Categories: La Vie VelominatusLook ProTechniqueThe Rules

Look Pro: Éclatant de Panache

Sur La Plaque. Photo via BikeRaceInfo.com" src="http://www.velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/1998-17-Pantani-Guerini-620x449.jpg" width="620" height="449" /> Pantani always moved Sur La Plaque. Photo via BikeRaceInfo.com

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 Ã 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.

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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Deakus says:

Mar 14 2013 at 3:53 am

@Dr C

Actually, regarding MSR, I'm fascinated to see what the anti-Sagan tactic will be - can the Peleton ride so slowly that he will have to set his men on the front all day until they are busted? But then, there aren't any hills that he won't be able to get over - could it be a day that the breakaway gets away and never gets caught?.... selection will be interesting, can't wait, must think of something for the family to go and doo for 6 hours on sunday

Regarding this (and personally I don't care because I live in Europe and so am awake and busting with expectation as the VSP closes), can we have the VSP up a little earlier for MSR, it feels somehow wrong to be climbing the standings just because the Delgado rate has gone through the roof....
Dr C says:

Mar 14 2013 at 4:23 am

@Deakus

I think we are all agreed that a Contoador running on Unleaded is most entertaining, and we may have forgiven him, hell, I even enjoy his surliness when he is not on the top spot on the podium

Sadly I fear he may have analysed the Sky thing too much and realised he has no team mates, so will just tuck in and attack once at the end in future - at least Nibbles hasn't lost his mojo - long live the Shark (Sunday could have been his, only Sagan knows him to well)
Patrick says:

Mar 14 2013 at 4:35 am

Marco Pantani was awesome. Pure rock 'n' roll on a bike.

Unfortunately he rode/lived fast & died too young. RIP.
ped says:

Mar 14 2013 at 4:59 am

@Ron The Bianchi (serial number H 314-74) was used by Pantani in the famous July 27 Grenoble"”Le Duex Alpes stage of the Tour de France which allowed Pantani to wear the yellow and go on to win that year's Tour. The bike sold for 13,000 (thirteen thousand) euro.

The second bike, a Wilier Triestina (serial number 962475), was used by Pantani in the 1997 Tour de France and which he used to win the July 19 Saint Etienne-l'Alpe d'Huez stage.This bike sold for 8,000 (eight thousand) euro.
markpa says:

Mar 14 2013 at 5:00 am

@Barracuda

@Ron

That question should read more like...does it upset Tasmanians to hear Richie referred to as Australian? To me, Hawaii is part of America only in the sense of political acquisition. And Tasmania seemed a lot different to me than Australia, though I did leave from and return to Melbourne, which is just a tad bit busier and bigger.

They are only Tasmanians unless we want them to be Australian, even though Tasmania is part of Australia. Let that be clear !

We'd just about be able to run a Tassie cycling team to compete with any UCI team. Porte, Matthew Goss, Sulzberger brothers, Ben Grenda, Cameron Wurf, Will Clarke add a couple of up and comers like Flakemore and Clements (Genesys riders now in national u/23 team).

So I'd reckon of it being a case of Tasmanians consenting to allow mainlainders to claim some of our glory.

We only get cranky when they leave us off the map.
Dinan says:

Mar 14 2013 at 5:38 am

@ChrisO

I had an interesting insight into the Lance-lovers at the Abu Dhabi Triathlon recently. I was helping as a volunteer and for a part of the day was on the bike checkout as people collected their bikes after the race.

Everyone had a race tag around their wrist which we had to check against the bike number and cut off, so I looked at probably 500 wrists - I saw a lot of black, brown, blue and other colour bands but only one yellow. I even offered to cut it off for him.

Hahaha!! Now that's panache.

-Dinan
Tbone Llamma says:

Mar 14 2013 at 5:43 am

i see EPO everywhere
jeyrod says:

Mar 14 2013 at 6:03 am

Great video selection. Really like the color scheme for the bike, but I will keep mine a more plain tone.

@Ron: I believe the young American was attempting to pad his lead going into the final TT. As that was known to be tipped to the strength of Richie. I doubt anyone suspected it was so much his strength (23 seconds better than young Andy). Otherwise I could think of little reason for the madness in yellow. Still I was excited to see the attacks. Though even through a grainy internet stream I knew he was vulnerable to an.."oh wait there goes a Sky rider. Yep, he's gone." attack.

On another note, I just upgraded my drive-train to a yesteryear top-o-line type, but still with the baby gearing. Maybe it's time to become a man and get a real set of chainrings.
itburns says:

Mar 14 2013 at 7:57 am

@Tbone Llamma

i see EPO everywhere

Close your refrigerator.
frank says:

Mar 14 2013 at 9:28 am

@gregorio

@graham d.m.

Crap, Frank.....it's a great article, man. I'm convicted because I sheepishly was shopping for compact crank recently. This article was timely, loved "pain and climbing are inseperable". I thusly confess my sin, will keep the standard crank, HTFU and do hill repeats. Well written, mate.

I confess to my new DA Group-san being compact. What was I thinking? I have repented by ordering new rings from praxis works. BTW occasionally blowing up on a climb builds character. Nice article.

Sometimes its prudent. I changed to a Flemish Compact myself for winter, to save my knees.