Categories: EtiquetteFolkloreLa Vie VelominatusNostalgiaThe Hardmen

On Rule #43: Shaming the Sensei

This cat got skills

I think it would be hard for anyone to make the case that Eddy Merckx was Roger de Vlaeminck’s Cycling Sensei, but I think we can all agree that De Vlaeminck was a student of Merckx, if only a student of his domination. But every student at some point becomes the master, and the driven student will always challenge the Order of Things.

Every rider should keep their bicycles safely inside their warm house during the Winter, on account of us not being savages and not wanting to leave our beloved steeds out in the cold. Rule #69 suggests, then, that if one happens to have a brick front staircase, one should ride one’s bicycle down said stairs rather than waddle down in cleats with bicycle lurched over the shoulder. Such was the case on this snowy Winter’s day, somewhere in Oost Vlaanderen, when the student Roger casually rode his bike down his brick steps while The Prophet waited on the sidewalk to start the ride.

Not only is RdV demonstrating a fundamental property of life (i.e. that shaming your Sensei is an incomparably rewarding experience) but that rivals can be mates. I observe two important points: Roger and Eddy are getting ready for what appears to be a winter training ride and Roger and Eddy are on rival teams. I’ve always been good mates with my competitors; I may well view them as pure evil during an event, but outside that narrow scope, I recognize that they drive me to become a better person, to explore the very limits of my abilities. For that alone, I owe them a debt of gratitude because the quality of my rivals tests the quality of my own character. Most of them are people who share the same motivation and goals as I do. There is no need to hate them in even the remotest realms of reality. We are not soldiers at war; we are foes engaged at a game of Sport – we are more similar than we are different.

Rule #43 is about brother and sisterhood. Save the rivalry for Race Day and learn to know your opponents and spend time with them. You may find they are much like you and have many lessons to offer. But come Race Day, crush them like an ant under the Lone Ranger’s boot.

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

PeakInTwoYears says:

Dec 16 2014 at 2:50 pm
Beers says:

Dec 16 2014 at 3:47 pm

@Buck Rogers

Soooo much fuck'in right with this piece!!! We are all Brothers (and Sisters) on the bike. We walk (ride) the same path and have a common bond that goes beyond the race. It it something that when you both see each others shaved legs or tan lines, you can immediately relate to one another.

The same goes for the military. When not deployed and you see a military member from another branch, there is immediate, usually friendly, bantor and picking on one another, maybe even a bit of scorn (Air Force guys are "soft", Navy are just "water taxis", Marines "JarHeads", do not even lower ourselves to acknowledge the Coast Guard) but when deployed, you will not find a tighter bond outside of genetics.

And it is our foes that truly make us. They are the ones that make us get outside and train on the cold, raining days. To not have a dessert. To pass on the second piece of Halloween candy. Every true hero needs a worthy foe, not some camel fucker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZE0TYKYfEo

Although I suppose that we get closest to your transcendent Velominatus when we get to the point where anyone outside ourselves is no longer needed as a foe, when we are our own foe, but that just sounds wayyy too cheesily "Deep, Dude" for an early Tuesday morning.

And before I finally shut up, I still see your hints of the Dark Side creeping through here. I think only the Sith aspire to overtake and beat their Sensei, no???

I think, rather to take it further, this is more in the realm of former Allied and Axis military who since those dark days have met each other and found that they are in fact very similar to each other, and were just pawns in a fucked up game, that they are both good cunts who can get along with each other, but who BITD would have taken not a single thought to knife each other to death in the trenches.
Chris says:

Dec 16 2014 at 4:22 pm

Cycling with a competitor or with the VMH Tough choice...

...although I'd be temped to have a word about the Ugg boots.

(perfect display of caps, though)
brett says:

Dec 16 2014 at 5:41 pm

@Teocalli

@brett

@SamFromTex

I'm distracted by the guy parked on the sidewalk.

Blasphemy.

I have a funny feeling given the B plate on the car (suspecting that international travel was not that common even in Belgium back then) and the fact that it's a smart/large car and the direction of EM's bike that the offender is he himself.

Oops... by "the guy parked on the footpath" I thought he was referring to The Prophet... my mistake. Sorry @SamFromTex
Mikael Liddy says:

Dec 16 2014 at 6:10 pm

@Chris based on his eyeline, I think he may be wondering about her choice of footwear too.
Puffy says:

Dec 16 2014 at 6:23 pm

@Buck Rogers

And it is our foes that truly make us. They are the ones that make us get outside and train on the cold, raining days. To not have a dessert. To pass on the second piece of Halloween candy.

Second piece? Is that were I have been going wrong?
SamFromTex says:

Dec 16 2014 at 6:26 pm

@Chris

Cycling with a competitor or with the VMH Tough choice...

...although I'd be temped to have a word about the Ugg boots.

(perfect display of caps, though)

I spent quite a while freaking out about that Big Ring before I realized it's a moped.

@brett It's all right, my phrasing was a bit off. Surely The Prophet wouldn't have driven over, though?
jb says:

Dec 16 2014 at 7:32 pm

This website- and this post, in very particular- brings a great deal of joy into my life. Chapeau! (And, uh, happy holidays, too...)

jb
pistard says:

Dec 16 2014 at 8:29 pm

@SamFromTex Moped? Merckx forbid. It's a derny, specifically for motor-pacing. Mostly only seen on the track these days for Steher and Keirin, but some riders used to train behind them on the road. Bordeaux-Paris was motor-paced for half the route during most of its history.
RobSandy says:

Dec 17 2014 at 12:25 am

@brett

@Buck Rogers

Yes and no. I feel a bond with some of my fellow Cyclists, others I want nothing to do with. The amount of fuckwits I see doing stupid shit on bikes every day makes my blood boil as they are hurting our collective cause.

THIS!