Third Place Winner?

"VincentMalamute-Kim" (VincentMalamute-Kim)
06/01/2019 at 15:52 • Filed to: None

I used to ride a lot. Like 25 years ago. I started again last year after moving to Colorado. Yesterday was my first time riding in the mountains. First time using the Strava app. It breaks down a lot of info nicely. I found the comparison results of the climb almost hilarious. Somehow two people managed to be slower than me! (And I bet they were each 85 and 90 years old.)

It was three and a half hours of riding very slowly up the canyon.

Pretty views once I made it up to the Peak to Peak Highway.

I’ve been out of it for so long that in current circles, I’m told my bike is old and crappy, not cool and vintage. oh well.

DISCUSSION (23)

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 16:14

neh its cool and vintage

probably quite a lot heavier than the modern bikes too

BaconSandwich is tasty. > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 16:24

I figure there’s some benefit to training on a heavier/older bike. When it comes time for a real competition, then you switch to something lighter/newer, and it’ll give you a bit of a boost. :P

... also, there’s a bit of pride at play there. There’s something about beating some youngin’ with their fancy bike with you on your “old” bike. :P

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 17:06

Cool and vintage.

Colorado has been on my mind a lot lately. I had an opportunity to move there, but my wife insisted on moving near family instead. My daughter has been there for the last week, so I keep seeing pictures of what I’m missing. After living mostly in the flat lands, the mountains would be more than a little challenging.

RallyWrench > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 17:19

Good on ya! I’m doing much the same, getting back in the saddle after about 8 years, on a 12 year old aluminum ‘Cross bike. Strava is super useful to mark progress, but some of the roads I ride have been part of the Tour of California so the splits are ridiculous! Good to not get competitive about it and just ride your pace, you'll get faster the more you ride . Can’t imagine huffing up real elevation like you are, keep up the good work.

Aremmes > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 17:21

Ride up a canyon? Fffuuuuuuuuuuu...

I ride on a trail converted from a railroad right-of-way expressly because it has no hills, and yet Montgomery County and Philadelphia managed to put steep gradients on it at key junctions. You are a better person than I am.

VincentMalamute-Kim > Aremmes
06/01/2019 at 18:11

Well... the red southern half of the route was all downhill. It was three and half hours to do the first half. Forty-five minutes to do the second half. So there’s that.

It seems like it really should be three and a half hours of downhill to make it fair!

It really helps to have a Colorado resident who knows the routes and is in shape to drag me along.

I used to live in Philly next to the airport (we were poor then), moved to NE Philly and finally out to Huntingdon Valley. Pretty out there. Not sure about bicycling and drivers.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/01/2019 at 18:14

Cyclists who appreciate vintage must be like Oppo - rare.

Thirty five years ago, I did so much riding in Indiana and flat corn fields and thought it was great. Now I’m “what was I thinking?!”.

I can’t tell how challenging the mountains are or is it my past decades of no exercise.

VincentMalamute-Kim > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
06/01/2019 at 18:17

I’m completely behind on modern bikes but yeah, I’m reading about consumer 14 lb bikes and below. Mine is probably 1/3 heavier.

Curved tubing, sloping top tubes, upsloping stems, humongous brake/shift levers look ugly to me. I’m getting old and my tastes are ossifying. That worries me.

VincentMalamute-Kim > BaconSandwich is tasty.
06/01/2019 at 18:23

Training on heavy equip is definitely true. It’s an amazing feeling just switching out a training wheelset for a race wheelset, never mind an entire bike.

You must be young to be thinking competition. I gave that up long ago. Forget about beating young’uns and their fancy bikes. Gray haired riders were zipping past me on that climb.

So f orget about pride too. Maybe one day.

VincentMalamute-Kim > RallyWrench
06/01/2019 at 18:29

Too bad your ‘cross bike is too new for me! I’m used to the 35 year old bikes.

Thanks for the encouragement and the tidbit about Strava since that’s brand new to me. I wonder if any of those names in the top ten are pros or national riders?

Ranking 1672 of 1674 makes it impossible to even think of trying to be competitive with others. I can see Strava being useful to get me out there more often and hopefully seeing improvement.

I can’t imagine climbing these hills either. Since I have no frame of reference other than IN, WI, IL, MN. My friend said you can do it and I just followed him.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 18:37

eh as long as you are happy riding it thats all that matters really

i hadnt really noticed the brake shift levers being big... tho i never did get used to shifting like that... but then i switched to mountainbikes right about when those things really started getting popular

BaconSandwich is tasty. > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 19:00

Eh, it’s been a while since I have ridden. I used to commute on my bike - 15 km each way, part of that in heavy traffic. Rather than race other cyclists, I was racing cars. I think it ruined my knees, though . :(

TheRealBicycleBuck > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 19:04

Don’t downplay riding in the flatlands. They aren’t as scenic, but riding in the wind can be brutal.

My first road bike was a mid-’70s Schwinn 12-speed, white with red lettering and accents, and shifters on the down tube. Years after I lost that bike, I bought a “vintage” Schwinn World Sport, red with white accents, so I could train for the MS-150. Carbon fiber bikes were just becoming “ affordable” and a couple of the guys I was training with had just bought them. They were SHOCKED that I was able to keep pace with them on my old clunker.

There’s a video out there that compares an old racing bike to a new racing b ike and they fou nd that the new bike is about 12% faster. I would contend that it wouldn’t be 12% faster for 99% of the population. I remember being passed on one of my training rides by a guy on a mountain bike with knobbies. That guy was in the 1%.

dumpsterfire! > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/01/2019 at 19:21

Well done! My road bicycle is one of the only things I went modern for.

VincentMalamute-Kim > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/01/2019 at 22:34

I meant scenery when I compared the midwest to the mountains. I thought cornfields was great scenery. yah, headwinds in the flats are psychologically worse than 4 hours of uphill.

ha! I remember the World Sport!

I agree - I’m subscribing to the ‘it’s the rider, not the bike’ theory.

VincentMalamute-Kim > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
06/01/2019 at 22:51

True - the rider should be the main thing.

The road Shimano shift system is the worst offender with a huge wart front/top of the brake lever. Compared to the slimness of my old school aero Gran-Compe levers. Current Campy levers (top photo) don’t look as bad as Shimano (bottom ) .

Kinja'd!!!

InFierority Complex > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/08/2019 at 08:29

That’s actually one of my favorite driving routes, e ven slowly cruising through Raymond and Ri verside is lovely.

VincentMalamute-Kim > InFierority Complex
06/15/2019 at 22:00

Is Riverside a town? Or do you mean just cruising on Riverside Drive? Makes me feel a bit claustrophobic the way the valley walls close in - wouldn’t want to live there.

InFierority Complex > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/15/2019 at 22:47

Town might be a bit strong. It’s a neighborhood right on Riverside Dr but it might as well be Raymond.

VincentMalamute-Kim > InFierority Complex
06/15/2019 at 23:02

Raymond doesn’t even show up on Google Maps. I take “n eighborhood” to mean two houses.

InFierority Complex > VincentMalamute-Kim
06/15/2019 at 23:19

Neither of them is very big, p robably a few do zen houses each or so.

Grindintosecond > VincentMalamute-Kim
03/06/2020 at 08:51

Im super duper late to this. But I checked your posts to see what bike you have. It looks good! Anyway, I’m in Longmont and will climb Carter lake resivoir at times. It’s a fun area to ride. My story was averaging 8mph up the switchback climb when I was decently in shape. I’m a big guy . Looked at Strava and saw a top guy averaging 18. Looked him up, Taylor Phinney. Pro. His ride said”last ride before London Olympics” that 18 mph climb was after 80 miles already and of a 170 mile ride. Freaking genetic mutants . He got 4th in London.

VincentMalamute-Kim > Grindintosecond
03/06/2020 at 21:25

Cool. I’m about 8 miles from Carter Lake near SW Loveland. When you mentioned getting in shape for Left Hand Canyon, I suspected that when I’m in shape, I’m where you are when you say you’re out of shape. I’m about 3 mph up to Carter.

I recognize “Phinney” from decades ago when I was riding. Davis Phinney. Taylor must be his son or a relative. Yup, I have the same story on my Rist Canyon ride. I got passed on the way down by some dude .

I was impressed by how fast he was going given the sand in the corners in January. So I looked him up on Strava Flyby. It was an international pro who has the #1 Strava spot on the Rist Canyon ascent and he was doing 80 miles that day. I felt honored to have been passed by him.