On Rule #9: Love the Work
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.
@Cyclops
Word.
It beseech the Keepers, I beg forgiveness. I freely admit my sin of Rule V disobeyance. Indeed, my fear of Sudden Death should not detract from the need to HTFU.
But I most certainly did not mean to turn the discussion of Frank’s eloquently phrased observations on the Path of the Velominatus into the usual bitching one finds on every bike club/advocacy/magazine web site. Blahblaahblah drivers suck, cyclists riteous etcetcetc. The Ancients vision for us all was much more altruistic, much more “casually determined” than this rabble rousing found elsewhere on the interwebs.
I humbly beg forgiveness….and vow to conquor my fear.
That is all.
@RedRanger
I come to a complete stop. I just don’t unclip. I also rarely ride in cities. This is foolishness, though. Do drivers need to open their door and put their foot down in order to demonstrate they have stopped? Come to think of it: that’s not a bad idea…
Good words Frank. I like the (to?) work too. In fact I enjoy feeling that I work as part of my enjoyment of cycling. Vive la regle 9.
@Dr C
Japan.
Since it is a form of betting the equipment is very limited to stuff approved by the Japanese Bicycle Association. Basically they ride steel frames with 36 spoke wheels. Supposed to make it depend on rider for betting. Its like horse racing in a way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirin
@Dr C
As the learned @DerHoggz stated it’s a Keirin School. From what I can gather from extensive research (Wikipedia is fairly infallible isn’t it?) it’s big in Japan where they bet heavily on it and as a result heavily regulated. The riders have to qualify in Keirin school where they not only go through their paces but also learn the history and etiquette of the sport. Equipment also has to be approved and tends only to be Japanese. Not sure why they don’t completely dominate track cycling with a set up like that.
I’m off to my travel agent in the morning to see if I can get booked in for a couple of weeks for my holidays next summer. Or should I say V-acation?
@DerHoggz
You utter sod for getting that post in while was typing mine!
Apropos of nothing, here is a photo from today’s Melbourne newspapers which might amuse. Cuddles and an Aussie WNBA player.
We might have pinched Le Tour, but the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys have stolen our Melbourne Cup (a horse race for which we have a public holiday – “The Race That Stops the Nation”) for two years running.
@Chris
Is it against the rules to like track? Because I certainly do. I think Campy is the only non-Japanese manufacturer to be approved for Japanese keirin. Keirin is also done outside of Japan, without the goofy helmets and old tech.
Keirin Worlds 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMsotvad5nA
Theo Bos is a boss.
I’m pretty sure the rules are cool with track, I certainly am. It all starts to go wrong when track bikes escape onto the street and hook up with tattooed fucktards with questionable facial hair and girls trousers.
I do not know if it’s the rain dripping from the brim of my cotton Castelli hat, or if it’s the looks I get from motorists at red light as mother nature pisses on me, or if it the way it feels to put on multiple layers of matching winter gear as you brace yourself for the chill that will war against your blood in an epic battle to keep the legs warm. Whatever it is, there truly is something epic and pro-esque about riding in bad weather!
-B. Cog
@DerHoggz
It is against The Rules to dislike cycling. If it involves skill, class, the V, and two wheels, its all good. Road, track, mountain biking. We love it all.
Seeing as the hour goes back next week, I left work early today to get in what is quite possibly the last after-work ride of the year. (Apart from this reason, my e-mail and internet access was screwed up, so there wasn’t much I could do anyway.) We were also blessed with sun and temps around 60 degrees, so I didn’t need much motivation.
A swift little tailwind as I headed north in a mix of busy and then virtually traffic-free roads, saw me take in a few of my favorite roads (and, at one point crossing paths with the same school bus 5 times) amidst the remaining fall foliage. Thought of Frank as I passed a farm proudly owned by the Strack family just before I entered “the tunnel” – 2.5 kms of recently chip-sealed road through a tunnel of trees that only a few weeks ago were gloriously gold.
I was feeling better and better as the ride went on, my back was behaving and I’d dressed just right. Then, as luck would have it, the wind died down considerably for the ride home as the sun set spectacularly to my right. Finished my last bottle 2kms from home. Saw some guys out running and felt sorry for them that they weren’t riding. 92kms of bliss. Love the work? Damn right!
@Marcus
Is that Liz Cambage with Cadel? I know she’s 203cm, but there’s NO WAY that photo wasn’t altered. She could put him in her purse and carry him around all day like a yippy dog.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
I think you should keep your Cuddles fantasy to yourself.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
It certainly is Ms Cambage. Think Cuddles is 174cm and she was wearing heels… That could easily make for a 15 inch difference. She is fucking enormous.
Wonder what Cuddles was saying to her?
“I bet a girl like you could give a guy like me a really mean draft baby.”
“I may be small but I bet I can eat more than you.”
You want bad driving… when Blackberry was down for three days recently the accident rate in Abu Dhabi fell by 40%.
Seriously, people here will text and drive at 140km/hr. About a month ago one of the national football team members died when he ran into the back of a road marking truck in the middle of sending a stream of texts and BBMs.
The other extraordinary thing here is seatbelts. They are still only compulsory in the front seats, and although compulsory for children most people don’t make the kids wear them. So you see people driving at high speed with kids clambering around freely.
I saw one car the other day go past me when I was sitting on 135km/hr. Four year old kneeling, unrestrained, in between the two front seats where simply falling over would hit the drivers arm or wheel. BUT, they had gone to the trouble of getting a Child On Board sign for the back window, so it was OK really.
I’m told a lot of it is to do with the religious mentality. Whatever God intends to happen will happen – It Is Written (for those who’ve seen Lawrence of Arabia, and please tell me that’s everyone). So whether you drive like a stuntman or are the most careful person in the world makes not a jot of difference.
@itburns
Nipple lube.
@Marcus
Miss Cambage: “Ya little wee man. Can you dunk a basketball? I didn’t think so. Get in my purse.”
@ChrisO
Yep – average Landcruiser there is like a mobile living room. Kids aren’t just not restrained, they revel in it, cartwheeling from row to row (three rows of seats). I’ve witnessed kids out the top of sunroofs. A friend related a scene where a kid was standing on the headrests of the driver and passenger seats, most of the body out the top of the vehicle through the sunroof. The Landcruiser was stopped at lights, but the mother actually took off when they changed. The kid fell over, luckily back down into the car.
What’s chilling is that in three days you can see a trend that is expressed as 40%. You have to have a lot of accidents per day to get that. And that’s the case.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
How ironic, doesn’t Cadel fancy yippy dogs?
1) That photo of Cuddles is wild.
2) Fignon’s Big Ring Legs look splendid in that photo.
3) What is going on with the booties he’s wearing? Are they loose-fit waterproof ones? More along the lines of warmers? I’m confused.
@frank
Just not tri-geeks.
@Marcus
That has to be photoshopped. If that is a ‘real’ photo, i’m disappointed. Fer Merckx sake, there are a shit ton of hotties in Aussi land from what I hear. Send him to P-town and I’ll hook him up with a hipster stripper (a shaved one even!).
Her hand is as big as his head. Cuddles could use her shoe as a canoe. It’s like a traffic accident. Can’t stop looking at the horror.
@Blah
@scaler911
Just because you are such Doubting Thomas’, here is another photo taken at a different angle. She big, he small – you should see how big the kangaroos are out here.
@Marcus
Me? I know how big the roos are: I’m from Melbourne.
And yes, I once came a cropper on tram tracks. Just once, though. My audience were some patients from a Kew psychiatric home. They were not subtle.
ChrisO – those tales of driving are blowing my mind.
I’m disappointed, saddened, enraged, angered, flummoxed by people who think it is okay to drive and play with a phone. Sure, smoking and tuning a radio aren’t great, but punching out messages on a tiny keyboard is just madness. Now that you can basically run your life from your hand, is there any hope people will cease?
@Blah
Sorry – meant to click reply to Jeff from PM. When you came a cropper on the tram tracks were you riding a ‘roo? My one gets freaked out around trams, but is pretty quick on the open road.
@Marcus
No probs at all.
Actually, with me it’s all wombat, all the time. Apart from my wet-ride, a platypus. Both pretty fine with tram tracks.
@Blah
Used to know a girl who could platypus. But that look is out of fashion these days.
If the documentaries are to be believed, pretty much everything in Australia could kill a small child (spiders, snakes, jellyfish, drop-bears etc).
I think that woman has just been added to the list.
@ChrisO
This tells people everything they need to know about our Great Southern Land.
@Marcus
And all this time I thought it was Pelican Drinking.
I have deduced that this photo is of Fignon on his way to winning the 1986 Flèche Wallonne. It was cold, very wet and he won it solo. Even if you doubt my awesomeness, it’s clearly a race shot as helmets weren’t in compulsory use apart from in Belgium – Fignon would never wear one if he didn’t have to, let alone train in one!
@MrBigCog
Spot. Fucking. On. Thank you for not mentioning proper stopping etiquette or the dangers of venturing outside.
@Marcus
I didn’t understand a single word uttered throughout that video. The only thing that made sense was the laughing.
@Oli
Close, but not quite. You and @wiscot are right that it’s a race, and you had the year and country right (1986 and Belgique). Also Figs did win La Fleche solo, except it was sunny (possibly cold). The rainy, nasty brute of a race that this was taken is was Liege, and Figs didn’t do well that day, as his face suggests. Impressive work nevertheless!
La Fleche:
Liege:
and
Okay, not quite as awesome as I’d like to think then…thanks for the correction, Frank!
@frank
Late to the corrections party, but glad we got it settled. I did some detective work last night and determined it was 86 as in 87 the Gitane bikes Systeme U rode were white. In 86 they were still old school blue.
Even though my memory blended two races I’m still pretty happy that it got me that close – senility hasn’t fully got me yet!
@frank
OK, before you scroll to the pictyres below, you’ve been warned. they are NSFV (Not Safe for the Velominati.) @ Frank claims anything with 2 wheels is “all good” but…oh Merckx, my eyes!
Found at the bike rake outside work this morning:
That is all.
@eightzero
Holy fucking Merckx.
@frank
And the V-community gives me shit for wanting a cycling tat?
And speaking of the community, any sign of the specical edition Seattle Cogal v-pints? Advise whn you need a paypal contribution for their production?
@eightzero
Will try and get it under way and I’ll get it all sorted, hopefully this weekend.
@eightzero
Yeah, what about recumbents as well? All good?
@DerHoggz
Recumbents aren’t bikes, so no need to discuss those here.
Of all the post ride rituals that exist I think there is none more soothing, more rewarding than a hot shower after a long, cold and tortuous ride. To feel the sting of the hot water on your frozen thighs, the grime and the grit slowly being rinsed away as you start to regain feeling in your numb fingers and toes. Standing there, water running over you as you reflect on the day’s ride and the numbness gives way to that old familiar friend, lactic acid.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a cold pint after a mid summers day hammer fest, and sitting in a glacial creek after the Whistler Gran Fondo was delightful, but I’ve yet to find something as pastoral as that après miserable weather shower.
@urbanwhitetrash
+1 and beautifully said.
@Chris
@ Chris, I’m pretty sure there is nothing inherent about track bikes that would break the rules. They are, after all, the most pure variant of velo not requiring a boost/running start to mount. (ie Penny Farthing)
And since I’m usually a lurker; “Full Disclosure” – I am a full course triathlete, road/mountain cyclist, AND fucktard with questionable facial hair (it is Movember after all) that not only dishes out much V with or without aero bars, but also can be seen on a fixed gear (possibly even during a critical mass) riding with the hipsters that “self-proclaimed real cyclists” often deplore.
As a cyclist that has logged 14,000mi/yr+ the past 4 yrs running (approx 65% training) through pouring rain, tropical storm winds, 15f degree morning commutes, and countless brick workouts (long ride directly followed by 4-12mi run); and given my cycling background spans from BMX/flatland, to crits, long course tri’s, cyclocross, mtb, and the occasional Vdome session; I find that I am firmly positioned within a quite slim niche to effectively portray the non-professional/domestique application of Rule V.
And after rubbing elbows with the beginner to elites, the mtbs to the crits, the TT bikers and the hipsters on their fixies, I’ve found that that in all the world of cycling… “Roadies” tend to be the most judgmental cyclists.
How can someone take something as pure and as freeing as riding a bike so seriously that they lose the idea in the first place?
Here’s the truth… “Riding any bike is objectively epic! Any bike. Fixie, recumbent, beach cruiser, or big wheel. The problems arise when the arrogantly prejudiced, ignorant, or those lacking a pan-optic view of cycling get confused.
You see, those poor souls subscribe to the belief that the value of cycling is subjective and dependent on the goal, outcome, clique, or intent.
“Subjectivity is the fallacious belief that the truth changes.”
Sorry, Diatribe Over!
@J.Michael
All those accomplishments would be more impressive if you listed your totals in the Queen’s units of measure.
@J.Michael
RE track bikes – yes, that’s what he said. He just added an important point after it.
As for the rest… You essentially say “as someone who breaks the rules, I don’t like the idea of the rules.”
You’re nicely articulate, I suppose, but you’re not making sense when you say
“Here’s the truth… “Riding any bike is objectively epic! Any bike. Fixie, recumbent, beach cruiser, or big wheel.”
Here’s a tip. Scroll up. Look at the last three pics posted. Of the three, only frank’s involves anything ‘epic’. That’s the truth. If you think otherwise, it’s because you are setting your objective bar very, very low. Epic is to be aspired to, not the default every time two wheels are involved.