Les Maîtres de la Casquette

The last masters of the Cycling cap slipped into the shadows at the close of the 20th century

It doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on here. Rule #5, Rule #9, Rule #10; every rider in this frame Looks Fantastic (most other Rules). The riders are in short sleeves and shorts while the public apparently has scavenged materials from rubbish bins and the local grain elevator in a very visually unpleasant effort to keep warm. When I visualize the 90’s, this photo pretty much shows what I see. (Why was the weather so crap in France during Big Mig’s reign? Only redeeming quality of his wins.)

What this photo also shows is the highest concentration of Les MaÃ®tres de la Casquette, the masters of the Cycling cap, in recent recorded history. We discussed the art of wearing a Cycling Cap before, probably more often than necessary. Like all art, it begins with some founding principles, and then opens itself to the artist’s vision and expression. And like with art, there are The Masters.

In the art of wearing the revered casquette, we are guided by the Three Point System. From there, we are at liberty to express ourselves. In the days before helmets, the peloton was overflowing with masters of this studied art with an early style peak coinciding directly with the point of bushiest sideburns, but it has since all but died out. The last peak was in 1991, when Big Mig, Chiappucci, Bugno, Luc LeBlanc, and Richard Virenque were all at the height of their powers. Like the Jedi after the rise of the Sith, it is the responsibility of The Velominati to keep this art alive.

It also occurs to me in the state of high fever in which I write this, that the transcended Velominatus is always engaged in a Cycling-related activity which could possibly provide a release-clause for any accusation of a Rule #22 violation.

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

davidlhill says:

Nov 20 2014 at 3:17 am

@brett

@Rob

@Barracuda

@Mikael Liddy

You know the real questions though, where the fuck are the V-caps?

THIS !!!!!!!

It's time to begin a V-Starter for V-caps. This would be a KickStarter to raise the initial lucre to make the minimum order. I imagine it's got to be a fairly large number of caps and therefore I purpose that we canvas the community and do the math so that at each level of donation you would receive more caps.

What, for instance a large donor does with say 200 caps is irrelevant, it is the means to an end and I am betting that In a hundred years they will sell as collectible.

This. It's been long talked about in the Boardroom, and it seems so simple to produce a V-cap, but it's not. Getting the right mix of quality, price and number has been a seemingly insurmountable task. But we're gonna get there... we must.

Is this why the V Kit has disappeared? But I do get it - if a cap can't be produced, how the hell are you going to create bib shorts?

Put me down as buyer.

As to the question of the brim, simple. Sun and/or warmth - Up and the legend - Rule 5. Wet and/or cold - Down and the legend - Rule 9.

David
Ccos says:

Nov 20 2014 at 4:53 am

@markb

It also occurs to me in the state of high fever in which I write this, that the transcended Velominatus is always engaged in a Cycling-related activity which could possibly provide a release-clause for any accusation of a Rule #22 violation

Sorry, but no. Are you also going to clomp around in your cycling shoes whilst loading the washing machine? Wear your jersey whilst un-blocking a drain? Tis a slippery slope, one only has to look at the gutter-snipes who wear the awful basball cap 24Ã—7, or the dick-heads one meets on holiday weating a football shirt on the beach.

Tis best to wear the cap for brief periods post ride lest mussed hair spoil attempts at looking fantastic (post race or post group ride away from home).

Wearing one elsewhere certainly runs the risk of moving the needle on the Douche meter, but we needn't worry about the slippery slope bit: the cycling kit is too damn impractical to where off the bike. Unless of course you are massively obese. I'm not sure of the attraction there by some of that tribe to Lycra, FFS.
Buck Rogers says:

Nov 20 2014 at 4:54 am

@Markp Unless you are RDV, Le Blaireau or PhilGil it has to be down in my opinion. O/w you like like a tosser. This is, of course, when wearing it without a helmet. If you can pull off a brim up cum helmet, then you're pro. Never seems to work for me, though (maybe b/c I am so far from being pro?--nah, that couldn't be it).
wiscot says:

Nov 20 2014 at 6:05 am

Damn, Bugno looks PRO beyond belief in that lead pic - the cap, Italian champs jersey (was there ever a better complement to those Gatorade shorts?), the gloves and the Diadoras. For what it's worth, I don't think it's a regular cotton cap he's wearing, it's a kind of rain cap - soft nylon and almost insulated. I had a Peugeot one in the 80s. It was ace.
tessar says:

Nov 20 2014 at 6:20 am

@Buck Rogers In my experience, flipping the cap only works with certain helmets. Lazer are great, but my Rudy seems too thick at the front to flip the cap up.
gatsy says:

Nov 20 2014 at 6:26 am

So, Indurain has the first aero helmet on his bars and it looks like Rominger is going for the nuts.....
VeloVita says:

Nov 20 2014 at 7:15 am

@brett

Maybe now that the fixie-hipster is crawling back into the hole from whence they emerged, we can rightly reclaim the casquette as an off-the-bike accoutrement. Of course, as we are definitely not savages, it still must only be worn with cycling kit and not topping off your formal or smart casual attire.

You mean like this guy?
frank says:

Nov 20 2014 at 7:26 am

@Mikael Liddy

You know the real questions though, where the fuck are the V-caps?

It will be part of the 2015 V-Gear reboot; in the mean time, meditate on this fucking cap.
frank says:

Nov 20 2014 at 7:31 am

@Markp

Ignore Jaja

This photo puts in sharp relief what has happened to the European peloton due to the introduction of the helmet, a device that has flummoxed the French in particular more than anyone.

Compare Jaja below with cap with the above.

How can a dude who can even crush a sweat band still look that bad in a helmet.
davidlhill says:

Nov 20 2014 at 8:06 am

@davidlhill

This. It's been long talked about in the Boardroom, and it seems so simple to produce a V-cap, but it's not. Getting the right mix of quality, price and number has been a seemingly insurmountable task. But we're gonna get there... we must.

Is this why the V Kit has disappeared? But I do get it - if a cap can't be produced, how the hell are you going to create bib shorts?

Put me down as buyer.

As to the question of the brim, simple. Sun and/or warmth - Up and the legend - Rule #5. Wet and/or cold - Down and the legend - Rule #9.

David

Frank and all - an apology. By coincidence your v-kit ordering thread from 2011 popped up and I took a look at it. And after re-reading my comment above I've come across as an asshat - I'll try not to let it happen again!

In mitigation I've been desperate for the V-bibs ever since I bought the V-top over a year ago.

And re caps - no idea if the cap design is affected by whether it's worn under a helmet but if so, please remember us old school riders that don't bother.

And I still like my legends idea!

David