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Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: James

Order: Level 4 Velominatus

@James's activity:

Truth and Reconciliation

First off, cycling needs a different term for what it would like to convene. To equate cycling’s past with South Africa’s and Liberia’s dark histories is just wrong. Maybe the “I was a lying dick” tribunal. When I hear riders I admire say the past is the past, let’s look forward, I now assume they cheated. Cipo,...

@James's posts:

  1. Re Cipo revelations, what I found hard to take was that his response was so un-Cipo and so un-Italian. The real Cipo would have immediately admitted it upfront and said something offensive like, “yeah I took PEDs but at least I was good looking. and no-on… »

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

@James's posts:

  1. @frank Can you disclose your core strength regimen? »

The New V-estament

During the birth of The Rules, just like the Big Bang, there was a flurry of new activity, too much expanding and not enough contracting; certainly not enough thinking. It’s hard to keep the throttle back when divining the Word of Merckx in real time. The interweb tubes whistled with new Rules shuttling back and forth, beers consumed, genius...

@James's posts:

  1. Further Rule proposal: “When you’re the form rider, be generous with your energy. This doesn’t apply to races.” You know what it means. Reflect on it if you don’t, or consider any experience in which you’ve progressed over time from the weakest to the st… »

V-Announcements: The Way of the Cycling Disciple

We interrupt the current programming for the following announcement:The more clever among you might have noticed slight shiftings of the sands, a new scent on the breeze. Indeed, the Velominati Boardroom has been bristling with activity of late; the meetings longer and more regular, the pints downed in quicker succession, the views shouted in loud...

@James's posts:

  1. Who do I have to donate my firstborn steel colnago to in order to have an essay on selected Rules considered for inclusion? Happy to supply references (and my second born – the carbon functional one) »

Strack to Lead New V-Studies Initiative at McMaster University

La Vie Velominatus is set to become the subject of intense scholarly analysis next week, as Frank Strack will receive an honorary PhV from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (chapeau to @ten B for the PhV). It’s been a heady week for the cycling types around these parts; Strack will close out festivities that included the Bike Snob and Mari...

@James's posts:

  1. Best post and subsequent discussion thread in ages. Suggested re-titles of the lecture include: – Strack On Liberty, by V – Rule V: A new social contract – The V of Nations – The V Manifesto »

Climbing Weight

When it comes to weight and body dysmorphia, we cyclists can go toe-to-toe with any thirteen year old tween who has done their time flipping through the pages of Vogue and Sixteen. However fit and thin we might be, at some point it dawns on us that we’re not as light as we could be. The obvious solution is to buy lighter parts for our bikes,...

@James's posts:

  1. Sorry, but I thought this entire article was pointless because the lessons it seeks to provide could be persuasively dealt with  - as most of life’s problems can – by reference to the Rules. Here’s all it needed to say: “Observe Rule #91 and repeat. End… »

The Rule #5 Talk

Have a look around to see who you find occupying your immediate vicinity. Presently, I am surrounded by a pleasant-seeming bunch. Some are even going so far as to appear happy or at least not displeased; all of them are pale and none of them fit. My attention is drawn, however, to a a portly mustached gentleman who strode into the hotel lobby with...

@James's posts:

  1. @frank – brilliant post. My comment would be that yes, the discipline cycling breeds can be a moniker stamped on life elsewhere but, on a deeper level, it is the obstacle, the suffering and (sometimes downright) savagery presented by cycling that calls o… »

Look Pro: Souplesse

Souplesse. Only the French would have such a word; one you can sink your teeth into, chew on. It begs to be spoken over a plate of assorted cheeses and a bottle of vin rouge. Its exact definition is unimportant; such things conjure up an image in our minds that is cheapened by words. Souplesse is the ideal, sought by all and obtained only by The F...

@James's posts:

  1. Drfinitional mishmash aside, I’m interested in people’s thoughts on developing souplesse. I don’t believe its mythologically confined to those who ride the croix de fer at the end of a daily 6hr ride. It can be developed in less miles w effort- what helps… »

New Rules

The Rules – They were never expected to become this well known. Nor was the list ever going to get this long or be taken this seriously. The Rules were first suggested as a few basic guidelines just to keep some basic civility and decorum on the road. But we took it too far (as we do everything) and now The Rules somehow define the Velominati...

@James's posts:

  1. Affirm all of the new additions. On #Rule 88, its like JV (or some directeur) said in one of those docos – if you get to the front and your feeling strong, don’t go faster, just stay there longer. »

The 2011 V Moment of the Year: Paris Roubaix

The V Moment of the Year isn’t an award so much as acknowledgment of the moment during the season when the sport demonstrated the most pure example of spirit of The V. This is more than pushing hard en route to glory; The V Moment is the one point in time at which, despite a rider’s body and mind screaming to sit up in acquiescence, th...

@James's posts:

  1. Van Summeran was spectacular – the award is just. On a very minor point concerning the long distance charge referred to in para two, isn’t “Merckxonian” the correct phrase, visa vis “Merckxian”? A “Priestly” distance would also be appropriate I suppose….. »