L
Luigi de Guzman
Guest
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 20:33:02 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
>> I don't ever want to take a "training" ride...ever. I just want to
>> ride my bike.
>
>You see? That's the 'tude I'm talking about!
>
>I have joked to my clubmates that I race so that I will be able to
>commute faster. It's truer than you might think. There's something
>liberating about knowing how seriously quick my commute times now are; I
>have seen my average speeds over my 11.5 km commute go up by 4-6 km/h in
>two years. I find that at some point it makes riding a bike in traffic
>easier and more fun when you're fast enough to keep up.
In town, I keep up just fine, I guess. For short trips, I'm as fast
or faster than the other vehicular traffic.
It's been a weird feeling lately, the few times I've been able to pass
cars on the left (OK, they were slowing down to make a right turn).
And I admit it's a lot of fun (although probably dangerous) to race
cars down my block and find the drivers somewhat surprised to see a
fat kid holding them at 20, 25, 28...30! miles an hour. Then they dig
deep into the fossil fuels, and I run out of steam.
My friend--who is similarly built and newer to cycling (compared to
me)--keeps talking with worrying seriousness about starting a racing
team with me. I keep telling him that the crack that he is
undoubtedly smoking is clouding his judgement of my riding abilities.
(To say nothing of endangering his chances for real competition).
So, race, me? No. Not next season, either. Probably not even the
season after that. Or the one after that.
I'd need to lose about half my weight and double my power output,
probably.
O for a velodrome! I wonder how it feels to ride a kilometer on a
banked track.
-Luigi
>
>As one of my benchmarks, I try to outrun an express bus over a
>net-uphill section of my commute. I usually win.
wrote:
>
>> I don't ever want to take a "training" ride...ever. I just want to
>> ride my bike.
>
>You see? That's the 'tude I'm talking about!
>
>I have joked to my clubmates that I race so that I will be able to
>commute faster. It's truer than you might think. There's something
>liberating about knowing how seriously quick my commute times now are; I
>have seen my average speeds over my 11.5 km commute go up by 4-6 km/h in
>two years. I find that at some point it makes riding a bike in traffic
>easier and more fun when you're fast enough to keep up.
In town, I keep up just fine, I guess. For short trips, I'm as fast
or faster than the other vehicular traffic.
It's been a weird feeling lately, the few times I've been able to pass
cars on the left (OK, they were slowing down to make a right turn).
And I admit it's a lot of fun (although probably dangerous) to race
cars down my block and find the drivers somewhat surprised to see a
fat kid holding them at 20, 25, 28...30! miles an hour. Then they dig
deep into the fossil fuels, and I run out of steam.
My friend--who is similarly built and newer to cycling (compared to
me)--keeps talking with worrying seriousness about starting a racing
team with me. I keep telling him that the crack that he is
undoubtedly smoking is clouding his judgement of my riding abilities.
(To say nothing of endangering his chances for real competition).
So, race, me? No. Not next season, either. Probably not even the
season after that. Or the one after that.
I'd need to lose about half my weight and double my power output,
probably.
O for a velodrome! I wonder how it feels to ride a kilometer on a
banked track.
-Luigi
>
>As one of my benchmarks, I try to outrun an express bus over a
>net-uphill section of my commute. I usually win.
