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.

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1860 says:

Mar 11 2015 at 2:05 am

@frank

btw... that is a very long seat post.
Deakus says:

Mar 11 2015 at 4:28 am

Forgive me father for I have sinned. It has been over 3 months since my last ride, the darkness brought shadows and in the shadows there lurked something called a swimming pool. I spent long months in the shadows until last week when a ray of sun peaked through the dim winter light and I went out on my bike. And Oh how had I forgotten the joy of turning the cranks! The legs are a little spongy but the lungs are good and the weight has stayed off.

I would say I was back

on track except after Thursdays ride and another on Saturday, Sunday showed me how those endless laps in the pool had sapped my powers of concentration and bike handling skills....(The prophet has punished me for my transgressions)

Roll on DST!
Ron says:

Mar 11 2015 at 7:07 am

@frank

@DeKerr

DST – originally postulated by Ben Franklin (an otherwise intelligent chap) to save candles. This makes it more archaic than wood hoops and less practical. Recent studies demonstrate that it doesn’t save energy and just generally fucks with people’s live. Good summary on the general fuckery here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/time-to-kill-daylight-saving/387175/

Fuck changing the clocks twice a year – fuck it into a dark place where it shall never see the light of day again.

Changing the clocks? That’s your beef? Been guzzling the Anti-V, have we? All but my oven clock are connected to the interwebs and set themselves.

That said, I upgraded my router this weekend and had to reconnect all my devices to the network with my strong password. That blew the big one because many are Apple TV’s and I have to enter the password via a remote.

I had understood it was actually devised to keep people at the retail stores for longer and help boost the economy.

I have an opinion on this.

Apparently so!

I'm curious about this "strong password." Having lived with a website designer/programmer for a bit...goddamn, you lads like your strong passwords. I know the thing by heart by I still have to speak it aloud whenever I re-enter it.

And, I'm glad I'm not the one getting the stick here, since I often am. Nice work on setting him straight! I had to reset my Casio wristwatch; it took to clicks. Buck up, DeKerr. However, I do appreciate the sincere feelings on this. It's difficult to get real emotion out of folks these days; they'd rather just get back to sending their text message.
Ron says:

Mar 11 2015 at 7:10 am

@1860

@frank

btw… that is a very long seat post.

Yer new here, kid. Well established opinion. However, Frank's stance on this opinion is well-vetted, hours of saddle time by a known genius on Pillar Positioning.
Ron says:

Mar 11 2015 at 7:15 am

@frank

@Ron

Holy fack, I need a karmic equalizer this week!

While the light for training rides is awesome, I have to say that I’m even more pumped to avoid having to cyclocommute home in the dark. Not very fun. Even when I can’t leave on time, plenty of light. It’s awesome! Started my new job in October, so things seem a lot better with DST.

Yeehaw!!

There is some mental wear and tear that comes with arriving at work in the dark and leaving in the dark. By bike. In wet clothes. It also makes you feel like a truly committed disciple. But the sunlight – at least on the ride home – is a welcome companion.

Yes, indeed. Mental wear this winter was present. We had a few decent weeks of cold, rain, snow and ice. It felt like the northeast. I found myself getting pissed off having to sort out so many clothes, gloves, hats, shades, etc., then dry them all daily.

It nearly broke me. I almost complained about the weather. I'm truly becoming a Southerner, I was tired of winter in early March. My parents just went back to upstate NY after a month in Florida. Conditions: 3' of snow, 6*F. Ouch.
frank says:

Mar 11 2015 at 9:56 am

@PeakInTwoYears

@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.

Uh, The Five?
frank says:

Mar 11 2015 at 9:59 am

@Rigid

@frank

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

Those are two different things, as you well know.

Can't fucking wait.

@1860

@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.

Excellent point!
frank says:

Mar 11 2015 at 10:03 am

@Deakus

Ouch. Hope the bike is alright, you look fine.

@Ron

To all of this: yes.
unversio says:

Mar 11 2015 at 11:37 am

Red Barchetta day -- to ride.
unversio says:

Mar 11 2015 at 11:51 am

@Deakus

Good thing you shaved first -- carbolated vaseline!