Originally Posted by
Skipjacks
Yesterday I took a rail trail ride.
I'm not the best rider on the trail but I do a lot more passing than I get passed.
Yesterday though I was behind a guy who I couldn't pass for anything. Dude was just a stronger rider than me, hands down.
Here's the fun part. He was at least 20 years older than me. He was wearing a button down shirt that was ballooning up in the back from all the air it was catching like a sail so you know that was adding wind resistance. And he was riding an old bike from I'm guessing the 80's that had this horrific metal on metal clanging sound like something important was about to fall off the bike.
In other words...old guy who scoffed at aerodynamics on an old broken down bike could not be passed.
The bike wasn't helping him. His boat sail shirt wasn't helping him. His age wasn't helping him.
But he didn't care. He wanted to go a certain speed and he wasn't letting anything stop him.
It was awesome.
4 miles I chased that guy trying to see if I could get by him. His cruising speed was my top speed.
Funniest part was we passed at least 5 or 6 guys younger than me who looked in better shape than both of us on $2000+ bikes dressed like it was the Tour de France who we passed like they were sitting still. (But that's just mildly amusing. They were out there having fun so good for them)
Anyway, this older guy handed me a humbling but fun lesson in cycling yesterday. All the better bikes and fancier components and aerodynamic clothing (and apparently youth in general) means nothing if you don't improve the engine.
He also made me feel A LOT better about getting older myself, proving that getting older does not require you to slow down. And that made me feel good about life in general.
Not being able to pass this guy was the best lesson in life I've had in a while. And it was the most fun I've ever had feeling like a slow poke!
I've been that guy--I used to pass people as you describe riding on a Walmart cruiser and an old comfort bike. The trick is that, at least for me, aero doesn't really kick in as a huge factor until I hit about 20. I could cruise at 18 or 19 on those bikes very steadily for many miles in the flat. Hills and going above 20 are really where your legs pay for those bikes, and when I started doing centuries, I ended up needing to step up the quality of my bikes a little bit.
MUPs vary a lot, BTW. There are sections of them where I feel like going above 15 mph is definitely unsafe, other more rural ones, where I won't even think twice about the safety of going 24. If I know a path well, I'll know where there are long straightaways with great visibility and other sections where there are curves, obstacles or too much traffic to ride fast.