Fifty Plus (50+) - Fast or Fun?

When you ride, do you ride for speed or pleasure? Or are they one and the same for you?

When I first started riding a couple of years ago, speed wasn't a problem. Because I couldn't go fast, I didn't know how much fun it was to go fast. Riding slow was just what I did. 10 mph averages slowly became 12 mph averages. Pretty soon it was 15 mph, then 17 mph, lately it's 20+. The fitter I become, the faster I go.

For me, I love going fast. I crave hammertime. It's what I do to gauge my progress. It's how I see how I'm doing physically, and well, it just feels good! Linda and I have occasionally argued about this in the past. There are times when she'd like to just go for a ride and experience the sights and the sounds and I'm in the mood to burn it up. However, we have our hammer days and we have days when we just ride. I can get most of my speed-fix on group rides. So really, for the most part, it seems to work out just fine.

So, which is it for you? Speed or fun?

Steve

Speed is fun and addictive, like you I love the fast group rides on Sundays. During the week I mix it up were there are days like last night were we just hammered the whole ride and my HR stayed +90% the whole ride. It hurt at times but I felt real good when we were done. Other times I try to concentrate on keeping my HR between 80-85% MHR and my cadence in the 90s. If we see someone in front we chase, we don't always catch them but we try. For me the satisfaction does not come from the sights and sounds during the ride but the feeling of pushing my personal envelope to the point I have not done before. I don't know why I am that way and it probably is not really a good thing but it is the way I am.

I voted for "mixing it up" because you need those recovery rides on occasion.

I picked "speed and fun are inseparable" because that's how I ride most of the time. There are exceptions, though. As noted, recovery rides are important (though sometimes it's hard to hold back). And I'll jump at any opportunity to go riding with my wife or my daughter, regardless of what pace they want to ride at.

It's relative for me. I'm usually in one of the highest gears on my old beater commuter bike, but I'm often passed by other cyclists. Simply put, I've got old, decrepit legs on an old decrepit bike.

Some days I go faster than others, but I wouldn't call any of it FAST. I remember fast, but I can't do it anymore. My most common training ride is 23-30 miles, depending on options, and over the last year I've averaged from 11.8 to about 17mph on it. I used to hit 21, but I was 25 years younger and 25 pounds lighter. I'm working on that weight thing, but I think the years are gone for good.

Speed and fun are not necessarily inseparable, but I'd rather eat worms than go slow all the time; so my choice was d. close enough to inseparable to count.

it really depends on how I am mentally as well as how my legs feel.
usually I hammer for speed and am quite competetive, today though I am going to ride my singe speed and just spin for about 25 miles.

Nearly three decades ago, I came into the cycling world as a long-distance tourist--carrying a tent, sleeping back, cooking gear, etc. To paraphrase Thoreau, I never cared to make haste with my rides. Rather, I wanted to make the most of them.

That approach led to rides lasting anywhere from a few weeks to six months. I was lucky enough to publish articles about cycle touring in several magazines and ultimately a career as a writer and photographer. Since then, I've tried to crank it up a few notches, but in the end, I find the greatest pleasure comes from gliding along at a sauntering pace.

I'm too slow to be fast so I just have fun instead and enjoy the scenery.

I use to be the ultimate hammerhead which went on for a good 10-12 years. Then, chronic tendonitis and other overuse syndromes set in and I've had to curtail my hammerfests. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a lung tearing ride where lesser riders should bring toe tags and dental charts for identification in case they implode under the strain, but I've learned that i need to watch it or I'll end up nursing sore tendons or knees.

A side effect of slowing my pace is that I now recognize fellow riders by their face instead of their butt. :)

I like to go slow and see the sites sometimes, stop and look around, go into a store, etc. These are the times I go explorering into new territories and look for new routes to take.

To check my progress, I will go as fast as I can for as far as I can and see what if any speed or distance increases or decreases (hope not). These are the times I go on a route that I have been on many times in so I have a comparison. Keep in mind that I have only been back on the bike Since Feb. '06 so there is a limit to "the past" I can compare to.

Since I moved from the Coachella Valley to Little Rock, most of my riding is up and down hills commuting to work. There really isn't a flat spot on the route. So I mostly crawl up the hill, and the hills are steep enough and the roads narrow enough that I usually just coast down. At 35 mph, pedaling is superfluous.

In decades past, I was a pretty aggressive rider, but now I really don't care. And I loathe riding with anyone else, so competition is moot.

There are those great days when effort and challenge hit that precise critical mass where you feel your body working hard-- but it is well balanced by a sense of speed and grace and rhythm. But to hit those days, I can't ride hard all the time. Mental and physical staleness, for me, begin to slow me down. So, I personally vote for a mix. There are so many styles and pleasures to cycling that I want to sample them all. When riding in the Sierra, I don't want my head down watching my saliva drip on the top tube. Likewise, sometimes hard efforts are what keep solid riding days "comfortable" and make me feel (at least the elitist bustard part of me) like I'm really "on the bike" seriously.

Like many of you, some of my happiest rides have been with my kids cruisin' to the ice cream store. Other fine days are when somebody makes a jump and, son of a gun, I stay with them........as in "Look at that olde farte go-- he must be hitting 14, maybe even 15 mph. Must be the Geritol/Viagra mix in his water bottle."

I just don't have the strength to go slow.

I'm kind of scared (ok I am scared) of going fast. I have fallen so many times, this old body can't take much more ;) . I love just seeing the sights and enjoying whatever I see. Sometimes I would be happy just to ride around in a parking lot. There aren't to many people that like to do my style of riding so I usually end up riding by myself. Going slower does have it's advantages. The other day on my evening ride I was able to save a baby bird from getting out in the road. I stopped, scooped him up and put him back under the bushes where mom could find him. I told him that the road was no place for a baby bird to be playing. Then I continued on my bike ride--felt great all the rest of the way! :D

Going fast is fun, and sometimes when I feel frisky I will hammer a bit. To go out and "ride the rivet" or to compete with someone is not my bag. I don't have any personal best. Never, ever, do I look at average speed on the cyclometer. Once upon a time I was a B or even B+ club rider, but now I will have probably slipped into the C group if I ever join a club ride again.

It's not age related physically... I suppose I could train harder, really push myself and get faster. I believe it to be age related mentally...I've become quite laid back these past years since much responsibilty has been lifted from my shoulders. Perhaps I'm finally embracing my inner child.

I know my health is pretty good due to cycling, diet, and not smoking. I love cycling and tinkering with bikes. For me, that's what it's all about.

Sorry if I've waxed philosophically, :o :rolleyes: :D

With your avatar, waxing philisophically is a requirement!

So true, so true. First time I read Kerouac and the other beats it changed my life. I could go on...But I'm way OT. :)