andrelam

I don't know what was different about my lunch... I was riding home last Friday, the temperature was a pleasant 70F and there was virtually no wind. I was riding along vigorously as I generally do, and noticed that I was going 20 MPH. What the heck, normally I have problems getting much over 18 MPH on my hybrid. For the record the bike is a Gary Fisher Nirvanna, loaded down with fenders, panniers, handlebar bag, and generator hub light that was on (my daylight running light). I was also taking home 3 days worth of work cloths, and also had my new SpinDoctor Essentials tool box in the rear bag as it just come in with FedEx to the office. So my normally 45 Lbs bike was loaded down with an additional 20 Lbs worth of stuff. So here I am flying along at speeds I normally can only attain on my road bike carrying the bare essentials in a handlebar bag only. I notice a Roadie up ahead in full gear. Then I notice that I am actually gaining on him. Within a mile I passed him and pulled ahead of him. It must have been a bit deflating to get passed by a large (nearly 6'3" guy) on a fully loaded hybird. I finally had to stop at a traffic light and he finally caught up to me a minute or so later. I was taking the lane as I was the 1st one at the light and he filtered forward and lined up to my right. I just smilled and said hello and made the usualy small talk of "nice day of a ride." He pretty much ignored me. At the light I left him in the dust again. I know it is a bit infantile to get such joy out of "beating" an other rider, but riding at 21 MPH on the hyrid is quite a rush. It was a good thing me made a turn a mile or so up the road, because I don't think I could have kept up that pace for ever. I don't like passing people and then slowing down in front of them... that is no a nice thing to do.

At least for a few minutes, this clyde felt a little (and I do mean a LITTLE) bit like superman. Today I was back to my more normal 16 MPH, but I did have to fight some wind. It is strange how much stronger one can feel on some days.

Happy riding,
André

evan_phi

holy crap.


by smoked i thought you meant HIT. I was waiting the whole time when i was reading to see "and then i hit the guy and he is now in intensive care."

still. nice story

rugerben

Well, good job riding like that. I wish that I could pull 20-21 mph on a loaded down hybrid. I would say though, that you don't know if the roadie was only out for a few miles, or if he was in his last 10 miles of a century, so beating another rider may or may not be a huge accomplishment.
The accomplishment, though, is that you rode hard, and exceeded your normal limits. Well done.

drafters65

cool man i love hearing underdog stories. gives me a sense of hope rofl and right now im hoping to be able to keep up or catch up to some roadies on my mtb...thanks for the inspiration

CliftonGK1

It's an ego boost to fly past somebody in full kit, but I always assume that they're cooling down from a really tough workout and that's why I caught them.
I only assume a level playing field when it's the start of an organized ride, and most people just unloaded their bikes from a roof-rack.

Even on my road-ish bike (Cross Check) decked out for long distance road rides, I get dropped by the really intense roadies on my century rides. I do feel good though, when I'm hammering a quick pace and I fly past a group of people and I notice they all have lighter bikes than mine.

DataJunkie

If you own and ride a road bike you can brag about beating another roadie on a different bike.

However, it seems to me that this was a bit of a one sided race. 21mph on a road bike is easy to reach.
Either that or he was a wuss.. or recovering from a century... or enjoying his ride or...

lil brown bat

...or it wasn't a bloody competition. It's definitely a bit infantile to get a kick out of winning when there isn't a contest.

CliftonGK1

I get a kick out of passing anyone that I manage to pass. Even if it's a guy dragging a trailer with 2 kids in it.

I don't taunt him about my cycling prowess as I ride past, but I do feel good about not being the slowest guy on the MUP.

ken cummings

Well done. The only time I ever smoked a pack of road bikers was when the route went across a major rail yard. Ten sets of tracks one right after the other. They all tippy toed across with their skinny tires and I slammed across the hazards with my cyclocross tires.

Sixty Fiver

My road bike idles at 20 mph...

Although I can get my hybrid up to speeds in excess of 25 mph any roadie worth spit will be able to drop me like a bad habit with virtually no effort.

Besides that...doing 21 mph on a heavily laden bike (of any kind) is noteworthy.

Lamplight

I've found that sometimes on my utility bike I seem to average a higher speed than on my other bikes. I have no idea why this is, but as you have discovered it is fun (Although I don't normally go as fast as you were!)

RubenX 

I know what you are talking about. I don't know why it happens though, but sometimes (very very rare) I feel a sudden burst of energy and ride like a jet airplane, reaching speeds of 28mph on flats. Usually I can only do that going down-hill.

DataJunkie

+1

True dat.


However, 21 mph on a heavy bike is quite spiffy.

andrelam

He might have been at the end of a ride as he was all the way down on the drops and appeared to be working hard. I can assure you I was working MUCH harder. On my road bike I can easily ride at 20 MPH without wind and have managed to keep it in the mid 20's for some time. It must have been the new clipless pedals I installed the previous week.

It also suprised my that he would pull up next to me at the traffic light and not even acknowledge me. Most of the roadies I see on my route home or to work at least give a little nodd when they fly by on the opposite side of the street. It was also an unusual day as I saw 4 other cyclists on my ride home. That is a new record.

Happy riding,
André

newbojeff

I always give kids in trailers "the look" so they know that mom or dad is getting smoked.

Some days the motor just runs good.

nowheels

a pack that knew me slowed up the other week and rode in most of the way with me...... i was a bit surprised, they normally wave and fly by me.

tjspiel

Congrats on finding your zone!

In the winter I get passed by roadies all the time when I'm on my MTB. In the summer I pass MTBs and hybrids all the time while on my road bike.

Would love to say that getting passed doesn't bother me in the least but I don't really care much about getting passed by roadies.

It's the damn kid on his fixed gear who can hit 35 pedaling with his little toe that I'm gunning for.

"Hey kid who thinks he's all that! Let's find a decent hill and I'll put you and your trendy fixie in your respective places !".

tjspiel

Aquajag

Hehe, I passed two cars on my commute (almost no traffic) last Friday going down the hill. Granted, I had been full speed 100 yards back when the light they were sitting at turned green. I think once the lead car got passed he decided to pace me because once he caught me he was riding next to me until about 2/3 of the way down the hill, then went along and passed me for good. Just keeping the pace I was for the entire hill was a rush for me, but it's just nice to get a good speed going once in a while. No cycling comp for me, so not sure of my speed, but it's a fairly steep hill and the speed limit is 40mph, so I'm figuring in the range of 30-35 was what I was riding on my MTB commuter.

bmike

ahh, commuter racing!

wonder if the roadie just finished 2 hours of intervals? or maybe it was a recovery day. or maybe he was rolling in from a century, 200k, 300k, or a trip to the ice cream stand. or he could just be slow.

lets continue to ride aggressively (when we aren't 'racing') and then brag about it... its just like driving - except on bikes!

DataJunkie

Some people just aren't friendly either that or stuck up.

HOV

Amazing. You would have also smoked any other object on the planet traveling less than 21 MPH. But what if you guys were travelling in opposite directoins? Who would have smoked whom? Indigestible!

mihlbach

Yep, every time of of these threads appears, it seems that every roadie out there is suddenly on a recovery ride or at the end of a double century.

Truth is, there are some pretty damn slow, out-of-shape roadies out there that only "train" on weekends in fair-weather. Not that passing them is something worth braggin about....I'm just sayin, not all roadies are intense competitive types. Hell, I pass roadies all the time on my SS MBT. BFD.

caloso

Congrats on your win.

SonataInFSharp

Yay!!

I did something similar once and posted it here and no one believed me. My loaded hybrid currently weighs 48 pounds and I am proud of it.

The guy I was chasing was really trying, too. He kept looking back and saw me behind him and pushed harder, as did I. We were sustaining around 24 mph and I stayed on him so I could see how far he would push. Then I whipped by him and he never caught up to me.

It was great.

It was the only time I have ever "raced" anyone, though. It just felt right at that moment.