Fifty Plus (50+) - something new after 50 years of biking

I was riding my mtn bike up boreas pass (1400' climb over 6.55 miles)
On the way up I was passed by a RUNNER .
I was going about 7 mph and at about 10,800 feet and a runner passed me. Sure even TDF riders get passed by runners for a short distance but this runner just kept slowly pulling away

At the top of the pass 11, 400 ' I saw him coming back down from one of the mtn peaks.

So he likely climbed from 10,300' - 12, 000' and back over 15 miles
with a 7.5 mph or better on the way up. that's one hell of an athlete

PS I did blow him away on the downhill!!

At 10,000 feet, I think I'd be riding an easy chair. lol

Both of you are amazing athletes. It is hard for us lowlanders just to walk at that altitude. One of our local police officers that is in great shape went to co. to hunt elk with his bow. He said that he saw some elk headed up a little draw and knew that he could cut them off by running about 200 yds and poping up over a little ridge. He said that he made the run and then could only lay on the ground trying to suck air while the elk walked by. Everytime I think of this I have a little chuckle.

I haven't been passed by a runner on the road, but it has happened many times in the dirt, when I'm on the 30 pound bike with several pounds of water and gear. The steeper it gets, the more of an advantage it is for the runner, especially a 140# runner against my total load of 250#. Once, I chased a fireman who was on foot, but he was carrying a radio, water, and heavy clothes and boots. I couldn't catch him until the trail leveled out a little, and he wasn't breathing hard and started a conversation with me.

My first day commuting to work in Norway, as I am riding up the hill (about a 14% grade) home on my Giant Sedona, in my granny gears, I got passed by a woman riding a fixie. She was sitting and not even breathing hard, I was standing and pumping for all I was worth in the lowest gear settings I had and dying. Oh, and she was about 85:eek: twice my age.

Not even at altitude to give me an excuse but I have been passed by walkers up some of our Offroad hills. Problem is they are not very friendly- No matter how much I plead with them- They never give me a push.

Catherine Nderbera, past women's winner of the Boston Marathon (and many of her fellow Kenyan runners) trains half of the year along one of the routes I ride. Going up steep hills, she routinely passes many cyclist, myself included. It usually has to be a steep enough hill that folks are grinding it out in their lowest gear, but regardless, she passes us.

My cycling mentor and I routinely trained for the Double Century by climbing the hills of Malibu, northwest of Los Angeles. We were frequently passed by runners on the steeper ascents.