Categories: La Vie VelominatusReverentThe BikesThe Hardmen

La Vie Velominatus: Santoku

The three virtues: Mind, Body, Machine.

In Japanese, “Santoku” means “Three Virtues”. Exactly which three virtues it is referring to is unclear, but I am fascinated by the idea of a single word with such a rich, if ambiguous, meaning. I have several kitchen knives that goes by this name, and within the scope of knives the three virtues are generally accepted to mean fish, meat, and vegetables. But if I know anything about Japanese culture, then two things are certain: that the three virtues in question depend on the application, and that I know absolutely nothing about Japanese culture.

In Cycling, we also have three virtues. These are the Mind, the Body, and the Machine.

The Mind.
The mind is the heart of the organism. It is what drives the body towards fitness and strength. It is what drives us to find the limits of our will, our body, and the machine as a cohesive unit. It is our conduit into The V; just as the body, it must be trained and disciplined. Without the mind, the body lays at rest and the machine leans gathering dust against the wall. It is, however, susceptible to doubt. Doubt is an insipid thing that creeps through our veins and burroughs in at that little point at the base of our skull where it meets the neck. It tickles at our nerves and whispers in our ear to undermine the strength of the body.

The Body.
The body is the engine of the organism. Through the disciplined practice of training and learning to ignore the natural impulse to yield to both pain and common sense, it becomes strong. We break our muscles down so they rebuild themselves again, a bit more robustly. Over time, it becomes a tool. An instrument of intimidation. A weapon even. The body serves at the pleasure of the mind; a strong mind can draw unexpected performances from the body. A strong body can bolster the morale and encourage the mind to draw more from it, but it can only exhibit an influence; the body is never in control of the mind.

The Machine.
Who hasn’t laughed at the redneck wearing a “Guns don’t kill people, People kill people” t-shirt? While I commend the author’s ability to assign responsibility, guns definitely make the job a lot easier. It is the same with the bicycle; the bike is not what makes a rider fast, but a good one makes it a lot easier. The bicycle is almost a sentient being, we often show more affection and concern for the state of the machine than that of our own bodies. But the machine also exerts a huge amount of influence over the the entire system; a bicycle in perfect working order serves to inspire the Mind to find the limits of the body. A failing machine – or even a creaking pedal or squeaking chain – will send the mind into a descending feedback loop of morale which ends, most often, in a Millarcopter.

To achieve our potential as Cyclists, we must respect our Santoku: the mind, the body, and the machine. Vive la Vie Velominatus.

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

gilvelo says:

Jul 16 2015 at 5:37 pm

Thanks Frank. The slightest squeak from my Pinarello Treviso would drive me insane thus not able to concentrate and enjoy the ride. My buddies thought I was nuts. Until I found and corrected the problem there would be no peace of mind for me!
frank says:

Jul 16 2015 at 5:55 pm

@VeloJello

@nobby

‘Millarcopter’!!!

Love that!! :0)

Here’s the classic clip of the Millarcoptor in action

Putting that back into the Lexi; such a classic moment.

I love his account of that in his book - which is one of my favorite Cycling AB's ever.
frank says:

Jul 16 2015 at 6:06 pm

@gilvelo

Thanks Frank. The slightest squeak from my Pinarello Treviso would drive me insane thus not able to concentrate and enjoy the ride. My buddies thought I was nuts. Until I found and corrected the problem there would be no peace of mind for me!

The Principle of Silence, my friend. You are a kindred spirit, obviously. Anyone who can ride with a noisy machine is no friend of mine. I rode with a work colleague recently who recounted in detail his 9-month quest to isolate and fix a creaking noise in his drivetrain. It turned out to be a chain link, apparently, which he described with palpable relief.

These are the sorts of people I can work with.
oldensteel says:

Jul 16 2015 at 6:07 pm

Mind, Body, Machine should be a slogan or something. Great article. Hey, anyone else notice that Merckx is running "right side front" for his brakes, while the other guys go with "left side front"? Just an observation.
Barracuda says:

Jul 16 2015 at 8:17 pm

@Mikael Liddy

It’s a good thing you didn’t see this photo as a kid @frank, you’d have spent the next few years riding around with only a pinkie securing one hand on the drops!

In relation to the article itself, the power of your mind is ludicrous in its control over the rest of the system. Have been in a bit of a funk work wise recently, which kinda has me “avoiding” having to get up & start the day. Because I do most of my riding in the hours before work, I’ve noticed that demotivation (along with staying up for the tour) has seen my riding drop massively over the last month.

Work and all its "funkiness" is a major player in the black dog syndrome round my parts also. I too am in a similar state of affairs and I feel your pain.

8pm rides with the Ay-ups are the only things that keep the "dolphins" going and early Saturday mornings. I feel like a coal miner most Thursday nights.

When I see pictures on instagram of smiley people spending days upon days riding and sipping espresso's, I call bullshit !

C'est la vie
RobSandy says:

Jul 17 2015 at 12:39 am

@frank

@gilvelo

Thanks Frank. The slightest squeak from my Pinarello Treviso would drive me insane thus not able to concentrate and enjoy the ride. My buddies thought I was nuts. Until I found and corrected the problem there would be no peace of mind for me!

The Principle of Silence, my friend. You are a kindred spirit, obviously. Anyone who can ride with a noisy machine is no friend of mine. I rode with a work colleague recently who recounted in detail his 9-month quest to isolate and fix a creaking noise in his drivetrain. It turned out to be a chain link, apparently, which he described with palpable relief.

These are the sorts of people I can work with.

I've just resolved a horrid clicking noise which sounded like it was bottom bracket related. It stopped when I lubed the freehub (on advice from Leonard Zinn, actually).

But now the front of my saddle has started squeaking/groaning.
chris says:

Jul 17 2015 at 1:15 am

@Mikael Liddy

It’s a good thing you didn’t see this photo as a kid @frank, you’d have spent the next few years riding around with only a pinkie securing one hand on the drops!

It's also a good thing that @frank's impressionable years didn't coincide with Froome. One light bulb shagger is more than enough.
Harminator says:

Jul 17 2015 at 5:08 am

There is always a moment when your mind gives your body permission to quit. The mind is King.
Oli says:

Jul 17 2015 at 7:13 am

@oldensteel

Mind, Body, Machine should be a slogan or something. Great article. Hey, anyone else notice that Merckx is running “right side front” for his brakes, while the other guys go with “left side front”? Just an observation.

That's absolutely fascinating, I have never seen that before!

I would guess that he's on an Italian teammate's bike, as in every image I've seen of Eddy he's a right/rear rider. I've just flicked through my new 525 book and there doesn't seem to be one single image of him riding right/front...

Right/front used to be known as "Italian style", as almost all other nationalities rode the opposite (correct) way.
chris says:

Jul 17 2015 at 7:45 am

@Oli

@oldensteel

Mind, Body, Machine should be a slogan or something. Great article. Hey, anyone else notice that Merckx is running “right side front” for his brakes, while the other guys go with “left side front”? Just an observation.

That’s absolutely fascinating, I have never seen that before!

I would guess that he’s on an Italian teammate’s bike, as in every image I’ve seen of Eddy he’s a right/rear rider. I’ve just flicked through my new 525 book and there doesn’t seem to be one single image of him riding right/front…

Right/front used to be known as “Italian style”, as almost all other nationalities rode the opposite (correct) way.

Mind, body and machine seem to be taking care of this for me (the impulsive inner chimp) quite nicely at the moment as I'm running right/front on my #1 and left/front on the #2 without any problems at all. Driving Mrs Chris' manual causes more problems than bikes with mismatched brakes.

I'd swap #1 to left/front, a much prettier cable route, but I'm scared of the internal routing of the rear.