I have never come across a roadie (around town) who was content to just let me pass and continue on with thier ride. They always try and pass me. It's like they go "damn, I was going slow if the dude with panniers passed me" and speed up. At that point I usually kill myself making sure they can't keep up let alone pass.

It's a bit different when I'm out on a long ride or headed up the canyon, the guys out there are just doing thier thing (including me). On the way to work though, it's always a race and everyone knows it.

If you're disatisfied with roadies, try keepin up with tri-atheles.

Hey Kemmer... I hope you have not mistaken me for being a roadie... I'm a Fred.

And proud of it.

:D

Whats wrong with fixed riders, they dress like the homeless, and pass them all the time in hr zone one on my carbon bad arse road bike while in my team kit. It works both ways moron.

You just revealed your ignorance to anyone who knows the first thing about training, good job.

Whatever. Put us both on a fixed with 70 inches and I will mash you out of the hills and watch you spin out going down them.

Enlighten me. If you want to be fast, ride fast. Sure there's methods, but it can't be much more complex.

Some roadies are beasts...hands down.

nathbdp - Once again... the roadies you are meeting on the street are either poseurs or probably on their way to or from their natural habitat.

Try hunting them there and see what happens.

Just wait until you start seeing them go really fast, then all of a sudden they go really slow.

This is the prevailing philosophy: you ride base miles to build up an aerobic/endurance base in the first part of the training season. This is long/slow mileage to get you used to spending hours in the saddle and build your body from the ground up. You then progress to interval training where the real bells and whistles come in. And depending on what discipline (track!) you're doing, you may throw weight training into the mix as well. This is how most people that are racing train, and it's because its tried and true. The most interesting part is the intervals , because they give the most benefit for effort put out. They're way superior to just "riding fast all the time" as shown by sports physiologists and pro trainers. If you think about it, messengers are constantly doing intervals, all day everyday (atleast in a smaller city like Portland, I can't comment on places like New York)... speeding up for the pickup/dropoffs, slowing down to ride back to the coffee shop to wait for the next call, ad nauseum. Fast slow fast slow fast slow. This is great training for what they're doing, not necessarily what you would want to do to prepare for an 80 mile road race though.

:lol:

I hate to bring this up agian...
http://www.billrini.com/wp-content/u...ain-morans.jpg

Team Astana began has been training in Albuquerque since earlier this winter.

And to answer your question nathbdp, they're just a bunch of wimpy *******. Those roadies just ride around in some stupid low gear. They spin so fast and go so slow I don't think they know what they're doing. I was thinking I'd just mash my 49x16 gear past them to let them know what's up.

But seriously. Seeing them put in hundreds of miles with that sort of RPM inspired me to gear down to 43x18. Spins out at about 30mph but I can still pull uphill at 2/3 that speed. And sure, there's plenty of weekend warriors but they're easy to spot as their cadence is usually shoddy. I've made the mistake of picking a wrong fight with a roadie and getting myself dropped within a minute at 27mph or so.

A bunch of roadies stopped to see if me and my friend(us both in rolled up jeans and flannel shirts) to see if we needed help when my friend got a flat about 10 miles outside of town on this bike path today. Granted, we didn't, but they were all real nice people.

We always have tons of roadies riding on the bike path that goes through my campus because it's such a nice, long path. A lot of them are just like people with a lot of money, but half the time I get smoked whenever I try and race them(and i'm sure the ones who I beat are either freds or didn't realize I was trying to race them).

And you know this how? Because you can tell by this thrilling debate on the internet? How do you know this guy isn't second coming and produces wattage you can't comprehend? We have a guy on our team who is an ex World Champion in the 500m pursuit, for 500m he's pretty f'n fast, after that he tends to fade a bit. On a climb little skinny guys drop him (I'm talking real climbs, not some quick little roller).

Just because you've passed some roadies on your way to work at Starbucks doesn't mean that every roadie is slow. In the same way that I've passed guys on fixed and SS bikes doesn't mean I can drop all of them. This sort of logic may confuse you so please take some time to digest it...maybe ask a friend to help you.

sometimes they are doing intervals or warming up/down. when a true roadie turns up the heat you'll know. and the cadence deal is because you dont build up lactic acid as quickly: they dont just ride to the coffee shop and back

I get passed by real roadies and kick ass on freds on a daily basis. We all love fixed gear bikes but you have to admit that the legit roadies take it to another level. They take it serious, including diet and real training. Most of us are powered on booze and caffeine and are running a little low on sleep.

To anyone who rides fixed gear and thinks they are a badass, I suggest you go on a long training ride with real roadies. It will be a humbling experience.

In my one and only alleycat race, I repeatedly passed a messenger-type who ran every stoplight but had to ride real slow because he didn't have any brakes.

I got dropped today by a fellow fixed rider but I wasn't intending on racing. I was on my road bike doing laps in central park and was on my 2nd lap and he gets past me and I don't see him again. Thing is I had finished climbing the hill for the 2nd time on 110st and was a little tired but I didn't feel bad because I still had another 2 laps to go. The intensity that I was going previously had me a little winded.

I used to feel how you feel but after today I understand why it is easy for a fixed rider to get past with no issue if they are just passing by without any mindset on "I'm training."

What was fun was keeping up to/passing guys on the multi-$ bikes and I had this old beast to show em you don't always have to have that bling to go relatively fast (I have a shorter stem now and mtb clipless on it now)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2385/...8c1dde73_b.jpg
Now picture that AND me in sweat pants with a fanny pack and a loose jacket. It was def fun keeping up in everyday wear. The look on their faces seeing me shift with DT shifters and in my clothing was humorous but I was focused on completing the ride.

But the lesson was learned again that, though I can do that, I don't know how many laps they did before me or what they did the day before. Did I get a big head over it? No. Did I feel a little pleased about it? Yes. Could they smoke me if they tried? I'm sure they can. Unless you actually know what they did or are doing, it's best not to tute your own horn about your "progress."

thats a nice univega- i love the paint

Clearly because you are 'doping' you have an unfair advantage.

Until you've passed them ALL - I wouldn't class them ALL in the same boat.

Maybe they're coming back from a 180km loop.

I'm as much a roadie as a trackie as an ex-enger, and no matter what bike people ride, it's better to pass bikes than pass cars.

Wear a helmet tough guy.

thanks!

when were you in the park, man. we need to do laps together on our old road bakes

HASH!!!
dude- hook a brother up!
you must live in europe no? i never see shish on the west coast....

I was there from 9am-12noon. I'll be there every Sat at 9am for the next 10 weeks because I accepted into the NYCC youth program

I rode with Seattle Randonneurs today. I got dropped twice.

I get passed by fast people, slow people, fat people, skinny people and every combination of them. I almost always say hello and most of the time they say hello back. I try not to judge and I hope they are having as good a ride as me.

When I raced in the 80's a guy rode up beside me on a training ride and he was wearing rubber boots, work pants, a sweater and had a smoke hanging out of his mouth. He was on a 3 speed and said Hi to me and I could not keep up with him. I HAD done about 50 miles already but it wouldn't have mattered. I still laugh about that almost every time I go for a ride.

Yep. There are plenty of roadies, not to mention the vast armies of schlubs riding mountain bikes on the road, that are slow. And the vast majority of those that ride with aero bars ain't foolin' anyone. They are the biggest poseurs of them all. Real roadies don't have aero bars.


I ride geared, fixed, singlespeed, SA 3-speed. On the 76 mile ride I did yesterday, I was glad I chose the road bike.

As for passing other riders, just give them the "'sup" and a nod.

you gotta admit though. passing some guy on a 3500 dollar bike on your bike you got for free is a great feeling no matter how much he's ridden that day.