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

Rom says:

Jul 24 2014 at 5:25 am

My VMH and I also refer to this. As race face
Teocalli says:

Jul 24 2014 at 5:34 am

You guys who seem to ride in the sun all the time...............drinking road spray face........

and before anyone points out - the arm warmers match the jersey is my excuse.
wiscot says:

Jul 24 2014 at 7:22 am

@Rom

My VMH and I also refer to this. As race face

Why the bowling pin between the bars?
unversio says:

Jul 24 2014 at 8:14 am

@scaler911

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.

Ahh yes. Always make sure not to show any distress when they come up along side. Calm, collected and comfortable -- my eyes were bulging out just before they come up.
VeloJello says:

Jul 24 2014 at 10:25 am

@Teocalli

You guys who seem to ride in the sun all the time...............drinking road spray face........

and before anyone points out - the arm warmers match the jersey is my excuse.

Is that at Fred Whitton?
frank says:

Jul 24 2014 at 11:46 am

@VeloJello

Can Whale Sharks wink?

No, creepy twats wink. I don't ever want to see that photo or - even worse - the fucking animated gif of him doing that ever again.
frank says:

Jul 24 2014 at 11:49 am

@scaler911

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.

Good to see you back here.

My favorite soul crushing move is to take a few deep breaths on the sly, then drop back (or pull up) alongside the rider and ask them a few questions or ask if they have been noticing the stunning views. If you can't talk, then futz around with your kit or act like you're investigating something fishy about your bike while maintaining a gun-crushing tempo.
frank says:

Jul 24 2014 at 11:53 am

@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"

Spit and phlegm is the body's reaction to exposure to The V. Very pro to drool on yourself, spit on yourself, snot on yourself...even blowing spit bubbles like Gallopin' Tony on Stage 10.
frank says:

Jul 24 2014 at 11:55 am

@tessar

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

Inhaling Wasps is more V-Face than it is a breathing technique.
frank says:

Jul 24 2014 at 11:57 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

Total stud.

@Rom

My VMH and I also refer to this. As race face

Skin suit, overshoes, aero bike, deep section rims, and....hairy legs? Get thee to a nunnery sir!