Are you a rider or a racer?
07-12-16, 11:12 PM
#28
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can one be a rider and a racer???
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"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
07-12-16, 11:23 PM
#30
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07-13-16, 04:45 AM
#31
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Both or neither, depending on how you look at it. Given a choice between a casual ride and a race, I'll be in the race. Which isn't to say that before the race is over I won't be way off the back and just riding around. By the same token, on friendly group rides, I'm usually in contention for the green and polka dot jerseys. 
Last edited by kbarch; 07-13-16 at 04:56 AM.
07-13-16, 07:24 AM
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07-13-16, 07:33 AM
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First off, I've never been sponsored and the closest thing to professional I got was riding in the same timezone as professionals.
With that said, I've been thinking about my approach to riding lately. I used to race everything and now I just ride. Even in Central Park when there's runners and bikers (and you can see them racing time) and horses I oddly enough don't feel like I'm on the same road with them anymore. I pay attention to collisions and laws of physics but mentally just enjoy it like when I was a kid and just out my Mach One GT and just rode in raw Arizona desert.
My friend recently yelled at me for riding when it was 90 degrees and a week of heatwave. I admit I was tired but I've just been riding again for three weeks after an eight year hiatus and I tend to go all in pretty quickly. So I thought about it.
The stress to keep up or pass someone is gone but I'm doing it anyways more or less. My timing method is roundabout calculations in increments of five minutes now no longer seconds. I bike roughly 24 miles (mapquest and don't really use it's route) a day in NYC on a commute and it's fun. AND I'm not on a subway frustrated, sweaty, and ill-temperament in a box although it is an amazing mass transit system and I love it in off hours. My commute takes me 40 minutes longer roundtrip than the subway but I see everything above ground. I can't multitask like on the subway but I can concentrate and focus like some type of meditation or get smeared against something yellow and made of metal.
I ride more and enjoy it more. Is this retirement I'm feeling? I don't know if I miss racing but I am upgrading the ride for more sport comfort and performance. Anyways, I don't think I race, I just ride as fast as I can now...
With that said, I've been thinking about my approach to riding lately. I used to race everything and now I just ride. Even in Central Park when there's runners and bikers (and you can see them racing time) and horses I oddly enough don't feel like I'm on the same road with them anymore. I pay attention to collisions and laws of physics but mentally just enjoy it like when I was a kid and just out my Mach One GT and just rode in raw Arizona desert.
My friend recently yelled at me for riding when it was 90 degrees and a week of heatwave. I admit I was tired but I've just been riding again for three weeks after an eight year hiatus and I tend to go all in pretty quickly. So I thought about it.
The stress to keep up or pass someone is gone but I'm doing it anyways more or less. My timing method is roundabout calculations in increments of five minutes now no longer seconds. I bike roughly 24 miles (mapquest and don't really use it's route) a day in NYC on a commute and it's fun. AND I'm not on a subway frustrated, sweaty, and ill-temperament in a box although it is an amazing mass transit system and I love it in off hours. My commute takes me 40 minutes longer roundtrip than the subway but I see everything above ground. I can't multitask like on the subway but I can concentrate and focus like some type of meditation or get smeared against something yellow and made of metal.
I ride more and enjoy it more. Is this retirement I'm feeling? I don't know if I miss racing but I am upgrading the ride for more sport comfort and performance. Anyways, I don't think I race, I just ride as fast as I can now...
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07-13-16, 07:36 AM
#34
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07-13-16, 07:49 AM
#36
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cant tell if srs
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"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
07-13-16, 07:53 AM
#38
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OK now I know that you're joking, but what your saying needs to be mostly true if one wants to make the most of their available riding time and be as competitive as possible. It gets tiring (mentally) after a while, which is why many like myself choose to spend nearly 1/4 of the year between late summer and late fall just Just Riding Around...
...which is exactly what I'm about to do right now before work for a couple hours.
Later!
EDIT: And just like that, I've decided to shorten my ride to 90 minutes, so I can surf BF and relax a little more. Yay!!!
__________________
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
Last edited by TMonk; 07-13-16 at 07:59 AM.
07-13-16, 08:22 AM
#39
Senior Member
1. You're not a racer if you're only racing with yourself.
2. It's not a race unless people you ride with or pass by all agree it's a race.
2. It's not a race unless people you ride with or pass by all agree it's a race.
07-13-16, 08:57 AM
#40
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OK now I know that you're joking, but what your saying needs to be mostly true if one wants to make the most of their available riding time and be as competitive as possible. It gets tiring (mentally) after a while, which is why many like myself choose to spend nearly 1/4 of the year between late summer and late fall just Just Riding Around...
...which is exactly what I'm about to do right now before work for a couple hours.
Later!
EDIT: And just like that, I've decided to shorten my ride to 90 minutes, so I can surf BF and relax a little more. Yay!!!
Haha this morning was something of an oxymoron because it was "go have fun on the TT bike".
Friends of mine actually express concern for me, how can I live like that, with every ride being scheduled and purposeful? They are sure I'm going to burn out. Hmm, I don't get it. I actually like interval workouts (ooh that's a hard one, wonder if I can really do it?). I like hard group rides. I like easy group rides. I like noodling around on my own. I like epic climbing rides. I like short climbing rides where you can ride all out up the hills. I like just riding to the coffee shop to meet my friends.
Oh and I do like racing too!
07-13-16, 09:28 AM
#41
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The bike leg of a triathlon or duathlon is not a bike race.
Its more akin to a TT, but a mass start bike race is much different from a triathlon.
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07-13-16, 09:50 AM
#42
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I hear ya @Heathpack. I never take it completely easy during the off season, and still pepper in some prescribed rides weekly.
Like you, in addition to just riding, I enjoy working out; it's a lot of why I ride in the first place. It feels good to have a plan for a ride, prepare yourself, and execute. I think of it as similar to going to the gym or the pool in that regard, which I also do sometimes.
Like you, in addition to just riding, I enjoy working out; it's a lot of why I ride in the first place. It feels good to have a plan for a ride, prepare yourself, and execute. I think of it as similar to going to the gym or the pool in that regard, which I also do sometimes.
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"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
that still owns a Road Bike, though it has Become C&V over time..
07-13-16, 11:53 AM
#44
Senior Member
Nirvana for me is bumping shoulders on a 46 degree banked wood track. Fun stuff.
07-13-16, 02:58 PM
#45
Junior Member
I race cars in my city and I always win on top gear 50 km/h is not a problem and they only do 40 over here, very bad traffic lol
07-13-16, 03:54 PM
#46
~>~
Retired from competition on the track, road and MTB currently but "The Comeback" is always just around the corner.
At a single glance the solid fit, relaxed/purposeful positioning, efficient pedaling style and calm confident bike handling will tell a current/former competitive cyclist from others out riding their bikes.
All those miles/decades in structured programs with race experience don't just rub off and fade away but still prove useful for moving right smartly along when not pinning on a number ( yet again).
Until the proper Age/Category/Comeback of course....
PS: Pinning on a number in sanctioned competition and having at it where time/placing order are recorded is Racing, anything else involving riding a bicycle is simply Not.
PPS: If what you are doing on a bicycle is Not Racing inquire with either Captain Fast or Captain Aero ( Commissars of the UCI: Union of Cycling Imaginary ) to see if your massively heroic rides qualify for Imaginary Racing on Strava, X-Box or Pokémon-Go.
-Bandera
At a single glance the solid fit, relaxed/purposeful positioning, efficient pedaling style and calm confident bike handling will tell a current/former competitive cyclist from others out riding their bikes.
All those miles/decades in structured programs with race experience don't just rub off and fade away but still prove useful for moving right smartly along when not pinning on a number ( yet again).
Until the proper Age/Category/Comeback of course....
PS: Pinning on a number in sanctioned competition and having at it where time/placing order are recorded is Racing, anything else involving riding a bicycle is simply Not.
PPS: If what you are doing on a bicycle is Not Racing inquire with either Captain Fast or Captain Aero ( Commissars of the UCI: Union of Cycling Imaginary ) to see if your massively heroic rides qualify for Imaginary Racing on Strava, X-Box or Pokémon-Go.
-Bandera
Last edited by Bandera; 07-13-16 at 05:57 PM.
07-13-16, 06:14 PM
#47
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I used to race. Then age got to me and I found I no longer bounced back up after a crash. I still do tri's and the occassional club tt.
07-13-16, 07:04 PM
#49
~>~
Ms. HP,
The 41 wouldn't know a full-on Time Trial effort in actual competition from a Strava effort drafting a School bus for a stupid un-deserved KOM in a School Zone.
One is actually Racing bicycles, the Other is something Much, Much Less.
Show of hands: Who in the "41" has actually done a 40K ABL of A/USCF/USCA sanctioned TT event?
(This is actually Racing BTW.)
Me, a few times (with dismal results).
-Bandera
The 41 wouldn't know a full-on Time Trial effort in actual competition from a Strava effort drafting a School bus for a stupid un-deserved KOM in a School Zone.
One is actually Racing bicycles, the Other is something Much, Much Less.
Show of hands: Who in the "41" has actually done a 40K ABL of A/USCF/USCA sanctioned TT event?
(This is actually Racing BTW.)
Me, a few times (with dismal results).
-Bandera
Last edited by Bandera; 07-13-16 at 07:56 PM.
07-13-16, 09:04 PM
#50
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Ms. HP,
The 41 wouldn't know a full-on Time Trial effort in actual competition from a Strava effort drafting a School bus for a stupid un-deserved KOM in a School Zone.
One is actually Racing bicycles, the Other is something Much, Much Less.
Show of hands: Who in the "41" has actually done a 40K ABL of A/USCF/USCA sanctioned TT event?
(This is actually Racing BTW.)
Me, a few times (with dismal results).
-Bandera
The 41 wouldn't know a full-on Time Trial effort in actual competition from a Strava effort drafting a School bus for a stupid un-deserved KOM in a School Zone.
One is actually Racing bicycles, the Other is something Much, Much Less.
Show of hands: Who in the "41" has actually done a 40K ABL of A/USCF/USCA sanctioned TT event?
(This is actually Racing BTW.)
Me, a few times (with dismal results).
-Bandera
It seems silly to me to say that someone who pins a number on a couple of times a year is a racer when the rest of the time they just ride around by themselves or with their families and never really training to race per se, while the guy challenging his friends to town line sprints all day every weekend is not.
I wish the latter would participate in sanctioned races more often, but frankly, it's the guys who pin numbers on now and then just to validate their fitness/training, but who don't ever really "wanna race," that annoy me. They're no fun.