No technology can increase the energy of the willpower of the rider, nor can it lessen the doubts which sometimes overwhelm him.
– Bernard Hinault
As I swung off the main road, I was momentarily consumed by the simple thrill of my tires leaving the hard tarmac and hitting the rough gravel of the unpaved forest road. It was a brief distraction of the sort that keep me falling in love with the sport over and again; these small thrills fill even an ordinary ride; all you need to do is notice them. Nevertheless, the reality of the climb I was about to start was never far from the surface of my mind. I’d been preparing for it for a few hours; the heat, the gradient, the diabolical nature of the sandy gravel.
We never get used to the pain, it never stops clawing at us. The best we can do is harden our minds against what is to come and endure it, pulling the most from ourselves along the way. Mostly, we learn that pain is quickly forgotten and its sharpness begins to dull the instant we finish the effort. Then we train ourselves to remember that point and use that to resist the urge to stop. The Will is the only weapon we have in this fight: when it is strong, we fly; when it leaves us, we falter.
I’m horribly finicky about my equipment and my kit, that’s not news to anyone who knows me. Everything has to be perfect – always – but extra care is taken to guarantee perfection before an important ride. On a good day, it won’t matter whether the machine is silent or the bar tape clean; those things will never give me good legs. But if the legs are gone and I need to rely even more heavily on my mind, a creaking chain will start the tailspin into psychological collapse. The technology in our equipment can never stoke the fire of our determination but it can choke it off in an instant.
The best gains aren’t found in technology; they are found in building the strength of your Will; the Cave is a lonely place – if you don’t bring it with you, you won’t find it where you’re going. No one compels us to ride hard, to suffer. No one even asks us to. The choice to suffer is ours alone. The Will, it comes only from within.
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@DeKerr
Hey hey hey don't knock Sora 9-speeds. I've had the Sora 9-speed gruppo on the commuter since it was the #1 almost 10 years ago. Don't worry, I've replaced the chain and cassette during the intervening years -- she's the commuter bike now, but she still deserves love and respect. The Sora shifts more reliably than the Ultegra I have on the current #1 and at a fraction of the price.
Maybe the lesson to be learned here is I should go back to the aluminum Scott Speedster for more than just a few miles each day. That way I'll appreciate the carbone all the more, even if the shifting can sometimes be wonky.
@Owen
I've never used Sora, but the Shimano 105 that I bought using my summer chore money after 7th grade (more years ago than I care to admit) is still in use in my stable and I agree: it tends to work better than much of my top of the line gear.
Well, maybe not better, but more consistently. There is nothing like Record when its tuned right, but for ease and simplicity and reliability, you can't beat it.
In fact, as the gear count goes up (8, 9, 10...) it seems to dramatically impact longevity as much as reliability. But Shimano in particular seems to be rock solid in the cheaper groups and gives something up as the price increases in how bullet-proof they are.
I have to say, SRAM works like a champ both on my gravel rig (Red) and the VMH's gravel rig (Force). Bulletproof stuff as well.
Apologies also, it should be "Gruppo-san." Off to do my Hail Merckx's now.
@Gianni
THE CAVE
That place... is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go.
What's in there?
Only what you take with you.
Your weapons... you will not need them.
Used reliance and belief today to go hard with an intent to chase the lead down -- the will became automated. Belief can be fuckity fast.
Timely Frank.... timely.
I had a KOM (6km at 10%) on the weekend just gone. I'd been gaining on the guy in front for three kms. He had stayed on the winners wheel longer than I had, but it was clear to me he'd hung on for too long. I was within the last km. I was close and I knew he knew I was there, and gaining. 50m to go I was within 1om of him but something within me broke. I stopped gaining on him. The last 10m pinches up to the finish line and in an attempt to salvage a PB I got out of the saddle and went full.
Once I had crossed the line I knew I had blown it. I had much more left that I thought I did. That sprint to the line was far too fresh, excruciatingly painful, but it should have been not possible
. Thinking back I soon realised I had given up, I had lost the will to suffer any more and catch another placing. "What's the point of 5th anyway...6th was no different" I had thought. I've been kicking myself ever since. Next year I won't make the same mistake. On the upside I had shaved 1:08min off my PB.
Top article... as usual. There's rarely crap here, apart from when I comment.
It's funny how 'no one makes us suffer'; I've recently taken to doing my interval training on a local, outdoor track/velodrome that is almost always empty. As I suffer like a dog around it, I always feel like I'm letting someone or something down when I don't complete the fully-prescribed workout... yet never myself. That guilt comes later when the burn has gone, the legs move in a slightly more free fashion and the rasp of the lungs is just a lingering memory.
As for noise, I'm with you on that. My local mechanic hates me for it (I must be the only person locally to never use headphones) and I am always looking for a niggling sound once it appears and satisfaction only comes once it's identified and a remedy is found. Recently it was the bottom bracket; a changeover to C-Bear was the trick. Now it's the grit from the degraded surface that lodged itself into my drivetrain making it sound like sandpaper. Time to strip the bike and clean whilst my mechanic does some mods to my cheap, heavy, steel track bike so I can ride my intervals on the track with it.
Yes... I will use a whole other bike to avoid noise and/or unnecessary wear. I'm that anal. I'm so anal that I'm looking into ultrasonic cleaners for cleaning duties and waxing duties for the chain.
Finding this site has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing to be on the path, albeit the chunky guy on the path, and a curse because the rules sometimes are harsh mistresses and make my family and friends sometimes wonder about the sanity of spending time and money on 'silence'.
Leaving town for a week, heading to Ontario for some lake time and I had to clean all the bikes, lube all the chains or I knew I just would be able to relax on the trip. Gotta return home after a week without bikes to a clean stable so you can choose the machine you feel like riding, and then ride it in style.
@the-farmer
Always a pleasure to drop this one in:
Great piece. Always true and thought-provoking. Just another Tour opinion. Even if Contador and Froome had stayed in, I think Nibali had the will to win. Had he been truly tested I don't think he'd have been found wanting. There's a huge pool of untapped will and panache with Nibali that I think this Tour win will unleash.