Passed a Younger Guy on A Hill Last Night
 

Cycling home from Prout's Neck, Maine I was passed by a burly fellow without the usual "on your left", "nice day", etc. Noticed after he sped past me he did not keep up the same pace. Still had a bit of effort to get back to him (what is this competitive thing kicking in at my age?). A little later on what amounts to one of the toughest hills in our town I passed him with a pleasant "blue sky" remark and enjoyed the immense satisfaction of dropping someone 15-20 years younger. This made up for the four young women passing me earlier in the ride. They looked like a race team and were very fit so I did not feel too bad.

Somtimes hills can be a great equalizer.

I'm a Clydesdale, 230 pounds when I'm lean and fit, and a lousy climber. I get passed all the time here in the Eastern Sierra by guys 20 years younger (I'm 64). The climbs are long, though, and if you keep grinding away in the granny gear, eventually you reel a lot of them in.
And by "granny gear," I mean 24t. That factory 30t small ring is a joke.

I seem to be almost passing everybody while climbing hills these days except for the younger roadies on group rides. I also get a lot of funny looks from people when I pass them.

I talked to a guy who was about my age (57) a few days ago who is into triathalon and the first thing he asked me when we stopped was if I was doing any racing because he was watching me do a few miles on the flats at around 22-24 mph. I was just at the end of one of my 1 hour 16+ mile loops. I don't have any intention of racing but when he mentioned that his Tri bike is a Giant Trinity TT bike, the gears in my head started turning.... maybe I should buy a second bike.. something more agressive ?

No... I'd better not. Maybe next year ? :D

Do it now, we're not getting any younger!!

My wife likes to remind me of that all the time, except with me, it goes in one ear and goes right out the other.

My vintage Trek 460 has a 40/29 granny gear is like a 32yr old blonde on the tall hills.

Sculptor7, keep spinning.

Do it! TT's are a great way to jump in to racing. jwh and I do cyclo cross racing, kind of like a muddy and dirty TT, in NE Ohio and we arent alone in our age group.

Heh.. I was thinking that a cyclocross bike would make a good rain bike.

I'd already spent enough on one bike + stuff this year and my wife and I bought a pair of sea kayaks + wet suits + carbon fiber paddles (she wants to do some touring around Georgian Bay) so it was bye bye to another $5+ K. At least the kayaks aren't CF otherwise we'd be spending twice that.

I'd still like to try out a TT bike one of these days.

This talk about a Time Trial bike reminds me of the one I saw the other day at our favorite discount store (leftover from a large sale on bike stuff they had recently). It was so light I could pick it up with two fingers and gave me the sensation I have when I examine one of my large rubber powered model airplanes--it seemed to want to fly out of my hand. Price was $700+. Even though I could never contort myself properly to use it nevertheless I definitely had the urge to possess it.

I once passed 40 young people with my bike here in Costa Rica, they were riding the bus to town and the bus goes REALLY slow... :lol:

But yeah, I pass people all the time half my age.