supcom

While doing a 400K brevet last weekend, a couple in a pickup truck eased up next to my riding buddy and me as we were riding along around midnight and asked how far we had to go.

"About 40 miles," I answered.

"That's a long way!" said the guy in the truck.

"Well," I said, "we've already ridden 205 miles today."

"HOLY $#@T!" came the stunned reply.

I find most people's eyes just glaze over when you mention you are riding more than 100 miles in a day. But responses like that are a real pick-me-up on a long ride.

Any other stories of "Shock and Awe" out there? How do strangers react to your replies to "How far you riding today?"

bmike

"wow, you must be in good shape"

"i don't like driving 100 miles in a day!"

"you're going how far?" (puffing on cigarette)

"your a** must be killing you"

"why?"

thomj513

Most of my friends and family know I ride. They usually ask "did you ride your bike today?". In response, I'll either say..."just a short one...only XX (either 40, 45 or 50) miles... had some work to do around the house so I didn't have time to ride more" or "just putzed around on the ole Raleigh (either the 1973 Sports or 1976 20 folder) for about 25 miles". I always get the blank deer-caught-in-the-headlights stare. Loads of fun.

spokenword

Near the end of the 600k last year, as I was heading in to the finish, which was located in the town of Concord, a local hotspot of cycling activity. A Sunday rider rolled up next to me and asked for directions to Walden Pond. I gave him a brief description of how to get there, he thanked me and mentioned that he was planning on doing some swimming. He then asked me what I was out for.

"Just finishing a quad century."

"... excuse me, did you say a quarter century?"

"No, quad. Well, actually more like 360 miles and change. So, not quite a quad."

"Oh, well that's not so impressive then. Ha! Just kidding!"

Six jours

Couple of weeks ago I'm sitting in the paceline rolling about 23 MPH on the flat with no wind. Fiftyish guy cruises up to me on an upright with racing wheels and casually asks "How far you guys goin?". I reply "Oh, we're just finishing up a quick 50." He says "Ah. Easy day, eh?" and rides away at maybe 2-3 MPH faster.

I considered selling my bike to the next passer-by and buying a bus pass.

bmike

had a fellow pass me at the end of the 300k in the same area.
he was an opc'r on a tricked out carbon frame, and he was also twice my age and at least 100 pounds overweight. i struggled so hard to move 14mph on the flats that i must have been doing 4-6 mph up a relatively easy grade.

he asked how far i had left to go, i told him maybe 10 miles or so.
he then proudly stated he was going to ride xx miles. (don't remember - something like 20-30)
i told him i was finishing a 300k.

"oh" as he pedaled away from me - smuggness dropping from his face.
i'm sure he told his buds he dropped a young guy on a gruelling climb the next monday morning.

Machka 

When I finished my first 1200K (the Rocky Mountain 1200), I drove to the Hope area where my uncle was. I hung around with him and his family for a while, and he introduced me to some people he knew and told them I had just finished a 1200 km ride. Later he told me that the people had accused him of exaggerating, and that what they thought I had really ridden was only 200 kms. He had to set them straight!

On other occasions, in the middle of a ride, people have asked me where I'm heading. Sometimes I tell them where I plan to take a nap that night ... a distance which they can barely grasp ... sometimes I'll tell them exactly where I'm heading ... and they're speechless.


One of the funniest ones was last summer on my 400K. Kootenay National Park borders Banff National Park, and the distance from one end of the park system to the other is about 100 miles. The National Park policy is that if you are just passing through, and not stopping overnight, you don't have to pay the park fees. But if you spend the night in a cabin, hotel, hostel, or camping, you have to pay the fee.

Two of us cycled up to the entrance of Kootenay National Park, at Radium Hotsprings at about 9 pm, about an hour before sun set. The lady in the booth was about to charge us the fee, and I told her that we were just cycling through, that we weren't spending the night. She just laughed, and tried to charge us the fee again. I explained that we were on an event and that we were going to cycle all night long ... that we would be in Banff by dawn, and would drive out from there. "All night?? But you'll be camping somewhere, right?" I explained again that no, we would not be camping anywhere, we would actually be cycling all night long ... we would be passing through. It took a while, but finally she just shook her head and said, "I've never heard anything like this before!", and then shrugged and waved us through. She probably thought we were prime candidates for the looney bin!!

merlinman

Yesterday I was on a club ride (just 4 of us due to nasty weather) and at a pit stop we chatted a bit and one of the guys - who I have ridden with a couple times before on club rides and one short event (Chilly Hilly, a 33 mile season opener) and who is a pretty good rider proceeded to tell us he was on pace for his 24,000 mile year! he rides a century 5 days a week. Says he rides 3 hours in morning, 2 hours at lunch, and 2 hours after work. Does not have a commute to speak of - it is just mileage. Not training for any event either. Has a job and kids. I WAS SPEEECHLESS. I mean, I ride 12 hours a week, not all volume - 2 days are intensity. But this guy is amazing.

SesameCrunch

...and she may be justified in her thinking....

1200K!

PS: I'm training for my first double century this year and am scared to death. That would be barely a warmup for you!

Thulsadoom

"jeez, those new ten-speeds must really go fast!"

knobster

Had a couple "country" fellows come up to me and my wife at a store we had stopped at and asked how far we've ridden. We said "oh, about 60 miles so far." The first guy said "Damn!! That's a lot of riding! Ya'll from around here?". "No, from so-and-so", "Yeah, so how ya gettin' back there?" "Ummm, we're riding..". "Well, that's a good 75 miles from here. As the crow flies that is., Ya'll folks must be some sort of stupid or somethin'."

stapfam

I do an offroad 100 mile ride each year and 3 distances. The 100 and 65 milers start at the same place at 6 am and the 35 miler starts at 1 pm where the 65 miler ends. Got to around the 80 mile mark and we caught a rider up a big steep hill. Halfway up and he started moaning about all these youngsters doing the ride. Stuart my, co-rider, asked him how old he was- and he was 35 but trying to ride with a bunch of 20year olds. After 15 miles he was beginning to feel the strain of the hills. Stuart then told him that we were on the 100 and he was 42, and I told him I was 56. At this he nearly fell off his bike- He had been talking to Stuart all the time and did not realise another rider was with him. Bit difficult to understand but he was pretty tired.

Attachment of me and Stuart is below


Then way back , around 92, Me and another friend were doing the ride off our own back and the 100 mile offroad in one day. Got to about 30 miles in and a bunch of riders caught us up on a hill. Started talking and they were on the same ride as us. "Where did you start"? one asked- "Eastbourne" was our replay-which is the eastern start of the ride. "No- Where did you start this Morning"? "Eastbourne" we replied again. And the other riders dropped back very sharply . About 5 minutes later and we were caught by a very fit attractive girl on a full suspension top end bike. "Are you really doing the ride in one day"? she asked. Apparantly- we had just knocked the sails out of her group. They were on an organised ride doing the 100 miles- Over 3 days and they had just started their 2nd day. She was the leader of this group and they were doing the ride with a back up vehicle and just over 30 miles a day staying in hotels. We were unsupported and all our spares were in our saddle bags.- 2 tubes- a multitool and a repair kit- and that was between us. Rest of the space was taken up with Powerbars- I have never eaten a powerbar since. The leader of the other group would not believe that we were doing the ride with so little equipment.

I may not do the extra long milage that some of you do- but I reckon I can manage around 100 miles offroad in a day. Reason I do this ride in one day is that the only Time I tried it over 2 days- The back pack was heavy for an overnight stay and the butt ache the 2nd morning lasted for about 3 hours.

ken cummings

Ya'll all have pretty much said it all. The only little bit I can add is that I can't remember getting shock or awe when I've been on a fully loaded touring bike. I guess most people by now recognise that a set-up like that means you are going a looong way.

roadfix

From a fellow co-worker:

"Wow, you rode SIX MILES to work on your bike??!!"

roadfix

Not strange reactions, but I also get this a lot from other cyclists:

"You rode that on your fixed gear?!"

thebulls

From a lady in a pickup truck in central Virginia: "Have y'all lost y'all's minds?"

SesameCrunch

hairytoes

I had a boat repair trip to do on the weekend - long train journey, then 35miles to the marina then back the next day. Very very heavy panniers (tools, camping gear etc.) Got talking to a guy with a racer on the train, he asked where I'd been. I told him, commented on the nice road and distance. He says "How long did that take you, what about 3 hours". "No, erm, a bit over 2." He went awful quiet after that.

Six jours

I once remember a fully loaded touring bike on the local "outlaw" race ride. He held up well enough to earn a lot of (grudging) respect. I had the feeling that if he'd taken off all the luggage he would have given the lot of us more than we could have handled.

spokenword

when I've ridden around on a touring bike with panniers, trunk rack and a handlebar bag, people will usually ask, "where are you coming from?" or "where are you headed?" with a curious tone that implies that they recognize that I'm on some sort of journey.

If it's just the panniers then, if I ever get any questions, it's "where do you work?"