Road Cycling - Who is a member of the D.H.S?

The Die Hard Society!!

I was thinking about this on my ride yesterday in 105 deg Arizona heat. Who out there is a member of this very exclusive club? One must meet one or all of the following guidelines in order to be a member.

1. No matter the weather you will ride. You will ride in 100 deg heat, bitter cold, or pounding rain.

2. Countless hours are spent watching OLN, race tapes/DVDs, or movies such as Breaking Away or Quicksilver to better your technique or just for sheer enjoyment.

3. You can read a Bike magazine over and over again w/out getting tired of the same thing.

4. Cleaning your bike is not a job rather a Zen-like activity.

5. You can go to your LBS just to look at the bikes that you have seen thousands times before.

6. Friends and family call you crazy but you just think you are normal.

7. With enough Gu packs and powerbars you can beat Cipo, Pantani or Armstrong on any given day. (Its possible. Maybe not)

People call me crazy all the time. The other day a group of guys pulled up next to me and said I was nuts riding in 105 degree heat in the dead of the afternoon. I shrugged it off and kept on going. It is not about anything except the love of the sport.

Please add anything you all want to show you are a member of the DHS and repeat after me "If you cant stand the heat get out of the kitchen!"

not a member yet but i think i'll be pledging soon :)

Can I just be a partial member? just #1, 5 & 6. I just wanna ride, not all the other stuff - Cleaning the bike is a last resort (maybe if I had new stuff I'd want to clean it!), watching TV or reading a magazine is just a short prelude to sleeping on the couch and racing is too serious an undertaking, (unless there's someone riding ahead of me!)

Im in. I go to college at Ariz. State Univ. so Ive been riding in that heat with you! OLN is great. The bike shop bikes, always look new to me. No matter how many times Ive seen them they still look new and shiny and begged to be drooled over! When I say 'oh I went for my long ride today, around 40 miles' my friends and family say 'all at once?' or 'why in the world do you go that far?' So I guess Im part of the DHS

Does 13 mile rides at 33 below zero get me in to the D.H.S. if so Then I'm a member.

Whoa only four members? This IS and exclusive club.

Tridevil - For some odd reason I love to ride in the heat. Im sure you know what I am talking about even though words cant describe it. Oh yeah, ASwho? kidding buddy! Go Cats!

Gojohnnygo - definately a member.

For years I was guilty of items 1 thru 7.

Now as I get older and wiser, 1 & 7 no longer describe me. All others still do.

Am I in? :confused:

All bar 4 and 7...... bitter cold and windy gusts here and I'm out there....hehe my friends call me crazy and I call them lazy lol

Brendon

1. Definitely
2. Do not get OLN that may change by getting a satellite dish installed on Tuesday.
3. Do not subscribe because I am finanically conservative.
4. Due to one above, bikes get drty quickly in SE Ohio due to the rain. Clean them when necessary.
5. See the reply to #3.
6. They still call me crazy but they are mostly fat and lazy.
7. I beat them every ride (in my mind).

3 out of 7 and may move to 4 out of 7.

Definitely a member. But I think you really become a member is under number 1 if you are smiling, laughing, shouting with joy etc. when the weather is at it worst. I did that during the heavy snows we had in Feruary when the roads were closed to traffic.

I am proud to be a member of DHS.

Welcome gentlemen!

If you adhere to one of the following you are definately a member!

Thanks again for all the replies.

1) During the last two summers I've ridden in 100+ temps. The humidity was nearly as high as well. I've also ridden in sleet and snow. When It starts raining I just keep riding. I don't own a rain coat.

Last July it was 105 when I rode Slickrock Moab UT and Fruita CO. on my mountain bike. Last year it was 20 degrees when I did the race at 12 Miles of Hell.

2) I own the DVDs to Breaking Away and American Flyers.

3 ) The pile of reading material next to my toilet consists of Bicycle Magazine, catalogs from Nashbar, Performance and Excel Sports, as well as a few bike repair books. I've also read "Miles from Nowhere" and "Where the Pavement Ends"

4) My wife and friends nag me because my bikes are spotless but my car hasn't been washed and my lawn hasn't been mowed in a month. A few of my friends even commented that they were going to bring their bikes to me for cleaning. I think mowing my lawn and washing my car would be a fair trade don't you?

5) The owner of one LBS threatened to put me on his payroll because I was there so often. I didn't understand why he considered that to be a threat.

6) The look on my co-workers faces was priceless when I told them about the 7-day cross-state bike ride I'd just finished.

7) My cycling friends tell me that I become an animal when I get some sugar in my system.

I've only been riding for a little over two years. I'm not the fastest or strongest rider. I just like to ride. Cycling is good for the soul.

Krispy - Welcome and cycling is definately good for the soul!

Well I ride the Hotter Than Hell Hundred so
I guess I qualify.
I'm not sure about 7 though. At my age all I care
about is will I make the finish (or hells gate before
it closes), not if I can take on Cipo in a sprint.

Marty

Brahman Bull -

I will be in Tucson this Thursday and Friday (July 03 and 04), interested in getting together for a ride?

Count me in Bull, it won't ever hit 105 up here in Michigan but if it did I'd still be out pounding away. Yesterday a car full of fat ladies pulled up next to me and started yelling at me for being in the road typical, but then added "it's too damn hot to be riding anyway" ummm.... it was 84 out. But all six of them are me, and even seven when I'm a sleep.

I also have both Breaking Away and American Flyers on DVD, and my LBS lets me borrow race tapes all the time so I'm at my LBS all the time too looking at bikes and new stuff to add to my bike, I only have a few cycling mags laying around my room, but I'm just a newbie. I keep my roadie spotless and clean my mtb about once a week. And I was labelled crazy long before I started biking now people just think I'm sadistic or something, sorry if I happen to like to find big hills to ride up, I actually caught myself making up a songs yesterday going up a few hills "hi ho hi ho it's off to crush this hill I go hi ho...." you get the point it's pretty pathetic.

Oh, and the car full of fatties pulled into the McDonalds two blocks down the street go figure.

Ba-Dg-Er:

In case you're interested there is a short race (27 mi) on the 4th in Downtown Tucson:

http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/hottopics/tour03.html

Originally posted by cat
Ba-Dg-Er:

In case you're interested there is a short race (27 mi) on the 4th in Downtown Tucson:

http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/hottopics/tour03.html

I rode this two or three years ago. It's a fun course, but too many dangerous riders there. The first 3 - 4 miles are nothing but a crash fest. If I end up not having anything better to do I might go, but I doubt it ... it's just too scary.

Are you gonna ride it?

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er
I rode this two or three years ago. It's a fun course, but too many dangerous riders there. The first 3 - 4 miles are nothing but a crash fest. If I end up not having anything better to do I might go, but I doubt it ... it's just too scary.

Are you gonna ride it?

I haven't decided yet. I've never ridden it before, so what you've described may keep me from joining up. It'll probably be a last minute decision:)

I don't get cable but I am pretty much into the other stuff. Climbed Mt. Elden in the middle of the winter on my mountain bike in a packed Tire Track (10 to 20 degrees at the time). At the top the Crust on the snow was so thick I could ride on the surface of about 8 - 12 feet of snow. It was like riding big cement sand dunes with a little crunchiness under the tires. I had great fun until I hit a sunny patch and broke the crust and endoed. I also commute through Tempe and Mesa az on a daily basis. Yesterday I was out in 110 degree heat. So I guess I am in (I hope). My last century ended up in 103 degree heat on Memorial Day.

Welcome to the club guys, it is great to have you all here!

BA-DG-ER - I am going to be out of town those days. If I would be here a ride would definately be in order. As for the tour downtown, I have never participated in that course.