Arms draped casually over the bars, wrists canted inward, knees tucked in neatly towards the top tube, bottom perched on the saddle’s rivet, chin dropped low to the stem. During maximum effort, all the elements of the rider seem to converge toward one point, an invisible spot on the machine where we may worship at the altar of the Man with the Hammer but elude his hammer’s vicious blow.
To the Velominati, this spot is known as the V-Locus, the sacred point where rider and machine are able to maximally channel The V. Where this point lies precisely differs from machine to machine and rider to rider, and can only be ascertained though careful and lengthy meditation. It is commonly found somewhere along the centerline of the frame, just shy of the head tube.
Take a moment to study this photo of de Vlaemicnk, pictured here having found the V-Locus. As your effort increases and you begin to channel the V, your body will naturally move towards this point. The elbows bend slightly at first. Your hands might slip from the hoods to the drops or from the drops to the hoods, but in either case, your wrists will roll inwards. As the effort further increases, your bottom will slip forward along the saddle until it comes to rest on the rivet. Shoulders arch inward, forcing your elbows down and out, crossing into the your leg’s airspace. To accomodate, your knees tuck inward at the top of each pedal stroke. Your head rolls downward, chin to the bars; you should be mindful to look down the road, though in this state of blurred vision your eyes serve limited purpose.
Locating the V-Locus takes time and mediation. As stated, it differs from bike to bike and from rider to rider, particularly among hand-built machines. After many long hours and kilometers spent in the saddle, you will start to become one with the machine, and the V-Locus will slowly begin to reveal itself to you. You will find that each of your bikes, however similarly built, has a different locus. Perhaps there is one that helps you channel the V more effectively than the others, but the V-Locus is always a fundamental variable of a bike’s personality. Take time to discover and understand it, and the V will grow within you. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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Has nothing to do with this wonderful article but a friend sent me this on face bo and I figured I would share it.
For Frank
@RedRanger
That's fantastic. And the answer to Steampunk's question over at the Giro VSP thread: what to do now the Giro is over? Watch old clips of Pantani. Perfect.
There's something about that photo which just doesn't fit with Frank's description. I think it is the somewhat delicate references to one's 'bottom'. I can't speak (and wouldn't dare try to speak) for RDV. But I am pretty sure that, when he was channeling V-max at the V-locus, he wasn't thinking 'Ooh, my bottom is getting a wee bit hurty'. I think it more likely that he was thinking 'F*ck, my arse hurts almost as much as my f*cking guns'.
But, other than in respect of that uncharacteristic burst of coyness from Frank, this is another excellent contribution to the V-annals. (Or should that be the 'V-bottoms'?)
This is an incredibly serendipitous post. I just returned from a gravel ride and was meditating on virtually all the points you make in this article. Trippy.
Firstly, after a morning spent swapping stems and cutting the steerer on my ALAN down, I jump on and immediately feel at home. There's just something about that bike. We're made for each other.
Then, I think about how happy I am that the K-wings found a home on the gravel rig. I spend a lot of time riding Belgian Style on gravel and the flattish tops are good for that. Add to that the articulated bends and what those bars lacked on the road they more than make up for on gravel both on the tops and the drops.
But what really hits me about that bike and this article is the V-Locus. Everything you say is true. I would add that the V-Locus also involves the lightest of touches on the bars. Floating over gravel at 35 kph, back flat, legs working like pistons, with the hands just barely touching is a beautiful thing.
I'm close to declaring the ALAN as number 1. I love all my bikes but there's a soul and connection with the ALAN I can't describe aptly. The fit of it is old skool. Bigger frame, longer seat tube, short seat post, less of a drop between saddle and bars. Reminiscent of the pick of RDV above.
Great article. I know just what you're getting at here.
excellent timing frank! Great stuff, i have no idea how you think of this but good stuff man!
Today, i finally found that souplesse, timed perfectly on the first day of summer. You know, that locus you describe above, where pain is a bit farther off on the horizon where you can hit it like a freshman in high school, when you can drop your head, make your back horizontal, my hands prefer the drops personally, the legs spinning harmoniously in sychronicity at for me 115 rpm. The HR and breathing in perfect beat. The jaw drops, the sweat rolls off my forehead down directly to the top of my wet black ritchey stem, rolls off that to the tyre and splatters somewhere on my downtube. There is no sound there, just the hum and streem of the road. A lonely car. A dog. 3 small little towns, all asleep as the sun came up. This went on for the better part of 70k this morning, the warm up and then it was down, just me and the man and i finally found my legs, and never wanted to stop. Then the man w/the hammer so subtly dropped it as i hit the city limits coming back into town, but i knew it was coming, so it was a timed eclipse as i hit the roundabout...and it will happen tomorrow again, but in short intervals, and old man hammer will be quicker to drop, over and over and over.
Great one Frank, I'm wondering if this is a V-Locus too...
I choose this post who could be well be a classic itself to start my first comment avec une photographie classique de la haute-montagne and especially from the Tour De France : photo taken today at 18h heure française a the Col de Galibier ( alt. 2645m / 8677.82 ft ) ... as it happens , even if the Col was opened for only two days, some Radioshack Team Members were already there to prepare the TDF ... at the Summit was the sympathetic Chauffeur who seemingly climbed very well there from Briançon...Myself was coming from Bourg d'Oisans via La Grave-La Meije and the Col de Lautaret...
The Radioshack Chauffeur
aaargh! as new & French i can't fathom to see how you can modify a precedent post? savez vous?
I suppose it's ironic that you picture Le Gitan in full flight. I was on the rivet, in the V locus, at a Rapha's HOTN2 in April. I never knew you could ride that fast downhill on gravel. Awwsum!!!
shit I forgot. Hey Frahnk when is my T-shirt due? Have you been to the post office yet?
according to the bumpf they should have been sent two weeks ago. Did you send it by pigeon or what. I need to be the first person in Hackney spreading the word of Cog...