Comments on: Fighter Jets, Bicycles & Riding Fast!

By: Red

Red — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:01:38 +0000

Sansauto: When it comes to six pack abs I tell people that I have six pack abs. I just keep my sixpack in an insulated container.

By: sansauto

sansauto — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:49:03 +0000

Some days I like to think of how cool it looks when I pass a guy on $5000 time trial bike in full kit and full tuck while I’m riding my $300 fixie with generator hub and 20 pound messenger bag.

Other days I think of the evening rides out of the local bike shop in Astoria Oregon where I am generally dropped within the first 10 minutes by a bunch of 60+ year old men. It doesn’t matter that I’m 30 years younger, riding a racing bike and think that I’m in decent shape, I can’t keep up unless they decide to let me.

It’s not about the chassis, it’s about the engine. The chassis can be expensive, but the engine can only improve in performance with work.

On a similar note, I’ve worked as a personal trainer and have frequently been asked how to get ‘6-pack abs’. The muscles are almost always there, they just happen to be hiding behind a keg of fat. They don’t believe you when you tell them to start running if they want a 6-pack.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:07:36 +0000

This could be applied to so many things in life. I really love that last quote–I’ll have to write that down somewhere. We often spend so much time fussing about the insignificant technicalities of something as if they are the real reason that we’re not achieving what we want to–I guess because it’s easier than dealing with the big things that are really holding us back. It’s a lot easier to swap out some components or buy a new bike than to lose that extra 20 pounds. And it’s a lot easier to spend time fine-tuning a new weight loss plan than to identify and deal with the real issues causing us to be overweight in the first place.

I always think I’m not going to be able to relate to your cycling posts, but then you prove me wrong!

By: Liz

Liz — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:06:22 +0000

Does this explain why I beat you up the hill to our house in Bountiful? I was on a light road bike and you were on your heavy commuting bike, but of course your excuse was your bike:)

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:02:53 +0000

This story reminds me of one guy we had on our xc team. He wore large baggy shorts and basketball shoes, not proper running attire at all! We all had our spiked super light racing flats for races but he still ran in those basketball shoes, he was still almost the fastest one on the team ( never beat me though!)

By: Noel

Noel — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:57:08 +0000

I couldnt agree more. I commented about the weight issue a while back. I figured I must be carrying 1.5 stone (9.5kgs) of excess flab. Thats not a lot, I’m a rather healthy weight. But when you realise that is also the same weight as my whole bike it certainly brings things into perspective.

I recently made the switch from MTB with slicks to road bike. While I am faster on the road bike for sure, the difference in real terms in the area where I ride isnt that great. There is a difference tho, that cant be argued. But lining up on a start line for a sportive and comparing a few milimetres in tyre width and a few grams between one groupset and another really means very little when u get out on the roads. If someone else is faster than me on his Dura-Ace bike hes more than likely faster than me on his Tiagra equipped hack bike.

By: Bike Noob

Bike Noob — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:48:55 +0000

Thanks for the enjoyable read, and the link to Dailycyclist. I take solace in the fact that while I may be old, I’m still slow.