Planemaker

On my ride tonight I pulled up to a stop sign right behind a much younger guy on a roadie (I ride a Trek Fitness). The roadie jumps the light and gets about 50 yards in front of me but, I am keeping pace with him and sizing him up. On the first uphill grade he extends his lead to about 100 yards but, as we start the downhill I quickly catch back up to 50 yards and start closing in. On the next uphill I keep pace and on the downhill I make move and start to build speed to pass and the guy turns left while I am going straight.

doctor j

He knew he was fixin' to get dropped by an old dude and couldn't handle the pressure.

Dudelsack 

Cat 6 racing at its finest.

A word of warning. Do not post this on the 41. It would get ugly.

climberguy

I suggest not putting much weight on this sort of thing. I tend to think that if other riders are anything like me, there's a good chance they are recovering from some sort of injury. And even if they aren't, if they are riding on a recovery day after a hard effort, they should be going slower than me. Or they may have been doing hill intervals earlier and are on the cool-down portion of their ride. Or they're just getting home after doing a solo century. So I tend to think that if you pass someone on the road, it means almost nothing about your level of fitness versus theirs.

Dudelsack 

This is a legendary thread, really a cautionary tale: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...highlight=drop

sreten

Hi,

Why ?

Most people downhill don't really try much, they just go at
a comfortable pace and save the hard work for the next hill.

Catching and passing someone downhill by trying doesn't
mean a lot if they can cruise past you on the next real hill.

If somebody goes up a hill faster than me, they may be
fitter, or they may be not going as far, but who cares ?

rgds, sreten.

Having said that a while back, a young girl came flying
past me on an old 20" shopper, when I was on my 20"
folder and quickly gained a lot of distance. Surprised
I upped my pace a lot (I was trying hard) and pulled
back say 200 yards of the 250 yards she had gained.

Thing is I had no interest in catching and passing her,
and slowed down to match her pace, I could go faster.
Part of a not trying too hard 15 mile round trip, and
not long later she stopped to pull off the cycle route.

I surmised she was just tanking that section of her route,
fair enough, but took some effort to pull back though.
Or just young and naturally pretty fast on any bike,
though I'd prefer to think she was giving it some.

climberguy

Thanks, Dudel, that's a great thread.

sail

Yer probably lucky.

KenshiBiker

Remember the old saying: "Just because the other guy doesn't know it's a race, doesn't mean you're not winning".

But yeah, i try not to put too much value on passing other people. Now, when other people pass me . . . different story.

Clawed

Well that's an hour I'll never get back. Laugh? I thought I'd die.

Reminds me of the time I saw a little old lady in an R600DuraAce Hoveround on the path wearing full AARP kit. I shifted my SA 3sp into low and dropped her like she was lying still. It takes big batteries to mess with the pros.

longbeachgary

So some guy who didn't know you were racing him, turns off and you're so bolstered by it that you run to the internet and post about it? I for one am very impressed.

ksisler

OP: So you were street racing. Was the other guy even aware that you were humping his leg and readying to pass him in his slipstream? Could be he had no idea you were there and he turned left because that is what folks down who want to turn left... Just a thought that the entire crash may have been your fault???

badger1

rumrunn6

you're lucky he turned. what if you passed him? then what? you'd have him on your tail and who wants that?

Gerryattrick

You think you're good. My wife told me about her ride to the shops today. She came across a bunch of roadies in expensive team kit riding race bikes. She was in a hurry so increased the watts and left them for dead. Here's a pic to prove it:

Dudelsack 

And drope the hamer....

Planemaker

You guys are great.

I am sure that the guy ahead of me could have dropped me like a hot potato anytime he wanted.

Next time I make a post in jest I will be more clear.