Originally Posted by
Vintage Schwinn
You should consider doing a Sprint Triathlon as 3 person RELAY TEAM. ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS RIDE THE BIKE
....talk is cheap!!
I don't think the average club cyclist doing the B-ride has any idea how strong a lot of triathletes and duathletes are in a time trial. It's their wheelhouse, aerobic power production. Also, triathletes tend to have more time on their hands as multisport athletes as opposed to a single sport athlete anyway. Maybe our area is exceptional, but we've got a lot of local Ironman triathletes (as in they do one EVERY year) that can smoke the local yokels on a bike.
To address the rest of the forum topic:
1. It isn't competition if there isn't some kind of bounds to the activity. Even if you come across a guy on a ride.......you don't just roll up on them while they're doing intervals and go "oh I passed you". If you're all about some childish stuff like that, why not propose a challenge? Ride to a hill, propose a segment, etc.... What some folks in here are saying is competitive spirit is akin to saying you're brave because you can beat on the glass of the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. Go jump in the gorilla pit then you can start talking.
2. Since when is filtering up through a group ride considered "competitive"? If it isn't an outright "weeknight worlds", then there is no 'competition'. Even then, weeknight worlds is a random hard workout and johnson measuring event. A group ride is a group ride. Assuming you're competitive on a group ride just makes you the ass who is screwing up the group ride. It doesn't make you competitive. The group ride is about the group. Smooth rotation. Safety. Together. If you want to do this, just have the group let everyone "go" when there's a longer hill or something. Kind of like turning off the "fence" in a Zwift group ride for the mountain climb.
3. Strava......oh Strava. I've stopped paying attention to the stuff that isn't an out-and-back or something with a good uphill grade to it. Otherwise, it's just playing the game of weather doping or sit on sprinting. Man up and fight the hills and wind in BOTH directions. Even then, it still doesn't matter, it's just a good way to measure your progress.