Categories: NostalgiaTradition

The Hard Way

Doing things the hard way is a luxury. It says to the world that we’ve beat evolution; intelligence is no match for technology and economy is no match for indulgence. We need only step a bit outside our bubble to realize the scale of the illusion, but nevertheless it has become reality for many of us who live our lives happily and fortunately in the middle and upper classes of the developed world where survival has nothing whatsoever to do with being the fittest.

One of the things that struck me within weeks of moving to the Pacific Northwest was the frequency with which people die here; not from disease (although Ebola can go fuck itself, pardon my francais) but from tucking into the wilderness for some weekend relaxation. The PNW has some of the world’s biggest cities, but most of it is untamed wilderness – including radical weather systems, cougars, rattlesnakes, bear, The Sasquatch, and possibly ManBearPig. This place will mess you up, son; your GPS or iPhone isn’t going to be your savior.

The first-hand experience of the realities of a system provides a more intimate learning tool than does the passive observation, although in an evolutionary sense the latter is the more effective method for the survival of a species; our ancestors learned to stay away from bees by watching the guy who drew the short straw poke at a hive and die from anaphylactic shock without needing to then poke at the hive themselves. Nevertheless the tangible nature of repercussions forges an indelible bond between action and result.

It is also interesting that complexity and abstraction are inversely bound; the more complex the system, the farther the user is removed from its operation. The simplicity of the friction downtube shifter is in sharp contrast to the complexity of an electronic drivetrain. My steel bike has friction downtube shifters, a fact that makes itself especially well known while climbing. To shift requires planning and skill; I have to find a part of the climb where I can be seated, unload the chain, and shift by feeling the chain as it slides across the block and listen for the telltale silence when the chain is securely seated back onto an adjacent cog. At that point, I’m committed to that gear until the climb grants me the next opportunity to shift. On Bike #1, I can shift under full load at my whim and without consequence. The artistry of shifting is lost, though I wouldn’t go back to downtube shifters on any bike I plan to ride seriously.

I love the contrast of evolution and tradition in the modern racing bicycle, with carbon tubulars being perhaps the most fitting contrast where the most modern technology is dependent on the oldest form of affixing a tire to a rim. Gluing on a set of tubular tires is no longer a necessary skill in our sport with good clinchers being readily available. Gluing tubs takes time and careful attention, two things that are in short supply in our modern society. But to glue on a set of tires brings you closer to the machine and from where our sport has progressed. To build a set of wheels does so even more, and I imagine building a frame by hand builds the ultimate bond to our history.

We live at a time when the things that are irrelevant to survival take on their own crucial importance; we return to tradition in order to remember where we came from so we may understand where we are going. Doing things the hard way is a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the history that built the luxuries we surround ourselves with.

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

therealpeel says:

Oct 9 2014 at 3:06 pm

@PeakInTwoYears

@frank

@wiscot

I am not technically/mechanically gifted, but I love how I can look at my bikes and see exactly how things work - and even fix much of it myself. This creates a special relationship between me and my bikes - I have touched, cleaned, installed, tweaked every part of it. Looking at something like the laptop I'm working on right now leaves me cold.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!

And another THIS!

This relationship with a system you understand and can interact with meaningfully is such a welcome relief from the effects of our intensifying division of labor. It's like digging a cat-hole and shitting in the woods (you aren't really IN the woods until your first shit is done and buried). It's like cooking and eating something you killed and butchered or grew and harvested yourself.

No cyclist is an island-I doubt any of us is ever going to mine and produce our own metals and such and build a bike from the ground up. But, still, any slivery semblance of mastery in a world that makes us progressively more focused on one or two things and more stupid about everything else is a good thing.

Freaking John Donne! Awesome! I do prefer the simple, clean elegance of steel bikes with down tube shifters, but there is something undeniably sexy about a carbon bike completely tricked out... Unless the rider is slower and fatter than me, and then it just looks stupid.
frank says:

Oct 9 2014 at 5:35 pm

@Carel

When I started riding my first real bicycle back in 1965 was a 1937 Belgian race-bike with three gears and a single guide wheel shifter. You had to learn clean shifting if you wanted a clean ride. It became part of the soul.

Please tell me you still have this bike! And if you do, we need photos!
frank says:

Oct 9 2014 at 5:37 pm

@ChrisO

Imagine a cold Milan-San Remo when the finishers' hands are frozen,

A cold MSR? That's a little far-fetched!
Puffy says:

Oct 9 2014 at 9:04 pm

You bikes are obviously way cooler than mine, but I do at least still have the first real bike I bought too long ago to remember when. I still commute on that bike most days which allows me to post this photo. I like the bike, I enjoy riding it but I still prefer the double tap equipped #1 bike which is why this bike only every comes out for the commute!
Carel says:

Oct 10 2014 at 12:37 am

@frank

@Carel

When I started riding my first real bicycle back in 1965 was a 1937 Belgian race-bike with three gears and a single guide wheel shifter. You had to learn clean shifting if you wanted a clean ride. It became part of the soul.

Please tell me you still have this bike! And if you do, we need photos!

I still have the frame, which carries more recent components these days and keeps rolling. The derailleur broke in the 70' and the LBS replaced it by some cheapo Huret plastic bits. Shortly after the bike went into storage in the attic. That's why it survived.
Carel says:

Oct 10 2014 at 5:01 am

@ #135 The pictures in fact do no longer reflect the way she looks. I've changed the cranks since and added bar-end gear levers that were lingering in the bits and parts box.
wiscot says:

Oct 10 2014 at 5:12 am

@Carel

@ #135 The pictures in fact do no longer reflect the way she looks. I've changed the cranks since and added bar-end gear levers that were lingering in the bits and parts box.

Good for you to hang onto it - I'll bet you've never regretted it! Man, look at all those clips! That's old school right there.

Huret derailleurs? There's a name that you don't (fortunately) hear much any more. I think Simplex and Ofmega both made plastic derailleurs back in the day to - shite they were.
Carel says:

Oct 10 2014 at 8:31 am

@wiscot My dad had bought it from his first salaries. So it's family heirloom!
Teocalli says:

Oct 10 2014 at 9:43 am

So this will go down well.......
piwakawaka says:

Oct 10 2014 at 10:58 am

@Teocalli this is the end.