We’re not really supposed to have favorites, but everyone does. Just ask your parents. So while I’m not supposed to have a favorite, I do, and its Rule #9.
Bad weather immediately separates the wheat from the chaff, and so the weekend warriors stay indoors and leave the roads to the devout. I talk most often about riding in the rain, with the drops of water dripping from my cap acting as my personal metronome as I carve a path through the chaos towards a happier self. But sunny days in the cold can provide their own glorious solitude.
On Keepers Tour 2013, we had unseasonably cold weather, and some of the best rides we had were early morning spins before heading off to the races. With the sun hanging low over the horizon, we rode through our frozen breath, together in close formation yet each of us retreating inward as we steeled ourselves against the cold. These were beautiful, peaceful rides.
This winter in Seattle has been relatively dry, but also cold. On the weekends, the country roads are nearly deserted and all that is left is the silent, still air and the burning of cold air as it enters my lungs. On a recent solo ride on Whidbey Island, I spun down the same roads which only a few months earlier I had ridden with friends on the annual Whidbey Island Cogal. The island seems a full place then, now it looked like an entirely different place – empty and beautiful.
There is something about the way the bike handles in the cold. The tires are firmer, the rubber less supple. The connection between bicycle and road seems simultaneously harsher and more fragile than in the warm. The muscles in my arms and hands are also more twitchy in the cold. Not twitchy like I can suddenly sprint; twitchy like I have difficulty controlling what they are doing – where normally I pride myself on holding a clean line, in the cold a small bump in the road might trigger a spasm that sends the bike into a wobble. Its an exciting way to ride.
Quiet roads, a still harbor, an early morning sunrise; these are the gifts reserved for those who ventured out when others stay in. These are the gifts of Rule #9.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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Frank - a bell? If I was your size I'd just tell people to get the fuck out of my way.
Oh wait, I do that now and I'm about half your height. Maybe the bell is the way to go...
@ teleguy57
Went out to fill the bird feeders (about 30 miles north of you) on Saturday and ended up riding. Came in just as my Mrs was about to go looking for me. Said that she expected to find me frozen in a snowbank. Indoors this week but plan on getting out on the weekend.
@frank
The complete polar opposites of the Roubaix (tm) ride on the Saturday and the early morning Sunday ride pretty much sum up the beauty of the sport for me. On the one hand a ride that you're not sure if your you're enjoying it at the time but you know you'll look back on it as one of the most awesome things you've done; on the other, a ride that so stunningly beautiful that you know you'll remember it for ever.
This has to be one of my favourite cycling photos. Apart from truly capturing the moment, it really reminds me of frosty mornings in Gloucestershire near my Grans when I was a kid on holiday back from Hong Kong. That sort of weather was completely alien to me back then.
@frank
Indeed, the guy's a fucking legend. And so completely Gallic in the way that he puts up with William's French/Irish abuse.
Happy days. Next year.
@Chris
Top memory from KT2012:
William [sing-song voice]: Aaaaahhhhhhh-leeeeexxxx? Aaaaahhhhhhh-leeeeexxxx?
Alex [coming down a flight of stairs to come find William in the kitchen]: Oui?
William: FOOOOK OFFF!!!!
Alex: What do you need?
William: Oh, I just wanted to tell you to fook off, you fooking koont.
Alex: OK. [Returns to what he was doing.]
@frank
Yeah, apologies for my indiscretion !
I meant to throw the damn thing away, but held onto it due to my neck injury whereby the stuff normally reserved for the jersey goes in the said violation.
It was an early morning moment of weekness.
Rest assured it will be gone by the Fleurieu Peninsula Cogal !
Can I apply for some sort of permit in times of need ?
@scaler911
Well find a better bunch/tell them to HTFU. Around here we only have two seasons: Dry and Wet and I've yet to see a single mudguard on a bike in a bunch. When it's wet (every single day in the wet season), you just move slightly to the side so said rooster is on your shoulder, not in your face. Guy behind does the same thing but in the other direction. Never been an issue and if you turn up to a ride with guards fitted you won't be relegated to the back, you'll be asked to go home, remove them and try again next week.
@Puffy
Oh the lot of us are full to the gunwales with shit. If we had two fucking neurons to rub together, we'd agree that that a) there is more than one way to deal with shit weather, solo or in bunches, and 2) it's just community standards, anyway, ever.
I'm talking about fenders/mudguards, mind. If the topic is EPMS, that's another thing. There's no fucking excuse for those, ever, not even on MTB's.
@PeakInTwoYears
Yeah, because they go right to camelbaks. But who gives a fuck? They're wearing fucking baggies and have visors on their helmets.
If you're serious about Mountain Biking, you ride in your fucking road shoes and pedals. Walking is for losers anyway. And with aero bars. Because if you really commit to riding off road, you're going to want to get low and aero.
@frank and suspension? That's what arms are used for.
@Teocalli
Chapeau to him....nutter...and cycling up it backwards too!