🚀 go-pugleaf

zbang@saltmine.radix.net (Carl Zwanzig) wrote:

>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.

Still, higher gears on flat land are easier.

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

I agree, and its the law. 
>
>(c) They -should- ride single file to allow you to safely pass.

They did not, they were abreast.

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

They need high-tech legs?

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

I used to go 30 all the time.

>
>(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.

Well, actually it was slightly down hill.

Hey, Bist Du Deutsche?

Your last name is "20" in German.

>
>>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