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.

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ErikdR says:

Oct 1 2013 at 10:18 am

@Teocalli

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

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.
Teocalli says:

Oct 1 2013 at 10:29 am

@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)
Ron says:

Oct 1 2013 at 12:45 pm

@freddy

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.

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.
Nate says:

Oct 1 2013 at 12:52 pm

There is a Suck Equilibrium because nature abhors a vacuum.
Teocalli says:

Oct 1 2013 at 1:06 pm

@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.
Harminator says:

Oct 1 2013 at 1:08 pm

@Nate

Very good.

I'm looking forward to next week's guest article from Tom Boonen called "The Blow Equilibrium".
Pedale.Forchetta says:

Oct 1 2013 at 1:39 pm

@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.
frank says:

Oct 1 2013 at 1:59 pm

@ErikdR

@meursault

How so? Because artists reflect on the human condition. Buddhists believe that life is suffering. Don't get me wrong though, it isn't all doom and gloom, it's the suffering that provides the contrast for us to see the joy too.

Yes, but not all artists are Buddhists, surely? For the record: I'm not in any way contesting the validity of the post. I just think that the meaning of the Oscar Wilde quote was twisted almost beyond recognition to illustrate the point - and unnecessarily, at that. In this particular quote, Oscar Wilde does not in any way associate artists with suffering - only with being able to appreciate beauty, is all I was trying to say (ineptly, perhaps)

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!)
frank says:

Oct 1 2013 at 2:01 pm

@Mike_P

Beautifully thought through and written, Frank. My life is full of stress and occasional suffering, as is everyone's. One of the many reasons I'm so passionate about riding is because it's one of the few areas of suffering I can control. It's up to me how hard, how far, how deep. It's an affirmation that I'm alive.

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.
frank says:

Oct 1 2013 at 2:04 pm

@Nate

There is a Suck Equilibrium because nature abhors a vacuum.

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."