The closest you can get to flying
October 16, 2016 9:34 AM   Subscribe

Robin Williams, on cycling.

You can see several bikes from Williams' collection here, where they're currently on auction. The accompanying article, Cycle of Life, is well worth your time.
posted by carsonb (18 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
That's a very classy collection he had, and I never knew about his bikes. Woefully short on the Moulton and recumbent sides, but those can pass. His Cervelos seem seriously undervalued at auction.
posted by scruss at 10:15 AM on October 16, 2016


Bicycling is the closest I can get to running.
posted by anthill at 10:31 AM on October 16, 2016 [17 favorites]


I'd wager that the endorphins/exercise from cycling was a non-negligible part of Williams' self-care.
posted by JauntyFedora at 10:48 AM on October 16, 2016 [7 favorites]


His bikes seem to be split between 52cm and 56cm, which means he was shorter than I thought, and I bet the 56's were gifts from teams and whatnot. That Pantani Bianchi is pretty sick, though. I don't know if I could keep from riding it.
posted by rhizome at 11:09 AM on October 16, 2016


Even the Picycle or whatever it's called?
posted by rhizome at 11:33 AM on October 16, 2016


A cousin of mine in Nashville has a story about how Robin Williams was filming something in his neighborhood for a while and when they talked for a bit at one point, the subject of local bike shops came up and my cousin mentioned his favorite place. Evidently the next time he went in to get his bike worked on, the guy said Williams had shown up, hung out for a couple of hours chatting with everybody, bought a bunch of gear, and generally been excellent.

.
posted by brennen at 11:51 AM on October 16, 2016 [7 favorites]


Wow, Williams bought one of those La Carrera Colnago Pistas.

I remember seeing one in the shop- just sick.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:35 PM on October 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


Just a reminder that the Metafilter club on Strava is a thing.

!!!

And if I may, my memory of him from the obit thread feels oddly apropos.
posted by psoas at 2:11 PM on October 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


If I were in the income bracket where I could participate in this kind of fundraiser, I would love to say I now owned Robin Williams' Unicycle.
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:00 PM on October 16, 2016


It is very much a superpower in some ways, and every now and again I do think of that as I'm whizzing along - this inert blob of metal is able to let me turn my breakfast into 100 kilometres of travel. It was a gradual love affair with me - the more I put into it, the more I got out of it, and the longer I'd go on non-recreational cycles (e.g. my old boss's jazz band was playing during the summer and I did a 60km round trip with a cat 4 hill either way and thought nothing of it). Last year I finally joined a club and even tried a few races and found to my 6 foot tall surprise I'm more of a climber, and the local races are mostly not nearly hilly enough for me. Coincidentally I'm off on my first proper cycling holiday tomorrow - Alpe d'Huez and surroundings - in some ways I'm a total idiot, since it's October and it'll be freezing, in some ways it can't be any harder than some of the stupid things I've got away with in the past, like going through 60km of freezing mud yesterday to pick mushrooms. I know this isn't going to last forever - I'll settle down and have kids and I'll have to be more sensible with my transport options., but I'm glad to even have this as a stage.
posted by kersplunk at 4:10 PM on October 16, 2016 [7 favorites]


I'll settle down and have kids and I'll have to be more sensible with my transport options

I hope that it includes teaching them to appreciate cycling. Lots of parents bring their kids along on RAGBRAI every year; I don't know if they do the whole ride, but they generally seem to be enjoying themselves. I do agree that it seems like a superpower; I cover mileage on my rides that would literally kill me if I tried to do it on foot.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:54 PM on October 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


His bikes seem to be split between 52cm and 56cm, which means he was shorter than I thought, and I bet the 56's were gifts from teams and whatnot.

Also seems like there's a split between bikes with a big drop between saddle and bars, and bikes set up almost even. From pics, it looks like RW rode with the bigger drop.

We were on vacation in SF just after he died, and rode rental bikes up around Tiburon. It was an honor to share his roads.

I'm really set for bikes right now, but 52 is close enough that I'm tempted.
posted by Dashy at 6:38 PM on October 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


My wife decided, after conversations with a life long cyclist - coworker, that we should start riding last June or so. Our time is generally limited to the weekends, more so now that the days grow darker earlier, eliminating the brief time after work to ponder a quick ride, but it's one of the best decisions of my adult life. I've never ridden longer than 30 miles in a day, but I find pure joy in just those moments of flying along, especially when I pedal harder, demanding more speed, and the bike responds with a burst of momentum. It's a dizzying dose of nostalgia and freedom from the confines of one's 'slow' legs. It is flying.
posted by Atreides at 7:57 AM on October 17, 2016 [4 favorites]


I am not typically envious of people who have celeb interactions, but one of my cycling buddies rode a century with Robin years ago, and of that I am INSANELY jealous.

Cycling is beautiful. I may well have a problem -- I'll get 5,000 miles this year -- but it's a good problem, and it's made me thinner and fitter and happier.

ISTR there was a pretty well-done article (in maybe Outside?) about him and his cycling and collecting that came out right after he died. He was absolutely a solid rider, but he was also insanely wealthy, and was able to indulge in purchasing amazing hardware for his collection. I'm glad it's getting used like this.

(Non-cycling people may not notice, but to me the most compelling bikes in the set are the ones by Pegoretti. Dario Pegoretti is a mad genius, and his bikes are amazing, bucket-list-type expenses for most people. Williams collected them -- and, it probably won't surprise you to learn, also made gifts of them. In this clip, Conan O'Brien tells the story of when Robin gave him a bike; from the description ("does it look ridiculous?" is the key; Pegoretti is infamous for garish, over the top paint jobs), it's pretty clearly a Pegoretti. That's a kingly gift indeed.)

There's another bit about him and Pegoretti here, if you're interested.
posted by uberchet at 10:37 AM on October 17, 2016


I'll settle down and have kids and I'll have to be more sensible with my transport options

There's nothing more sensible than doing your part to give kids healthy air to breathe.

It's pretty delightful to learn this about Williams. I wish he'd gotten to bike in more movies.
posted by asperity at 10:39 AM on October 17, 2016


Non-cycling people may not notice

I'm a cycling person and these articles were strangely distancing. I'm a commuter who enjoys riding to the tune of 3200 miles a year but in no way a ciclismo or gearhead. My bike is a tool; it doesn't need to be flashy, just reliable. Gear people weird me out; long-distance pedalers are a different crew and strangely fetishistic.

The equipment is not the experience, just a tool for reaching the experience. Not to say it can't be but that's not cycling, that's consumerism which I guess plenty of people are OK with.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:38 AM on October 18, 2016


Really not sure of your point here, Ogre.

It's great you're happy with the way you engage bicycling, but pulling a bit of a no-true-scotsman in order to suggest YOUR way of cycling is superior to Williams' (or mine or any other "strangely fetishistic" MeFites who might enjoy century rides) is kind of gross and unwelcome, IMO.

There's much more to appreciating (e.g.) the work of Dario Pegoretti, or classic-era Italian framebuilders, than simple consumerism.
posted by uberchet at 11:04 AM on October 18, 2016


I'll mention that the nature of a tool can change what is acceptable.

Two examples: I'm an electrician of the Right Tool for the Job camp (there is also a "6 in 1 & a pair of Kleins is all I Need" camp). Work days mean holding a tool. My tool bag is easily worth a grand, maybe two and that is just the strict hand tools; my powered tools are in another bag. Half the stuff in my bag is German. This is a very different ownership pattern than Joe home owner and your average Joe home owner is going to be just fine with a much less expensive set of Danaher house brand tools.

More on point my current bike is a 20 year old commuter I paid ~$1000 for kitted out in 1996. I've put thousands of kilometres on it riding it back and forth to work; but only 10-15 kilometres at a time. It is perfectly fine for this use. This summer I started training for a century for the first time and let me tell you some fo the deficiencies of it really start cropping up once I started riding more than 30-40 kilometres in a session.

In both cases I sure can see why people can get "fetishistic" about gear. In the first example I certainly am and the gear I'm using enables me to do a job better, safer and faster. In the second I can see where if I had money to spend on some things money would be being spent (I mean holy hand grenade now that fall is ramping up and it has started raining again I remember how bad rim brakes are compared to disks).
posted by Mitheral at 7:26 PM on October 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


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