I just ride from Kingston Pike to where the divided road ends at Scenic. If it's real cold I don't even ride that far. I omit the hills and just ride the flat part.

I call it the Boulevard de Freds because there's generally not a lot of real fast riders there. In other words, I don't often get passed.

Springtime on the Boulevard

http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicv/vfiles9236.jpg

Hey coasting,

Why are you not cycling anymore?

Do you have broken bones, like gsteinb?

i went swimming this evening. what a stupid sport. you know you could die whilst swimming unlike cycling.

After sunday's ride, I noticed a very slight twinge in my hamstring tendon. Not inflammed noticably and not constant pain, but a couple of times when i lifted with my leg i felt it. I recognised it from the major problem i had last year that needed physio so I'm taking no chances for a week. I don't want to have a dodgy knee in 4 weeks time with a 100 mile sportive to ride.

Gary is back racing again. Moreover, do not take gsteinb's name in vain you lowly Fred.

You got that right Charlie.

no point sucking up to him. he has you on ignore list

you can say what you like about him and we wont tell

Hey coasting, if we meet @ Heathrow, and I call you 'Chuck', will you slug me? Or will the mere sight of me reduce you to a blubbering, emotional Brit pile of friggin mush?

i'll get them to do an invasive body search on you. wait...you might actually like that.

where are those junior high school kids that hang around this thread?

If I could swim I might try one of those short triathlons.

Two out of three doesn't cut it.

i bought a wheel truing stand today. VAT is going up. I'm loading up on any supplies that are unavoidable purchases in the next 5 years. Hunker down, boys. It's going to be a rough time.

I am Greek after all.

Hey, those Euros are taking a page from Herbert Hoover's book. And we all know how that turned out.

Kick 'em when they're down I always say.

Yesterday when I was in the shop I saw a scale. I summoned the courage and stepped up on it for measurement.

What was it?

<drum roll>

156.5 pounds

Read it and rue, you blimpies--you'll never be as lean and mean as Velo Vol.

That will only make watching my Scott recede into the distance on the first hill we ride together all the more disconcerting for you.

There are duathlons for people like you.

I may not be as lean or mean, but I am faster, which is the true metric used to measure the sport of cycling.

I looked into a sprint tri, it was $70 plus the $10 one day license and that is with me owning my own wetsuit (that would be an additional $40 if you didn't have one)

$80 was a little too steep for me for < 1.5 hours of "racing"

Downhill only, on account of your greater mass.

I was a team participant in a triathlon a few years ago (cycling leg). Only 18 miles. The registration is kind of a rip off only riding that far.

Does anybody else live in a place where there are persistent and unavoidable 10-18% grade hills all over the place? Most of them are no longer than 800-1600 meters long (there are a couple of longer climbs, but you have to seek them out), but there are a ton of steep ball buster grades. I'm used to it, it's part of the daily riding here, but it does occur to me that some slightly overweight Fred from a flatter area might have quite a hard time with this terrain. That's why I try to get skinny, every pound I lose makes all those crushing little hills easier.

When I first started riding again 5 years ago, there were routes I avoided because of this terrain. Not now, I'm just used to it. That's how Mt. Doom got its name, trying to climb the hill up to my driveway when I was 20-30 pounds heavier and I was trying to get used to 30-50 mile rides again - there were days that could really suck, three 15%+ sections over a mile. Of course now I ride up it 250+ times a year.

So when I go to Greece and they have more sustained big mountain type climbing, I like it. I can settle into a rhythm on a 5+ mile long climb with a consistent 5-10% grade. That's tough to do on many of the hills here.

i wonder why they are dualons and not biathlons. is it because the competitors woul be bi-geeks?

Hey, on the Nyack Ride, there's a longish descent (800+ meters) a couple of miles before the finishing climb. I was on the S2 with the Zipp 404s. I coasted from the back of the pack to the front. And half the guys I passed were pedaling. It's not because I'm heavier than all those guys. That bike/wheel combo is seriously aero.

It does occur to me that the only participant offering meaningful road cycling content to the stupid thread is myself. They should lock all of you idiots out of this thread and leave it to me.

Biathlon is already taken. That's the one with nordic skiing and shooting. So, there probably are people who identify as bi-geeks.

that is bull. the same thing happened to me on sunday. on every downhill i was rolling past the other guys and i decided i would always go to the front befor the downhill because they said it was just the draft. well, they couldn't stay in my draft going down. i just kept rolling ahead. I was on cheapo lowest of the low end shimano r500 wheels.