BengalCat

What an embarrassment!

The other day I was out on a 50 mile ride over one of the many routes I ride. I was on a flat stretch about 15 miles into the ride. The segment was riding west to the oceanfront. There is almost always a moderate to heavy head wind on that particular stretch. I covered the section averaging 16.5 MPH with a max speed of 18.3 MPH. I was a quarter of the way into the segment when a young guy, (I’m 70), passed me on his road bike. Normally, such events by fit younger road cyclists are expected and reoccurring. But…this guy was pulling his toddler or infant kid in some two wheeled baby carriage tied by a cable to the back of his bike. After passing me he constantly pulled away the rest of the segment.

A hall of shame moment.

Biker395 

lol.

When my son and I did the Tour of Palm Springs a few years ago, we finished immediately behind a guy on a handcycle.

trailangel

Chances are he cannot maintain that speed. When the young ones pass me without so much as a "hello", I yell at them..."Hey, you just passed a senior citizen!"

GlennR

Went out with my 25 year old son and he smoked me on a climb. I was on a 14# bike and he was on a 27# bike.

It's good to be young.

TriDanny47

I hope the smiley emoticon means you aren't really embarrassed, but writing/saying this tongue in cheek.

Let's see ... Part way through a 50 mile ride into a strong headwind at age 70 ... In a country where morbid obesity and the diseases it brings are rampant ... You realize you are probably in the top 10% of American men your age in physical fitness if you can ride 50 miles?

Nothing to be embarrassed about IMHO. You're out there doing what most Americans can't ... And worse yet, won't .... After all, cycling (or any fitness activity) is "hard" compared to the 64 ounce Super Big Gulp or Double Whopper with cheese bicep curl.

OldsCOOL

Sleeper. He was using the toddler trailer as a training method.

Wildwood 

A few years ago was on the Olympic Peninsula riding a century, I passed a unicyclist - an old guy, he was doing the same route. Humbled, but short of shamed.

Lightingguy

Saw a guy on the NYC Century a few years back. We were in the process of carrying our bikes up the stairs onto the Triborough Bridge. At this point we are 75 miles in.

This guy was on a mt. bike towing a kids half bike with a 7 yr. old. Attached to that was a Burley with a toddler. Of course he had to disassemble and reassemble the whole apparatus and do it twice (two sets of stairs). I've no idea if he finished the 100, he might have bailed on Wards Island. But 75 with all that ?.

canklecat

A few months ago I was passed on a hill by a guy casually walking. Same guy I'd passed going the opposite direction, downhill, 15 minutes earlier. Okay, sure, I'd only just resumed bicycling a couple of weeks earlier, and was huffing and puffing in the granny gear. But, still...

John E

It was a somewhat similar incident that led to my double century run in 1972. I was out cycling in Santa Monica and began chatting with a couple of other 20-somethings I had encountered along the way. A little while later a gentleman with a white goatee and a white Mercier blew past us. When one of my newfound friends joked, "Are you going to let an old guy like that pass you?," I replied, "No way," and broke away to take off after him. When the old guy told me I kept up a good pace, I told him, "That's supposed to be MY line to you." He became my cycling coach, part-time employer, and valued friend, and it was he who convinced me that I could tackle a 12-hour double century. We trained together for four months, including a few century rides and a memorable assault on Mt. Wilson, and I completed my one big athletic achievement in life, a 12:18 double century that June.

bruce19

Probably had a setup that allowed the toddler to pedal.

Cptimagine

How very true indeed ..... 61, here, and reailise I been in 34x34 jeans since the 70's . I blame cycling for that . You 70 year old dudes and ladies, are my heros ... This post made me laugh up coffee .

Rick@OCRR

BengleCat, you don't say which MUP you were on but if it was SGRT I think I've seen the same guy. He may even ride SART but I saw him SGRT just south of the bridge where Coyote Creek Trail intersects.

I was heading toward Seal Beach and saw him in front of me. Saw the baby trailer and thought I'd easily catch him. Didn't happen! So . . . I put in a massive effort, did catch and pass him but . . . I noticed he did have an electric motor assist, even though he was pedaling. If it was the same guy, as I suspect, no shame for you!

Rick / OCRR (I'm 65)

Biker395 

There is a middle aged guy in PV that does repeats to the radar towers in short pants and work boots ... and riding a department store MTB no less. I dunno how he does it, but he flies up that hill.

Do you remember the guy on Potrero on the Grand Tour a couple of years ago? He climbed it (~18% for about 0.9 miles) on a single speed strand cruiser in flip flops, wearing board shorts a straw beach hat.

Effin showoffs.

Barrettscv 

I attend the Dairyland Dare in Wisconsin almost every year. I'm usually very please to complete a 150km ride with about 7300 ft of climbing. Every year I say hello and eventually pass a gentleman on a Surly fat bike. He usually completes the 200km distance with 9100 ft of climbing.

Boudicca

My I-remember-this overtaking moment was on a cancer charity ride, when roadie me sailed up to this guy riding a heavy hybrid with a heavy child seat on the back. As I approached, I thought how silly he was, and how much better he would have done if he had taken the child seat off before he did the ride, which was a 2-day thingy with just over 100km of riding each day, or how maybe he should have splurged on a road bike like the rest of us.

Then I saw the hand-written sign on the back of the child seat.

"I'm riding for my son."

I cried.

Gerryattrick

Boudicca, as a man I obviously wouldn't have cried, but the wind could have caused my eyes to water.

To the Op, a similar thing happened to me a year ago on a hill I use to test how strong I'm feeling. I was struggling up the hill as usual when a young bloke about half my age overtook me, towing his young son in a bike trailer. To make it worse he didn't look as if he was struggling.

Rick@OCRR

No Vic, Don't remember that guy, however, I do remember a similarly festooned bloke riding Breathless Agony but . . . his cruiser had an 8-speed internal-gear hub. Might have been the same guy!

Rick / OCRR

K100Fran 

Are you sure he was towing a toddler and not a battery powered assist motor?

Viking55803

Top 10%? More like the top 1%!

ltxi

Disagree. I've come to really appreciate "maturity". Get to do what I want when I want and my behavior, once looked upon as totally freakin' nuts, is now viewed as eccentric.

Monoborracho

Some years back, when I was like 55 or so, we had a local run/ride event here in small town in CenTx. It was a 3 mile run, 10 mile ride, out and back. On my way out I was on my road bike when I met the local HS football linebacker, he with a D-1 scholarship, at the 3 or 4 mile point...me going out, him coming in.... on a Wal Mart type mountain bike. He had done 6 or 7 miles while I had one 3 to 4. I figure he was running close to 25+mph on a $150 bike.

derf36

Did a charity ride a few years ago with my brother. At the time it was the longest distance either of us had done and we were feeling pretty good about it. Maybe we should get one of those action shots taken by the photographers along the route as a memento of our achievement.

Got home, looked up the finish line photos on the organizers website. There we were, crossing the line, right in front of a lady riding a bike with a basket...

Didn't buy the pic.

big john

E-bikes are everywhere these days. Our group was passed on a hill by a chubby, shirtless guy on what looked like a cheap mtb. One of my friends was quite impressed with his "power" until I told her he had a motor.

On the other hand, one of the best climbers I knew would take his hardtail mtb on charity centuries and toy with other riders. Another friend tried to chase him and it was comical to watch.

Martian63

Used to be embarrassed by the 100 pound girls that would pass me on their tri-bikes then I figured that observing them from behind was not a bad thing.