Rule #5: Racing Hoogerland-Style

Photo: The Atlantic

Johnny Hoogerland, on receiving the Tour de France Rule #5 Award:

I normally don’t drink that much beer anymore but having my first off-season beer in this glass makes it taste great. I moved to my new home and will find it a great place because it honors my way of racing.

Fitting words from the man on track to take over the mantle of Hardest Man In Cycling from Jens Voigt after he retires. I’m shocked, however, at the claim that he doesn’t drink much beer. Partly because beer rules, and partly because I’m flummoxed by what kind of post-ride recovery drink he has if not beer.

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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frank says:

Dec 4 2011 at 10:26 am

@DerHoggz

Hoogerland T. F. U.
On another note, I can't understand how Wiggo is such a good time trialist while being so skinny. Usually the bigger guys rule TTs, no?

I actually think the tall skinny guys tend to be great TTers. Millar is another of those guys, so is Tony Martin. Indurain was another great example from yesteryear. Faboo is also taller than you'd think, because he has such massive guns he looks shorter.

I think you can generate watts two ways: through sheer power (thats how Sprinters do it) and through the wicked leverage you can generate with long legs. While Twiggo won't come up to speed too quickly, once he's there, he can maintain it for ages and in the end, that's what a TT is all about. Remember what Merckx said (paraphrased): In a time trial you want to start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible. As for the middle, ride it as fast as possible.
Marcus says:

Dec 4 2011 at 1:57 pm

@snoov

@frank
You guys are full of it - even if you were joking. You don't joke about temperance. And beer is definitely performance enhancing, especially on the cobbles. Evidence: Peter Van Petegem and Stuey O'Grady to name but two.

And still my favorite cycling photo of the year. Apres Chrono!
snoov says:

Dec 4 2011 at 2:27 pm

@Marcus
Damn you you've got me with tears in my eyes again. I was so happy for Cadelephant when he won the tour, and in this photo his humility really comes across, but boy did he work for it. His lone chase ... the TT.

I bet you though @Marcus, that he wouldn't have been drinking a beer on any of the first 19 days. However I take your point and think more study needs to take place, when it's warmer I'll try the bidon filled with beer!
DerHoggz says:

Dec 4 2011 at 3:50 pm

@frank

Ah, I guess I am confusing sprinters with time trialists. Holy carp, Spartacus is like 82kg.

I just saw this video and wanted to share, 55.152km/h prologue time trial, then he blows his team away on the TTT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjJ60Kx2j8I
Blah says:

Dec 4 2011 at 3:55 pm

@DerHoggz

@frank
Holy carp, Spartacus is like 82kg.
frank says:

Dec 4 2011 at 4:05 pm

@DerHoggz

@frank
Ah, I guess I am confusing sprinters with time trialists. Holy carp, Spartacus is like 82kg.
I just saw this video and wanted to share, 55.152km/h prologue time trial, then he blows his team away on the TTT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjJ60Kx2j8I

Boardman was such a fucking stud. LOVED HIM. I'm in love with Royce hubs not in a small part because of him. The next year, though, he crashed at the same speed. Not as good.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4053370059753722614
DerHoggz says:

Dec 4 2011 at 4:17 pm

@frank

I watched some documentary called Battle of the Bikes the other day on youtube, about Boardman and Obree doing the hours and then worlds. Pretty interesting, but Boardman came across as a bit of a douche. I kinda wish the UCI wasn't so restrictive in bike design after watching those vids.

How was Boardman shifting on that bike, I see a front derailleur, but no shifters?
Anjin-san says:

Dec 4 2011 at 5:07 pm

@snoov
Egaads man. All good things in moderation. Too much of just about anything is toxic. Swearing off the suds is insanity!
frank says:

Dec 4 2011 at 5:32 pm

@DerHoggz

@frank
I watched some documentary called Battle of the Bikes the other day on youtube, about Boardman and Obree doing the hours and then worlds. Pretty interesting, but Boardman came across as a bit of a douche. I kinda wish the UCI wasn't so restrictive in bike design after watching those vids.
How was Boardman shifting on that bike, I see a front derailleur, but no shifters?

He was using Mavic's Zap groupset - electronic shifting that predated Shimano and Campy by a decade. It fell out of favor after Mavic upgraded to wireless shifting on a group called Mektronic, which really sucked because things like other bike with the same group, heart rate monitors, and other radio-based signals fucked with it. Zap was wired, though, and worked great.

Boardman actually is not a douche. But he was a MAJOR tech freak, and was all about technical advantages; he's the guy who came up with the notion of aggregation of marginal gains, which is what the entire British track program is based on, as well as Team Sky (he's a consultant for both groups now.)

Interestingly, he feels personally responsible for destroying the sport. He feels his obsession with technology killed the greater nuance of the culture of cycling, which is why he petitioned the UCI to restore the original rules for the Hour Record and established the Athletes Hour.

I'm looking for his quote to that effect in my favorite issue of Rouleur, Issue 12. But I'm not seeing it just now. I did, however, find this - which is such a wonderful story of how the Hour Record kills you.

The Hour record was a horrible experience...The third one...after about five minutes it was a nightmare. You look up and you think, anything else and I'd stop now, because this is horrible. I knew how hard it was going to be...you're breaking muscle fibres all the time, so your engine size is going down and down and down, but you still have to produce the same amount of power to keep going forward at the same speed. So you can see, half an hour out, that it was going to come down to going anaerobic at the end.

He broke Merck's Hour Record by a whopping 10 meters. Previously, using a superbike and the Superman position, he'd set it north of 56 kmph.
DerHoggz says:

Dec 4 2011 at 7:48 pm

I definitely think that it is good that they changed to Merckx - style bikes. It shows that we really haven't gotten much better.