Lean In, Lean Out

Lean casually.

I profess to understand every mannerism and habit of the Cyclist. I’m Dutch, and I’m a writer, so it all comes pretty naturally. The problem is that thinking you understand something and actually understanding it are two completely different things; the first is confidence, the second is wisdom; there is no Venn diagram that has an intersection between the two. As we move inexorably towards 2016, I humbly seek to temper my confidence with a (light) dusting of hubris.

I’ll start off, a full three days shy of 2016, with my first acknowledgement of not understanding why we do certain things: this leaning against stuff rather than unclipping business. When I say “things”, I mean objects like fences, light poles, cars, other riders, small marking wands that under no circumstances can hold the weight of a Cyclist, rubbish bins, traffic cones and any other paraphernalia that looks inviting.

It is an undeniable fact that Eddy looks entirely badass in this photo, leaning away like putting a foot down on the tarmac would be an affront to the soles of his shoes. There is, of course, a good reason for it: he finally got his toe clips and straps sorted just perfectly, and he is not about to start over on that sordid affair just to avoid putting his handprint on the team car. We, the modern Cyclist, have clipless pedals and they are quite easy to sort and there is very little at risk when it comes to unclipping, apart from the humility of making a balls of it and falling over like a twunt.

Which brings me back to this irresistible desire we have to not unclip from our pedals. Twunt Tumbles aside, there is really no good reason for us not to unclip any time we come to a halt, a practice which itself should admittedly be kept to a minimum. Unclipping is a prime opportunity to demonstrate to the world our ability to Wait Properly. But none of us want to do it. We’d rather wobble about in some sort of balancing act as if putting a foot down were admitting defeat to gravity or the coriolis effect or some other such nonsense.

And careful with the car lean, you might just piss off the wrong driver.

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.

Next Unsung Heroes: Erik "Gavia" Breukink »

Previous « Cogal Report: Velominati Dutch Mid-Winter Cogal, 2015

View Comments

EBruner says:

Dec 28 2015 at 8:14 pm

That photo will get me to read just about fucking anything you write.
George D says:

Dec 28 2015 at 8:29 pm

If you can do it while being casually deliberate, well and good. If not, put your foot down.
Haldy says:

Dec 28 2015 at 8:36 pm

@frank- So what you are saying is that you never learned how to trackstand?
scaler911 says:

Dec 28 2015 at 9:52 pm

I suspect there's a good many of us here that developed the habit out of necessity. There was formidable effort involved back then: get the slot in the sole of your shoe lined up with the back of the pedal, wiggle it in while pedaling softly, an awkward reach down (to your dominant foot, the other you'd secured right after throwing your leg over) to tighten, adjust, tighten, move, adjust, ad nauseam, the leather strap, then off you went. Doing that over and over for every stop light you came to as you made your way out of town, to the open roads, became an annoyance.

Along comes the 'clipless' pedal: after initial set-up, it's in and out with ease. Short attention span connection. But we'd gotten used to waiting properly. The kids out on the Thursday night group ride noticed that we'd get the jump at stop signs, that that split second was enough to hold them off at the city limit sign 4 blocks up the road. Track stands look cool when done properly, also, if you've done it for awhile, a slight lean against whatever's handy looks pretty casually deliberate.

Either way, unless you're dumb enough to put a hand on that kid from the junior college's 'bagged EVO' or leaned your hip into Billy Bob's Ford F1050 with a 16" lift, it's easy to pull off, sexy, and a few watts saved. Or you just fucking fall over. Right?
Oli says:

Dec 28 2015 at 10:31 pm

@scaler911

Word.
frank says:

Dec 28 2015 at 10:33 pm

@Haldy

@frank– So what you are saying is that you never learned how to trackstand?

I can track stand. I saw a kid do it in flip flops a good few years back and decided it was time. But I hate myself for it. And at the same time always try to avoid unclipping. It is so easy to clip in, I simply don't understand this compulsion of ours.
Chipomarc says:

Dec 28 2015 at 10:48 pm

@frank

@Haldy

@frank– So what you are saying is that you never learned how to trackstand?

I can track stand. I saw a kid do it in flip flops a good few years back and decided it was time. But I hate myself for it. And at the same time always try to avoid unclipping. It is so easy to clip in, I simply don’t understand this compulsion of ours.

If those guys trackstanding at the stop light only knew how dorky they look they just might stop doing it.
Puffy says:

Dec 28 2015 at 10:58 pm

@Frank I share your cognitive dissonance. I can track stand for a respectable amount of time but I think it looks clumsy on the road and every driver I hav asked thinks a standing cyclist a show off, a tool. My own mother laughed at a stranger when he clip stacked from an extended stand saying "he deserved it" WTF!? I digress.

I don't like to put the foot down at lights because it means you are stopped and that's not what cyclists do. I don't like to stand for the reasons stated above and to complicate things further, we are required to touch a foot down in races, or be disqualified so I like to practice a fast clip in. In the end I do both, justifying my decision to myself until the light goes green, never really happy in it. Thankfully I can avoid most lights on my rides.
Haldy says:

Dec 28 2015 at 11:16 pm

@frank

@Haldy

@frank– So what you are saying is that you never learned how to trackstand?

I can track stand. I saw a kid do it in flip flops a good few years back and decided it was time. But I hate myself for it. And at the same time always try to avoid unclipping. It is so easy to clip in, I simply don’t understand this compulsion of ours.

Why to avoid unclipping? That's easy..to save us the fractionally small amount of time of clipping back in to get back to Freeing our Minds and flowing with Magnificent Stroke. Also..to avoid the awkward embarrassment of the not so infrequent times when we don't quite clip in properly. I also practice my track standing since there are events at the track that I need that skill for...regardless of whether @chipomarc thinks it's dorky or not. I do not always have the velodrome available to me to practice that skill.
1860 says:

Dec 28 2015 at 11:56 pm

After watching the video, for once I was on the car drivers side.