Hey, ride with those at your level... or? Not so great

I ride solo a lot, but I’ve gone on group rides where the relative shape and riding skills of participants are all over the map. I’ve also gone on buddy rides, where the relative riding skills and physical shape between us has been close.

And I’ve come away with this conclusion: If you want to put in a good ride where everybody’s having a good time, do one of two things: Ride solo at your own pace. Or ride with buddies that ride about as fast or slow as you do.

Otherwise, somebody won’t be happy on the ride.

When couples go for rides together -- and this doesn’t happen in every case, of course -- often times the difference in speed preference makes the faster rider have to ride slower than he/she wants to, so they don’t rudely abandon the slower rider. And if they’re left alone, it’s no fun for the slower rider, who would probably like to chat a little while on the ride.

On the other hand, if the faster rider in the couple insists on riding at his or her own speed, far ahead of the other half of the couple, there’s gonna be somebody (the rider left behind) who really isn’t too happy about it. I know this, because it has happened to me a few times, and maybe to you.

I would be the self-centered one who would ride ahead at my preferred pace, determined to get a workout, and not ride with the slower rider – despite the later argument that I was rude to do so. Guilty!

But I’ve also ridden slower than I’ve wanted, to stay alongside a slower rider, just to be social and polite, and have fought the urge to hit the gas and take off. After quite a long stretch of holding back, I was the one that was unhappy at ride’s end. I didn’t feel like I got a workout at all.

So it pays to ride with riders at your level. Nobody gets dropped by a mile or so, there’s friendly competition, everybody’s happy. Unless a couple rides at roughly the same level, one will think the other is riding either too slowly or too fast.

Just this week I ran into a young guy at the rest stop where I turn around on my routine ride. He had ridden ahead of his older brother and his older brother’s wife. The older brother rolled in before the wife. He tells the younger brother: “She’s had a hard time, but when she comes in, tell her she’s riding great, that we haven’t been here that long.”

So when she finally pulls in, obviously beat, both brothers gush at how well she’s riding, blah, blah, blah. But she doesn’t look like she’s buying their trumped up cheers. No.

While hubby and brother were using the facilities, she tells me: “I ride at 10 miles an hour. This trail was hard! They told me it would be flat.”

Which was definitely an untruth, a good amount of climbing was included.

I passed the husband and wife on the way back and it looked like the younger brother had ridden ahead again. But this time, hubby was riding slowly alongside his wife, keeping her company, not leaving her in the dust. So, while that probably made her feel better, I can guarantee you he wanted to hit the gas and ride his bike hard. So, I’m betting, he wasn’t so happy on the return trip.

So to get the ride you want, go solo, or go with buddies with the same riding level as you. Then hey, who’s gonna be unhappy? Nobody!

A barely used bike bargain

A rider I ran into this week just bought a little used Trek road bike, which sells in stores for $1,500. He got it for $750, and it came with TT forks, a computer and shoes that fit the buyer. What the..?

He has a slow hybrid, but is getting in shape for an Ironman event at Lake Tahoe, and wanted a lighter road bike. So he looked on Craigslist and found the Trek.

“Was it hot?” I asked.

“No, seemed like the guy was legit, wanted another bike,” he said.

So this guy scored, getting an almost new carbon frame road bike, loaded with accessories, for a huge discount.

So I guess the point here is that you don’t always have to pay a premium price to get a good bike of any kind. Check Craigslist or eBay. There may be a great bike, priced to move, by a legitimate seller who (a) hasn’t stolen the bike, or (b) put too many miles on it.

Great value deals on bikes probably aren’t going to come up very often, but they’re out there, as this rider found out. For me though, when it comes to cars or bikes, I want a new one from the start. But hey, that’s just me.

Altitude schmaltitude…

This same guy with the new bike asked about some high altitude rides he could do to train for the Tahoe iron man. I didn’t ask when his event is, but having grown up at Tahoe, it takes a couple of weeks for a not-in-shape person to get used to the altitude. When I was a kid, they had a high altitude training center up there for track athletes training for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. But those were world-class athletes going for any edge possible. I’ve climbed high altitude peaks in the Sierra, such as Monitor and Ebbetts passes without any high altitude training and done well enough. I think if you’re completely out of shape, you’ll really notice the thinner air if you’re in it for a few days. But if you’re in good cardio shape, I’m not so sure it takes a lot of high altitude training to do well in thin air. But hey, what do I know?

Til next time, be sure to pull a helmet on every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and don’t forget to have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson