Originally Posted by
big john
You guys know there are 21 pound full-suspension bikes, right? That's lighter than some of the road bikes I have.
There are also full suspension bikes with 120+ mm travel in the 25 pound range, amazing stuff. Even full on downhill bikes have come down to under 40 pounds.
Yes, it's fun to tease the clueless young guys and make them struggle to keep up, but as soon as they figure it out, get some miles in the bank and some good training, forget it.
As much as we like to delude ourselves there is no substitute for a young, healthy body.
You're right, a good young-un will beat a good oldie all the time, even though we love coming up with tales of how we smoked some youngster.
I'm under no illusions however that, on the odd occasion when I do outpace someone half my age, it's for any other reason than they are very unfit or just not very good riders (or they're not trying).