Categories: Defining MomentsNostalgiaTechnology

On Rule #74: Going Unplugged

If rider A rides 30kph toward rider B who is riding 22kmp, at what time with they lay down The V?

I think the most exciting Christmas present I ever received as a child was an Avocet 30 in what must have been 1989. Being in Minnesota and it being December, it meant my bike was going nowhere near the road any time soon, so I kept the silver dollar-sized computer in my pocket wherever I went, just so I could look at it, touch it, and imagine how much I was going to look like Greg LeMond now that I had this computer. My heart broke a little bit that next summer when I realized he had abandoned the Avocet in favor of a Ciclomaster CM34 with a built in gradient meter and altimeter. Perhaps this signalled the beginning of the end of my love affair with data on my bike; it faded almost as soon as it had begun.

I have a Garmin 810 which I use primarily on rides with whose routes I’m unfamiliar, or on any gravel ride in the mountains for safety reasons. It makes me feel like I’m riding with my iPhone on my handlebars. It probably has Facebook on it. While riding, it serves as a constant distraction; how much have I climbed, how much longer is the climb, where is the next turn. Even when I know a turn is coming up and precisely where it is, I still find myself distracted by the little changes on the screen as the directions flicker across.

The background noise serves as constant static between me and the sanctity of the ride, always there simmering just below the surface. What bothers me about it is that these questions are raised by the availability of the data, not by a need to have the questions answered. Brad Wiggins reportedly crashed out of the Giro d’Italia because he was staring at his power meter data, wondering if it was accurate. This was not a relevant question to be asking when descending a mountain pass in the rain.

Riding is one of the few opportunities we have where we can escape the internet, data, and the noise of our daily lives. Data has its place in Cycling, but there is an undeniable liberation in untethering and riding just for the sake of riding.

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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MangoDave says:

Dec 24 2015 at 12:19 pm

Here's a recent article about LeMond's famous time trial victory in 1989. He didn't even want his team manager shouting out time splits, no excess information to distract him from dishing out pure V.

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/lemond-s-mental-toughness

@RobSandy, @SamV

There's also a section in the middle that discusses of pacing and tempering your effort, even when you think you're going at 100%.
edster99 says:

Dec 24 2015 at 1:49 pm

@frank

Well, I've never had a problem with tape rolling. You can make the tape go in whatever direction you like as you come over the shifters, if you are paranoid about the tape rolling and looking shit - which is a perfectly legitimate concern, but unwarranted.
Oli says:

Dec 25 2015 at 5:16 am

@frank

It's in the drops where it really counts.
RobSandy says:

Dec 27 2015 at 1:58 pm

@MangoDave

Here’s a recent article about LeMond’s famous time trial victory in 1989. He didn’t even want his team manager shouting out time splits, no excess information to distract him from dishing out pure V.

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/lemond-s-mental-toughness

@RobSandy, @SamV

There’s also a section in the middle that discusses of pacing and tempering your effort, even when you think you’re going at 100%.

Inspiring, thanks.
SamV says:

Dec 28 2015 at 4:26 am

@RobSandy

@MangoDave

Here’s a recent article about LeMond’s famous time trial victory in 1989. He didn’t even want his team manager shouting out time splits, no excess information to distract him from dishing out pure V.

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/lemond-s-mental-toughness

@RobSandy, @SamV

There’s also a section in the middle that discusses of pacing and tempering your effort, even when you think you’re going at 100%.

Inspiring, thanks.

I concur. Thanks for the link, @MangoDave. Great read.
wiscot says:

Dec 28 2015 at 6:26 am

@MangoDave

Thanks for the link. Awesome stuff but it is not mentioned that Fignon had bad saddle sore that affected his performance. LeMond's ride was still astounding though.
wiscot says:

Dec 28 2015 at 6:28 am

@edster99

@frank

Well, I’ve never had a problem with tape rolling. You can make the tape go in whatever direction you like as you come over the shifters, if you are paranoid about the tape rolling and looking shit – which is a perfectly legitimate concern, but unwarranted.

I always tape in a clockwise direction and finish on the tops with the tape coming towards me - that way your hands naturally tighten the tape. Learned the hard way back in the day with Benotto tape that didn't have an adhesive backing.
Teocalli says:

Dec 28 2015 at 7:20 am

@wiscot

@edster99

@frank

Well, I’ve never had a problem with tape rolling. You can make the tape go in whatever direction you like as you come over the shifters, if you are paranoid about the tape rolling and looking shit – which is a perfectly legitimate concern, but unwarranted.

I always tape in a clockwise direction and finish on the tops with the tape coming towards me – that way your hands naturally tighten the tape. Learned the hard way back in the day with Benotto tape that didn’t have an adhesive backing.

Does not compute coz the sides need to go on opposite directions - happen your are only talking about the right hand side?
ErikdR says:

Dec 28 2015 at 8:00 am

@MangoDave

Nice read - cheers.

One thing that baffled me a bit was why the author (on page 3 of the article, approximately mid-page) insists on taking such a dump on the ADR-team as a whole? Quote: "The first big test for the ADR team as a collective came two days later with a 48-km team time trial. Greg and the eight nobodies who wore the same uniform surpassed low expectations with a fifth-place finish...etc..." Unquote.

Really? Those 8 professional cyclists who were arguably among the 120 best in the world at the time - and who came in fifth(!) in a TTT in the TdF, of all races, FFS - were nobodies?? I cannot help wondering if the author wanted to make Greg Lemond appear as even more of a demigod by trivializing the efforts of his teammates? Unkind and disrespectful, to say the least. (And I have this odd feeling that Greg Lemond might agree...)
ErikdR says:

Dec 28 2015 at 8:05 am

Johan Lammerts, Frank Hoste, Eddy Planckaert (!), Johan Museeuw (!!!), to name but a few.