Someday i too will be hardcore ha ha!

[Mr. Beanz]

So I ran into this guy, everybody say she talks bikes all the time. So I tell the guy I ride too, have for the last 20 years consistently. I told him though I have done a few timed events, I consider myself a fun recreational rider.

He say, "OH NO! I'm pretty hardcore!". Then he says he rides road, offroad, touring bikes, cross bikes, all that good stuff.

So I said, "so then you have done GMR, it's a nice ride!? He says no never done it but wants to. Hasn't done the 8 mile 2300 climb. Hmm, even my wife has done the 21 mile 5,000 ft climb.

Oh, so you must have done Breathless Agony and Ride Around the Bear?

He says, Oh no, you've done those rides?

Yep! The Bear 4 times and Breathless Agony once.

Then he says he likes riding offroad more than road. Brings up a local trail.

Oh, so you have done the DIVIDE?

Oh no, I want to but haven't yet.

Dude has been riding for just as long as I have and never done any of the local challenging rides. But considers himself hardcore?

I wasn't bringing up the named rides as boasting, simply to include them in the conversation knowing how cool the rides are figuring he had done some of them.

I love to ride, have done some tough rides but I don't think I have ever considered myself hardcore. Not my style but I will laugh at those who do call themselves hardcore having managed to avoid the "LOCAL" tough rides over a period of 20 years.

I'm not hardcore, I am recreational riding for fun and those rides are fun.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I know guys that have never ridden the many organized rides and races that I've done.

The kid I train with, for example. He's done a couple of rides and races I have not done, but I've done tons that he'll probably never do. No big deal.

Despite the fact that I'm just wrapping up my 45th season of racing and training and he has been riding maybe 8-10 years or so, I consider him more than hard core. I consider him an equal. We all face the same risks out there on the road.

 

[joahnna mae ma-amo bello]

I think that you too have just different preferences at times and that maybe one of you is given the opportunity that the other one do not have. Whichever is the case as long as both of you are able to do what you love then that would be great. Because that really is what is important.

 

[Henrywrites]

Reading the conversation somehow got me laughing and the truth is that being a hardcore cyclist involves riding on some high and rough paths over a period of time and getting better with it. I am also a fun rider and just ride around the home without moving into the rough paths and even when I ride on the road, I try to be careful considering the type of road network we have in the country which can be death zones as well. Maybe, I am not hardcore rider yet.

 

[treecko142]

I think different people just have different definitions of hardcore in cycling and some just really love to boast about this topic, but you can always catch them in a lie when you ask the right questions.

 

[reighn]

That's the problem of not being humble. But well, maybe that's was his own definition of the word hardcore. Much better to listen sometimes instead of lifting up your own chair.

 

[Henrywrites]

I think different people just have different definitions of hardcore in cycling and some just really love to boast about this topic, but you can always catch them in a lie when you ask the right questions.

This is true, in the sense that not many of them that claim to know so much about cycling are really riding. What I always suggest is that they get understand some concepts before making use of them.

 

[Steve5]

I think some riders feel that they're doing ordinary runs. But in fact, they're performing hardcore stuff. This happens a lot to people who get used to doing intense routines on a daily basis.