Pete Boydell shows us what Rule #5 looks like.
I’m proud to declare that I am fluent in three languages: Hyperbole, Dutch, and English. All of them rubbish. The language of the peloton is, by and large, the most beautiful and expressive in French and Italian, which already make anything sound sexy. But they really excel in le langage du peloton: Sur la plaque, La Volupte, Grinta, La Fringale – each of those smash their English translations with pure linguistic voluptuousness.
The exception is, of course, the term “on the rivet”. Don’t ask my why we all slide forward on our saddles when we’re riding hard, but we all do. Slip your saddle forward a bit to accommodate the forward position, and you’ll still slip forward once you start laying down The Five. It’s one of life’s great mysteries, alongside gravity and how the frosting got inside the twinkies.
Saddles used to have a rivet on the front, to hold the the crotch-numbing slab of leather in place because Cycling saddles at the time were modelled after Western horse saddles. And whenever you were well and truly on your limit, you’d have your rump precariously perched right over that brass nubbin. Hence the term, on the rivet.
To kindly demonstrate the point, no one does “On the Rivet” better than former Manchester DC legend, Pete Five Face Boydell. Even his saddle is having a shit.
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Funny you should choose that pic - we were just discussing hill climb TTs the other day! That pic will be from the mid 80s I reckon. A Manchester Wheeler rider has just finished, utterly spent, and there are folks there to catch him as he's riding fixed and his feet are firmly strapped in. Notice how the bike is as light as possible with only a front brake. He must have been a pretty good rider too - at #70 (if it was a full field of 120) then he would be the #5th ranked rider starting. The favorite would have gone off last at #120.
@Wingnuts
Call it a tub all you want, but on my side of the Atlantic they have been sewups since I started gluing them with that damn red shit in 1984.
Great shot -- I know he's hurting, but I can almost hear a, "yaaaaaahoooooooooooooo!" He knows he's fast. When I'm riding hard I look like I'm about to punch someone, more great white than whale shark.
In terms of shifting about on the saddle, I notice that I slide forward when I am on the hoods and lowering my upper body to go for it on the flat, but then slide back when I'm really working a climb, whether my hands are on the hoods or the tops.
Fucking awesome photo @frank.
I had a look around on googel to see if I could find out a bit more about Mr Boydell, not much going on there (I'll see if my old sensei Mr Cammish can come up with) but I did find this.
Despite having the sort of beard usual reserved for religious nutter and sex pests, this chap was obviously capable of laying down so much V that his bars needed reinforcement.
Another weird single ring subset of British cycling, a hill climber this time not a tester.
@chris
But scope that head tube Lugg!
If you absolutely, positively have to be on the rivet:
http://www.brooksengland.com/cambium/c13/
@chuckp
Nice job, captain spoiler alert.
@Oli
He's also using a psychological technique that always worked pretty well for me: look that stopwatch straight-on, and yell "say 'tick' again, motherfucker! Go ahead, I DARE you!"
@frank
How was I supposed to know???
Holy fuck, what a photo indeed! Who is that guy!?