Welcome to Warrior Cyclist.
Why “Warrior Cyclist”? At first, I wanted to be “The Jedi Cyclist,” but I take myself very seriously. Besides, there would be copyright issues. Still, I am inspired by the idea that,
- If a grand mother can lift a car, then I can; and Luke Skywalker should be able to lift his X-wing fighter out of the swamp — if only he would believe that he can!
- Luke Skywalker can learn how to use a light-saber using his “feelings” (without the use of his eyes — Obi Wan tells Luke to let go of his conscious self and use his feelings). Luke can also take down the death star without using his sights. Sounds kind of cheesy, but there’s a modicum of truth in all of this.
Likewise, the Warrior Cyclist might use a power meter, but it doesn’t dictate his training and racing. Like Luke, he removes the sights before taking a shot at the Death Star. As Carlos Sastre said, he doesn’t need to understand the powermeter, it’s the powermeter that needs to understand him. (In the movie Overcoming. See this great interview with Sastre and how he did better with unstructured training.) Philippe Gilbert is apparently also a non-powermeter believer: “A cyclist is not a Formula 1 driver who gives all numbers of the machine to engineers after testing and then there is a solution.”
Now, the Warrior is a pacifist when it comes to politics. No war is good. Let’s not get mixed up… WWII was not a good war, but I guess there was no choice at one point.
But when the Warrior Cyclist gets on a bike, it’s all-out war. It’s a gun-fight… and no remorse! However, he has been known to enjoy a leisurely ride, on recovery days and with his kids.
Emile de Rosnay is an elite cyclist from Victoria B.C. He is an Assistant professor of French literature and culture at the University of Victoria. He is working, amongst other things, on a translation of Paul Fournel’s A to Z of road cycling, Méli-Vélo: abécédaire amoureux du vélo, which he is tentatively calling Bits and Bikes: a fanatic’s A to Z of cycling.
