Categories: ExportLa Vie VelominatusThe RulesTradition

On Rule #9: Love the Work

Fignon gets on with the job of being a Cyclist

Fitness. The rhythm, the feeling of precision in our movement, the sensations of The Ride. The temptation of knowing we might in some way control our suffering even as we push harder in spite of the searing pain in our legs and lungs. The notion that through suffering, we might learn something rudimentary about ourselves – that we might find a kind of salvation.

Cycling, like Art, is based on the elementary notion that through focussed study, we might better understand ourselves. But to describe Cycling as a an Art does it an injustice. An artist, they say, suffers because they must. A Cyclist, I suggest, suffers because we choose to.

This element of choice, what psychologists refer to as the locus of control, is part of what allows us to feel pleasure through suffering. Through this choice unfolds an avenue of personal discovery by which we uncover the very nature of ourselves. Like Michelangelo wielding his hammer to chip away fragments of stone that obscure a great sculpture, we turn our pedals to chip away at our form, eventually revealing our true selves as a manifestation of hard work, determination, and dedication to our craft.

Having chosen this path, we quickly find that riding a bicycle on warm, dry roads through sunny boulevards is the realm of the recreational cyclist. As winter approaches, the days get shorter and the weather worse. Form tempts us to greater things, but leaves us quickly despite our best intentions. Its taste lingers long upon the tongue and urges us to gain more. Even as life gets in the way, we cannot afford many days away from our craft before we find ourselves struggling to reclaim lost fitness.

To find form in the first place, and to maintain it in the second, is a simple matter of riding your bicycle a lot. This simple task asks of us, however, a year-round commitment to throwing our leg over a toptube in heat, cold, wind, rain, or sleet, lest we spend months fighting to reclaim last year’s lost condition.

But with riding in bad weather is revealed a hidden secret. It is in the rain and the cold, when all the seductive elements of riding a bicycle have vanished, that we are truly able to ensconce ourselves in the elemental qualities of riding a bicycle. Good weather and beautiful scenery, after all, are distractions from the work. Without them, we have only those elements that we ourselves bring to The Ride: the rhythm, harmony between rider and machine, our suffering, and our thoughts. As the rain pours down and all but the most devoted stay indoors, we pull on extra clothing and submit into the deluge.

We are the Few, we are the Committed. We are those who understand that riding in bad weather means you’re a badass, period.

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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View Comments

Chris says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:04 pm

@Steampunk

220km of winter solo hardness to rack up the 500Km target, chapeau! Have an awesomely wet and cold day!

As for what to wear I'm rather liking my Rapha merino wool beany for under the helmet warmth. Wish I'd gone for that over the cycling hat on Saturday!
wiscot says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:26 pm

@itburns
I hear ya, but then again, Le Prof had someone else to clean his bike and do his laundry . . .
wiscot says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:31 pm

@Steampunk
I've about 600 kms to do to reach my 10k target by the end of the year. Saturday's ride (120kms) started in the low single digits but was increasingly enjoyable as the temp went up by about 10 degrees or so. 220kms at this time of year in one go is seriously hardcore. I think my summer max was 200. Good luck and good weather!
thatsrando says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:34 pm

@wiscot

Yeah, we break the rules, but we're out there.

Winter Solstice 200K
Steampunk says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:38 pm

@Chris
Thanks. V-kit is the only way to go. The real question boils down to what to put on my hands. Bit warm for the lobster claws, but chilly enough that the full-fingered gloves might make for cold digits. I think I might be establishing a need for an in-between pair of gloves...
minion says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:49 pm

@Pedale.Forchetta

I wrote this for The Ride Journal some times ago, hope you enjoy.
In Autumn club rides are fantastic for 3 reasons:first the weather conditions are less extreme than in August or July when the hot temperature and high humidity are a constant.Then, since days are becoming shorter and shorter and in a few weeks we'll be in the dark, we try to enjoy every meter of the ride.Moreover, the countryside in the Southern outskirts of the city under the low sun of the 18:00 o'clock succeeds in persuading us that we are not living in a big and polluted city in the industrialized Northern Italy, Milano.Our is actually not a club ride ... I mean it is not the ride of one club, it is the biggest gathering of all the amatorial squadre of Milano.To be a bit epic, it's someting that could resemble the summit of all the gangs in 'The Warriors' film, as the group easly reach the 100 units every Tuesday and Thursday during the Summer season.Now the name: we are quite famous in Milano, you have to ask for the Giro dei Manetta that could be translated in 'the ride at full throttle', and there's no need of further explanations.This is actually an unregulated race on open road with the same curse since many years. And since my first attempts to complete the loop in the '80"²s, I've really changed the way I'm part of it. I've started enjoying the adrenaline of the competition, the roller coaster course, the high speed and all the macho-muscular-boaster poses that I thought a racer should have. Now, even if apparently nothing has changed, - or maybe thanks to a better training which allows us to go faster - I'm really enjoying what cycling is all about: not the adrenaline that you can find in almost every sport, but the act of pedalling, the speed, the behaviour of the bike at 50km/h, the mental process to find the right moment to jump. In a nutshell, now I'm more appasionated because I can enjoy every aspect of the ride, I enjoy the ride itself.A funny thing is that some Manettas say that for them having a good result in these rides is as satisfying as in a real races, no difference at all.Even if there's no reward for the winner, everyone really fights to obtain success because in that case he gains respect from the group, which is an important thing in the non written law of cycling.Be competitive is very difficult and just to complete the loop is a good result because, a part from the high speed, dirty tricks are common, playing with traffic lights is mandatory, taking short cuts could be a way to slow down the heartbeats and then attack when into the group again... it's really a carousel and, lucky to say, accidents are very rare and, thanks God, so far never serious.Very rapidly we'll be in Winter and the usual evening ride will be performend in Milano in a sort of closed course with virtually no crossing and a short flyover to simulate a slope. The number of partecipants will be in an inverse relation with the temperature and I know that at one point (usually when we reach 0 degrees C) I'll be alone... but it's in that precise moment that I start thinking and dreaming about how it'll be exhilarating when it is Spring again and the 'ride calendar' will be full again of dates marked in red: those of the Giro dei Manetta.

Very nice, thanks Pedale. For some reason I remember rides in terrible weather better than the nice ones, mostly because the best riders in town are desperate to find someone to ride with (everything's coming up Millhouse...) and I slink in. They're not fraught because you're riding with some very good bike handlers who ride an even tempo, they don't mind the rain or being wet, and I'm often in awe of how well they handle the conditions. In New Zealand our overseas pros come home late in winter here, and they're a good shot of encouragement to get us back on the road.
mcsqueak says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:53 pm

@Steampunk

Defeet has some great full-fingered black wool gloves with textured bits on the underside so you can shift without worrying about your fingers slipping. Not waterproof, but warm enough for cool days and not bulky (also no palm padding).
Cyclops says:

Oct 31 2011 at 2:54 pm

Question - do trainer kilometers count? Counting time on the trainer I'm over 6k so far - if I keep at it I might hit 7500km for the year.
Steampunk says:

Oct 31 2011 at 3:00 pm

@Cyclops
Nope. Only kilometers logged on the road bike. I've probably done another 1000km commuting and MTB. Trainer last winter is a haze"”no idea how much I rode, but probably not a great deal.
frank says:

Oct 31 2011 at 3:06 pm

@razmaspaz

I've always found that heading out in the cold rain is one of the hardest things to mentally prepare for, but once out on the road, that first bead of water falling down the face, tasting the sweat, road grime, and water on your lips, that is the most motivating force on the planet. At that moment I know that I am unstoppable, and I can't help but lift the pace. Either the suffering gets easier or I am more willing to endure it, either way i find some of my most productive riding comes in the rain.

Exactly. Completely agree; the weather wraps you in a little blanket. I don't think I've ever found La Volupte in good weather; always when riding through a cloudbank or through the rain. Something about those elements just amplifies all those things that are great about cycling.

Though I've ridden in the rain so much now, that I look out the window, see the rain pouring down and run for my bike - I actually find it easier to motivate for a ride knowing its raining because I know how good it will feel. Also knowing how it will feel to jump in the shower after a cold rainy ride and how the warm water will feel as I warm up.

Awesomeness.