Originally Posted by
soma5
But that's just the point. There are so many levels of "mediocre." We can speak of mediocre pro tour riders, those domestiques who toil to help the stars of the team do well. Compared to local racers, they are monster riders. A mediocre local racer is a monster compared to most of your recreational riders. A mediocre recreational rider is still a monster in the general population. 5 hours and 27 minutes might be a good time for a recreational rider, but it would be mighty disappointing for a mediocre local racer. I guess my point is that you really need to define what you mean. If you ask, "How can I get to the point of doing a century in less than 6 hours," we might be able to point you toward specific training regimens that appear periodically in places like Bicycling Magazine. My thinking is that if you can find specific goals, such as being able to ride at 18 miles per hour for an hour, or being able to do a sub-6-hour century, then you can find ways to work toward those goals and be justifiably proud of your accomplishments. You can toot your horn here and read the "oohs" and "ahhs" of your 50+ peers. Or maybe your goal is more to make good friends riding and just have a great time. That's just as good a goal as the others. You can measure your success by your enjoyment of the activity and your improved health and vitality.
It sounds like you are enjoying your cycling and riding pretty darn well as it is.
-soma5
I enjoyed reading this post. It matches what I know perfectly. Some on this 50+ should read it and try to understand that there are all kinds of bikers on this 50+ also.
I resent that someone decided that his/her level of biking or lifestyle is somehow superior to someone else. It really is disturbing if someone cannot reach a level and then demonizes those who strive and succeed at those accomplishments.
The people who are accomplishing certain goals rarely expect others to do the same. They know the extreme effort needed and understand that others do not want to do it. It is the ones who set lower goals (or different goals) and as a defense mechanism for their self esteem calling performance oriented bikers names.