Some people are supremely good at it, reducing complex situations into matters of simple black and white. This isn’t my particular area of expertise; I enjoy wading through the pools of ambiguity a bit too much to go about bludgeoning this beautiful world into absolutes. In fact, I would venture that delighting in nuance is part of what distinguishes La Vie Velominatus from the simple act of riding a bicycle.
I’ve spent the summer wrapping myself in the Rules handed down by the Apostle Museeuw during Keepers Tour 2012, with particular emphasis on Rule #90. Climbing Sur la Plaque is a cruel business, rising upwards under the crushing weight of physics as you fight to maintain your rhythm and momentum. At first, it’s a struggle to maintain speed on the smaller climbs as you learn how to change your pedaling action to compensate for changes in gradient. You focus on loading the pedals and forcing them around; the moment you lose the rhythm, gravity sinks her claws into your tires and tries to drag you back down the hill. On the other hand, if you maintain your cadence and power through the ramps, what is usually an intimidating slope will disappear under your wheels, making molehills of mountains.
If the Big Ring is a hammer, then not every climb is a nail. (I realize too late that referring to the road as a nail is sure to bring the Puncture Apocalypse on today’s ride.) The guns get more massive from the practice of Rule #90, but it comes at a hefty price: souplesse withers like a delicate flower as one seeks to conquer the art of mashing a huge gear. Indeed, one of the great pleasures in Cycling is to sense a certain fluidity of your stroke which belies the feeling of strength in your muscles as you continue to heap coals on the fire.
This requires an art altogether different from moving Sur la Plaque; it relies on turning the pedals at a higher cadence and shifting gear whenever the gradient changes. Rhythm holds court over everything else and is maintained at all costs. As the gradient steepens, the chain is slipped into the next smaller gear; as the gradient eases, it is droped back down. Not every climb suits this style of riding; the rear cluster must be matched perfectly to accomodate the changes in pitch such that maximum speed is maintained and the legs allowed to continue their relentless churn. When synchronized perfectly, it is the gateway to La Volupté; when not: disaster.
Such is the nuance of shifting gear, such is the nature of Cycling.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
@G'rilla
Weight perhaps? To achieve the same ratios, you would have to increase the size of the rear cog in accordance to that of the front ring. A 38 would look totally stupid on the back.
And single speed CX; F'n hippies.
@mcsqueak
Yeah, not me. I love sloping Geo as that's the only way I can get a reasonable amount of seatpost showing given my spectaculary stubby pins. To me, sloping just looks right.
As for the other bit; re Steel: I'm a bit of a retro grouch as well. Columbus SL? Been there, done that. I'm not sure that I would bother getting a steel bike again as I'm pretty impressed with carbon; how light it is and how it rides.
However, I would definitely have that beautiful blue thing above! Wow!
@G'rilla
I think the smaller chainrings for cx is mostly a ground clearance thing.
@mcsqueak
With the sloping TT he can get a lighter/stiffer frame, and get away with using thinner tubes. Or at least I think that is what he says.
@rauce
Are you fucking serious?
@DerHoggz my steel Baum - custom made almost 9 years ago - has a sloping TT. And I wasn't given a choice in the matter... which may support your theory. And/or it may be that the framebuilder (Darren Baum) rightly kept my creative input to a minimum.
@Marcus
yes?
We really need a Keepers Tour of the Antipodes with Brett, Marcus, Mouse, Minion, Oli, and crew.
We could probably sell it to a TV network as a reality drama.
@mouse
now that's just silly. fixie sscx, well, you may have a point except that the badassery required to be able to do a cx course competitively on a fixie is quite significant.
as far as regular ss cx, well, when u don't have people washing your bike in the pit when the real mud comes, you begin to appreciate not shearing your ultegra rear derailleur or smashing your sti shifter. not that one can put a price on racing cx... I was going to race regular and ss this year, but the races are now 5 hours apart, a bit much for the fandamily to tolerate on a regular basis. Not to mention getting crushed in 2 different races in a day... so just doing geared.
@rauce weeeell, I think your bottom bracket height is going to have a helluva lot more influence on clearance than a relatively miniscule decrease to the diameter of your big cog...
@G'rilla
You are the only velominati I have ridden with G'rilla. And it was a very pleasant experience. Not sure I would be able to say the same of riding with Brett (whom I would strike for his besmirching of the honor of Stephanie Rice) and Minion (who I would just want to fight).