Patrick, as they say in NY, fa ged aboutit. Don't waste your life comparing yourself to anyone. I remember climbing White Face Mt. in the Adirondacks with my son when he was maybe 13 or 14. The climb is 4 miles of unrelenting 14+% , without a shadow of shade. Eventually my son came riding back down to ask if I was OK! All I could say (to myself) was, "Michael, don't get your testosterone in a knot." Every day is a gift, no matter what we call winning or loosing.
Now my grandson can climb trees faster than me and it wont be long before he (and my granddaughter too) will need to wait for me on their bikes. That too will fill me with joy. Still, I remember the pleasure of being a sneaky coyote, as my experience overcame youth's excessive exuberance. One night, at the end of a hi stress week, on my way home from work, about 10 miles into the trip I turned north for the last 6 miles into a headwind. I had no urge to push the pedals until two young studs in full kit & mountain bikes went by without so much as an "on your left." When they were 20 -30 yards up the road it occurred to me that I could get a free pull home. So I stood up and sprinted to the back wheel. Just about the time I had settled in I realized this guy was having trouble holding his buddy's wheel. So I bolted around him and caught the next rear wheel. I sat there for 5 miles while this young fool tried to ride me off his wheel. ( I think I was on my Trek 620 at the time) At about that point we hit a hill that I knew better than him. It's about 1 1/8 miles and ever so gradually gains from 2 to 10%. I sat on his wheel about half way up, then downshifted to the granny, and sat up. When I got to the top of the hill he was bent over gasping on the side of the road. I wished him a good evening as I slowly coasted by. I'm not as strong as I once was, and I'm probably not smarter either, but I'm definitely wiser. Michael On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 6:56:02 PM UTC-4, Patrick Moore wrote: > > While Catie was skating this afternoon at The Outpost, the rink at the top > of Tramway hill, I took the '99 (18th birthday later this month! How time > flies!) gofast west down the hill to the 4 mile point -- where the 2-lane > becomes a dual carriageway; pushing back against the 76" gear to keep speed > in check -- it gets ahead of you even with the strong, prevailing > westerlies; crossed over, switched to the 66", and ground my way back up. > I'm out of shape, or at least, out of hill-shape, since I live on the > Westside and generally ride N-S, which is along the river, and flat. *And* I > just turned 62, which I am sure gives me all sorts of excuses for all sorts > of things. > > I alternated sitting and standing; when sitting, pulling up > conscientiously to help my alternate knee, but stood for most of the 1-2 > mile long steeper section, so that overall, I climbed in equal amounts of > sitting and standing. Standing would have been easier in the higher gear, > but sitting would very definitely not have been. I added a couple of miles > at the end to bring the total to 10 and change. > > I thought to myself while climbing: Old school rider, wool and steel and > leather, Bianchi/Coppi retrohat (twee, I know), doing pretty well for an > old person who hasn't climbed a decent hill in a couple of months. > > But, Oh, no, not at all. First a young 40 something on carbon fiber > breezed passed me turning away at 80-90 rpm; and he was a good half mile or > more ahead by the time I got to the top. > > Then, even more distressing, a white-haired man* on an old steel classic > powered past me, "chuff, chuff, chuff" went his breathing; he slowed and > stood on the steepest section and I had hopes but no, off he twiddled once > the slope slackened. > > * White haired, but I'll bet he was only a 50-something, the young > upstart. Sheesh! > > But I made it. > > Seriously, I really like climbing, though I'd rather be in better shape. > Frankly, I enjoyed the uphill as much or more than the downhill, though on > the steepest section I was beginning to entertain thoughts of stopping to > admire the view. > > After that excessively long and self-indulgently personal windup, here > comes the question. Does anyone know of a link that takes you to average > climbing speeds in the big races, over the years, so that you can compare > say, Romain Maes with Gino with Jacques with Eddy with le Blaireau with Big > Mig with the more recent fellows whom I have not troubled to follow? IOW, > did climbing speeds climb when multispeed, on-bike-shifted gearing systems > were allowed into the peloton and, further, as these were refined? > > (I have a very interesting book the official centennial history of the > Tour de France, with a chapter giving the highlights of each year from 1903 > to 2003. Text is largely cribbed from contemporary news copy. There's an > interesting account from the 1937 (?) Tour, the first where derailleurs > were allowed, describing the team director leaning out of the window of his > Peugeot or whatever and shouting, as the terrain changed, "17! 15! 16! 14!" > -- telling his neophyte shifters what gear to use. Anyway.) > > -- > Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. > By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. > Other professional writing services. > http://www.resumespecialties.com/ > www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten > ************************************************************************** > ************** > > > -- 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. 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