No, i cant relate to being bothered that a woman passed me on a ride.
Its a shame you are bothered by a woman passing you.

With that said, yeah i can relate to not wanting to admit my physical athleticism will only decline from here, and in 36. Played pickup basketball yesterday with a large group of 20 people of varying ages. Its frustrating to know i cant do what i want to do and used to be able to do, even just a couple years ago.


Getting old is lame and it can be tough to accept, but a woman passing you shouldnt be why you get frustrated.

You are 50...any chance you have a teenage to 20something daughter like many your age? Hopefully you dont see them as inferior and unable to accomplish feats of athleticism like passing a 50yo man who says he isnt fast.

Got passed by a girl in a bikini yesterday. I initiated pursuit when my stoker piped up and said "she's not your type".

it's sometimes tough, riding with your wife, eh? :D

On a group ride riders are generally expected to pull through and take their turns at the front.

+1

Have you tried EPO or HGH? I hear it's a thing in SoCal with Masters racers. :lol:

No, not really. I like when she passes me, and I can draft to save energy. Works pretty well on a 200, 300, 400...

There are plenty of women in randonneuring who are faster than me. I have no problems with that at all.

Yeah, that's fast. I often ask myself, if my life depended on it, could I ride 10 miles in calm air at 25mph. I don't think so. Maybe at my best years ago.

Fitness and talent can be unexpected like you say. I have met riders like yourself who are remarkably fast. Wouldn't pick them out of a line up. There is one guy who rides with our club who can only be described as fat. Most guys in our group are fit looking skinny guys even though many of us are old. He by contrast is seriously fat. But he is so fast on a bike. Honestly, I think he could drop me on the flat if he tried hard enough. Maybe not in the hills though. He is so flexible. He lays his fat body flat to the top tube and just flies mile after mile. His pulls in front are some of the strongest in the group. A real outlier.

I grew up swimming competitively too many years ago. This past winter at the pool...I swim about everyday....I met a young champion swimmer and we became friends. Once we started talking about stroke mechanics, I learned this young man knew more than me. Honestly I was astounded and eventually asked him to coach me...and I have always been the coach in the pool. We raced all kind of races and handicaps...he is 18 years old and off to swim for his college in the fall. He could beat me at every stroke and sometimes giving up a substantial spot. He is just so fast and has amazing form. Unexpectedly, he taught me so much about mechanics and I have taught hundreds how to swim different strokes. He is being coached with the latest techniques and was a talented swimmer at age 8 and I didn't start being coached until I was 12.

He knew I was a cyclist and he likes cycling but never rides...does a bit of BMX like other young kids...but as a butterflyer he has great cardio and is very strong throughout his body. He wanted to ride with me and I believe drop me like he can in the pool as I am over 3 x's his age. So I set him up on my back up roadbike and off we went for a 30 mile ride with some other cycling friends in tow for evidence. I silently was pretty sure I was going to drop this kid as I have so many college age kids on bikes, but was going to be interesting because this young man is so fit. As you suggest Doge, cycling fit is a bit different. I could literally ride away from him. At first he was going to try to drop me right off the bat, and he sped up to 25mph where the other guys were falling back and I held his wheel and he went anaerobic and then I simply rode away from him. We had several races throughout our ride once he caught his breath. It wasn't close. So there is being fit and there is being cycling fit and most here on the forum know. The miles and speed in the pool this young man does, I couldn't have done in my prime as a swimmer. He is so fast, fit and strong. But on the bike is a completely different matter. But I am sure with training he would drop me on the bike...well maybe. ;)

To me this whole passed thing is way over blown. To take this seriously and honestly I don't get it but I have been at this a long time. I have met some good riders getting caught and then I ride with them trying to keep up. I get bored on the road and so meeting new riders...boy or girl and then riding along and even speeding up is no affront anybody. I like to see if I can keep up with different riders. Sometimes I can and on occasion I get dropped. I admit to being a bit of a sand bagger on a bike. I normally don't train that fast and if riders like to up the pace, I simply try to match their pace. I have had riders even attack me on the road which I always have fun with. I have had guys jump out of the saddle and try to drop me and when I speed up and match their speed, I normally pull up and make a joke because its so silly.

Like I said, most woman are slow on the bike and even the one's that drop into our group are the weakest riders. But that's ok because we are big on diversity. :p


A couple of days ago I passed a pretty young girl on a hybrid. She was averaging about 19mph which was ridiculously fast for how she was riding. She was pushing a big gear and riding real upright. I told her as I went by, if she was on a roadbike and turning high cadence more properly, she would have serious speed. Nice girl and very fit and by far the exception in strength.

Some strict Amish sects view the bicycle as forbidden. IIRC, it's because of the drivetrain. There are some such sects further west in PA and maybe a few left in Lancaster County. (Some Amish have left area and moved to places like MN, where land is less expensive and there is less modern development.) They do, in fact, ride scooters.

Amish...male and female ride bicycles in the town I live...but as expected, none don their racing kit out on the road, only in private.

Have you ever been passed by a guy? Did it bother you? (If you've already answered this...apologies.)

Yeah no.

https://s15-us2.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/...7c32a4a68ce8c1
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...yn_Jenner.jpeg

low T:

Get well soon.

To be intellectually honest, you know they get their freak on. Many own power meters in fact even on their Huffy's.


Sadly, the kid below got a penalty for drafting his team car:

For those betting on how long before mentioning my son...
He's try hard to recruit kids for the "club" cycling team in college. They have bikes for them etc. The two latest recruits are a very fit runner (in the 2 hours and...) and a competitive cross country skier. He found the skier riding who was cross training. He's trying to get the TTT (4 person team) as fast as he can by April. It will be interesting to see if these guys can be as fast as the less fit, more experienced cyclist. There are lots of factors from dedication to talent. I'll report back.

There was a time (1980s) when anyone with "tri-bars" was not allowed to pass without generating some reaction from serious cyclists. Over time, maybe just aging, having a racer kid, I care little who passes me. The whole HGH, T, trans and even motors doesn't bother me at all - outside of racing (in-racing it bothers me a lot).
I'm getting used to the motors now. I'm often passed by some mountain biker and think - they have a motor. And usually they do. We live/bike on the major access to a major surf spot and many cruiser/MTB have motors - and boards on their bikes. MTB with girl in wet suit, surf board on the side going 20+ mph up a hill is an indicator there may be a motor (is that sexist?). But when some of these same riders take an extended trip without the surf board, on the flats and you have to look/listen well to tell and some are fast.
Anyway, lots of reasons to be passed these days, I think much less of it, but being passed still riles people up - it is a thing, but a thing I see more in inexperienced riders.

My point exactly.

Its a bit sad to see so many are confused about gender recently.

I've NEVER seen a female rider chase after a male rider after being passed, although if its another female rider, then all bets are off.

At least I know where she is when I'm riding.

I throw the BS flag on this. I can't think of any 50yr old person I know that writes a petty statement like this.

This thread is full of equal parts masogyny, Fredliness, trolling, and average speed insecurities. I'd say it has the legs to turn into a classic! Well done to all.

We have a local lady who is a pro on the Hagens Berman Supermint team. She's passed me plenty of times, in training races and out on the road. I think it's awesome and it's fun to see her mixing it with the cat1/2 dudes in local races.

The original post seemed as honest as any to me. What particular statement was petty - and since when were 50 year-old folks not that way? Seems to me that introspection and questioning are par for the course when a mature person starts getting serious about some endeavor or pastime.


I'll try again: my take is that the guy was somewhat surprised by his reaction, and not sure where it was leading. He thought he was pretty good, then when he got passed by a young woman, he got an uncomfortable feeling that made him question whether some new competitive streak had arisen or if he was merely realizing that he was declining and not as good as he thought. I didn't read it as though that was the first time he was passed by a woman, just that it was the first time he remembers being bothered by it. It's called introspection. If anything is petty, it's all this jumping on the "don't be such a sexist, I know some really fast women" bandwagon.


If I've gotten over being "chicked," it's not because I've gotten over any sexist attitudes per se, it's because, over time, I've gotten a better sense of how broad and multi-dimensional the gamut of cycling abilities is, where I fit on it generally, and what my intentions are when I go for any particular ride. Women assertively pass me all the time when I'm on a Citibike. It doesn't bother me a bit, in fact I find it quite amusing.