Categories: Defining MomentsLa Vie VelominatusNostalgia

Training: The Fourth Bridge

The Forth over the Firth in Scotland

Before the New Year, it was my ride up Haleakala. At present, it’s Keepers Tour: Cobbled Classics 2013. Before Haleakala, it was one of the various Cyclocross races and before that the Zoo Hill Time Trial. The targets change, but throughout my life as a Velominatus, there always seems to be a goal looming over the horizon which spurs me on. Training, for its endless nature, is like painting the Forth Bridge in Scotland: it takes a year to paint and you have to paint it every year.

In contrast to my opinion of painting a bridge, training is something I fundamentally enjoy. Lucky for me, I love training for the sake of training; I don’t feel any compelling need to do a particular ride in any particular time. What I do feel, however, is the need to do any particular ride in a better time than I have previously. I’m fortunate to delight in the process of finding form and fitness, of getting better. I love seeing the improvement; I love setting incremental goals and reaching them through the elementary process of working towards them.

Cycling, in this way, presents me with an incredibly rewarding outlet for that bit of my nature that lives on seeing marked progress. In every walk of life, things are complicated. The deeper we wade into any endeavor, the more embroiled we become in the mechanics of staying afloat – to say nothing of actually moving towards an end. Yet, Cycling is simple; put in the work and the results come.

The more complicated my life gets and the more conflicted my priorities, the more I find I love Cycling for its elemental simplicity. Set a goal, make a plan, follow it. There is no one to look to but yourself. There are no external dependencies. There is only the endlessness of The Work.

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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View Comments

Barracuda says:

Feb 11 2013 at 6:01 pm

As an aside, thats a great photo.
Barracuda says:

Feb 11 2013 at 6:05 pm

As a rule, the more I ride, the better I feel and therefore the better I fell, the more I ride.
starclimber says:

Feb 11 2013 at 6:45 pm

Great read, Frank, and brings to mind the frustration one feels at 'not' being able to endlessly do 'The Work' due to injury or illness.
gordon says:

Feb 11 2013 at 7:08 pm

Love that place. my family is from Markinch just off the A911 in Fife county.
strathlubnaig says:

Feb 11 2013 at 7:34 pm

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/172685268
Russ M says:

Feb 11 2013 at 7:47 pm

@the Engine

There are four bridges over the Forth now - downstream of Stirling at any rate. The one pictured is the Forth Rail Bridge - the oldest and now also the fourth (downstream).

It was painted on a five year rolling basis one end to the other and back (big Sisyphus thing going on there) but they've now coated it with new paint that means it shouldn't need repainting quite so often.

We ride over the Forth Road Bridge as a club every so often. The Forth Road Bridge was built primarily to give everyone a good look at the Rail Bridge.

The river that runs past (and when wet, over) the bottom of my garden is the Teith a tributary of the Forth. Oddly the Teith is the bigger and longer river before it joins the rather wishy washy Forth just above Stirling. If there was any justice for rivers we'd talk about the Firth of Teith and painting the Teith Rail Bridge - ah well.

Tomorrow I ride.

GET some photos if you can that is one awsome looking site.
Russ M says:

Feb 11 2013 at 7:56 pm

@starclimber

Great read, Frank, and brings to mind the frustration one feels at 'not' being able to endlessly do 'The Work' due to injury or illness.

I hope your getting back to health quickly, those pedals won't turn them selves.
Steampunk says:

Feb 11 2013 at 8:19 pm

All I can think about after looking at the picture at the top is the following joke about the man who is visited by God. Because he has been a good man, God offers to grant him a wish. The man thinks for awhile and says that he has always wanted to climb Haleakala on his bicycle, but he is dreadfully afraid of flying; could God build a bridge from California to Hawaii? God's appalled. Can you imagine the size of the bridge, the logistics, the engineering challenge associated with building a bridge that long? No. That won't do. Make another wish. The man thinks for awhile longer and then says that he has always wanted to understand women. God's reply: "so this bridge: two lanes or four?"
frank says:

Feb 11 2013 at 8:48 pm

@the Engine

There are four bridges over the Forth now - downstream of Stirling at any rate. The one pictured is the Forth Rail Bridge - the oldest and now also the fourth (downstream).

It was painted on a five year rolling basis one end to the other and back (big Sisyphus thing going on there) but they've now coated it with new paint that means it shouldn't need repainting quite so often.

We ride over the Forth Road Bridge as a club every so often. The Forth Road Bridge was built primarily to give everyone a good look at the Rail Bridge.

The river that runs past (and when wet, over) the bottom of my garden is the Teith a tributary of the Forth. Oddly the Teith is the bigger and longer river before it joins the rather wishy washy Forth just above Stirling. If there was any justice for rivers we'd talk about the Firth of Teith and painting the Teith Rail Bridge - ah well.

Tomorrow I ride.

Wow. I knew one of your Scots would have a thing or two on that one. But running through your garden...didn't see that coming.

@Brad

It's Forth, as in the Firth of Forth Bridge.

@Brad

It's Firth, as in Firth of Forth

Do me a favor and post that one more time; I prefer my pedantry in threes - if its not too much trouble.

But seriously, the title was a play on words, the ones in the article was finger memory. So you still get points for being half right.
frank says:

Feb 11 2013 at 8:57 pm

@Roadslave525