carpediemracing 

I don't remember, to be honest.

globecanvas

Here is actually the most annoying thing ever, which I expect many people in this forum have experienced.

When a domestic pro shows up for the local hammerfest/worlds/group ride and some cat 3 rides himself right out of his skin trying to show off and preen for the pro.

shovelhd

Good luck and stay safe. I'm serious. March 8th for me.

caloso

Fan bois gonna fan.

mattm

holloway came out to our hammerfest a few weeks ago, and in the break with him I did everything possible to hang. which I did for 25 mins or so, until I stupidly went for a mid-way sprint that nobody else in the break really contested. dropped out about 5 mins later.. he probably thought "that idiot cat 3", which I might as well have been!

carpediemracing 

I seem to have the opposite experiences.

"Who's that dork in the Rabo kit?" (Marc Wauters)
"Who's that dork in the Chevy LA Sherrif kit?" (Jeff Rutter and someone else, Jim Copeland?)
"Who's that dork in the PDM kit" (after seeing a bunch of them in the airport they were all VanGlushenschmittenvanhousen type guys, the Dutch and Belgian domestiques whose names I didn't learn).
"That guy looks like Jaws from the James Bond movies. And he's wearing a Panasonic track suit?!" (Olaf Ludwig, and then I realized that the 10 or so people standing next to him were Theo de Rooy, others I forget, and Peter Post was pushing a cart with all their bikes on it).

Scott BiKyle kit? Too small a team for a fanboy. It was Graeme Miller. Other smaller team kits usually mean the rider's the real deal. Jelly Belly. Land Rover. Etc.

Team Type 1 showed up at Bethel. I didn't even know until after, and I even took pictures of the guy winning. I didn't recognize the kit at all.

The story that made the rounds in CT was when a group ride caught up to a poser in the World Championship colors. Lance was the current WC and everyone bristled that someone would disrespect the jersey like that. One guy rode up to him. "Who do you think you are, Lance Armstrong?!"
Lance turned to him. "Yeah, I am."
Or something like that.

Etc.

mattm

thanks, best of luck to u as well.

bmcphx

Right so anyone who does something dumb is a lower cat than you!

Matt I always think your posts are on point and you seem likable, but this whole "category is important" thing is making you come across very short sighted.

mike868y

305134

I think? idk my license is at home. my results couldn't really be worse, but I have a damn good time trying.

mattm

fwiw I was following up on globe's "some cat 3" comment, so blame him!

what can I say though, nobody is perfect. we all have our flaws, some are better at hiding them than others.

carpediemracing 

Marc Wauters on the Gimbels ride.

I forgot about Little John who was on that ride. He was the Bicycling Magazine guy that raced for Cervelo Test team for a year. He was another super modest strong rider. The incredible thing is that he married this woman without really disclosing that he'd been a pro, and at some point he started riding again, she encouraged him, and he turned pro with Bissel then did his last hurrah with Cervelo.

There's a guy that placed 3rd at one of the first Elite RR (pros and amateurs combined). He's in some of my Tues Night race clips, Tim U. He attacked out of the Elite RR field with 8 miles to go, bridged a minute gap in 5 miles solo, the "patron" of the break told him to pull, he pulled all the way to the line until guys started sprinting. He managed 3rd out of 5. I've sat on his wheel in a race while he pulled the field and after 3-4 minutes he just rides me off, it's just crazy how strong he is/was. 500w@5m x 5 reps, that was one of his workouts when he wasn't that good (I couldn't do 290w@5m once - he told me to do intervals like that and sent me some examples of his workouts). At New Britain (mostly flat 1 mile kidney bean shaped loop) he attacked a field containing Graeme Miller, Jeff Rutter, a bunch of local pros. His tactic was to go slow - 28 mph - when the gap didn't change. If it changed he'd go fast - 31 mph - for a few laps until the field stopped chasing. It sounds so simple but the reality is that he did something like 45 laps like that, solo. Totally insane. 28 mph on the slow laps? 31 mph, for laps?! haha. Right.

I loved watching that race, screamed my head off every time he rode by. Incredible ride. There was half a lap while he was away where the field wasn't single file. Totally insane.

I know there are some strong riders out there but I'm certainly not one of them. I know my place.

island rider

So, I'm going to run a quarq on one bike and a Stages on another. Coach says it shouldn't be an issue... we'll see.

gsteinb

gee whiz. it's a racing forum. within the context of racing yes category matters. if you're a five or four and you don't recognize that guys on the pro or upper cat levels have had experiences with racing and training that you haven't you're making the same kind of error a guy would be making for thinking he possessed some kind of superiority due to his race results.

shovelhd

I've been OTF at The Rent with an out of shape Tim U. We were out there for quite a while. We got caught because I just couldn't keep putting out that kind of effort, and CCAP cranked up the field.

I was in a break at Wells Ave with a couple of domestic pros and Peter Bell and MetLife. I lasted 15 laps until they started attacking each other. I fell back to the field and finished around 5th in the field sprint.

I had no chance in either race but these were training races. The effort threw off my training plan, which had to be adjusted. It's great training, but it can set you back if not careful.

hack

hmmm...lots of pack fill in here: 406652

Had one decent stretch between late April and early May last year, but lost focus after that.

bmcphx

If this is in any way directed at me, I'm coming from a different place, because what I'm saying is the fours and fives who go out and say so and so is a three so they are better than me are just as bad as the guy who says he looks down on fives because he thinks he's earned some sort of right to be above them.

mattm

Hey I see some wins in there, and also you have one of the coolest names in the peloton.

beatlebee 

I rode next to a World Tour rider once on the Shootout when he accidentally veered off into the gravel and then went down...

I'm great at my day job.

gsteinb

it's all good… I was just responding in part to this

furiousferret

Every year or so I ride by a guy and think, 'Is that Floyd Landis?' (he lives about 25 miles away). Not that I'd really have anything to say to the guy, I don't hate dopers, the guy just seems odd.

shovelhd

Some guys take everything you say as advice that they don't want. Unless you are saying "You should really be doing this or that", it's just conversation.

TheKillerPenguin

I like pie.

aaronmcd

Just registered for Valley of the Sun. Now 19 preregistered, only 3 from AZ!

revchuck 

The big local race - Rouge-Roubaix - has mostly out-of-state folks preregistered with six weeks to go. Bicycling Magazine is a sponsor, and they're got ten spots in the men's 3/4 race and five in the men's P/1/2 race reserved. Only 12 registered in the Master's 40+/55+ race if anyone wants to come down and beat up on this old guy. The men's 4/5 race is full.

bmcphx

People from here know better