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I am fat. I was on a big push with my trail running in February but had an infected sore on my foot, a blister also when I bought new shoes and (after letting that and work interfere for five weeks) I ended up triggering some sort of achilles tendonitis next time I went out.
So five weeks and counting of being purely sedentary plus hot cross buns because it was that time of year, I'm 10kg heavier than I was last year. Something had to change.
This week I got my road bike out to try and get some low impact exercise. Five days into this regime I'm out on my bike when I get passed by a club rider - butcher's dog fit, twenty years my junior and all the gear. To be clear, I don't have all the gear. I was in a pair of work shorts and a white cotton tee. I'm distinctly middle aged and nursing an injury and a bun belly.
He goes past but doesn't really pull away. I keep back with a respectful 1m between our wheels and he's checking his shoulder. There's a climb coming up and he's out of the saddle giving it medium beans; I'm sat in, dieseling my way up but really just doing what I'd be doing riding on my own. At the top he puts in a push but when that's over I've closed back in again, all the while sat in and doing my own thing. He starts waggling his elbow, then veers wide and says "take a turn then".
Now this is just silly. He's been in front but speeds on the hill and the distance I was keeping back didn't mean I had any sort of a tow helping me lug ma big bun belly up the hill. The only advantage I had was that I'm too fat to get out of the saddle and pretty much operate at a single level of perceived exertion; my ride had been threshold since kilometer 1. He thinks I've got some magic reserve of quinquagenarian voom that genuinely doesn't exist. Oh well, I don't really have the option; I'll just carry on doing my thing. On the downhill he overtakes me and pisses off.
And the joke of it all? His club top was for "Wheelsuckers".
There's numpties in every walk of life.
Enjoy your bike ride - I'm still hiding away with Covid and p*SS*d at losing another nice weekend...
"He goes past but doesn’t really pull away. I keep back with a respectful 1m between our wheels"
Hmmm, what do you call your chimp?
I'm lost as to the point of this?
Hmmm, what do you call your chimp?
Bubbles
If only I'd been there to see it.
I'd a run in with a couple of roadies today.
Was coming up to some lights which were just changing to green so no need to brake, doing about 20mph.
Im on the inside, theres a car on the outside, and 2 roadies behind. Just as i get to the lights, Roadie A decides to cross over the inside lane and onto the pavement and doesn't bother his arse to look left. Right in my path and me then hard on the brakes. FEEEEEEECK 😆 I did the mumbling bit at them but he seemed oblivious to what he'd done. Full roadie regalia but the road sense of a sponge.
I've been out on Mallorca for a few days on a roadie bike trip. A few of these blokes, all they ever talked about was heart rates, power, thresholds, FTP etc, and most of them don't race.
Not much contribution from the MTBer who's never even owned a heart rate monitor! Weird.
Roadies are weird, whaddayagonnado?
I’ve been out on Mallorca for a few days on a roadie bike trip. A few of these blokes, all they ever talked about was heart rates, power, thresholds, FTP etc, and most of them don’t race.
I thought Crosshair was doing the Dirty Reiver?
It's a mark of respect that he asked you this. It shows he thinks your capable and he wants to engage you.
Talking of Mallorca, I just came back from a holiday there, family not cycling but hired a car for a day and went into the mountains for an explore. Never seen so many cyclists on the mountain roads, from single to groups of 30 or so, all completely oblivious to cars and some winding all over the place. Must have overtaken 500 or do in a day. I assume it’s a nice place to ride but it’s a nightmare in a car!
I was out on my road bike for a gentle recovery spin when I passed some fat bloke, who, as they always do, tried to hang onto my wheel & prove something. After a few hundred yards he was wheezing away & sounded like he was about to have a coronary so for the sake of his health I applied a little gentle pressure to the pedals and left him.
2 sides to every story.
Eh! That isn’t the other side of that story in the slightest. OP was out for a solo ride and minding his own. Just seems like weird behaviour from the other guy to me. As for it being a mark of respect, that would entail the OP knowing that. Some people are just strange.
Must have overtaken 500 or do in a day. I assume it’s a nice place to ride but it’s a nightmare in a car
Mallorca is destination #1 for spring riding roadies. It's also where a lot of the pro-European teams have their winter training camps. It is to roadies as Morzine/Les Gets is (or was) to mountain bikers.
OP was out for a solo ride and minding his own
If the roadie overtook him & he then kept up the likelihood is that the OP accelerated. Otherwise we have a story where a young fit bloke is unable to ride faster than a middle-aged fat bloke. How does that work? I wasn’t there obviously, but we only have one version of this tale.
i was out on my bike earlier and passed an older guy who seemed to be struggling into a headwind, so as I passed him I eased up a bit and let him get on my wheel for a bit of a rest. He dropped back every time it went uphill so instead of pushing on I eased off on the downs and he got back with no bother. He didn't maximise the draught, as he was a metre or so back and I felt like telling him to get closer but didn't want to assume anything. After a while he seemed to be breathing a bit easier so I offered him a chance to take the front and feel like he hadn't been freeloading but he didn't want to so I then carried on. I hope he enjoyed the rest of his ride.
We have a story whereby a young fit bloke chooses to hang back from what I read.
Red mist affects everyone whether they admit it or not.
IME there are a few different types of roadie with different strengths and weaknesses related to their physiology.
Without being rude Larger chaps tend to operate like diesel traction engines; lots of torque at low revs, but many seemingly allergic to using sensible gears...
Then there's your spidermonkey with 1% body fat and the build of an 8 year old, can normally go all day on coffee and a bacon bap, get a bit more aero on the flat, and probably dance up a 4% incline, but when it gets steeper their power to weight advantage isn't always evident, and they might well pace themselves more for climbs, just because he's out of the saddle doesn't mean he's making a special effort.
There's nobody to corroborate the OP's tale but my guess is a bit of ego and more physical strength probably kept him in touch with someone who either wasn't pushing that hard or simply lacked the anaerobic capacity to tear his legs off on a steeper hill. It's no big deal TBH, happens all the time it wasn't a slight, different people just have different capabilities...
I was out in the car when I overtook two roadies faffing about. It happens all the time.
I was out in Mallorca road riding last week, it's awesome. Lots of riders enjoying themselves lots of car drivers being considerate and patient....you could tell who were the Brits though, getting all impatient in hire cars!
I got over taken by some, including Ben Swift resplendent in IEOS kit and British Champ jersey, he said hi and gave a laugh as I paced a young German (I think he was German, spoke German anyway) kid onto his wheel and then blew up....the kid didn't last much longer!!
Some funny habits from some riders, didn't see any Spanish do it but some Germans seem to think if you whistle at a dad escorting his 11year old down a switch backed pass we will somehow jump out of the way...er no O am here looking after my son, you sort yourself out. It was certainly how I rode solo and so did most that you gave slower descenders space and hoofed it past on a straight.
I was cycling up a hill on my Mtb with a large saw strapped to my back pack.
A roadie passed me and said “ good morning”.
Being of an age to remember Derek and Clive I’m not sure if I should be offended or not.
I was out on my bike riding through an orchard, alongside a dyke shrouded by trees, and ahead poking its head out of the trees/hedge was a fox and (I assume) her fox cubs. She just stared at me for some time as I got closer until finally darting back into the hedge. Caught a few glimpses of the little fox cubs as I went past. I didn't shoot them.
If you’re out on your bike & you pass my mate, please say hi. He gets pissed off when like minded people (cyclists) pass him & don't speak, if you don’t speak it’ll turn into a race. He’ll do his utmost to latch on to your rear wheel, stay there till the next climb the pass without a word. This happens quite often.
I just hang back (cos I can’t do much else) & think, ‘oh crikey, here we go again’.
Silly roadie.
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