We recently lost our beloved Great Dane, Kirki, who we nicknamed Beene for reasons that elude logic. She was a good dog, more sweet than clever. A sad side effect of big dog breeds and their short lives is that it wasn’t until nearly the end of her life that she made certain key discoveries about the world. Such as that weighing nearly 65 kilos meant she didn’t necessarily need to be terrified of things like shadows and doorways. Nevertheless, throughout her life she somehow managed to skirt through challenges completely unscathed, utterly oblivious to her shortcomings. In an effort to immortalize her spirit, the VMH and I have taken to referring to situations where we succeed despite our breathtaking incompetence as being “All Beene”. For example, on the occasion that I skied over a cliff I had failed to notice, subsequently rode my tails through a stand of pine trees at unprecedented speed, and emerged the other end without so much as a hair out of place – that was All Beene.
You might say that Velominati itself is All Beene. We Keepers didn’t intend to become the stewards of class, style, and etiquette on the bike; we just mainlined the Word of the Prophet and the Apostles and jotted it all down. The rest just happened because of the Community who caught on to the fun we were having and joined in. Same goes for our writing; we’re just passionate about this stuff; we obsess about it all the time and want to share our love for the sport with others in the hopes they might identify or – better yet – catch the bug themselves. All the while, the truth is that we have no idea what we’re doing. English isn’t even my first language, for Merckx’s sake.
But the journey continues. The Rules: The Way of the Cycling Disciple was originally released in the Commonwealth on June 20, and surprised us with how well it was received despite various mistakes and errors throughout. In fact, it did well enough that some bright spark got the idea to release the book in our home US market as well, and we subsequently duped WW Norton into bearing that cross.
The Rules will be officially released in the United States on May 5th, 2014. We’ve put quite a lot of work into the US Edition with the following results:
There will also be several book events across the country which is part of the reason we are not doing a Keepers Tour this year due to the time constraints the book tour imposes. Each event will start with a group ride and conclude with a signing at a local bike shop. Events are planned for the Rapha stores in New York City and San Francisco, as well as one in Minneapolis, Boulder, Seattle, and Portland. Details forthcoming as the event schedules are confirmed.
From the bottom of our hearts, we’d like to thank everyone in our Community, those who bought (and didn’t burn) the book in the UK and Commonwealth, and everyone who comes by here every day to read our musings. This is all a lot of work, but it is work we gladly do because of each and every one of you and the fun you bring to what is Velominati.
Tune in during April as we’ll be publishing one new Rule per week in the lead-up to the book’s release. We have also added a landing page for both the US and UK editions of the book including information on where to buy; post insults and corrections on there.
All Beene.
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Really?!? Dang! I went to the trouble to land myself a copy of the Rules as soon as I could get my hands on one, and now I gotta get another copy...oh well..I guess I'll just have to tell the wallet to V it up and deal with it! :-)
Scathing reivew? Written by whom? Likely someone horribly obese who last rode a bike during the Carter administration (and poorly at that, I'll bet). Ok, I have not bothered to read it (said scathing review) and would rather proclaim my judgement without the necessity of facts and what not.
And what's with the "Lets see if it flies in the UK first" business? Perhaps all of this is made up for with the Cinco de Mayo release date (we can have a Belgian Ale based margarita or something to celibrate, unless that's too sacrilegious).
@Haldy
We've been in a bit of awkward position with this; we've certainly made mention as much as we could that it was coming but really couldn't announce it earlier as some details weren't confirmed yet. And the UK publisher would be quite angry if we said things like, "Hey, stop buying the book! We're putting out another one..."
But that's why we went through the work of adding content and so forth - in the hopes that there would be some tangible reward for those of you inclined to double-buy.
Think of it this way: now your UK copy will be a collectors item.
@Ccos
Not sure, but I've developed a thick skin over the years. He is mostly angry at me personally, and is disappointed that I'm not from La Gazzetta or some other credible source.
Apparently it took him the whole book to figure out that I'm just an idiot who loves bikes.
It is also an interesting anomaly that despite his attention to detail in finding all the errors, he didn't notice that the book actually has five authors, not one.
The other two star review says the book is a rehash of the website which tells me the reviewer either didn't read the book or doesn't read the site.
@frank
That narrows it down to all of us lot, then. Is there comments section we can read instead?
"You play, you win, you play, you lose. You play. It's the playing that's irresistible. Dicing from one year to the next with the things you love, what you risk reveals what you value." "• Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
Sincerely, thanks: Frank, Gianni, Brett, Marko, Jim.
I check in here daily. It's the vibe. It's Mabo. Its everything like that. Its just the vibe.
I love your work. Keep going full gas. See you on Colbert.
Fuck ME!!! LeMAN himself??? Does that mean that you got to actually meet him or at least speak with him via phone/internet/cosmos???
Guess I will have TWO copies in my house. The dicked up UK version and the LeMAN authorized edition!!!
Awesome. It will be an honor to add the US first edition to the UK first edition volume I already own.
I will assume by omission that you stayed drunk during the writing process.
@Nate
@Buck Rogers
LeMan himself. I can't describe in words the excitement this brought.
@frank Truly unbelievably amazingly awesome! I am sooooooooo jealous!!!!
Nice news for a Friday & congratulations. LeMan wrote the forward. How many of you dreamed you'd be a) published authors b) have LeMan contributing? Truly amazing.
Oh, I'll be at the NAHBS in NC tomorrow. I haven't seen too much action 'round here lately from anyone else in this state, though I'm sure some folks are truckin' in for it. I'll be sure to get some photos to share, if you'd like that.
Someone (else) needs to be inspired to get a custom frameset this year!