09-21-2005, 10:46 PM | #11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,506
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could i be in good form in time if i start next week?
i still havent found a good ten speed at a garage sale.... |
09-21-2005, 10:59 PM | #12 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: the far corner of my mind
Posts: 8,711
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If you are looking for someone to draft, and you don't want
to go Archaea or Steel blue fast, you may like me, especially given that there is a reasonably good chance that my wife and I may do the ride on our tandem. Tandems pull very. very well.
One of the criticisms I have of biking as a sport is the focus on expensive gear. I like expensive gear, but I ride becasue I like riding, not becasue my stuff costs more than somebody else's stuff. So if you might like to ride, and you want to use a mountain bike, go ahead! Riding is fun regardless of the price of your steed. Somewhwere in my garage I have a couple of 26" slicks that I have never used; I'll bring them along just in case somebody needs them. |
09-21-2005, 11:09 PM | #13 |
Assistant to the Regional Manager
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Orgasmatron
Posts: 24,338
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it's not the gear, it's the engine that counts.
Most of the stuff you can pick up now, if it's fairly recent is better than down tube shifting and clip-ons.
One Ebay, you can buy stuff dirt cheap that is lightyears better than what you could have purchased ten years ago. Ride because it's fun. However, a good fit is more important than cost of gear. Sometimes the costly stuff feels better, but only after you know what to look for. If I had had costly stuff, not borrowed stuff, at first, I would not have known what to look for. A funny story. Now I've been riding only fifteen months. However, when I do things, I tend to go crazy. Well, my "friends" loose term there, thought it would be humorous to see me suffer on a three day stage race. Mind you, I had had three "rides" total. No miles whatsoever on my legs. I borrowed an aluminum bike, with a woman's seat (big mistake) and suckered into it. It had four thousand feet of climbing the first day. After a couple of miles and the first surge I was dropped. So what was supposed to be a road race became a lonely, long time trial. I went 3h45min for a 58 mile race. Slow doesn't begin to describe my race. I suffered, and suffered. It ended with a one mile ten percent grade. I hated my friends. Next day was worse. Third day, forget it. Rule one. Don't trust friends when you're starting. Rule two, buy a man's seat, not a woman's seat. Rule three, get in shape a bit by yourself before riding, let alone racing.
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Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα |
09-22-2005, 03:02 AM | #14 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Norcal
Posts: 5,821
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Re: Steel and Blue, for those of you who've done Solvang
Quote:
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