The Prophet was very clear on how best to ride an individual Time Trial; start as fast as possible and finish as fast as possible. As for the middle, his advice was to ride that as fast as possible.
The same can be said of climbing; as we covered in Part I and Part II of the Sur La Plaque series, the key to climbing well is to hit the bottom as hard as possible, and then move into the big ring as you go over the top in order to finish the climb as fast as possible. As for the middle section; well, hit that as hard as possible and focus on keeping your momentum going.
The trouble is with this pesky notion we have of “gauging our efforts”. Certainly, the perfectly measured climb would result in riding the whole of it à bloc before moving Sur La Plaque over the top, blast down the other side and – just as you hit escape velocity – explode spectacularly, using your perfectly honed LeMond Tuck to recover in time to crush it in the valley to the next climb where you repeat the process. Panache.
Panache is a dualistic thing; almost without exception do we admire it in others, and almost without exception are we too cowardly to hold it inside ourselves. Panache doesn’t speak of caution, or of measured action. It speaks of impulse – compulsion, even – to attack despite one’s better judgement. It speaks of throwing caution to the wind. It weighs heavy with the risk of exploding magnificently and trading angel’s wings for the devil’s anchor.
But those who venture freely into that realm have blown up so many times that it hardly features in their reasoning. Pain and climbing are inseparable; what difference does it make if you blow up and suffer a bit more for a bit longer? And, should we blow up often enough, we will learn how to suffer through and push to the top with grace. And perhaps by that same grace, will we recover enough to try again on the next climb.
Vive la chance. Vive le Grimpeur. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
Exhibit A: The master of Panache, Marco Pantani. And the master of blowing with grace, Richard Virenque. For a prime example of how to blow up properly, jump to 2:00.
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Not "Éclatant de la panache," but "Éclatant de panache." Take the "la" away...
Nice! I'm reminded of a scene in Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, where Neal Cassady and Lawrence Ferlinghetti are chopping down trees. Cassady (Dean Moriarty from On the Road) hacks away at the tree with reckless abandon (the guy is full of panache). The quieter, more steady, Ferlinghetti methodically swings his ax. Sure enough, Ferlinghetti's tree falls first, which is a moving recognition that the Beats are burning their candles at both ends, and that amid the flurry of activity the world is passing them by.
If I were less tired, I'd make a clever connection to this piece above, which evokes a number of great thoughts, and will undoubtedly haunt me the next time I blow up...
As I watched il pirata hammer up the climb, my two thoughts were that he rest in peace, and vive l'EPO. The sport has moved on from those years for the better, but what a spectacle.
Man, I love that video. It's a shame that Ulle never was able to win on the Alpe d'Huez.
RIP, Pantani!
there is always an ache in panache
So that was "panache" that Talansky was using the other day at P-N? I thought it was called "losing".
@Cyclops
The two often go together. If you're gonna go down, go down big.
I speak 'impulse' well. This is all I needed to read today.
@Nate
Although you have set the gag up well I fear that it is too obvious even for me....
I still don't understand why Talansky was attacking with the yellow on. Seemed like the better idea would have been to not fire up Richie like that. Also, does it piss Aussies off when they say the "first Australian," to win Paris-Nice. I've been to Tasmania & I've been to Australia. I'm American & I've also been to Hawaii. Seems like in surfing they call them Hawaiians, not Americans. Just curious.
Had cycling been my boyhood sport I like to believe I'd have been full of panache. Attacking at all times & tempting a full blow-up at all times was my preferred sporting method.
Nice article, Frank! When I first started road cycling I didn't shift much & definitely not up front. I thought I'd wear my parts out more quickly & I didn't have the Budgetatus for new ones. Now I Big Ring it because I'm a Follower! Similar method, different reasoning.
And besides, it's too damn hard to properly clean that damn inner ring anyway. Much easier to just keep it pristine by not letting Mr. Chain touch it.