🚀 go-pugleaf

Walt Horning <whorning@pipeline.com> wrote:
>On a road where it was hard to get around a trio of bicyclists, I
>found myself doing 5 mph behind this group.
>
>I noted that:
>
> - they had "high-tech" bikes
> - they were all dressed the same in windbreaker clothing
> - they seemed to be in training.
>
>Question: Do any of these people know how to shift gears? They were
>all peddling as if they were in a lower gear (fast peddling, while
>little forward momentum). The road was flat. As speed builds up, going
>to a higher gear to gain even more speed would make peddling easier
>relative to speed. They did not seem to know this. They could have
>easily done 30-35 mph in an upper gear.

In no specific order:
(a) You don't know whether they were "fresh", or and the end of a 40 mile
ride. Try one of those sometime.

(b) They have the same rights to the road as you do.

(c) They -should- ride single file to allow you to safely pass.

(d) ``they had "high-tech" bikes'' don't help when you're dog-tired
    after a long ride.

(e) Unless you're in really good shape, most people can't make more that
    about 25 mph on the level. 

(f) A road that looks flat in a car often isn't. You really see it
    when you're pumping up that 1% grade for a mile or two.

>Anyway, I felt like despite the high-tech bikes and biking clothes,
>that these clowns still did not know what a higher gear was, and so I
>got stuck for several minutes at a crawl until opposing traffic
>cleared out. 

Of course, the riders probably thought, "What's this clown doing crowding
us, why doesn't he pass." Pity you weren't behind a truck.

z!
Rider of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars