Reverence: Daylight Saving Time

Daylight savings means less time riding in this

Not too many people espouse the virtues of Daylight Saving Time, much less chose to write about it every bloody year. But Daylight Saving Time is my favorite day of the year, no question. Better than Christmas, Sinterklaas, or my birthday. Combined. The reason is simple: Daylight Saving is the day of the year when it becomes feasible to once again ride after work without headlights.

To be a Cyclist is to be a student of sacrifice; everything is given for the sake of becoming better at our chosen craft. We risk life and limb when we set ourselves upon the streets to take flight amongst the motor traffic like a gazelle amongst the lions. In winter, we often do this with the further risk of darkness, limiting our range of vision and our visibility to drivers who are much more likely to be texting than I care to imagine.

While there are some liberating aspects to riding and training at night, Daylight Saving Time frees us from the grip of darkness and affords us the opportunity train once again in afternoon daylight without requiring excessive amounts of Calendar Tetris in order to sneak out of the office while the sun still hangs above the horizon. From Sunday onward, it is Open Season on training and the path towards summertime fitness opens up before us.

Most crucially, Daylight Saving Time means the days lengthen enough to once again allow the afternoon training rides to become the karmic neutralizer of the daily grind. 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.

Next There Ought to be a Rule... »

Previous « The Curse of Hell

View Comments

Daccordi Rider says:

Mar 10 2015 at 6:14 pm

Here down under Daylight savings is about to leave us, makes me a bit melancholy. I'm just not a morning person so after work rides are awesome. Last night I got in 50 km and 1700 vertical metres in 27 degrees, taking full advantage of the few weeks we have left!

Despite the fact that the cows get out of synch, my curtains fade more and the grass grows more I love it.
Roger says:

Mar 10 2015 at 6:23 pm

@frank

@Rigid

How’s the training going Frank? Guns of Navarone rippling? The Welli-minati have had a summer season of long rides and are now engaging in after work intensity sessions up and down burg sized hills. Should be a force to be reckoned with.. There has to be a bonus from living on the upside down side of the world – not to mention crisp tan lines

Yeah, my training has been perfect assuming my goal is to spend a lot of time at the back of the bunch.

Training use to be about being at the front of the bunch. Not so much anymore it is more about being in the middle unnoticed and being able to sneak up and dish out some V when needed and then slip back into the mix.
The Pressure says:

Mar 10 2015 at 7:09 pm

@frank

Yikes!! That could have been much worse (Boonen-style). Nice application of #5!
PeakInTwoYears says:

Mar 10 2015 at 8:05 pm

@frank

@DeKerr

There’s no better way (that I’ve found) to test an assertion than to try to explain it to a 5-6 year old and see if they grasp the concept or rationale behind it. DST does not hold up.

Did you find that, or did you read it from a quote by Einstein?

If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.
-Albert Einstein

Having spent much of my adult, working life trying to explain complicated things to other people—college students, usually, not just police officers and judges—I spent most of that life having to believe that the ability to explain was bound up with the ability to understand. Now that I have to do that kind of thing only a couple of days a week, I’ve come accept what I believed all along: that belief is bullshit.

Thought experiment: ask a highly intelligent professional bike racer to explain to a highly intelligent six year old what it means to become a professional bike racer. Now ask the six year old what it takes to become a professional bike racer.
pistard says:

Mar 10 2015 at 8:21 pm

@frank

That’s all fine, but the consequence was the black metal hard-drive that was laying in the bike lane which I hit squarely at about 40kmph. It had gone unnoticed between the headlight cone and my distraction at the mess.

How did you know what kind of music was on the drive? That Darkthrone logo is unreadable when it's standing still, let alone at 40kph.
Barracuda says:

Mar 10 2015 at 8:36 pm

@Rom

Daylight savings is rubbish. It finally starts to get light in the mornings, then they wind the clocks forward and you’re in the dark again. Plus it’s hotter for longer in the evening.

luckily we’ve (the sane people) have voted it out several times.

stuffs up the cows too.

And the curtains fade and the chooks stop laying eggs
Nate says:

Mar 10 2015 at 9:19 pm

@frank

@camo

here in nor-cal road squid season is in full effect.

WTF?

Seconded. Is this a reference to newt making season?
Rigid says:

Mar 10 2015 at 10:01 pm

@frank

Aw come on.. When Museeuw attacks on the Carrefour you'll be the first to go after him, how could you not
ShawnB says:

Mar 10 2015 at 11:12 pm

@Nate

@frank

@camo

here in nor-cal road squid season is in full effect.

WTF?

Seconded. Is this a reference to newt making season?

Squids = Squirrely kids, according to sportbike riders I've been around.
1860 says:

Mar 11 2015 at 1:07 am

@frank

Winter bike... is good. What I really like is the look of your workshop/temple, that looks pro.

I am based in Vienna, Austria and have very nice bike paths and infrastructure that unfortunately become totally covered in grit at the first sign of ice/snow, so after about 5 flats and hearing all those dings am now very happy to switch to the indestructible winter bike for that time period.