Categories: Keepers TourLa Vie VelominatusLook ProNostalgiaRantings from the V-Bunker

The Past and the Future

Respect is a cornerstone of La Vie Velominatus.

I’m struggling with how to open this conversation without sounding like what I’m assuming my grandparents did when I was growing up. Maybe it’s because I’m just now clawing my way into some of the wisdom they had, or maybe I’m just less of an idiot than I was when they were moving their lips and I wasn’t listening. (Spoiler alert: everyone is less of an idiot then I was when I was a kid. No need to wait for the memoir.)

Kids these days have no respect.

There. I said it. Let me add some stage directions to this, for clarity.

Stage left, everyone under the age of 25: [heads down, tapping at their phones] Text me. I don’t do “speaking”. [All look up, sigh in chorus, and look back at their phones. Some of the cast members roll their eyes.]

Center stage, anyone between 25 and 37: Yeah, but they’ll learn. Give them a chance to express their ideas on this world and we’ll be happy for their challenging perspective. I embrace their view as it will help us grow both as individuals and a society. Also, Mom and Dad, please text me.

Stage right, everyone else: Bugger off, you disrespectful cretins.

The past informs the future; wisdom is learned through experience and experience is earned through the errors of our actions. That sounds a lot like a rationalization for screwing up all the time and maybe that’s true, but that doesn’t mean the premise is flawed; we must look behind us to understand where we are going. By respecting our past, we may build a better future.

In a world where the young have no respect for the wisdom of age and the old have no appreciation for the genius of youth, La Vie Velominatus cuts through the din and grounds us. Cycling is deeply rooted in the past while fiercely embracing the future. The Cyclist lives happily on both sides of the coin; cherishing our steel frames and hand-made tubular tires while embracing 10 and 11 speed drive-trains and featherweight carbon frames and deep-section wheels.

Keepers Tour 2012 was the first time I’d been to the cobbles of Northern Europe. When we arrived at the mouth of the Arenberg Forest, we were compelled to climb off and pay our respects to this, the most sacred of roads in our sport. By modern measure, this is the worst road imaginable: mossy cobbles roughly strewn across a narrow lane; uneven and sometimes as far as two or three centimeters apart. This is a road so rough it is difficult to walk down. To a Cyclist, it represents the most beautiful road on Earth. This is a road that lets us touch history.

A puzzle is meant to be solved; a mystery is not. The past is a puzzle and the future a mystery. Beauty is found in the space where the past and future live as one. Cycling is beauty.

Vive la Vie Velominatus.

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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Ron says:

Jan 15 2015 at 11:01 am

wiscot - I had great handwriting as a kid, then grew into a printer. Once I started teaching at university I realized how slow it is to print on a white/chalk board. Thus, I began my relearning of cursive handwriting and today I'm happy to report it's pretty darn good. Maybe this provides a bit of hope, but I've lost most of mine in general as well.
Ron says:

Jan 15 2015 at 11:10 am

I commute to work on a MUP that passes behind a local high school. Most mornings there are a few packs of students out smoking marijuana-filled cigars (not Blunts, those are gone. They now smoke Pina Colada, Grape, or Cherry flavored cigars sold in pairs in shiny packages).

I like to sit up and soft-pedal, trying to catch a contact buzz on my way in, nothing like being stoned at 8:30. Who said teens are all bad?
brett says:

Jan 15 2015 at 11:20 am

I hate the future.
PeakInTwoYears says:

Jan 15 2015 at 11:31 am
RobSandy says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:21 pm

@Chris

Stage left, everyone under the age of 25: [heads down, tapping at their phones] Text me. I don't do "speaking"

We took the kids out for dinner the other night. Angus had a mate over to stay and they both spend the entire journey to the restaurant playing some game against each other on their ipads. Suffice to say they were told to leave them in the car.

Sitting down at the table I jokingly asked them if they'd be able to cope, having to actually speak to each other (and us) for the duration. Angus' mate responded, without a hint of irony

speaking? that's not a thing anymore".

and they aren't even teens yet

To be fair, I don't think I had much in the way of 'conversation' with friends when I was young. And when lads to talk a lot it's generally because they are being horrible to each other. I don't think non-communication is a new thing.

But people on ipads, iphones, and sort of device ALL THE FUCKING TIME drives me fucking loopy.
wiscot says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:37 pm

@RobSandy

I suppose I'm lucky, but when I went on vacation last year, I didn't take my computer with me. The work folks know my cell # and my e-mail had an out-of-office message. I was on vacation - not working somewhere else other than the office. There's no denying it, too many people are way too addicted to their electronic devices.
frank says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:38 pm

@PeakInTwoYears

Is that a fountain pen? If so, you have my respect.

To this day I do all my note taking in a moleskine notebook and (ballpoint) pen or mechanical pencil. I'd love to get a nice fountain pen; it is a civilized weapon from a more civilized age.
frank says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:53 pm

@brett

I hate the future.

Well, that's just good common sense.
girl says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:53 pm

@frank

@PeakInTwoYears

Is that a fountain pen? If so, you have my respect.

To this day I do all my note taking in a moleskine notebook and (ballpoint) pen or mechanical pencil. I'd love to get a nice fountain pen; it is a civilized weapon from a more civilized ag@e.

Surely the hand written note gets a +1 badge, the first for 2015?
girl says:

Jan 15 2015 at 12:58 pm

@frank

@PeakInTwoYears

Is that a fountain pen? If so, you have my respect.

To this day I do all my note taking in a moleskine notebook and (ballpoint) pen or mechanical pencil. I'd love to get a nice fountain pen; it is a civilized weapon from a more civilized age.

Nothing beats perfectly weighted medium point blue ballpoint pen and a well sharpened 2B pencil.