Categories: Look ProRiding UglyTechnique

Look Pro: The Whale Shark

Scoop it up

The Whale Shark is the biggest nonmammalian vertebrate* on the planet, rivaling the dinosaurs for size. How do you feed yourself when you’re that huge without loading up on carbs all the time? Easy, you swim around with your mouth wide open for 22 hours a day and hope enough food swims in there to take the edge off the hunger pangs. Cyclists face a metaphorically similar challenge when it comes to loading up the lungs with enough air to support our ravenous hunger for more V.

While the civilized person doesn’t normally wander about with their jaw agape as though missing a chromosome, the Velominatus – the most civilized of Cyclists – always rides with a slack jaw. Better for gulping down air while helping yourself to heaping portions of The V.

The sad reality is that when riding uphill, one can either suffer or one can climb off. There is nothing in the middle, no Option C. There may be some (perceived) degree of control over how intense the suffering is, but one of the most important discoveries a Cyclist will ever make is that riding uphill at a moderate pace is almost as hard as riding uphill Ã bloc. The question becomes one of sustainment of the effort; how much oxygen can be supplied to the blood so the muscles can keep firing. The answer is that you can be as strong as Hercules but if you don’t concentrate on your breathing to get as much air into the lungs as possible, it won’t be very long before Scotty is calling up from the engine room with some bleak news.

Enter the Whale Shark breathing technique: open you mouth wide, and hoover up as much air as possible as you make your way uphill. Ullrich was a champion of this approach, dropping the jaw like the loader on a tractor, cramming air down the hatch and into the furnace. His fellow countryman Tony Martin has taken over the mantle with possibly the most realistic Whaleshark impersonation I’ve ever seen. But this is a technique as old as the sport itself; even the most casual browsing of a photo archive will show riders from all eras riding with their mouths hanging wide open.

The idea here is improve your breathing while avoiding looking like a yawning chimp. Here are a few pointers.

While you should never ride with your mouth closed, the Whale Shark should be reserved for times when you’re actually riding hard. Unless your name starts with Thomas and ends in Voekler.
Jut the bottom of your jaw forward like you have an underbite. The underbite helps scoop up more air.
The muscles in your face and neck are not helping you ride faster; keep them relaxed partly to conserve energy but also to maximize airflow into the lungs.
Like eating before you’re hungry and drinking before you’re thirsty, start the Whale Shark before you get short on breath in order to keep those oxygen levels topped off from the start.
Resist the temptation to start breathing more quickly as you start to redline the motor. Quick breaths are shallow breaths, so keep the breathing deep and rhythmic.

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Whale Shark/”/]

*Nonmammalian vertebrate? Do we need that distinction? Are there any competing nonmammalian invertebrates? I’d hate to run into a 21 metric ton bug.

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

Chris says:

Jul 30 2014 at 11:27 am

On the subject of aero tucks on the TT, it just seems wrong to me. I wan't courses on which the pros get in their TT position and stay there for the duration whilst pushing dinner plates at least 2 teeth larger than their road set up.
wiscot says:

Jul 30 2014 at 2:17 pm

@Chris

@wiscot It's certainly a different bike to the one in Franks photo above. Whether the two photos are from the same race is questionable. If yes, he also ditched his shades.

I think, on second glance, it's a different race: everything looks the same except the wheels - front and back.
wiscot says:

Jul 30 2014 at 2:19 pm

@Chris

On the subject of aero tucks on the TT, it just seems wrong to me. I wan't courses on which the pros get in their TT position and stay there for the duration whilst pushing dinner plates at least 2 teeth larger than their road set up.

At least two teeth larger? Panzerboy has you covered. He was pushing 58-11. Assuming most pros ride a 52 or 54 up front on a good day, that 4-6 teeth bigger. That's just mind (and leg and lung) blowing.
Chris says:

Jul 30 2014 at 2:30 pm

@wiscot

@Chris

@wiscot It's certainly a different bike to the one in Franks photo above. Whether the two photos are from the same race is questionable. If yes, he also ditched his shades.

I think, on second glance, it's a different race: everything looks the same except the wheels - front and back.

The only bits that are the same are the cockpit (fucking daft name for handlebars, shifters and brake levers) and his kit.
Chris says:

Jul 30 2014 at 2:34 pm

@wiscot

@Chris

On the subject of aero tucks on the TT, it just seems wrong to me. I wan't courses on which the pros get in their TT position and stay there for the duration whilst pushing dinner plates at least 2 teeth larger than their road set up.

At least two teeth larger? Panzerboy has you covered. He was pushing 58-11. Assuming most pros ride a 52 or 54 up front on a good day, that 4-6 teeth bigger. That's just mind (and leg and lung) blowing.

True, but it doesn't matter how big your ring is if you're just going to bend over and shag your bars (oh now I understand!).

The 2 tooth increase was aimed at the more mortal pros.
Chris says:

Jul 30 2014 at 2:36 pm

Ha, fucked that up. Need sleep.
Puffy says:

Jul 30 2014 at 9:02 pm

@Mike_P

And so ends the myth of the hard arsed Aussie male! Have you actually read what you've written here? The hairs are nice and soft, I have to lock the door, the hairs have a nice rounded tip. Whinge, whinge, whinge. This is the Velominati not Vogue. Get thee to the bathroom, get thee a Gillette, get yourself some time back (30-40 minutes, fuck that) and get back to one of the best traditions of cycling.

Haha! I'm a road cyclist. Till, skinny, long limbs, weigh 69kg, 185cms, shave my legs, have arms akin to a 12yr old girl and wear skin tight lycra on a daily basis. Where did you get the idea that I, (or any cyclist) was a model for the traditional "Hard Arsed Male"? If what I wrote bothers you I won't bother to point you to the Baxter article. You'll have a coronary.
Rom says:

Jul 31 2014 at 3:20 am

@Puffy

@Mike_P

And so ends the myth of the hard arsed Aussie male! Have you actually read what you've written here? The hairs are nice and soft, I have to lock the door, the hairs have a nice rounded tip. Whinge, whinge, whinge. This is the Velominati not Vogue. Get thee to the bathroom, get thee a Gillette, get yourself some time back (30-40 minutes, fuck that) and get back to one of the best traditions of cycling.

Haha! I'm a road cyclist. Till, skinny, long limbs, weigh 69kg, 185cms, shave my legs, have arms akin to a 12yr old girl and wear skin tight lycra on a daily basis. Where did you get the idea that I, (or any cyclist) was a model for the traditional "Hard Arsed Male"? If what I wrote bothers you I won't bother to point you to the Baxter article. You'll have a coronary.

You sound like a taller version of the gymnast girls I've seen on the Commonwealth games coverage. Is your hair in a bun? As my son says "you need to lift".
Puffy says:

Jul 31 2014 at 4:12 am

@Rom

@Puffy

@Mike_P

And so ends the myth of the hard arsed Aussie male! Have you actually read what you've written here? The hairs are nice and soft, I have to lock the door, the hairs have a nice rounded tip. Whinge, whinge, whinge. This is the Velominati not Vogue. Get thee to the bathroom, get thee a Gillette, get yourself some time back (30-40 minutes, fuck that) and get back to one of the best traditions of cycling.

Haha! I'm a road cyclist. Till, skinny, long limbs, weigh 69kg, 185cms, shave my legs, have arms akin to a 12yr old girl and wear skin tight lycra on a daily basis. Where did you get the idea that I, (or any cyclist) was a model for the traditional "Hard Arsed Male"? If what I wrote bothers you I won't bother to point you to the Baxter article. You'll have a coronary.

You sound like a taller version of the gymnast girls I've seen on the Commonwealth games coverage. Is your hair in a bun? As my son says "you need to lift".

Not in a bun, but I do have long enough hair that it's tied back for racing! No, "bro, I don't even lift" I could do with some bulk but really, it just adds weight and does very little to improve ones cycling ability.
tessar says:

Jul 31 2014 at 8:25 am

@wiscot

@Chris

@wiscot It's certainly a different bike to the one in Franks photo above. Whether the two photos are from the same race is questionable. If yes, he also ditched his shades.

I think, on second glance, it's a different race: everything looks the same except the wheels - front and back.

Different race. Tony races with very detailed course-notes - including precise gear selection into corners, length of sections and notes on where to apply the Vacuum Tuck.