Roadies
 

Why are they so slow? I pass them all the time when im wearing normal clothes, a lock, and 5lbs of hash.

even those cats with the aero bars are slacking off. do they just suck?

i mean why dress up in all that tight clothing if ur just gonna go slow... ?

What is 'normal' clothes to you? Do you wear a white belt?

usually my weekend messenger garb. cut off bdus over tights, ALICE pack, sidis, and fanny pack.

my jacket matches my rear rim though

nobody wears white belts anymore...

I ride both road and fixed. I love them both, but my fixed gear takes a lot more crap. Keep in mind they might be on a recovery ride, or they could be freds. The tight clothing is more comfortable than jeans. Riding fixed can be faster on some parts, but that's really not an excuse.

Gah, what am I saying?

Catching people on a fixed gear with jeans on is fun :).

There are lots of roadie posers, sure, but try entering a cat 5 race and see how you do.

Unless everyone knows it is a race, it doesn't count.

i think its because they just don't care... they just wanna ride, not racing with random people...

u're the only one who care...

yeah. the REALLY slow ones are the team riders. i totally kill them in sneakers and jeans!

It might be the hash. Sobered up you might discover that you don't even ride a bike.

No finish line, not a race.

I would wager as both a "roadie" and a fixed rider that you're probably passing the same roadies that Im passing on my road bike.

There are LOTS of people who buy expensive ass bikes... wear the "uniform" just to go for like a 10 mile ride. Trust me. I used to work at a shop. I guess everyone has a different way of "living".

Not me though. I'll be the guy doing the passing thank you very much.

They're probably in mile 98 out of 100. It's not racing if you're the only one who knows it's happening.

Ya know,some of them might be on the way home after putting in a tough 100mi... Some of them might be on a relaxed 50 miler when they take it easy because they killed themselves in the hills the day before. How can you know?

this has been covered at least twice before, there is any number of reasons that you are passing them. When you start passing cars on the freeway I'll be impressed, until then please leave your ween stroking at home.

Exactly. Or on a recovery ride.

The fact that you didn't think of this probably means that most roadies can kick your ass even in mile 98 out of 100.

i outsprinted fabian cancellara with adidas and risers.

not cool until its in birkenstocks sandals and with a broom handle

Please. I find it hard to believe that 95% of roadies are on recovery rides. Admit it some people just don't ride hard.

It's like dressing up in a suit and not going to work. If you're gonna look the look, put some effort in.

n00bs.

I think your mistake is assuming that bicycle specific clothes are necessarily about speed.

I love my riding fixed gear, but I wouldn't be able to keep up with a rider of comparable fitness using a road bike on an open course. Not even close. Don't kid yourself.

Troll.

Troll.

I find it hard to believe you actually think they have any desire to keep up with you on your 10 minute around town ride. They have other stuff on their minds when they are in the middle of a 3+ hour ride during which they are training for something. When those guys want to race, they ride in races, go ride in an organized race with those guys and see how ya do.

I fail to find how they are going to win races when training at such low intensity.

Sure there are a few roadies I see who are pushing their limits, but only a few.

This time of year they are called "base miles". Learn about bicycles.

They're probably laying down some base miles.

[edit] Curses! Beaten to it! You win this time, barba.

Quote of the year?

Lots of "roadies" will never race. They won't enter an official race, and they sure as hell won't interrupt the middle of their afternoon ride to race you. They ride bikes because they love to ride, and they've got nothing to prove, especially not to you. If you pass someone who DOES race, try and hang with them for the rest of their 40+ mile ride. That oughta answer all your questions.

Thank you.

This happens with every group of cyclists... the folks who are high on bling and low on bang...the poseurs.

They like to look the part when they are hanging out at the trail head or are cruising down the street but the real mountain bikers and roadies will be where you don't see them... the roadies will be working on pulling down sub hour 40's and doing intervals and hill repeats and the mountain bikers will doing xc and tearing up the trails and singletrack with wanton abandon.

Go play in their world and see what happens.

I live and play in both worlds...

Of the 16,000 km I will ride in a year, 12,000 km are composed of commuting and utilitarian riding and the other 4000 km will be spent trying to pull down that elusive sub hour 40, working on improving my xc and singletrack skills, or pulling off one of many century rides.

I average 44 km a day for the year by riding 50 km a day in the nicer months and 30 km a day in the winter as I don't put in the road miles or hit the singletrack... the commute is enough work.

A few years ago, my riding buddy (who is half my age) was thrilled to have beaten me on one of the harder climbs we usually face on our weekly road rides and did not beat me by much... my other friend pointed out that we had ridden a fast and hard metric the day before and were just a wee bit tired.

:)

I do all of this on older or vintage bikes and in clothes that are just as suitable for walking around as they are riding... there is not a lot of lycra in my closet.

The fastest and strongest riders I know outside of the hard core roadies and mountain bikers are the commuters and bike messengers... they put the h in hard core.

I had a hipster, (and I really like you guys), try and have a pick up race with me while I was on my commute (I ride a fixed road bike)... after passing him he pulled up to my right and by doing so kept me out in the middle of a really busy street in rush hour.

I could have slowed down (I was doing 30 kmh) and fell in behind him but since I was a little pissed off at his behaviour and don't mind a little competition, opted to drop the hammer and dial things up a notch or two... I left him like he was parked.