I don't know about other bikers, but I'm always up for a race. Just say " hey lets race to X" X being whatever, the next pole, next street, or next county. There are lots of slow bikers out there, riding all sorts of bikes.

stupidest thread of 08 so far

You must have missed the "why spoke cards" thread. Or any of the multiple "best tires for skidz cause brakes are for chumps" threads.

+1

Thats the whole point of this thread. Today I passed some dude near the top of a long climb and he was riding a carbon TREK with TREK shorts and a TREK jersey. I said "hey dude" as a rode by him. He said nothing.

the only reasons you only see slow roadies is because thats all you can pass- any logic there?

As far as I know, its better to go mid pace for 4 hours, then fast for 1 hour.

Who would have thought that you'd find a roadie appreciation thread here ?

:lol:

I think that at least half of the serious and regular posters here are actually roadies themselves, who own fixed gear bikes and appreciate the irreverence of this particular forum.

I mean, it's a lot easier to keep up here than the road forum, where if you ride to work and don't own carbon wheels, you're a "Fred," even if you log 10,000 miles per year and take a podium or two every season.

^ +1

I ride all kinds of bikes, ride on the road, do long road rides but want to murder innocent bystanders everyone someone mentions some ridiculous part that has been made with carbon fiber for no friggan reason.

I get more satisfaction passing 15000 dollar cars on the road because it seems to piss off drivers. I usually can't do it if the speed limit is over 25, but since all of the roads in this town are 25, it's not a problem.

I like steerer tube spacers made of carbon fibre, real weight savers

true... the other day I was riding home on a 55mph speed limit road. towards the end of this road there is an intersection where freeway traffic exits on to this road. The line of cars was about a mile long, It just felt so good screaming by everyone in their deathmobiles.

oh snap!

Hahaha.

True story so true.

I'm young and cocky and tend to push till the last second so I usually don't tend to get passed by people who aren't in a group that I started with.

Sometimes by myself I'll push myself hard enough on a work out and won't be able to go fast; under these shameful conditions I am very passable on the way home :o

+1 I've always found the anti-commuting sentiment in some roadie circles to be weird as hell...

Pfft, the real weight savings are in water bottle cages:

http://www.zipp.com/OnlineStore/Acce...me,ProductName

:roflmao:

what is trolling?

wait are you serious???!!! Why in the world are they against commuting?!

Commuting is supposedly "junk miles", or riding that does not increase your fitness if you are already fit. So, they drive to work. That's the mindset for ya, right there.

Re: Junk miles

I often treat my commute like a TT and given the right condiions have covered my 13 km urban commute in as little as 23 minutes... that gives me an average speed of 33 kmh over that distance. This ride normally takes me between 25 and 30 minutes in the summer as it's not every day you manage to hit every light and manage to avoid traffic snarls.

Commuting accounts for 12 of the 16 thousand kilometres I rode in 07 and during some of those other 4000 kilometres I was able to pull off a sub hour 35... on a fixed gear touring bike that has no carbon and very little else but steel in it's construction. It hits the curb at 32 pounds before I add a speck of gear.

I will be back on those roads next summer and will be looking to improve on that with a much lighter, albeit geared road bike and will also see what I can do on my fixed road bike... these are both significantly lighter than the touring bike and run taller gears.

I figure all those junk miles must have something to do with how I ride and I do put in as many miles as many good road cyclists and ride moire than most people I know.

But I'm still a Fred.

I don't drive and ride or was riding every day until I was sidelined with a back injury.

Pretty much mander said it. A lot of roadies don't consider it "real biking" and therefore don't do it. The only real rides are training rides and races. Bikesnob has satirized this notion a bit. I know an LBS owner who coaches the local university cycling team and raced back in the day who proudly tells everyone how he doesn't commute... haha.

Yup that's me. I know better than to race some of those guys. They're wearing lycra and training for race while I'm wearing a hoodie and going to the bar.

I have also known to be powered by booze and caffeine...

:)

same here, but not on a fixed gear quite yet

Well its simple isn't it. The people that move up (yes up) to a fixed gear, are usually fit young guys who have had heaps of years experience with other bikes, and probably commute as well. In other words, really strong riders.

The people who ride road bikes are usually weekend cyclists who don't commute and not as young or as fit or a man. (cause admit it how many girls ride fixies). In other words, not as strong riders.

The other reason is that gearing and freewheel makes you lazy. Its like the old saying: Why stand when you can sit! Why struggle in a high gear, when you can coast or ride in an easy gear. Riding in a 48-16 or something makes you a strong rider for the simple fact that to maintain a decent crank rotation speed, you need to be going to 30 - 35 kilometers an hour, and a normal cyclist just doesn't keep it up that high.

lisita -

I started riding a fixed gear at 41 after gaining heaps of experience riding geared and ss bikes and finding that I wanted more. I would agree that the majority of fixed gear riders tend to be < 30 but most of these younger riders don't have that much experience with bikes... this is where age is an asset.

I live a car free life so the majority of my transportation is done with my bikes, usually fixed.

I have built nearly as many fixed gear bikes for women as I have men and many of these "girls" are as strong a riders as I have ever seen.

Most cyclists don't ride 30-35 kmh and I include fixed gear riders in that category... I have to spin my fixed road bike at 100 rpm (with 77 gear inches) to maintain that speed (and can) but most folks are not in that kind of shape to run that kind of gearing over any distance.

70 gear inches seems to be the average gearing for anyone who uses their bike for serious transportation although I rocked 81 gear inches for better than 4000 km and didn't really have any issues.

Many of the guys I ride with think I am an animal.

In reality, I just ride more than they do.

:)

endurance

Nonsense. Fixed gears are popular, and half the people I see on them I am willing to bet have not been on a bike since they were kids. They are hardly uniformly strong riders.

I'm calling bull****, I know plenty of weaker fixed gear riders. Your description of fixed gear riders may have been accurate maybe in the mid-later 90's. Not now though.

You know....cat 1, cat 2, cat, 3, cat 4, and even pros ride road bikes. Also, I've never seen a girl on a fixed gear bike. It must be that their girly knees snap when they try leg-over skids.

Why ride in a more reasonable gear? Because it's faster, better on the knees, more efficient. Riding a 48-16 makes you tire out quickly. Maybe you can get away with that gearing on flats, once you hit even rolling hills, it's just a matter of time till you blow up.