Anatomy of a Photo: The Shoulders of Giants
The question tackled here is of carrying the bicycle, should it require carrying. The non-cyclist is perhaps more inclined to consider carrying their bicycle than is the Cyclist. Examples that come to mind include the navigation of a giant mud pit or a steep twisty narrow snowy descent, where the uninitiated may erroneously contemplate the likelihood of survival between riding the bike as opposed to walking or carrying it. Other examples might be bunny-hopping a 1 meter vertical wall where a slight miscalculation may result in going from being Awesome to merely being OK.
But if one thing is certain, should matters come to carrying the bicycle, it is the shoulder that should be employed for this task, as time-tested by cyclocross riders for well over a century. No further research is required to resolve this matter. And, should the question of leather handles come up, I put it to you thusly: are you a giant hipster douche nozzle, or are you a hardman with Ultimate Rule #5 Leg and balls so big you could wear a sun visor with a gauze stocking cap?
Thanks to KRX10 for making me aware of this abomination of a leather handle.
Imagine the scandal if you went out without a hat on, in those days.
Shoulder: yes. And it goes without saying (though I’m saying it): right shoulder.
Funny aside: The line “shoulders of giants” comes from a famous conciliatory letter that Isaac Newton (himself an impressive grimpeur in his day) wrote to Robert Hooke (more a domestique within the Royal Society). They had a long and protracted disagreement, which had become quite bitter (to the extent that, even after the reconciliation, Newton had all Hooke’s portraits, etc., burned when he became head of the Royal Society). The great natural philosophers of the day (the rest of the peloton) tried to bring them back together and orchestrate a truce. Hooke conceded a key point to Newton, whose famous reply was the seemingly humble response that “if I have seen further, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.” Nice notion. Except that Hooke was likely a cripple and very short, so if Newton was standing on the shoulders of giants, there’s an implicit suggestion that Hooke wasn’t one of them.
@meursault
Mostly to keep the head lice in place.
What’s great about this photo ain’t the carry, is the loose slope he’s climbing to get BACK on the road.
For cyclocross? Absolutely.
For mountain biking? Yes, if you survive the crash down the mountainside, and if the geometry of the frame allows (mine does not).
For road cycling? The only time you should be carrying your bike on your shoulder is if you lauch off the road on the descent of some Alpe in France after overcooking one of the hairpin turns. Otherwise, what the fuck are you doing off the bike?
For track-bike riding hipsters? Who cares?
@The Oracle
There’s an app for that:
If we’re talking about shouldering bikes and bunny hoping, we still have to ask, “Is Joey ok?”
Ah Joey, I’ve missed you. Glad you are still OK.
Saddest sight in quite awhile – I did RAGBRAI because some friends needed someone to take over a spot. We added a ride the day before, so I had eight days of nothing to do but ride my bike. Great route and riding but the rest of the “experience” just started annoying me.
Anyway, the route is a state highway shut down both ways. No motor traffic except the very rare instance of locals going to their farm. This also means no motorcycle cops, no sag wagons, no team buses, nothing. The sag vehicles only sweep at the back when the road is being opened back up. This means that if you can’t fix an issue on the road, you are screwed. Several times I would crest a hill to see someone with their bike on their shoulder slowly walking to the next town to then sit and wait for the sag vehicles, and sometimes that town would be 10 miles away through rolling hills.
I was blessed with no flats, mechanicals, or issues of any kind. Probably means I’ll have 5 flats this weekend.
@The Oracle
word
For me, since i have not indulged myself in Cross yet…but will in a month or so, it will be the shoulder….probably cause I will be so slow i will undoubtedly have the time to shoulder it with ever obstacle
We used to barrel thru U-jumps (6ft deep) on cyclo cross bikes, that came to crawling over the opposite side with almost all speed lost. We charged forward riding like mad men. I usually carry the road bike thru the front door of the house.
It’s only August 10. Summer is still in full swing. Why are we talking about cyclocross?
every time I take my bike out I have to carry it up and down 3 flights of stairs, in cleats! FML. note to self: pay for the damn elevator key already!
See the discarded bike in the mud at the bottom of the hill (left edge of photo). The rider must be lying dead and out of the photo.
@Steampunk Ah, I had always thought that it was Einstein who had said that. Guess the Canadian professeur deserves his tenure afterall.
1. Cyclocross involves riding a bike over uncertain terrain; therefore
2. Crashes are expected when riding cyclocross; therefore
3. Cyclocross is dangerous; and therefore
4. I fear participation in cyclocross.
Cyclocross is, like galavanting around the Cosmos, a game for the young. Doesn’t mean it isn’t cool to watch, get piss drunk while observing, marvel at the skills etc etc. It just isn’t for me.
Fucking hardcore photo! Cannot wait for CX season. The West Point cycling team supposedly races a ton of them and I will be helping out the team starting this fall upon arrival! (Although “helping” is a loose term. I think I will probably be more of a mascot than any real help!)
@Buck Rogers I owe you a real apology for my previous episode. Hug, hug.
Someone retrieved Wim van Est’s bike from the ravine:
But it wasn’t Wim:
@Buck Rogers
You’re too kind. Could I get a letter to that effect? For my file. To persuade my colleagues. I’d be grateful.
@Nate
For the same reason I talk about anything here: its on my mind (I’m building my cx bike). You didn’t think this site was about you guys, did you?
@Nate – is he crying out of shock, or from pain? … and HOLY SHIT, that’s a long way down.
@Nate Incredible…
@frank
Excellent news. I wondered if that might be the backstory. Much edified that my snark smoked out the truth.
@The Oracle
You’ve obviously never been to the Koppenberg in the wet.
@unversio, @Xyverz
As any Dutchman will tell you, he’s saying “my Pontiac is still ticking.” Right Frank?
Some interesting sartorial issues with the lead picture. Shorts look good, but after that . . . .
The cap looks a bit big in the brim.
The half sleeve jersey certainly predates Cav’s awful effort in last year’s WC road race..
The gloves seem a bit “wintery” for a race which is clearly being ridden by hardmen.
Other than that:
That’s a single speed bike he’s riding!
What’s the gradient of that hill? 50%?
@Nate
I don’t know. On my ride yesterday, I saw the first leaves changing colour. And the temperature had dropped enough to bring about the first chills on some of the steeper descents. Not trying to be a downer here, just saying…
By the way, that photograph is great! I love the range of expressions on the faces of the spectators.
@Duende
Maybe up there in Canuckia, but not here. Then again, thinking about the end of summer has always made sad.
@Duende
I really like the spectator on the far left. Everyone else seems to be concerned about the rider, he is obviously wondering where he can get a pair of those awesome cycling shoes.
@itburns
He reminds me of the “Nat’zi” Third Reich character from Inglorious Bastards
@unversio
@Nate
He was a national hero in Dutchland after that episode; Pontiac, his watch sponsor, ran a comercial which said something to the effect of, “His heart stopped, but his pontiac still ran.”
@Nate
Ah, catching up. Yes!
@unversio
Yeah, that rifle thingy is called a “camera”. It used “film” to take a “photograph”. Kids these days.
@Nate
@frank
@sgt
Camera? Looks to me like the guy’s uncorking a bottle of wine.
@unversio
AnotHer required movie viewing, at least twice.
@Steampunk
Damn, from me? They must be easily impressed!
@Buck Rogers
“We ain’t in the prisoner takin’ business. We’re in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin.”
@doubleR
Might still be a rifle, that was how you swept in those days.
@sgt Colonel Hans Landa! Definitely in the photo sharpening his dagger.
@sgt I dig the massive forearm veins and bulging right quad.
@unversio
That’s a Bingo!
@eightzero
Here a few tips about off-road riding:
If I was going to suggest something for you not to fuck around with, it would be space shuttles and shit like that, but we have different ideas of what a risk is.
@wiscot
I am 95% sure he’s not crashed and isn’t climbing out of a gully. There are too many people spectating there; unless people were really cynical in 1902 or whatever year that is and lined the pits along the road in case some poor asshat crashed there.
CX actually dates back to the early days of bike racing. Roads sucked, bikes sucked, and people got really beat up sitting on their shitty saddles all day, during these crazy marathon bike races they would do from, say, Paris to Pau in a day. I don’t think they actually did that, but you get my point. They were like 500km races. To break up the soreness of riding all day, race organizers would intersperse portages into the route where people would have to shoulder their bikes and run with it a little ways.
And holy fucking shit, that IS a single speed!
@Nate
Isn’t Canuckia Summer from July 4 until July 6?
As a Seattleite, I love being able to rip on someone else’s summer.
@unversio
I think that guy is setting an example for generations, and just getting hammered at a bike race. Bow down, fellas, that’s an innovator, right there.
@frank damn dyslexia. I’m talking about the brilliant bloke on the far RIGHT.
This chap.
@frank
I’ll admit to feeling extra-possessive about this summer because we are actually having a Bay Area summer characterized by sun rather than bone-chilling fog.
@sgt
One of the best fuckin’ movies out there. Man, Quentin nailed that film. “You know how you git to Carnegie Hall? Practice.”
@Nate
Ah shit, Nate. Now you have me waxing all poetical. Your post reminded me of my favorite fall poem.
Spring and Fall, to a Young Child
Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow’s springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
— Gerard Manley Hopkins
@frank
You know I’m further south than you, right? Good luck with the rain on Seattle’s forecast. It should peter out sometime around mid-June…