jur

I have been overtaken by every conceivable type of bike in my 5 months of commuting. Roadies usually zoom by while I blow and wrestle my MTB to work and back.

Well, this weekend I decided to tackle Mountain Highway up the Dandenongs (Melbourne), a premier training run for many roadies. As I approached the bottom end, a young weekend warrior on a very flash looking Cervelo aero frame came zooming by, I thought "Another one..." However, as I settled into a nice rhythm, I soon caught up with this young chap, so I decided to stay on his tail if I could. But I soon found that I had to keep backing off to avoid bumping into him, so after some minutes of easy pedalling I put some effort into it, overtook him and quickly left him very far behind.

Now this is the point: I have been overtaken by many, many roadies, and each time I console myself with the thought that those bikes are much lighter and have less rolling resistance than my MTB. But I wonder how this poor chap is feeling after an old geezer with greying beard on an clapped out 10 year old hybrid with ancient tyres zoomed by him on his Ferrari bike??? It must have ruined his weekend - I know it made mine

All thanks to commuting - it has made me very fit indeed.

lilHinault

Yeah, sucking wheels is fun, huh?

cryogenic

sounds like you passed a Porsche 911 with a beetle motor

lilHinault

Actually I think the other guy was the beetle motor, just on a fancy bike :-)

-=(8)=-

Me and two friends were ripping around on our junkers and passed some
'real' riders on high $$$ rigs...on the same ride I stopped to move two turtles off the road. I believe there is some kosmic message there that I havent been able to figure out.

slvoid

I passed a ferrari f40 on the west side highway once while i was riding my mtb with my gf on the west side bike path. Of course the f40 was stuck in traffic...

Camel

Nice. Now while you were riding with him, did you happen to chit chat-or just shoot by? You know, "how long of a ride are you on this morning.." or "..hey that's a nice one, what are the spec's", anything?

It's great and all, that you're in good shape. You have no idea if this chap was on his 20th lap of the city by the time you got there though.

--and umm, it can still make your weekend without having to ruin his.

jur

Actually yes, I did greet him as he first rode by, then when I caught up with him, I asked if he would mind if I rode on his tail as it was my first time on that road and I didn't know what to expect. And I admired his bike and secretly wish I could afford one, and as I passed him, I said see ya later. And yes it did occur to me that he might be on the last leg of a very long training run, although I have to admit it did not look that way, rather, going by his pedalling style and the way he thrashed from side to side on the saddle and struggled he looked inexperienced, as well as the fact that he was rugged up against the cold and had not built up a sweat yet but soon pushed his arm warmers down, so I concluded that fitness dominated the situation.

But that was not the point; the points were that 1) while I was always able to console myself, that chap would find it much harder, and 2) while a light, fast bike goes a long way to make you fast, with going uphill that is not the primary issue, it is fitness, and I have commuting to thank for that. Which is why I posted this in the commuting forum.

F1_Fan

If you'd passed me you'd have thought... "Heh, $5000 bike and I passed him on my hybrid." Of course, you couldn't know that I'm recovering from a herniated disc...

roadfix

The roadie was simply taking it easy and spinning on his 'off-day'....

kritter

I had a feeling like that one day passing a roadie on my MTB then at the end of the climb where it flattened out he caught up to me and told me thats a training ride he does where he puts in the highest possible gear he can turn the cranks while in the saddle and just keep a steady pace while climbing the grade.

I didnt feel so high spirited after that!

slvoid

Man, how insecure was this guy that he had to catch up and tell you why he was going so slow?

Camel

Well done then!

skydive69

I was riding with a fast group that I train with about 6 months ago. We passed this guy going considerably slower than we, and I commented to him about riding with "these animals." He simply smiled as we left him in the dust. I later learned that he is the current world 500 meter sprint champion, and used to hold the world record. He apparently was out for a very easy spin. Moral of the story: You never know the situation of those that you leave behind. For those us who don't like to kid ourselves, we realize that the only points you get for passing anyone is when both parties are trying hard not to be passed/dropped - like in a race!