Bicycling - Road and Mountain

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A Challenging ride.....

emaren
emaren Posts: 934 Member
in Social Groups
This mornings ride was a bit of a nightmare.....

I rode my single-speed 34 miles.

The first few miles are on the street. I ride pretty swiftly considering the lack of gears. I caught a pack of riders after about 8 miles or so. They were riding at about 15-16mph. My cruise speed on the flat is 17-18mph. They were filling the bike lane, plus about 1/3rd of the right lane. In order to pas them I had to move a long way into the lane and as I did pass them they seemed to make it hard. By the time I reached the leaders, they simply refused to let me by. They had gears, plastic frames, matching outfits and they were not about to be passed by some old dude on a steel-framed single-speed.

The 'race' continued for a couple of miles before I turned off onto the trail and left them to carry on.

Am I missing something ?

This find of thing seems to happen to me rather a lot......

Replies

  • jerbsod
    jerbsod Posts: 48
    they ll say after their ride..
    did you see that guy on his #$%!
    couldn't keep up and turned off..LOLOL
    when you overtake a peloton you always have the alpha males upfront that have to show everyone else in their group that they mean business.
    roadies :p
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I'm a really "old dude", ride a hybrid and even have the temerity to have a mirror so when I overtake road bikes it does seem to spur on a bit of competition....

    I find a cheery greeting as you pass "hiya - nice day to be out for a gentle spin" works wonders as well. :laugh:

    One of the joys of riding an "inferior" bike is that if they are faster it's because their bike is faster, if you are faster then it's obviously because you are a cycling god! :wink:
  • CharbyOttawa
    CharbyOttawa Posts: 49 Member
    I had a similar funny happen this summer. A matching team of young men with REALLY expensive bikes and matching outfits passed me slowly on the bike path. No problem, as I was loaded down with saddle bags for my morning commute.

    I guess they burned all their energy passing me, as I caught up to them 2 miles later. They were huffing and puffing, so I passed them safely. I guess they didn't like the middle aged lady (and another unknown woman with saddle bags who followed me) passing them, as the leader yelled at them and they passed us. Again, no problem. I'm a commuter, not a racer.

    They really didn't like it when we ended up passing them again on the REALLY steep hill.

    If you're gonna get the fancy racing bike and the matching outfits, try to live up to the image by being fit. An overweight woman on a cheap bike shouldn't be passing you going uphill. :)
  • verdemujer
    verdemujer Posts: 1,397 Member
    They really didn't like it when we ended up passing them again on the REALLY steep hill.

    If you're gonna get the fancy racing bike and the matching outfits, try to live up to the image by being fit. An overweight woman on a cheap bike shouldn't be passing you going uphill. :)

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That's funny!!!!

    This happens to my Clydesdale of a husband all the time. He rides really hard and loves the challenge of beating up (figuratively by out riding them) the folks in their outfits all the time. He may look big but he’s got legs like an ironman. He's uber competitive in that sense. Me - I just commute and ride for the sheer joy of it and wish folks would get a life sometimes when they act like that. We all have different goals and reasons why we ride. Shame on anyone for acting like that – courtesy is always better than rudeness. .

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