Categories: Look Pro

Look Pro, Part IV: Don’t Look Down

Shifting is perhaps the most pure expression of our art as Velominati. It is the conduit through which we control our cadence; it effects our power, our breathing, our heart rate. When those essential things come together with the rhythm of the road, we are cast in the spell of La Volupte. The more in-tune with our bodies we become, the more we rely on our shifting to keep our legs in perfect harmony with our bodies. Our shifts must be smooth, crisp, and precise, for any disruption to the rhythm may cause the spell to be broken.

The advent of index-shifting and contoured cogs have simplified the mechanics of the perfect shift, but they have not eliminated the artform. A finely-tuned drivetrain is essential, but is only one piece of the whole. Timing is critical: the shift must be delivered at the precise moment in the stroke when the chain is perfectly loaded to jump silently from one cog to the next. Shifting under too much pressure or at the wrong point can result in delayed, noisy, or rough shifts, disrupting our rhythm and ripping us from La Volupte.

We do not mediate on the shift and we do not look down at our gears; the shift is something we must feel. We must not be overly cerebral – instead, we read the signals from our body and the machine and sense the time to shift and react. Over time, we also learn to sense when we are approaching the limits of the block and execute the double-shift to avoid crossing the chain. We do not look down.

These subtleties cannot be taught; they are artifacts of experience – evidence that the disciple has become one with the machine.

Disclaimer: The “Don’t Look Down” principle does not apply to Lando situations where we repeatedly push the right shifter while pedaling squares up some unholy gradient in the stubborn refusal to accept that we are indeed already in the lowest gear. Under these circumstances, it doesn’t hurt to give the gears a stern look in an effort to intimidate them into spawning a few more teeth on those biggest cogs.

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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Dan O says:

Feb 21 2011 at 1:13 am

Index shifting has indeed made things easier, though yeah - there's still a bit of technique involved to make it perfect. I've been riding long enough to start with friction downtube shifters, then onto indexed bar ends shifters, then finally STI. There's no going back.

Yeah - I've pushed the STI lever searching for the imaginary lower gear while suffering up a climb as well. I think we've all been there at some point.

Cool post.
Sam says:

Feb 21 2011 at 2:04 am

It is an art, on my old Rayleigh, i still had downtube shifters and i could feel god like as you shift up to drop down a hill without looking, not so godlike when mashing the smallest gear i had which was summat stupid like a 42 x 11

i've still not got this art down, upon shifting down on my new machine, the crunch caused one of the club riders to exclaim "Jesus Christ, was it you who taught schleck to change gear?!"
Joe says:

Feb 21 2011 at 2:35 am

Downtube shifters feel a long time distant. I'll never forget my first race bike. A pearlescent white, Peugeot running 24" wheels with a 3spd derailleur (also my first). Perpetually in the big ring and always pedalling, it seemed immeasurably more sporty than any of the bikes I'd had before. Taught me not only the art of the unsighted shift but the casual reach and return for the waterbottle, eyes focussed, unflinchingly on the road ahead.
Dave Harding says:

Feb 21 2011 at 5:02 am

The Badhers quads look ripped
Dave Harding says:

Feb 21 2011 at 5:03 am

Badgers with g !
Steampunk says:

Feb 21 2011 at 6:25 am

"Disclaimer: The "Don't Look Down" principle does not apply to Lando situations where we repeatedly push the right shifter while pedaling squares up some unholy gradient in the stubborn refusal to accept that we are indeed already in the lowest gear. Under these circumstances, it doesn't hurt to give the gears a stern look in an effort to intimidate them into spawning a few more teeth on those biggest cogs."

Ay! Many's the time I wish I had a 12 or 13 on the back...
Buck Rogers says:

Feb 21 2011 at 7:08 am

@Dave Harding
I wonder how many races he won by just staring his rivals into submission. That man was truly an Animal on the bike!
Buck Rogers says:

Feb 21 2011 at 7:09 am

Sam :
It is an art, on my old Rayleigh, i still had downtube shifters and i could feel god like as you shift up to drop down a hill without looking, not so godlike when mashing the smallest gear i had which was summat stupid like a 42 x 11
i've still not got this art down, upon shifting down on my new machine, the crunch caused one of the club riders to exclaim "Jesus Christ, was it you who taught schleck to change gear?!"

I was wondering how many posts would happen before the notorious Chaingate incident would come up! I would have had to mention it if you didn't!
Ron says:

Feb 21 2011 at 7:13 am

Nice article.

Back when I was a very green road cyclist, maybe so early on in my development that I wasn't even a nascent Velominati, I used to rarely shift. My form was awful. I'd push the same big gear all the time, standing too much, letting my tempo jump around all over the place. I'd either be flying on flats or dying on hills. Oh boy, I was uninformed.

One day I rode with a guy twice my age and way, way stronger (and smarter) than me. He'd been riding for years and still raced. I showed up at a group ride and he was the only other one to show. "You want to head out?" I was in for a long day. We put in about fifty miles, which was a lot for me at that time. He was on a De Rosa that I couldn't stop staring at. I'd never ridden any Campagnolo and wondered what was going on with all the clicking; the sound was quite foreign to me. Plus, the guy shifted constantly, maintaining a nice, smooth rhythm.

I remember as we crested one hill and I heard my very first double shift. "What was that?" I wondered.

Spent most of my time on integrated shifters, which make the art much easier. DT shifters require a lot more skill.

Can't help but laugh at myself when I think back to how I used to ride and shift. Oh wow. I suppose we all start somewhere.

This is the first time I've run into "Lando," but I like it a lot. Nothing like the feeling of wondering how you are going to make it to the top of the climb, watching your cassette and wishing for a bigger one, wishing for a bit more leverage to keep going.
Ron says:

Feb 21 2011 at 7:21 am

And the photo is great. The Badger was pretty damn stocky for a cyclist. Almost looks like he could have been a wrestler. Love that face on the guy on the far right in the sweater. Wonder what he was going on about...

Overshifting sucks. I don't drop my chain very often, but it pisses me off a lot when I do, whether it's my fault manually or my fault for not having a properly tuned RD. Either way, it's my fault.