Badass by Association: Winter Riding

Hardmen of the 1970 Paris-Roubaix

To me, there is nothing cooler than riding in awful weather. It automatically associates you with the Spring Classics, held in wet, wind, and rain, over the the worst roads you can imagine. There is no image of cycling that I love more than of a tough Belgian Pro dressed in knickers, arm warmers, cycling cap perched beneath their helmet, grimace upon the face, and rain pouring from the skies.

The only good thing about winter and spring training is the fact that simply climbing on the machine that day means you are an automatic badass. Hell, you don't even have to ride hard, just being out means you're awesome. But I'll be honest: I never ride harder than in the pouring rain, the drops of water dripping off my cycling cap tapping out my rhythm like a metronome, looking down at my knee warmers and shoe covers and imagining I'm cutting my teeth as a Pro on some godforsaken road somewhere in Belgium or Northern France.

Today was actually a beautiful day, but it was cold, so I dressed in my warmest gear and headed out on the road, Badass by Association. It's one of the Rules.

I even took some shots of myself, Dan O Style. How did we satisfy our narcissistic self-portrait needs before cell phones?

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Winter Riding/”/]

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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View Comments

Dan O says:

Dec 16 2009 at 9:01 pm

I don't have 117 bikes in the garage - but yeah, after awhile - realize you need a few. Then if you ride on the road and mountain bike - ouch. Then add in 'cross....and possibly divorce court.

Being Family Dude, my funds have shrunken quicker then George Costanza's you know what, in the goofy Seinfeld episode. "Shrinkage!" The dual paycheck, no kids, "Hey, of course full XTR" days are officially over.

My rain bike occasionally doubles as a 'cross bike. My nice weather bike goes out even in light rain and officially gets filthy. I don't mind - like to see it get used. Helps justify the cost.
frank says:

Dec 17 2009 at 7:59 am

@Dan O
Sheeit, even with double income, if both people ride, it still makes it rough - on account of it still just being one income per rider. One of the operating principles of our relationship is the Michelle is under no circumstance to have a less awesome bike than me.

Thankfully, when it comes to the Zip and her Prophet, we disagree on what "less awesome" means.

I also see what you're saying about being happy to see your ride used. That's actually one of the reasons I am almost excited when the weather is looking iffy; I get to jump on the steel. Seems like from May-Oct, I'm on the carbon 95% of the time. I'm happy to see the other bikes get used.
Marko says:

Dec 21 2009 at 5:20 am

The hard man picture looks good as wallpaper on my iPhone
frank says:

Dec 21 2009 at 11:33 am

@Marko
Dude, that hard man picture looks good anywhere.
Divest says:

Mar 16 2010 at 9:20 pm

I've noticed that riding in the cold/snow/rain/sleet/whatever gives me a total advantage on the "I only ride when its above 40 crowd". Since the weather has improved I've been dropping people left and right on every ride without any increase in effort...certainly helps being part Viking after all.
frank says:

Mar 17 2010 at 5:41 am

@Divest
Ha!

I think Velominati idol Eddy Merckx noticed a similar phenomenon on the Above 40 Crowd. You're in good company.

On a related note (and I've never felt the need to point this out before), but even though The Rules don't specifically point this out, it's against them to wear a Viking helmet while riding, even when the weather's bad. Keep that in mind.
Divest says:

Mar 17 2010 at 10:03 pm

Frank...

It has never crossed my mind to don a viking helmet while riding...so I am in the clear as far as the rules go. But having Nordic blood seems to make the cold more bearable.

Enjoying the site, keep up the great work
frank says:

Mar 18 2010 at 1:39 pm

@Divest
I was up at the Olympics; that Nordic blood is obviously good for dealing with the cold.
Steampunk says:

Jun 24 2010 at 5:24 pm

Rule 5 violation in the pics posted above? Looks like you're definitely on the wrong chainring, and you seem to be way to high up the cassette, unless the photography fails to pick up the headwind and those flats are actually 15% grades...

Chapeau for the cold weather, but sleet is where it's at.
david says:

Jun 24 2010 at 6:43 pm

@Steampunk Yes, nice catch there. In the absence of a 10-15 mph headwind, a clear Rule 5 violation. Unless, its a recovery ride. But, Frank isn't racing right now, so appealing to the "recovery ride" would be a double Rule 5 violation.