Categories: Defining MomentsLa Vie VelominatusMusings from the V-BunkerThe Hardmen

À Bloc

Laurel Rathbun makes an adequate effort at Jingle Cross.

The V surrounds us, it penetrates and binds us together. Through disciplined practice we are able to draw from it to push harder and go farther on the bike; what we do on the bike then informs how we face our lives. The masters, such as the Prophet Merckx and the Apostle de Vlaeminck, could channel this strength to overcome the greatest challenges both on and off the bike.

The question we must always ask ourselves is, how hard is hard enough? The answer is, you go until the lights go out, and then you go some more. Today’s lesson is that if you can still stand after the effort, you didn’t go hard enough. Nice one, Laurel.

Merckxspeed, my fellow Velominati.

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

RobSandy says:

Dec 15 2015 at 1:57 am

I'm starting the Build phase of training after Christmas so I'll doing a lot more, short, very hard efforts. I'm intrigued to find out just how much I can hurt myself.
tessar says:

Dec 15 2015 at 3:44 am

Laurel is such a badass. One of my favourite young athletes to follow - her and the rest of the Raleigh-Clement and TSH crew are an amazing bunch.
Chipomarc says:

Dec 15 2015 at 9:09 pm

@The Pressure

@chris

His expression never changes

Thank goodness, as someone like Fabio Aru freaks me out a bit
Oli says:

Dec 15 2015 at 11:37 pm

@Chipomarc

So it's not just me then? Aru is such a fucking gurner, it drives me nuts!
pistard says:

Dec 16 2015 at 1:20 am

@Oli

@Chipomarc

So it’s not just me then? Aru is such a fucking gurner, it drives me nuts!

They'd call Phil Jones the Fabio Aru of football if they knew.
Oli says:

Dec 16 2015 at 3:38 am

@pistard

Who is Phil Jones?
Oli says:

Dec 16 2015 at 3:39 am

Wait, Google is my friend. I'm not much for the "soccers", soz!
Darren H says:

Dec 17 2015 at 12:35 pm

@mouse

@mouse

Cyclocross is definitely one discipline that will put you at near your heart rate limit and leave you there for the full hour if you let it. In no other efforts have I ever been able to recreate that sort of intensity over time. Long climbing efforts are hard but nowhere near as hard as CX.

Max HR efforts lead to all sorts of fun stuff. You can get the reflux or full spew. That’s fun. I also get tunnel vision in long uphill sprint efforts.

The interesting thing that I’ve discovered is that Max heart rate is a movable feast. It can be trained higher, much higher, even for old people like me.

This^ I did my first cyclocross race last weekend, trained hard and am pretty good on the road. It was without doubt the hardest hour I'd ever spent on a bike, literally a lactic acid hell. I'm hooked though, can't wait for the next one (it's weird how that happens isn't it?)
Michael says:

Jan 5 2016 at 10:58 am

CX HURTS! Nothing can get my hart rate pegged like a CX race! I'm sad the season is over!
Buck Rogers says:

Feb 8 2016 at 8:18 am

@Oli

@Chipomarc

So it’s not just me then? Aru is such a fucking gurner, it drives me nuts!

Dude's a regular Voeckler!