Born to ride/cycling legs/Elephants and parrots

1964johnr

I am 53 and been on a road bike for 10 years and for 10 years I have averaged 14mph for my solo weekend rides on the flat and up a few surrey hills. For all of that time I must have said hello or morning to hundreds of faster cyclists who have passed me on their own or in a group. Very rarely do I pass anyone. I have come to the conclusion that I was not born with cycling legs built for speed and even if I trained hard I wouldn't get much faster. I think it's in the genes and if you've got it you've got it and if you haven't you haven't.

The elephants and parrots bit in the title is about the strangest things I have seen while out riding. I once came accross two elephants on the other side of the road. They did have a human with them, and I also came across a lady driving a mini with a parrot on her shoulder. Can anyone add to these?

burnthesheep

Ron Swanson: "There are only 3 ways to motivate people: money, fear, and hunger."

If you throw the allure of one of those at a cyclist, they'll get fast. I'll never be a pro, never, and never would want to. So money is out. Fear? Meh, I'm youngish and in decent health. And I don't fear having never accomplished anything in sporting things. Hunger. Ahhh yes. Hunger. I love to drink beer and eat whatever I darn well please. I get to do that by busting my butt on the bike.

Being stronger and faster means that in one hour I can burn enough calories to drink enough beer to make up what some riders might take 3 hours to burn.

You could be faster, just find your motivation.

As for strange things I've seen?

True story: Was going up a bike path hill, fairly steep, around 10 PM. A guy tries to stop me but I keep going, fearing a plot to steal the bike or something. Oddly, he was dressed very nicely. About 6 months later on a group ride I'm talking to a guy about odd things that happen, and I mentioned it. It was him. He was at a wedding with a sibling and the sibling ran off from the reception drunk up that hill somewhere and was gone. And he was looking for them. I never saw them. Odd coincidence.

I've seen many many raccoons, deer, and bums when out riding.

orraloon

Once saw a family group, man, woman, small child in pushchair out for a walk, with a white cat. Yip, they were taking the cat for a walk.

keef66

1964johnr wrote:

I am 53 and been on a road bike for 10 years and for 10 years I have averaged 14mph for my solo weekend rides on the flat and up a few surrey hills. For all of that time I must have said hello or morning to hundreds of faster cyclists who have passed me on their own or in a group. Very rarely do I pass anyone. I have come to the conclusion that I was not born with cycling legs built for speed and even if I trained hard I wouldn't get much faster. I think it's in the genes and if you've got it you've got it and if you haven't you haven't.

The elephants and parrots bit in the title is about the strangest things I have seen while out riding. I once came accross two elephants on the other side of the road. They did have a human with them, and I also came across a lady driving a mini with a parrot on her shoulder. Can anyone add to these?

Well I'm 60 now and been riding a road bike for about a decade. I used o average 14.6 mph, now its usually 13 or so. Like you, I am frequently passed but rarely get to return the compliment. Whatever.

I did once encounter a bloke crossing the road having trouble with a large brown umbrella. As I drew closer I saw it was a golden eagle; Christ they are huge!

Garry H

I got chased by an ostrich type thing.

webboo

Well I'm older than you both and faster. Ohhh look at me. I was saw a snake laying in the road in the wilds of East Yorkshire, I doubted what I'd seen but I wasn't going back to prod it.

sloppyschleckonds

Saw a pig on a lead in Majorca once

Garry H

I saw a pinemartin on a lead, but I wasn't cycling at the time. Does it still count?

orraloon

Garry H wrote:

I saw a pinemartin on a lead, but I wasn't cycling at the time. Does it still count?

Nope. The white cat I saw was not on a lead, it was just walking alongside the family, accompanying them in their peregrinations.

part time waster

Pine martins always count. It's just something they do. I rarely count , but then I'm not a pine Martin.
I am the walrus.

Matthewfalle

part time waster wrote:

Pine martins always count. It's just something they do. I rarely count , but then I'm not a pine Martin.
I am the walrus.

Are you stalking me?

MiddleRinger

1964johnr wrote:

I am 53 and been on a road bike for 10 years and for 10 years I have averaged 14mph for my solo weekend rides on the flat and up a few surrey hills ... I have come to the conclusion that I was not born with cycling legs built for speed and even if I trained hard I wouldn't get much faster. I think it's in the genes and if you've got it you've got it and if you haven't you haven't.

You could be faster but - do you want to be? We can all be faster to some extent, a little bit of "want to" can go a long way in making up ground until we hit that genetic limit. It's all relative.

If you cycle and enjoy cycling and are happy with your cycling, then it's all good!

nuclearred955

I saw an absolutely massive vivid orange dildo (easily 18") just lying in the middle of the path. Coming back the same way an hour or so later, it was gone. Did some random passer-by take a fancy to it & then just stroll home with it draped over their shoulder?

part time waster

part time waster wrote:
Pine martins always count. It's just something they do. I rarely count , but then I'm not a pine Martin.
I am the walrus.

Are you stalking me?



my mistake , sorry. How do you move this topic to the "FOR SALE" section ?

mrfpb

I pass a field near Alice Holt forest that is full of Alpaca/Llama type creatures. And every August there are certain paths and trails where hundreds of frogs come out onto the path in the late evening and it's impossible to avoid them all. Messy.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I was pootling along Riverside Park bak around Feb/March with my Wazoo in full fat mode, getting a few fingers pointing at the big wheels/tyres and then big grins... Until I reach a section where people are pointing and grinning (including me) at a white cockatoo on the field, being taken for a walk on lead!

navrig2

I have a riding buddie who claimed he was attacked by a badger. It threw itself at his bike and tried to bite the front wheel.

fat daddy

when I started I averaged 14mph .... now I average a mere 17.5mph if I push it and the ride is no longer than 20miles ...... you know what ... nothing has changed between 14 and 17.5 mph

It still requires the same amount of effort
the roads are still the same
I dont look any different
It doesnt make any difference if you ride with a club as you all go the same speed anyway and its faster
I am no happier
I still have the same goal of averaging 20mph because thats what Meg rides at and I chose her randomly as a target to be as quick as

although that said, I do enjoy overtaking people .. but still get scalped myself

fat daddy

when I started I averaged 14mph .... now I average a mere 17.5mph if I push it and the ride is no longer than 20miles ...... you know what ... nothing has changed between 14 and 17.5 mph

It still requires the same amount of effort
the roads are still the same
I dont look any different
It doesnt make any difference if you ride with a club as you all go the same speed anyway and its faster
I am no happier
I still have the same goal of averaging 20mph because thats what Meg rides at and I chose her randomly as a target to be as quick as

although that said, I do enjoy overtaking people .. but still get scalped myself

drhaggis

I've known for a long time I didn't have a gift for sports. Especially endurance sports. As Hutchinson says in his CW column, pain and suffering is something that's better on other people. That said, I quite like cycling, partly because I get around fast, partly because I'm not swearing at the car in front during peak hour, partly because of the zoom zoom feeling while going downhill and partly because I feel I'm overcoming challenges. But I suck, so I set personalised targets.

Something I'd like to do is being able to ride a sustained (1h) 20 mph on the flat, no wind. Mind you, this being Scotland, maybe I can do this already. If that's the case, I'd like to climb something that's not a hill. I could give Jaizkibel a go these Xmas, a climb featured twice every year in Clasica San Sebastian. There are a few bigger climbs nearby, but let's go step by step.