Thursday, February 18

Cycling's Deep Secret

No graphics today. No ChipSeal today. Today I catch back up. Prompted by Lizzylou's post on hair removal, I noticed in my book on cyclocross one new word.

"Embrocation."

Google that word. If you already knew about this far, darkest reach of cycling, do not bother to comment, unless you wish to sneer about us that are not truly shriven. If you did NOT know about this, I'd really like to hear what you think about all this. Embrocation. Do YOU embrocate? Crimeny, it's in my cyclocross book. Where were John Forester and Eugene Sloan on this, not to mention almost all cycling books?

Sounds sinful somehow. Maybe it's a Texas reaction. It makes me look at my cyclocross bike a little suspiciously. Does Buddy "Embrocate" when I'm not around? What about Dutch bikes in cold climes. Do THEY "Embrocate" when nobody's looking?

Would drug testers approve? Is it a substitute for real cold weather gear? Anyone out there get the "potion of the month?" Seriously, I can't believe I rode bikes for darn near 50 years before hearing about this.

This is getting uncomfortably close to Jaguar Concours d'Elegance. We always referred to that as a "lotions and potions" event. But we put the "lotions and potions" on the car, not on ourselves...

PS: As God is my witness, you'll NEVER see a post about hair removal on THIS blog!

5 comments:

Oldfool said...

huh?

Steve A said...

Did you google embrocation? Have you ever heard of such terms and potions? Does doing so leave one marked as an "embrocator?" Is it "embrocator" or "embrocter?"

Seriously, this is in my cyclocross book. You tell me you've seen such nonsense in, say, "Bicycling" Magazine.

Is "Vick's Vapo Rub" the original "Embrocation?"

Or is this simply another nonexistent notion such as that of cycling Yeti?

Oldfool said...

I was caught embrocating when I was about 14 but I have tried to quit. I think it was with either Bag Balm or Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. I don't remember which.
We didn't call it embrocation then. Now where is my embrocating lotion..?

Steve A said...

Twister has a good point. OTOH, Ben Gay is to "Embrocation" as Gas Station coffee is to Starbucks. Come to think of it, there's probably a profit opportunity out there for some unscrupulous type to take Ben Gay and put it in a smaller, artsy fartsy container at 100X the price.

This all puts "Chamois Butt'r" into perspective, eh?

Doohickie said...
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