A Velominatus maintains their machine with meticulous care, doting over it daily. A bicycle is a tool, but it is also a work of art, and serves us loyally in pursuit of our craft. We love them as though they were alive; as we grow together, the cracks and lines formed upon both our skins signifies the journey that has passed beneath our wheels.
A clean bicycle with a boastful luster inspires pride; I find myself constantly fighting the urge to carry mine upstairs to sit by the dinner table each time it has been cleaned, the bar tape freshly wrapped, or any old component swapped for a new one. I’m sure a psychiatrist would have a thing or two to say about it; I know the VMH does.
And yet, there are times when it pains me to clean my machine. After our first day on the Cobbles of Roubaix on Keepers Tour 2012, I left my bike dirty for two days because I couldn’t bring myself to rid her frame of the sacred dust that had accumulated after a day’s hard riding over some of the most hallowed roads in the world. A week later, I suffered the same condition the day after riding the route of De Ronde through hail, rain, and wind which left our machines covered in mud, manure, and Merckx knows what else. I think some part of me hoped the Flemish spirit held within all that grit would somehow be absorbed by my bike, that it would somehow help complete her soul.
But this kind of sacred dirt, the kind we don’t want to wash from our steeds, isn’t found only on the holy roads of Northern Europe. I found myself with the same reluctance to clean my Graveur after riding Heck of the North this year; a race held outside a small Northern Minnesota town nearly half a world from Flanders. I also serendipitously found photos Pavé William took of his Rosin after riding the Strade Bianche, documenting the covering of white dust upon its tubes. This condition afflicts us all, it would seem.
Any dirt becomes holy when we’ve suffered through it, when it took something from us in order to find its way onto our bikes and clothing. Sacred Dirt it is created spontaneously after prolonged exposure to The V.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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@frank it's nice having a professional photog who knows how to use their gopro along as part of your group.
@Mikael Liddy
Nice road and scenery!
Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! One for the photo comp?
@zeitzmar Having moved into the area (Burien/West Seattle) this past June, I drove across the city and into the hills to check out the Iron Horse Trail in August. Brilliant ride until you get to the tunnel, at which point the gravel that had been an interesting challenge turned into giant loose rocks and pitch darkness. I swear you'd need at least a mountain bike or even one of those Frankenstein's monster fatbikes to ride it with anything approaching decency.
I keep trying to figure out a loop that would go up the access roads and dirt roads right near I-90, then return via the Iron Horse trail. I'll figure it out someday.
@frank
Wow. Yeah. I like this pic in seven ways.
@zeitzmar Pick me, pick me! I wanted to ride the Iron Horse trail for over a year but never got around to it.
@frank
kickin and screaming the whole way. s'ok. sometimes better to not look the part when u can't represent.
when u gonna come down and race in the dirt with the men? @scaler911 still shy about gettin that dirty, needs a little stab in the ass to make that happen.
have to give u credit- seeing that picture inspired to go reprise that ride tomorrow
More dirt goodness.
@Mikael Liddy
Wheres the Go Pro mounted ? Chest strap ?
@Nate shit that is a great photo! print it and frame it.
@Mikael Liddy beautiful picture!
@G'rilla I'm definitely down although we'll need to talk some logistics. I don't want my eagerness to belie my relative novicehood. I was definitely dropped on the Casually Deliberate VVhidbey Cogal, and I will need to get serious about mileage if I want to do a gravel jaunt over the mountains. From what I've read about the trail, though, it sounds really cool.