Anatomy of a Photo: Laurent Fignon, 1989 Tour de France

I know the feeling, Laurent. Sometimes I just want to give the cross winds a big, “Fuck You”, too.

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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Harry says:

Aug 9 2011 at 1:47 am

@brett

And he's got the wheel graphics aligned perfectly... how fucking pro.

while riding with different sized wheels. can't beat that
brett says:

Aug 9 2011 at 2:05 am

@Harry
And they stayed that way for the whole distance...
Dr C says:

Aug 9 2011 at 2:39 am

@Harry
sets a whole new standard of perfection
Marcus says:

Aug 9 2011 at 3:24 am

@ChrisO

@Marcus
True but they are considerably more unstable because of the much higher side forces - the effect on handling would easily negate the drag reduction.

Uh oh. Nerd alert
Roadslave525 says:

Aug 9 2011 at 4:17 am

@Brett, @Harry +1
Marko says:

Aug 9 2011 at 4:52 am

Musta been a shit ton of wind up on Frank vs. the Volcano II.
Steampunk says:

Aug 9 2011 at 6:12 am

@Marko
Uh-oh: are we stalling?
Steampunk says:

Aug 9 2011 at 6:17 am

Casually deliberate:

I love the headline on the left: "Fignon ne chÃ´mera pas." Translates as Fignon won't be idle, but idle is a verb.

@michael Le Professeur is much cooler than you.

@brett +1!
ChrisO says:

Aug 9 2011 at 6:53 am

@Marcus

What... you started it !

I'm actually not a wheel nerd - the triathlon guys I ride with are obsessive-compulsive about wheels. They agonise over whether to use 808s or 404s and spend vast amounts on the things. Sitting by the side of the road while a triathlete tries to work out WTF has gone wrong with his valve extenders is a regular part of my life.

I try to tell them it's pretty much the last thing they need to worry about, even purely in terms of aerodynamics. Body position is far and away more significant than wheels.

And they'd make even more improvement spending the money on a swim coach.
scaler911 says:

Aug 9 2011 at 7:13 am

Very cool. Can't wait to get my Viner TT funny bike done. Hopefully be done correctly this winter.