PainTrain

Yesterday, during the commute home on my Trek 7100, I passed my first roadie.

He was in full Lycra, Team Cannondale jersey. I don't care if his hair was white

In other news, I've taken my belt in two notches since I started commuting. Three more to go!

crucible

Yeah, isn't the feeling GREAT?

Something similar happened to me last month, and I was feeling all chuffed and proud of myself when some geezer blew by me on an uphill grade pedalling the rickiest, most beat-up mountain bike that you'd ever seen.

Did I mention that he was also dragging on his cigarette as he passed me too?


George

DanO220

I've been on both side of that fence. I commute through the Burbank and the San Fernando valley in SoCal. Before I got a little fitness back I used to get passed on occasion by laborers in hard hats, work boots, blue jeans and jacket, riding some old Walmart special with a tool belt and lunch box bungeed to the rack. I used to wonder what those guys could do on a race bike as I fought to draft them. DanO

oaxacarider

congrats on your fitness but whats the big deal about passing a roadie?

PainTrain

I guess it's a personal thing. When I started commuting on a too-small beater MTB, everything on the trail passed me. As I improved, I started doing some passing of my own.

Brightly colored Lycra-clad roadies still blew by like a blur. When I got my new bike, I picked up speed. Now they passed me, but relatively slowly enough that I could see the look of contempt on many of their faces as they checked me out while going by. My attempts to speak to one or two were disdainfully ignored.

So, I have made it one of my cycling goals to drop some of these neon jerks. I may eventually even have to buy a road bike to gain the speed necessary .

YMMV in your area. Here in Northern California, the rule of thumb I've built is: The brighter the Lycra, the bigger the jerk.

(Some of my anger stems from behavior of these folks on the Multi-use trail when it's crowded with peds and strollers on weekend mornings)

Merryish

<grin>

Pick up a few dayglo lycra jerseys while you're at it, and you'll be all set!

</grin>

CommuterKat

I had something kind of similar happen on my beater mountain bike last weekend. A spandexed out guy came up behind me and said "Morning! Nice day for a ride!", and promptly passed me before I could say Hello. I stepped up the pace a bit, and kept up with him only a few yards ahead of me for quite a while. I don't think he realized I was still there, because his eyes got really big, and he started cranking and sped off. Now, mind you, I definitely couldn't have kept up with him when he was really trying to get the speed up, but for a while there, I was right behind him!