Patrick, My riding is similar to yours but at shorter distances (I think you made the same observation in a thread I started) and I finally decided that I am incapable of long and steady riding. As you said, "pushing it" is a very relative term but it's how I ride and how I've always ridden.
Back in the mid-90's, when I bought my first bike, I got the road bug and bought a Raleigh road bike. I rode it for maybe six months with the longest ride being 19.x miles. I quickly learned that road bike riding isn't for me and sold it. I do have a long-term goal of riding 20 miles, just to beat that 1995 ride but after that, I'm not worried about distance. At one time I wanted to train for a century but I think the misery of doing it isn't enough to justify the pride in having the achievement. I'll just continue to zip around my neighborhood and generally act like a kid on a bike. Besides, I think it's better for me than long and slow....more like interval training. On Friday, May 23, 2014 12:31:42 PM UTC-5, Patrick Moore wrote: > > The other thread on brevets got me thinking. As someone for whom a long > ride is 30 miles, it is very interesting to see what distances others like > to ride, and how. Yesterday's ride for me was a great one, combining > several things that I find pleasant: > > a mid-way "useful" destination (bike shop visit); > > pushing myself (I realize that "pushing", and even more the result of > that, is very relative to my ability) -- pushing a bigger gear than usual > outbound because of the tailwind (75" and 80" gears); pushing against a > stiff wind on the return, 72" with a mile or so in the 65"; 11 miles out > with a small circuit, and 9 miles straight back). > > a bike that is fun to push hard (ish): the Ram with nice close gearing, > and saddle and bar set up *just so* so that I can ride for extended periods > in the hooks, elbows bent, slow cadence, large torque. > > a distance -- 20 miles -- that somewhat stretched me at the pace I was > maintaining but that was long enough to get into stride and finish without > being exhausted. > > I find though that after 30 years of this sort of riding -- short, hard* > -- it is hard for me imaginatively and emotionally to break out of the > habit. I want to push hard from the end of the driveway, so to speak. And > even though I've learned -- it took me literally 8 years of trying -- to > ride more slowly, particularly for the first 2-3 miles, I get impatient > when I go too slowly. The down side of going hard is that you, or at least > I, rather quickly get to a point where I've had enough and want to go home. > > Incidentally, one reason I love fixed so much is that it works so well for > this sort of riding. > > * Hard used to be a lot harder when I was in my 30s and 40s; I'd > routinely do just under 20 suburban miles in an hour; my usual routes were > 18-20 miles taking me 55-65 minutes; or 15-16 mile one way commutes > (sometimes expanded to 20) averaging 16-17 clock running across town, 7 > miles climbing fixed, depending whether or not there was a wind off the > mountains in the morning.) > > But at 59I can't push myself as I did at 49 or 39, and I keep meaning to > try longer -- let's say 40 miles -- and slower rides. The main reason for > buying the Ram at the very end of 2012 was to ride longer and easier; so > far that hasn't happened. > > I'm not looking for advice, just thinking out loud. I have to say that I > enjoy cycling even more now that I am 4 mph slower -- on the two legs > yesterday I averaged 14.85 out and 13.69 in, but those numbers don't mean > anything since I left Cyclemeter running as I stopped 3 times outbound to > adjust and readjust a cleat, and inbound stopped at Sprouts to get some > food. A typical run to the PO and grocery, clock running, 3 miles turned > into 15, is 12.5-13.5. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
