Campag4life

Because none of us are pros and know anything about what a pro does or thinks post cycling. As a result, we just make stuff up.

deacon mark

I was a pro musician made my living teaching and playing the guitar many years ago. Funny I still play the same guitar I did 30 years ago and frankly many who never have made a dime playing can play almost a well from many standpoints. The only difference between and pro and the rest is they get paid. How many could be paid but simply never choose the path.

Rustle

Why do you act as if you've just got here?

gregf83 

Do you seriously think anyone gives a **** about your results whether racing in a USAC race or Strava?

Sorry, but none of it counts for anything other than personal satisfaction.

RomansFiveEight

I wonder if some of these pros show up at group rides on heavier bikes in order to get more of a workout? I've actually read the advice, from former pros, of bringing along a mountain bike or a retro bike to a group ride when you are no longer getting pushed. The idea being the heavier bike with wider tires (like knobby MTB tires) will slow you down enough to keep things interesting. (Luckily I don't have that problem. At all.)

As to electronics, vs. racing, vs. chocolate milk or whatever the latest BikeForums controversy is; why is it around internet forums that people decide something makes them happy, so everyone else should do thee exact same thing? If you enjoy using Strava, or racing, or bicycling in a clown wig; do it! If you don't, then don't. What I don't understand is the crass and abrasive attitudes that says someone who does the opposite is "wrong". How can using; or not using, apps like Strava be "wrong". We all ride for different reasons, with different goals, with different levels of fitness. Why is that a bad thing?

kbarch

Because we don't merely have preferences, we have expectations. Of course we have to deal with things not turning out or working as we expect, but life would be totally chaotic if EVERYTHING was arbitrary and we NEVER knew what to expect, why things might be done, or what anything was supposed to be.

Campag4life

Yes, and what you wrote supports the latest trend. Retired pros now almost exclusively ride single speed fat tired bikes on A group rides. Those most recently retired generally will ride with ankle weights as well. Have not heard if any fill their fat tires with water on not for an additional work out.
I think over time there will be a further regression of retired pros riding fat tires single speed bike with fly handlebars and a banana seat. Handlebar streamers will be optional but a nice touch.

Silvercivic27

There is a guy like this locally. He showed up to the local "A" ride on a mountain bike, and I was very disappointed that he was actually able to keep up even though we were working so hard. I don't think he was pro but not sure. He is kind of a pain though and on one occasion took it upon himself to hold up the entire group at a stop sign and lecture the entire group about how to pull off the paceline, and how we shouldn't pull off like we see on TV on the Tour de France (it was July at the time). I would have just rode off and blown him off but I was so damn tired that I just welcomed the stop, lol.

Athens80

Trsnrtr

Had a pro mountain biker show up to a 40 mile group ride one time. A third of the riders in the group were local amateur racers. The pro was on a bike Friday and won all of the stop sign sprints.

Rustle

lol

kbarch

I'll second that lol!

Stucky

I don't think that that's the attitude at all. I rather think that some practices seem so foreign and so antithetical to some of us, that we just can't understand how anyone else would find joy in something which seems absurd to ourselves.

It's kind of like: Every time I head out on a ride, I have to ride past a golf course. I'll be just starting out on a nice ride on a beautiful day, and as I pass the course, and see guys standing there in plaid pants and white shoes swinging a meal stick at a little ball, I wonder to myself how lucky I am to be embarking on a joyous ride, while they're srtuck there plodding around the course, chasing a little ball. Meanwhile, they may be having a ball (although they never seem to look like they are)....

To each their own, fer sher[sic], but I do like to try and understand where others are coming from, and empathize with them- but, as I said above, some concepts are so foreign, that all we can do is accept that others find pleasure in them, but never truly understand how they do- and they may think similarly about us.

It's not just cycling, either. For example: I don't understand how a man can sit inside and watch a bunch of other men chase a football around for three hours; I don't understand how someone can spend many hours lifting weights and drinking chemicals, and then compete in competitions to see who can lift the most weight- and feel that it is an accomplishment or an admirable thing if they win [Who the hell cares how much weight you can lift?!]. I don't understand why people travel thousands of miles, to live out of a suitcase for a few days, and call it a "vacation" and think of it as "rest". Other people seem to like those things, but I'll never understand why.

Such concepts are so antithetical to me, that I often wonder if the people who engage in them truly enjoy them, or if rather they've merely been programmed to do them via culture and advertising, and/or have just become acclimated to them as being the norm, and are merely convincing themselves that they enjoy them, because they're doing something that is perceived as enviable by others who never question the status quo?

Now, to find some pros who are willing to replace their wheels with cinderblocks, so I can ride with them.....

Stucky

Oh, and one more thing: I'm wondering, how many of you guys who use Strava and heart-rate monitors and power meters et al, would have been happy riding if you had lived when those things did not exist or were not available to the average person?

To me, it seems like a whole different sport, to be wired-up with all that stuff- so I can't help but to wonder if you had lived when it was just you and the bike, if cycling still would have been interesting for you?

rpenmanparker 

In the part about vacations you forgot to consider the spousal influence.

Campag4life

Good point. I wonder what the athletic guys did before the invention of the wheel?

hueyhoolihan

they ran to and fro. run from tigers, run from lions, run from wolves, run from bears... or run after deer, run after squirrels, run after rabbits, run after each other...

StanSeven

They ran and had forum names like Nike4life

bigfred 

Less sword fighting, more photos. Can we included winter/off season traing rigs?

Campag4life

More like barefoot4life

bruce19

There are some who live with an impoverished ego and need validation for their own choices. Pretty common actually.

bruce19

I don't begrudge anyone who wants and benefits from the increased availability of data. I don't use any of it on the bike but I don't have a judgement to make about those who do. We do what we do.

Campag4life

I think you have it right. To suggest that those who compete on Strava be it ex pro or not is wrong or some kind of ego deficiency is silly. I don't do it personally because I am an average rider with nothing to prove...but sure don't begrudge others who like to keep score of their rides. We all know all different types of riders on the road. I don't ride with power and last summer I rode with a Garmin and HR which recorded speed for all my rides relative to HR and it was informative but this year I am not. Only have a basic computer on the bike for speed in group rides and distance. I still ride the same. It all good and judging other people is basically wrong if they aren't hurting you. People have different wants and fears and motivations for what they do which is fine and good in fact and what makes us unique.

Stucky

Who's begrudging anyone? Trying to understand the tastes of others, when they seem totally foreign to yourself, isn't begrudging- but rather, just the opposite. I'm not saying "That's stupid, don't do it!"- I'm saying that it is something at the opposite end of the spectrum from what I enjoy about the sport; and even though I may not agree with it or understand it, I'd at least like to try and understand it, and be able to empathize with those who practice it- rather than just dismissing them.

I do, however, think that some new-comers get swept-up in numbers/technology thing, without thinking about it, just because they see others doing it- and thuis never question that behavior, nor experience life without it. And that is true also of many endeavors- not just cycling.

Same with photography. Back in the day when I became interested in photography as a kid, it was just assumed that you get a 35mm camera. Being one who always thought "outside the box", I saw that medium and large-format was where my interest lied- and was thus headed to that direction- whereas most would just automatically get that 35mm camera by rote.....

So in cycling, we often hear "I need a power meter to train", etc. No...you really don't [even if you do train]. If you know what you're doing and WANT a power meter, that's different, but lots of people think they NEED one....

bruce19

And, I didn't think you were. I was just addressing the topic that you had commented on and was expanding to include my perspective.