Growing up, I imagine my dad did his fair share of worrying about me getting into trouble with chemicals and girls. Like with most problems in life, the solution lay in Cycling; training encouraged healthy behavior and once my dad convinced me to shave my legs, no one needed to worry about the girls anymore.
Cycling caused its fair share of problems of its own, but nothing that couldn’t be solved by more Cycling. I stopped spending as much time on my studies as I might have, and all my creative energies and capacity for remembering things were spent on Cycling. Who won the Tour stage on Bastille Day in 1989? Vincent Barteau. Who were the Founding Fathers? Washington, Franklin, Jefferson…Can I use a life line?
We’re big fellas, my dad and I, and that poses certain challenges in Cycling. A love for suffering and for a sense of accomplishment meant our hearts drifted towards the mountains, but our physiology pulled toward the rollers and flat terrain. We were never going to be the fastest, or the skinniest, or the best sprinters. But we could twist the throttle, watch the the needle rev up to just shy of the red line, and hold it there for hours. We could use our momentum to carry speed over the short, steep hills we found dotted along our routes. At one point in my youth, I remember looking at the little ring on my bike and wondering, in all earnestness, what it was there for.
The first time we went to France, I discovered quite handily why that little ring was there. We were not grimpeurs; we were rouleurs, and rouleurs use the little ring when the road points up for a long time. A rouleur, in Cycling, is a rider who goes well on the flat and rolling terrain. They are characterized less by their size, but by their style on the machine; a magnificent stroke tuned to sustained power, not high revolutions or bursts of acceleration. Rouleurs are good time trialists, they do well on short climbs, but are usually found in the laughing group when the profile starts to look like the cardiogram of a teenage boy who just saw his first pair of boobs. Some of them can climb well for their weight, but a rouleur is rarely at the front when the big mountains come along.
Translated from French, rouleur means having wheels, or to roll. But Hinault would use the word roule in conversation in the context of standing, or pushing, on the pedals. I quite like the sound of that. They have a wide power band, but can only win a sprint from a group of one or a small group of other rouleurs – although technically those tend to be more akin to “drag racing” than “sprinting”. They are characterized by being able to gobble up an enormous amount suffering, and are usually just dim enough to wear a wide smile on their face when its happening. And giggle maniacally when describing the suffering afterward.
Winning isn’t everything to the rouleur, which is why they’re often found among the ranks of the domestique. The rouleur needs to study the map, looking for the right terrain with the right kind of lumps if they’re going to have a chance of being at the front in a road race. They are possibly the most exciting to watch race; races of attrition suit them, as does bad weather – and when they’re in the break, they’re usually dumb enough to take their strength for granted and over-estimate themselves. Betting on the rouleur is a gamble, but their style of racing often means that even when they lose, it was a great show.
Merckx bless the rouleur.
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@DerHoggz
I don't believe the whole "bigger guys descend faster" line. Galileo anyone?
Even in air, a smaller person could probably get more aerodynamic. One thing is when pedaling, bigger guys can usually put out more absolute power, which could make a difference.
Me - I'm a diesel all day long.
I climb well for my weight but I'm crap at descending.
There are two reasons for my crapness:
1 - Fear
2 - Inertia - overcoming it it costs me more effort to get round corners and puts more stress on my tyre's contact with the road making me more likely to have "a moment".
@Teocalli
Now have a mental image of 30 seconds after the video ends some astronaut stubbing his toe and asking who left that fucking hammer on the moon as the oxygen rushes out of his spacesuit.
@ChrisO Well if you believe the internet it was probably the film crew who stubbed their toe as it was all (apparently) a fake.
Though after your post I now have the image of hoards of astronauts wandering around aimlessly in some sort of Monty Python's sketch.
In looking for the above I had a look at the "they are on wires" conspiracy. The bit the "theorists" did not explain is that the wires did not get tangled as the astronauts circled around each other.......
Just loving the pictures of JvS. I was lucky enough to be at Paris Roubaix the year he won. After watching the race go by, we holed up in a bar which was full of crazy Belgians. The place went progressively wilder the nearer he got to the Velodrome.
An awesome day all round and he's been a favourite rider of mine ever since.
@DerHoggz
Nope, he can't. At least, not more aerodynamic for his weight. your surface area to volume ratio decreases by increasing volume.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-area-to-volume_ratio
Since aerodynamic drag is proportional to surface area, and weight is proportional to volume, your aerodynamic drag to weight ratio decreases with increasing weight.
@RVester
...although you still have more drag in absolute terms
@Teocalli
Let's ask the Chinese to take a bike on their moon mission and see if a taikonaut in a space suit can ride faster than say Faboo over a given distance because of the total absence of aerodynamic drag and lower gravity.
@RVester
But surely that only applies for a given shape. I'd suggest there comes a point where physical characteristics come into play where a whippet might well be able to get a more beneficial aero position than say the below (borrowed from @Chris in a different thread)
@frank
Quite simply the best cycling commentary ever. Poetry in words and motion.