How good a cyclist are you ?

[Pmailkeey]

Interesting subject, but the following is likely not what you think.

I suspect you all think you're pretty good cyclists (well, those of you have been cycling for
years). Last Sunday, there was 5 of us on a ride - Solihull to Brum along the towpath. Ages: 61,
38(me) 18,17 &
15. The 17 & 18 year olds are the weak ones, but are fairly wild on their mountain bikes. We've
ridden together for a couple of years, summer and winter, day and night. Likely the only
mountain bikes with dynamo lights in the area.

My Brompton had them from new. The youngsters have full susp MTBs and the old man's is a rigid-
framed almost MTB.

On the aforementioned towpath, there's a patch of mud. Nothing at all to get excited about, and the
Brompton coped with it quite well. But the really odd thing was that those with more appropriate
bikes got off and walked through the mud !

It made me realise how much more experience I have than them of dealing with anything more tricky
than a hard surface !

Anyway, I didn't want to get my shoes muddy !
--
Comm again, Mike.

 

[Ben]

pmailkeey wrote:
> Interesting subject, but the following is likely not what you think.
>
> I suspect you all think you're pretty good cyclists (well, those of you have been cycling for
> years). Last Sunday, there was 5 of us on a ride - Solihull to Brum along the towpath. Ages: 61,
> 38(me) 18,17 &
> 15. The 17 & 18 year olds are the weak ones, but are fairly wild on their mountain bikes. We've
> ridden together for a couple of years, summer and winter, day and night. Likely the only
> mountain bikes with dynamo lights in the area.
>
> My Brompton had them from new. The youngsters have full susp MTBs and the old man's is a rigid-
> framed almost MTB.
>
> On the aforementioned towpath, there's a patch of mud. Nothing at all to get excited about, and
> the Brompton coped with it quite well. But the really odd thing was that those with more
> appropriate bikes got off and walked through the mud !
>
> It made me realise how much more experience I have than them of dealing with anything more tricky
> than a hard surface !
>
> Anyway, I didn't want to get my shoes muddy !

Because most of my cycling is on-road now, I've recently replaced my wide knobbly tyres with thin
slick things. They're much more efficient on-road, but I keep forgetting and riding through mud.
I've always got away with it (so far) but its *much* more ... ermm ... interesting with the
slicks on ;-)

 

[James Hodson]

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:13:28 +0000, Ben <[email protected]> wrote:

>Because most of my cycling is on-road now, I've recently replaced my wide knobbly tyres with thin
>slick things. They're much more efficient on-road, but I keep forgetting and riding through mud.
>I've always got away with it (so far) but its *much* more ... ermm ... interesting with the
>slicks on ;-)

Slip slidin' away Slip slidin' away You know the nearer your destination The more you're slip
slidin' away

James

 

[MartinM]

James Hodson <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:13:28 +0000, Ben <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Because most of my cycling is on-road now, I've recently replaced my wide knobbly tyres with thin
> >slick things. They're much more efficient on-road, but I keep forgetting and riding through mud.
> >I've always got away with it (so far) but its *much* more ... ermm ... interesting with the
> >slicks on ;-)
>
> Slip slidin' away Slip slidin' away You know the nearer your destination The more you're slip
> slidin' away
>
> James

I thought they did 'Sit Down'

 

[James Hodson]

On 25 Feb 2004 18:03:27 -0800, [email protected] (MartinM) wrote:

>I thought they did 'Sit Down'

Having, an hour or so ago, had a short trundle and seen the whiteness of the local roads, I'd say
that slip slidin' away is quite accurate.

>I thought they did 'Sit Down'

However, Get Down, as in Status Quo, is a completely different something or other.

James

 

[Pmailkeey]

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:13:28 +0000, Ben <[email protected]> wrote:

Because most of my cycling is on-road now, I've recently replaced my )wide knobbly tyres with thin
:slick things. They're much more efficient )on-road, but I keep forgetting and riding through mud.
:I've always got )away with it (so far) but its *much* more ... ermm ... interesting with )the
:slicks on ;-) )

I rode my racer with narrow tyres (not ultra-narrow) on chippings and enjoyed it sliding around a
bit ! I got quite used to steering while continuing in a straight line !
--
Comm again, Mike.