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

piwakawaka says:

Jul 23 2014 at 11:49 pm

@Puffy

Does dribbling enhance or detract from the Whale Shark impression? I suppose Whale Sharks could be dribbling but we wouldn't know since they are under water. I just ask because when Tony get's his TT on, man, he looses quite a bit out of the gob. The TDF stage the lead photo is from had him with a 7cm goober flapping in the breeze. Part of me says "wipe that shit off you grub" and the other part says "Very Pro. Stay aero, don't waste energy/increase drag wiping your mouth"

now dribble, that I can do!
scaler911 says:

Jul 24 2014 at 12:21 am

However, if you're trying to 'break' a guy next to you, closing the mouth for a few breaths, and looking at your rival with a wry smile, is a way to break souls. But in the meantime, it's the best way to get air to the blood.

How's it been going around these parts? Fuck, I haven't posted in so long I'm probably a Level 4 again.
Darrenberg Trenchfoot says:

Jul 24 2014 at 12:23 am

I knew the Rules would catch up with me on this one one day, my 5 year old's even been taking the pi$$ out if my chimp face for a while now.

work required
VeloJello says:

Jul 24 2014 at 1:18 am

Can Whale Sharks wink?
Teocalli says:

Jul 24 2014 at 1:38 am

@Barracuda

A bit like Mr Voeckler, I employ the "whale shark" just ordering a coffee !

Whats bigger than a whale shark ? Let me know and Ill use that technique in my riding. Lungs like peanuts I have.

I think the Whale takes it...........

Whale Shark

Whale
Mike_P says:

Jul 24 2014 at 1:39 am

@piwakawaka

@Puffy

Does dribbling enhance or detract from the Whale Shark impression? I suppose Whale Sharks could be dribbling but we wouldn't know since they are under water. I just ask because when Tony get's his TT on, man, he looses quite a bit out of the gob. The TDF stage the lead photo is from had him with a 7cm goober flapping in the breeze. Part of me says "wipe that shit off you grub" and the other part says "Very Pro. Stay aero, don't waste energy/increase drag wiping your mouth"

now dribble, that I can do!

Exhibit 1:Laurensis Dribblus Maximus
piwakawaka says:

Jul 24 2014 at 1:50 am

@Mike_P

@piwakawaka

@Puffy

Does dribbling enhance or detract from the Whale Shark impression? I suppose Whale Sharks could be dribbling but we wouldn't know since they are under water. I just ask because when Tony get's his TT on, man, he looses quite a bit out of the gob. The TDF stage the lead photo is from had him with a 7cm goober flapping in the breeze. Part of me says "wipe that shit off you grub" and the other part says "Very Pro. Stay aero, don't waste energy/increase drag wiping your mouth"

now dribble, that I can do!

Exhibit 1:Laurensis Dribblus Maximus

I try and save enough energy to snot-rocket, one has to have standards.
tessar says:

Jul 24 2014 at 1:55 am

I thought "Whale-Shark" is just Tony Martin's way of Inhaling Wasps?
wiscot says:

Jul 24 2014 at 5:12 am

@VeloJello

Can Whale Sharks wink?

I don't know but that helmet has to go. Has he not looked at Nibbles and seen how superbly classy he looks in just the maillot jaune and team kit? Take a lesson, young man, take a lesson.
Rom says:

Jul 24 2014 at 5:16 am

@Barracuda

@Mikael Liddy ahh the good old gut breathe, I know it well. Speaking of Cogals, two this year for fellow Velominati. The Adelaide Hills pain cave and the Southern Cogal again round April. Thats how we roll !

You guys and your Adelaide hills.

attended my first TDU in 2012. Me "how much longer does this hill go for?" My "mate" who'd been there before "just a few more k's".

10km later, me "how much longer does this hill go for?" My "mate" 0f dubious mateness "ha ha ha".

repeat for each day Of the tour.

see you there in '14