Official Road Cycling Thread

Rayscott wrote

I read books on some of the cyclists who raced in the 40' and 50's (Coppi, Bartali, Hinault) There was cheating back then too. Not as sophisticated as modern times but it was done. I didn't know motors were an issue in the TDF until now.

^^ Yup.

It's not like people have changed that much. We humans mistake technical advances for human evolution. People are competitive, people cheat, that's life.

leo95se wrote

its interesting to follow pros on strava. Lance's times are still amazing. His average mph is 8mph more than mine over hour+ rides. LOL

not that im fast, but endurance is where i drop. cheating or not, thats amazing.

It's so eye opening when pros share that stuff, even more when they share their power data files.

dc503 wrote

It's so eye opening when pros share that stuff, even more when they share their power data files.

Funny though, that post prompted me to take a look at Lance's strava and through several random pickings, the best average speed i saw was 17. something.

He must only turn on Strava when he's out daisy picking or something.

My average when I won gold at the 2014 Senior Olympics in the 40K road race was 25.5. I was at 90% of my max HR with a headwind. I turn 73 in 3 weeks.

mc-m3 wrote

A huge percentage of riders from his era cheated. And he beat them while not cheating, hmmmm.

I believe Lemond did not dope. I believe Andy Hampsten did not dope. (Andy won the Giro.) I know a guy who was national level in those days and his body was a temple. That was the mindset in the US, especially after the Olympics blood doping thing. Ride clean or GTFO. Lance is the one who changed it.

Rayscott wrote

My average when I won gold at the 2014 Senior Olympics in the 40K road race was 25.5. I was at 90% of my max HR with a headwind. I turn 73 in 3 weeks.

That's fantastic! I'm assuming that is on a TT bike? Either way, awesome time.

That's pretty much my back of the mind cycling goal, to do a 1 hour 40k. Without wind assistance. My fastest so far without favorable conditions or draft partners is 1 hour 11 min, on a road bike. Those 11 min are going to hurt.

Mr Tonka wrote

That's fantastic! I'm assuming that is on a TT bike? Either way, awesome time.

That's pretty much my back of the mind cycling goal, to do a 1 hour 40k. Without wind assistance. My fastest so far without favorable conditions or draft partners is 1 hour 11 min, on a road bike. Those 11 min are going to hurt.

Thank you. No TT bike. Did it on my stock CF Trek Domane with no aero bars which are not allowed in DSO road races. I was able to get into a faster age group. I broke the record for my age group by several minutes which stood for almost 20 years.
The key was getting training advice from Chris Carmichael who set up several training regimens for me leading up to the race (intervals, pedaling efficiency, weight training) which put me in the best shape I have been in for many years. It was not about a lot of time spent on the bike but rather the quality of the time. A 1-2 interval workout did much more than a 4-5 hour ride at a decent pace. It was not easy but the benefits were worth it. I also took gold for the 5 & 10K time trials for a clean sweep. Old guys rule.

wdb wrote

I believe Lemond did not dope. I believe Andy Hampsten did not dope. (Andy won the Giro.) I know a guy who was national level in those days and his body was a temple. That was the mindset in the US, especially after the Olympics blood doping thing. Ride clean or GTFO. Lance is the one who changed it.

Yup.

Rayscott wrote

Mr Tonka wrote

That's fantastic! I'm assuming that is on a TT bike? Either way, awesome time.

That's pretty much my back of the mind cycling goal, to do a 1 hour 40k. Without wind assistance. My fastest so far without favorable conditions or draft partners is 1 hour 11 min, on a road bike. Those 11 min are going to hurt.

Thank you. No TT bike. Did it on my stock CF Trek Domane with no aero bars which are not allowed in DSO road races. I was able to get into a faster age group. I broke the record for my age group by several minutes which stood for almost 20 years.
The key was getting training advice from Chris Carmichael who set up several training regimens for me leading up to the race (intervals, pedaling efficiency, weight training) which put me in the best shape I have been in for many years. It was not about a lot of time spent on the bike but rather the quality of the time. A 1-2 interval workout did much more than a 4-5 hour ride at a decent pace. It was not easy but the benefits were worth it. I also took gold for the 5 & 10K time trials for a clean sweep. Old guys rule.

That's awesome! Thanks for the inspiration. And congratulations on the hard work paying off!

Mr Tonka wrote

That's awesome! Thanks for the inspiration. And congratulations on the hard work paying off!

Thanks, anyone who has the determination and discipline can do it.

Rayscott wrote

My average when I won gold at the 2014 Senior Olympics in the 40K road race was 25.5. I was at 90% of my max HR with a headwind. I turn 73 in 3 weeks.

That is hauling the mail pretty well! What was the RR course like?

Mr Tonka wrote

That's fantastic! I'm assuming that is on a TT bike? Either way, awesome time.

That's pretty much my back of the mind cycling goal, to do a 1 hour 40k. Without wind assistance. My fastest so far without favorable conditions or draft partners is 1 hour 11 min, on a road bike. Those 11 min are going to hurt.

Time to go find yourself a road race!

A 25mph average pace over 25 miles? You guys are amazing!!

dc503 wrote

That is hauling the mail pretty well! What was the RR course like?



Time to go find yourself a road race!

The RR was around the outskirts of the city of Dover, DE. All the intersections were open and controlled by the police. The course was flat but we did have a headwind most of the way. The only scary part at the start was that there were a few inexperienced riders in our group that were not used to riding at that pace and were a little dangerous. We quickly dropped them and everything was cool.

Rayscott wrote

The RR was around the outskirts of the city of Dover, DE. All the intersections were open and controlled by the police. The course was flat but we did have a headwind most of the way. The only scary part at the start was that there were a few inexperienced riders in our group that were not used to riding at that pace and were a little dangerous. We quickly dropped them and everything was cool.

Best way to get rid of the sketchiness and weak, go faster!

dc503 wrote

Best way to get rid of the sketchiness and weak, go faster!

Went riding with some people who we ride with on occasion. They brought a new guy who was sketchy as hell. The next day we asked our friend about that guy and they laughed and told us his nickname. "Swervello" hahahahaha

Mr Tonka wrote

Went riding with some people who we ride with on occasion. They brought a new guy who was sketchy as hell. The next day we asked our friend about that guy and they laughed and told us his nickname. "Swervello" hahahahaha

I used to ride with a group on Wednesdays and one day this new guy showed up. He was strong enough but OMG his bike skills and group skills were abysmal. I got to talking to him and it was clear he had a sense of humor. He said he was a triathelete and I replied, "is that because you take up 3 times as much space on the road?"

He laughed, admitted those skills were weak and it was one of the reasons he joined the club. We're still friends.

wdb wrote

I used to ride with a group on Wednesdays and one day this new guy showed up. He was strong enough but OMG his bike skills and group skills were abysmal. I got to talking to him and it was clear he had a sense of humor. He said he was a triathelete and I replied, "is that because you take up 3 times as much space on the road?"

He laughed, admitted those skills were weak and it was one of the reasons he joined the club. We're still friends.

I also rode with a guy who was dangerous and had no biking skills. I didn't know that until he hit his brakes hard in a pace line and I hit his rear wheel. I went down hard, broke my pelvis and left hand and had serious road rash. I drove home and my wife got me to the hospital. My helmet was cracked in 4 places. The orthopedic doc told me that my helmet saved my life. I went down on July 6 in 2013 and my summer was shot. I did do a century ride in Sept, but it was not easy. The asshole never apologized after I crashed and needless to say we have never seen him again.

Finally made it out to Skyline Drive in VA last weekend for a training ride

Rayscott wrote

I also rode with a guy who was dangerous and had no biking skills. I didn't know that until he hit his brakes hard in a pace line and I hit his rear wheel. I went down hard, broke my pelvis and left hand and had serious road rash. I drove home and my wife got me to the hospital. My helmet was cracked in 4 places. The orthopedic doc told me that my helmet saved my life. I went down on July 6 in 2013 and my summer was shot. I did do a century ride in Sept, but it was not easy. The asshole never apologized after I crashed and needless to say we have never seen him again.

Sorry about the crash and wasted season. I did a training series last spring that focused on paces lines. We were taught that you don't even stop peddling unless you are signaling those behind that your are slowing.

mc-m3 wrote

Sorry about the crash and wasted season. I did a training series last spring that focused on paces lines. We were taught that you don't even stop peddling unless you are signaling those behind that your are slowing.

Thanks, I am fully recovered. If you want to slow down in a pace line you don't stop pedaling, just simply move to the side where you are out of the slip stream and will slow down naturally. This jackass did the same thing during an earlier ride but I didn't know about as I was in Florida. He braked, the guy behind him went down, was knocked unconscious and broke several ribs. When I got back and rode with him none of the other riders knew about him as it was a different group.

Rayscott The team i sponsor just send this out.

Mr Tonka wrote

Rayscott The team i sponsor just send this out.

That looks like fun. Are you participating.