Grim

It is one year to the week of me starting to commute by bike. I started riding this time last year when the ride your bike to work stuff was going on. This past Sunday I rode my first Metric on the Tour de Cure and I did it full on "Fred"!

So I show up and unload a full on Fred cycle. Lights, MTX rack with trunk bag, SKS Fenders, kick stand the works. Bike with gear is probably 35lb. I'm in a pair of on sale $30 riding shorts with a Performance bike shirt with a collar. I park my 1986 Toyota 4 Runner with a mis matched 1993 Honda Prelude driver seat and BAD paint that hasn't been washed in well over a year. I park next to a Tahoe with $2000 worth of rims ($400 more then I paid for my truck) on one side and a BMW 5 series. They are unloading $2-3K carbon fiber bikes. I Unload my CL find 1995 T700 Cannondale from a $10 yard sale single bike hitch carrier.

I do have a Crit bike and I had planned to ride it in this event but I had a chance to drive most of the course and changed my mind. It had some hills and I knew that corn cob cassette and 42/52 crank was going to kill me! I decided the 10+ lb weight penalty of the Touring bike was well worth it for the gearing. Then the weather forecast took a turn for the worst and Rain was forecast.

I left out early for the ride by 10-15 minutes to beat the rain and I didn't want to be in a pack at the start. When I left there was about 50 people lining up. Lots of risk of a crash and getting hurt and I didn't want any part of it. I wasn't racing I planed to pace myself. The matching Lycra clad "teams"/weekend warriors catch up to me about 8 miles out. The one team was about 12 in matching kit. The other team was about 8 in matching kit. A few tag alongs were keeping pace with them. I decided paced myself to around 15mph. As it happened my moving time pace was 15.1 at the end so I stayed right at my goal. These folks were keep a 20mph pace in their group and sort of racing each other right into some pretty good rollers in the first 20.

In the first 20 miles I did get a lot of questions on the rollers from the roadies that passed me like "what you got in the cooler man?", "Got lunch in their?", "whats for lunch?", where is the picnic?", " The beer cold yet?" I just smiled and laughed with them and took it in stride.

I skipped the first rest stop at around 10 miles as I just wasn't ready for any snack. Again they catch me just before the next stop at about 18 miles out. I stopped got something to eat and drink and took off at 20 miles. They were socializing trying to recover from the last 10 miles of pushing. Had a guy on a recumbent make comment about the fenders being cool (He had them as well) and when the rain started we were set.

The teams catch me about 2 miles out from the stop, At 2 miles out (22 mile mark) we start into a 3 mile long hill........and it starts raining lightly. Half way up the weaker ones start dropping including the woman that made the lunch comment. I gear down to 36 front and 19 rear and pass them as they are trying to push the lowest gears they had at about 42/22. 30 mile rest stop their strong riders Are wrapping it up and leaving when I pull in. I take 10 minute break during which the weaker riders pulled in along with a 70-80 year old lady that was just kick ass to see toughing it out on that hill.

Never saw the weaker ones again. 40 mile stop the rain is picking up and I cough up with the stronger riders that included the majority of the ones that made comments about my trunk bag LOL. They left out a little before me. by 50 mile stop we pulled in about the same time as I was catching them on the hills. 55 miles I left 2 of the 7 strong ones from the 12 member team and 3 of the 8 member team wheezing on the hills including two of the "bad asses" that made most of the comments..

I was loving it! So in the end of the 25 or so that passed me in that big group I ran down all but about 8 by the time we got back on the rollers. They were hard core and beat me to the end even with my 10 minute lead. A couple of the ones I passed made comments about how I killed them on the hills when we finished. I had their respect at the end. I had a big grin on my face after that. I didn't point out the fact that I am a heart attack survivor that smoked for 20+ years on beta blockers with three stints....Just that "I picked the right bike for the ride". On a flat I NEVER would have cough these folks but it isn't flat here.

10 Wheels

You sure can write as well ride.
Nice report.

mikeybikes

Big newbie question... what's a "fred"?

Sounds like a fun ride btw.

jaxgtr

Someone that does not fit the carbon bike riding racer model, yet has fun on whatever they ride.

Grim

Fred is da man!
For some reason the roadies have taken it as a down to call somebody a Fred. The fact is Fred is a real person and alive and well living in Athens GA. He will be 98 years old in November. In the 30's he rode around the world.

Its funny but if I had not been on that ride I would have hopefully been meeting him. Fred Birchmore trail day was this past Sunday as well. I had some inklings to drive to Athens after the ride but I was too beat. If I had somebody to do the driving I would have gone.

Story goes somewhere in Europe Fred managed to end up in the middle of a race and ran all the other riders down in nearly full pack and beat them to the end of the race. The bike he rode is in the Smithsonian.

I still need to pick this up but it is in his book I am told.

https://www.amazon.com/Around-World-B.../dp/1887813128

More about Fred:
https://media.www.redandblack.com/med...-2572547.shtml
https://www.onlineathens.com/stories/...70721041.shtml

bikegeek57

oh that was an excellent report. I was out there too. Probably saw you heading out. I was in the 31 mile group leaving about 8:30. First time in such a large crowd it was fun. Dropped a few, got passed by a few and kept my pace. I did see that 70-80 year old gal. She was a trooper. She fell on one of the long steep hills in front of us when her shifting hung up. She popped back up on the bike and kept on going. Amazing. As I am a regular commuter I knew I was not going to be racing. That weather did give me some moments but nothing serious. Could have been much worse. I was not ready for the metric having only started in January to ramp up the distance. It was well organized I thought with the road signage. I truly hate getting lost in parts unknown. The signs were great. No worries.

jyossarian

Riding everyday does have its benefits. Most serious racers would consider our miles "junk miles" which is fine, but 95% of the cyclists you see on these mass tours are not serious racers. So when you ride up a hill one/no handed while encouraging your friends to "keep going!" by telling them "it's just a molehill!", and insisting the headwind is there to "cool you down!" you get some funny looks from all the other people suffering around you, especially the poseur roadies. Especially if you look like the exact opposite of a serious racer and the bike you're on is rusting out beneath you. This may or may not have been my experience at the 5BBT a few weeks ago.

JeffS

You rode a hundred miles to work?

Barrettscv 

Great write up of a great ride. I'd rather be David than Goliath. Or should that be Fred and not (fill in the blank)?

bbeck

great story

riff

Wonderful write up...

And congrats on a great ride - and your lifestyle - far from the heart problems you used to have!

Hydrated

Grats Grimster!

You obiviously are benefitting from all of that exemplary behavior and clean living!

jsmithy

Great story. I have similar experiences with the roadies around here on my Stratus XP.

Cycho

Fixed

supercycle62

Speaking as a "Fred" ( I ride junk and love every minute being able to do so) I have to say that was a great report and thanks for sharing your experience. I love to read about people having fun on their bicycles! I personally don't ride long distances anymore but stories like these are an inspiration. I am inspired right now to hop on my bike and ride down to the Pizza Shop!

Randochap

Interesting read. Keep rolling. Best wishes from another survivor.

Grim

I left out at 7:45 ish. Blue T700 Cdale with a MTX with a silver rain cover and silver SKS fenders. The closest thing I saw to my bike was a guy on a 80's Trek with a Blackburn rack. He had also made a joke about my cooler but He actually was pretty cool about int and we ended up running about the same pace and finished about the same time.

I did not hear how many were on the 62 mile run but they were back to the porta potties when I decided to take off so as not to get stuck in the.

I know a couple people on my team did the 100. Maybe next year I will be up to that.

I have a donation that was weird. I posted I was riding on a truck forum I am on and one guy said $2 each mile and he wanted a picture of my odometer and me at the finish line to claim it. He said he was mailing the $124 check Monday. See if he makes good but I think he will or he will get "Wenzeled".

Man I hope I have that in me when I am her age. When she came rolling into that 30 mile stop after pulling that hill coming up Hwy 70 everybody was cheering her on. She had a big grin on her face. I saw her come in at the end and had hoped to talk with her but didn't get a chance.

deburn

I had no idea the term Fred was based on an actual person. I checked out the links you have: He is an amazing person - I am going to read his books too. Just one excerpt from redandblack.com:

" he could walk the length of Sanford Stadium's field on his hands."

Grim, great story (about your ride I mean), loved it!

deburn

better than driving there

Rob_U

Fred's Bike:

https://americanhistory.si.edu/onthem...bject_310.html

EatMyA**

Well what do ya know? i guess I learned something new today.

By the way did you know that Fred once got stuck in the pyreneese with two broken deraileurs on 52/13....He rode them like that. True story. He also carryed a refrigirator on his back, when he cycled from New York to Hollywood. True story

Great write-up Grim I loved it too.

Fremdchen

Bad a** Grim! What a great story!

subclavius

Freds rule

Buglady

Right bike for the job will win every time . Want serious distance, get a touring or randonneur bike, not a racing machine. Sure, you'll be ten minutes slower, but infinitely happier. I'm not of the belief that cycling should hurt - we're out here to have fun, aren't we??

I rode a metric century a couple of weekends ago with friends - just a casual one though, I was NOT cruising at 15 mph - ten at best! I was on my 1985 touring bike, complete with downtube friction shifters, plastic fenders, Blackburn rack and single pannier to hold the five or six extra layers that spring rides in Alberta demand (not to mention the multiple snacks that *I* demand!). But I was in good company since my friends had similar bikes, except Machka with her gorgeous Marinoni. We had rolling hills that made me VERY grateful for my triple ring up front! I was just glad I didn't have to walk any hills... I did that too much last year...

(I think at this point if I actually tried to ride a full-carbon racing bike I'd simply implode).