The Prophet was very clear on how best to ride an individual Time Trial; start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible. As for the middle, his advice was to ride that as fast as possible.
The same can be said of climbing; as we covered in Part I and Part II of the Sur La Plaque series, the key to climbing well is to hit the bottom as hard as possible, and then move into the big ring as you go over the top in order to finish the climb as fast as possible. As for the middle section; well, hit that as hard as possible and focus on keeping your momentum going.
The trouble is with this pesky notion we have of “gauging our efforts”. Certainly, the perfectly measured climb would result in riding the whole of it à bloc before moving Sur La Plaque over the top, blast down the other side and – just as you hit escape velocity – explode spectacularly, using your perfectly honed LeMond Tuck to recover in time to crush it in the valley to the next climb where you repeat the process. Panache.
Panache is a dualistic thing; almost without exception do we admire it in others, and almost without exception are we too cowardly to hold it inside ourselves. Panache doesn’t speak of caution, or of measured action. It speaks of impulse – compulsion, even – to attack despite one’s better judgement. It speaks of throwing caution to the wind. It weighs heavy with the risk of exploding magnificently and trading angel’s wings for the devil’s anchor.
But those who venture freely into that realm have blown up so many times that it hardly features in their reasoning. Pain and climbing are inseparable; what difference does it make if you blow up and suffer a bit more for a bit longer? And, should we blow up often enough, we will learn how to suffer through and push to the top with grace. And perhaps by that same grace, will we recover enough to try again on the next climb.
Vive la chance. Vive le Grimpeur. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
Exhibit A: The master of Panache, Marco Pantani. And the master of blowing with grace, Richard Virenque. For a prime example of how to blow up properly, jump to 2:00.
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@Chris
Yeah, their average speed for the stage was somewhere in the 30-something kph's if I remember correctly. Un-frick'en-believable.
Still a great stage to watch while on the trainer.
And got to love your opening quote. I alway love an excuse to throw this clip in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXVGQnJm0w
@Buck Rogers
So much for limiting losses in the mountains, more like blowing apart the climbers in the mountains.
@Buck Rogers Ridiculously quick. My average speed the day I ventured into the mountains was a shade under 24kph but that was greatly helped by a pan flat run into the mountains and out again afterwards.
You don't want to know what my average speed going up those climbs was (they're still pretty rubbish when you include descending in the average). Back then they didn't even seem to slow down when the hit the Alps or the Pyreneese.
Love the Kilgore clip.
The insanity of the speed on that climb is, well...insane.
The right vid to watch while on the turbo trainer!
@Dan_R
Oh sweet baby Merckx, that is just a little too much for my brain to process.
@Dinan
You're a level 2 and still, you sign off with your name. I'm trying to teach some of these savages some class - no emoticons, drink ale from a glass always, that sort of thing - and here you are signing off on every post. I love it. Strong work. You take civility to a new level.
@Buck Rogers
I hate to say this but here are my stats on average speeds over the Pyreneese. I blame Indurain more than LeMond, for the record.
Sorry, but that jump in Avg speed is more than just training and equipment.
@frank
Agreed but not in the way I think you mean - are you sure there's not something different in the route or another variable for that much of a change.
@ChrisO
Surely an obsessive like @frank is familiar with his own oxygen vector enhancement regimen?
Slightly off-topic, but in terms of losing with panache, I had the opportunity to have dinner with Steve Bauer last week. Trying to conceal my fanboy status, I tried to (coolly) tell him that his 1984 Olympic ride had inspired me to take a stronger interest in cycling. "What?" He said: "even though I lost?" Which made me feel like a tool. And discouraged me from mentioning Paris-Roubaix 1990.