed extremely pleased with the prospect!
@Optimiste
Oops… before I forget (again): Welcome!
@ErikdR
My dad is getting old now, and was showing some signs of what might have developed into dementia. (His mum went totally crazy). But he’s also pretty self-aware, and he has a terrific specialist, who said the best thing he could do was as much physical exercise as he could take. So dad, at age 85, started going to the gym nearly every day. I cleaned up an old hybrid bike for him which he rides a couple of k’s most mornings down to the post office, or to the pool for a swim. And he’s not forgetting things ….
@scaler911
Now *That’s* a ‘Cross race!
Betcha no one was in the big ring for that one.
In other news, State CX champs tomorrow in Melbs. Woo!
@GeeTee
Wow… that’s amazing. Big kudos to him. It fascinates me how we seem to become more and more aware of the human specimen as an intricately connected mind-body system, rather than merely “a mind, in a vehicle called a body”, so to speak.
@ErikdR
I read an interesting research article on this recently about how it has found that exercise seems to promote the brain to reconnect synapses and can help in the battle against Dementia so bears out the above. Affirms that old adage of “use it or lose it”. VMH’s Mum is not well at all with Alzheimer’s but my Mum is fine at 89 and is booked to come skiing with us in Colorado again this year. I hope I have a good packet of her genes.