The Paradox of Maturity
Although we find our way to the bicycle by different path, we all share the fact that at some point, this simple and elegant machine captured our imaginations. It became something more than simply a means to travel about, get exercise, or compete – it became something central to our lives.
Somehow and by different means, La Volupte seduced each of us. We became hypnotized by the rhythm of the cyclist’s life, by the movement of the machine. There might have been a moment where the machine which once hardly obeyed our commands suddenly surrendered to our every desire; we only needed to push upon the pedals a bit harder in order to coax more speed from the machine.
Then we made a fundamental discovery: the pleasure to be found from pushing ourselves beyond our limits. The simplicity found in the singular focus when all ancillary thought is shut down as we steel our mind against the strain of the effort. In truth, the pleasure comes less from the suffering but from the knowledge that we overcame the impulse to relent. We join a minority who, in a small way, triumph over our very nature.
With this discovery comes a kind of Stockholm Syndrome as we fall in love with everything bicycle-related – from the beauty of the machine itself to every bit of history and culture that surrounds it. We have transformed into a Velominatus.
As we mature as cyclists, we turn our focus towards improvement of the Craft: we crave a more Magnificent Stroke, to become stronger, to go Steady Up with More Speed. As the hardships of our sport become a constant companion, their novelty is diminished. The novelty of pushing ourselves fades; it becomes a routine component of our Work to become better cyclists.
Throughout, the cycle gains momentum. Every year, we become faster, stronger, harder. We might even forget why we love the sport as we lose ourselves in our quest for improvement. Thresholds, speeds, distances, wattage, elevation; these metrics replace the beautiful simplicity of La Vie Velominatus, which is fundamentally about the love of the bike and cycling at large.
But every cycle has its peaks and valleys and with each Summer spent narrowing the two-month gap to finding peak form, those of us who know how to train properly will fill our Winters building our base condition with longer, low intensity rides which throw us back to those basic sensations that drew us into the sport originally: the smell of the air, the sound of our tires as they flirt with the pavement or earth, the rhythmic breathing, the freedom of riding a bicycle.
Each Fall, as the skies grey and the rain begins to fall, I’m struck by my sudden rediscovery of the original reasons I love cycling. With my season’s goals many months away, the micromanagement of my condition and performance gives way once more to the pleasure of the ride. If I feel strong (which rarely happens during this time of year) and the desire to push myself shows itself, I may do it. If not, I don’t. It doesn’t matter at that time of year – just spending time on the machine is more than enough to pay dividends when the days grow longer and the sun returns to the sky. Rain, shine, cold, warm – I hardly notice the difference as I am once more reminded of the reasons why I love to ride my bike.
Amen.
Amen, indeed.
You have an amazing ability, Frank, to put into words feelings and thoughts that I’ve had for many years, and which I’ve often wondered if I was alone in.
Thank you.
A++1. Nice one, Frank.
Nicely done. My reading of Barry’s Le Métier indicated there’s something rewarding about the fall. After all the work put in over the summer, the fall and winter””on those longer rides you describe””allows you to enjoy the fitness over which you labored all summer. To enjoy the ride. To feel it. To smell it.
Heavy snow here today, but I put in some gym time, ramping up for heavier riding toward the end of February in preparation for the annual Good Friday Road Race around these parts. This year’s parcours rolls right through my local climbs. This year’s training, however, will involve next week in Cuba (sans bike, it’s been made very clear by my team directrice). Not to worry: I’ll be sure to wear arm floaties to make sure I keep the tan lines sharp.
Beautiful.
Splendid, just splendid.
I’m with you Frank.
There’s an British magazine called The Ride, that is full of beautiful stories and photos,
the first two issues can be downloaded for free on http://www.theridejournal.com
and ehm, if you like go to the second issue, page 111…
Pure Greatness!
Oh shite, another whinging long paean FRANK “article” and you lot are just falling over yourselves to sing his praises. I just spent 3 minutes giving it an edit – Boom – done.
We all share the fact that the pleasure to be found is in overcoming the impulse to relent. With this discovery comes a kind of Stockholm Syndrome – we crave a more Magnificent Stroke. Every year, we become faster, stronger, harder and thus my sudden rediscovery – just spending time on the machine – the original reason I love to ride my bike.
Frank, all, just kidding – Spot on a great bit of expository writing that has the usual tone and feel that gives us all that feeling of Carbone – I am just jealous.
Been off the road for years due to living in a hellhole (Qatar) and it’s articles like this that keep me going. Counting the days ’til I move in June.
Rule #10 is what confounded me recently. Even though I know I’m in much better shape than three months ago, I finish long rides feeling completely exhausted.
Then I realize that I’m going faster, climbing steeper hills, and standing for 100m when I previously maxed out at 10.
Eating more during long rides wouldn’t hurt, either.
Excellent, Frank.
Hence, the prodigious use of the V-Meter.
@Frank. Nice write up – really good stuff.
Some winters I’m better then others with staying on the bike, though I always decrease my riding time some. This winter has been slacker central for me – barely been on the bike at all.
That’s okay though – gets me even more psyched to get moving once again. I also know from riding for many years, it all comes back – sometimes quick, sometimes painfully slow. Doesn’t matter – still dig it all.
@frank. Superb piece of writing my fine fellow.
What’s the Arabic for HTFU ?
Awesome. I loved this article. Nice work, Frank.
I was away for three straight weeks around the holidays (Christmas & NYE). I rode a bit indoors on rollers, but no road riding. Just got back last week and have been riding my road bikes every day. My form is terrible but just being back on my cherished road bikes, feeling the wind in my face, and riding a bicycle when most people think it is too cold to even go outside fills me with immense pleasure.
Cycling puts me in tune with nature and the seasons, just two reasons why I’m so compelled by the sport.
Got a few hours in this morning, now stuck inside. But, as long as I get to ride each day, I feel a bit more alive. La Vie Velominatus.
Amerckx Bro!
My sarcastic side also recognizes it like this: with maturity comes both a dwindling number of nerve endings to freeze off in winter & a sense of ‘who cares’ afterall I got 1 yr less to live for…thus nothing to lose
@Souleur
And then there’s the subtle difference between youthful anaerobic effort: “Fuck, this hurts,” and middle-aged anaerobic effort “So what if this hurts? What doesn’t hurt? At least I know why it hurts. And I do it to myself because I want to.”
excellent.
What else, if not perseverance? If not action? I find it the case, as well, that the seduction of details can mar the totality of the experience, or that autonomic process can consume novel observation. Luckily, cycling, as you rightly write, lends itself to abolition of these painfully robotic forces. And for only the price of an inflamed perineum (!). Alas, what else, if not romantic? Would love your input on this.
That’s a very good perspective, Starfanglednut. Great stuff.
@Starfanglednut
Nice. Looks like you’ve just started. Will have to add it to links and follow along. And welcome as well.
@Rob
I accidentally snorted my Maui Brewing Company IPA through my nose when I read that.
@all
Very kind words all, I appreciate it. Just got in to Maui yesterday, unpacked the bikes (which were completely unharmed) and went for our first heatstroke-inducing ride here. Gianni and his VMH are onto something, having moved here. The riding is incredible and if I lived here, I would not need to write these kinds of pieces – it’s a good thing I got this puppy out the way on the plane before being introduced to Hawaiian January bliss. Fuck. No wonder Hope of a Nation lives here.
So, the preparation for doing the Dumbest Thing I’ll Ever Do starts; planning it for towards the end of the ride, and not shooting for anything like what Ryder did in 2009 (start the video around 3:25 to see the climb)
Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Record from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.
And all this time I was wondering why you were going to Massachusetts in January for cycling!
If I had known that you would be hitting a 22% grade, I would have offered to yell at you as you attempted repeats of 4th Ave N. But you’ll be riding that section at 3,000m of elevation! Rule V indeed.
Cheers Frank, today I rode for an hour and a half in NYC it was 15 F bright sunshine and dry roads but with snow and ice all about. Beautiful day and surprisingly, more than a few cycles out there. So no I am not jealous, really why should I be?
If you are really going to do this monster climb I think the Velominatus should do a pool – so I will start with a guess that you will do it in 3:51.25
If any one else wants to get in copy my name and time add yours and post it.
Frank’s time up the big one
1) Rob – 3:51.25
I must assume he climbs well for his weight.
2) Jeff in PetroMetro–3:35:35
My faith in Frank’s climbing got kicked in the behind on the Seattle climb, and this is hella long and hella big, and it’s January, so I’m assuming he’s at least a couple of months from peaking. Sorry, Frank, but I’m going with 4:27.18, which would still be better than my DNF. Don’t inhale too many wasps (or Maui Brewing Co. IPAs). Best of luck!
My wife, reading over my shoulder: “You could do it, but you’d probably get an ear infection.” (This is as close to positive encouragement as I’ve received in fifteen years of marriage). We honeymooned in Maui, and I got an ear infection going up or coming down (“in car,” the missus insists on my adding)…
1) Rob – 3:51.25
2) Jeff in PetroMetro-3:35:35
3) Steampunk – 4:27.18
4) G’phant – 4:14.9
@G’phant
Thanks for tidying this. You were “that” kid in school, weren’t you?
The bit of info that might help here is Gianni’s time from ’07 because we need to compare apples to apples (Gianni – Frank) not apples to hardmen (Frank – Ryder). I imagine Gianni and the VMH’s sipping MaiTai’s in the “team car” while frank unveils is haulie white guns that haven’t seen the sun in 4 months. More power to ya bra’, I wish I could join you.
4:06.46
Franks Time Up the Big One
1) Rob – 3:51.25
2) Jeff in PetroMetro-3:35:35
3) Steampunk – 4:27.18
4) G’phant – 4:14.9
5) Marko – 4:06.46
@G’phant
Thanks – they will get it soon!
To all – I am not sure when the effort is being made so get your times in soon. I think some token prize should be awarded so I will accept suggestions and will dig through my potential awards box to see if I can come up with something that could ship world wide.
@Marko
I think that no info is fair as we all will have the same handicap. I do know how Gianni climbs now, I did at least 20 years ago and having just met Frank (off the bike) my guess is he is hyper compared to Gianni on hills – (sorry old friend, the truth can hurt) – there is a bit of age difference. Having said that its winter for Frank and the heat will slay him. My guess if I have to be honest was a bit of a suck up, I really think it will take half the day if he makes it at all.
OK, based on Frank’s Tour de Blast time, he can climb 16.4 meters/minute at what was likely a max power effort over 14 minutes. He has 3048 meters to climb, and given distance and altitude I am assuming a sustained 80% of max effort.
3048/16.4/0.80 = 232.3 minutes or 3:52:12.
xyxax: 3:52:12
Franks Time Up the Big One
1) Rob – 3:51.25
2) Jeff in PetroMetro-3:35:35
3) Steampunk – 4:27.18
4) G’phant – 4:14.9
5) Marko – 4:06.46
6) xyxax – 3:52.12
@Rob
Nice going on the ride. The wind must have made it a bit brutal. My back had me walking around like a human question mark all weekend.
It was -14 C on the commute into Manhattan today. I think I froze an alveolus.
@Rob
I’m beginning to think that the reader who picks frank’s time in any event he does gets to wear a V-kit jersey here on the board similar to the other VSP jerseys.
Amen.
I had to share this snap of our Saturday WBL in South Carolina. Only snowfall on the coast SC could be overshadowed by this guy, in jeans and winter ski jacket, giving it stick. This guy is Rule #5.
A lot of the guesswork also stems from not knowing how much research Frank has been doing.
@RideFit
A local shop held their “Worst Day of the Year” ride yesterday. It was cold (13F), but sunny, so hardly worse than today @ (14F and icy slush, but whatever). Anyhow, there was a guy dressed similarly on the ride. He held on until the front group decided to throw down a paceline that picked up to 34-36kph. I was off the back having fiddled with my bidon that had been frozen for too long. Thus it was a rough effort to latch back on. Laying down The V in really cold weather makes the lungs fill with strange mucous. Does anyone else get the same feeling?
Also, I had one of the better interactions with an angry driver. At a stoplight, fat old man (FOM) started yelling at us out the window. The best line was certainly “You guys are fucking nothings!” Amazing how angry people get when you take a whole 30 seconds from their life.
It just managed to reinforce my “Douchebag Theory of Truck Owners”: A) If you own a large white truck, you’re probably a douche. B) If you own a modded truck, you’re probably a douche. C) If you own a combination of A+B, you’re definitely a douche.
NOTE: Apologies to those on here that fall into one of the above categories. Tis mostly just tongue-in-cheek. I think you know exactly what type of trucks I’m really talking about, but brevity requires stereotyping.
@Collin
We have a lot of trucks and rebel flags in this area. We occasionally get a firearm waved at us as well. Apparently, the South will rise again…
@Steampunk
Fucking hilarious!
@Collin
From my extensive Southern U.S. sociological field research, I’ve determined a high tattoo-to-tooth ratio is a good predictor of douchebaggery.
“tattoo-to-tooth”: an alliterative gem.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
+1 but does that mean more teeth than tat’s or vise versa?
I like this (cause I don’t have to do shit) but I am to low down in the V hierarchy to sanction it…
Frank –
I rode Haleakala last September. I climb well for my weight and had peaked about 2 month EARLIER. Still, I did it in 4:30. Despite the idyllic conditions for 90% of the time on Maui, you can still live Rule #9, I started the climb in the rain and a 30kph headwind and the temp dropped to about 6C at the top. Just watch out for the cows and their “speed bumps”.
@RideFit
@Collin
xyxax, Thanks it was a good ride except I left out the part about getting on the wheel of a fit pro on a canondale with fenders (definitely the winter training bike). He tolerated me for a few hundred yards and then blew me off like I was lint. By then I had started to over heat in the lobster gloves and neoprene Hincapie booties and the 4+ layers…
Nice thing about Alveoluses is that they are replaceable.
Collin , Ridefit, all you sub freezing riders should be proud – really Frank riding Hockaluiguei is pretty girlie in comparison…
@Chris
Nice one you have been there done that and will be our control.Ok Chris get in on the pool!
Franks Time Up the Big One
1) Rob – 3:51.25
2) Jeff in PetroMetro-3:35:35
3) Steampunk – 4:27.18
4) G’phant – 4:14.9
5) Marko – 4:06.46
6) xyxax – 3:52.12
7) Chris ?
Copy above, add your prediction and paste it in!
@Rob
8) Nate – 3:59:45
Frank does everything a big dutchman 2 months from peaking can do to finish in under 4 hours.
And don’t forget the jacket for the way down — it’s cold at 3000 meters, even in the tropics.