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Wow! That Girl was Strong


Mr. Beanz

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My solo ride today.  Set out for an easy relaxing ride before heading back to work tomorrow in steel toe boots and outside in the sun.

But as I turned to head back, second 10 mile stretch of a 20 mile ride. 

I headed back and immediately spotted a couple of riders about 50 yards ahead of me.  I wasn't trying to catch them but somewhat keeping pace thinking I might.

The first section heading back, I've had several riders leave me behind in the first 4. Then hitting a  section with a few rises, I  have reeled in plenty. Then when it's totally flat and windy, even more. Not too many that get away. 

So with the two riders ahead today,  I thought I might catch them.  Both in matching team kits so I knew they were together. Slightly ahead of them was a paceline of maybe 5. Couldn't tell at that point but thought the two in front of me might be trying to catch them. I figured a big group that got separated. 

So I was catching the rider ahead of me, a dude. I passed him but noticed the rider ahead of him still had the same gap on me. I pushed super hard closing the gap by maybe 50 percent but I was 🔥 burnt.

Then I realized,  oh wow, it's a 👧 gal.

I left her partner far behind and maybe I could catch her when we hit the latter sections of the trail that slow many.

Then I see her catch the paceline.  I thought all I had to do was catch the paceline then we're all together. 

NOT!!!  She rolled right by them. Crap! I caught the paceline about 2 minutes later. They seemed to be putting in a good effort as well.  So I latched on the back hoping to catch my breath for a minute.  But the tail guy saw me and shouted "ANOTHER RIDER PASSING!"  I told him I wasn't ready to pass just yet but said OH WELL.  I  just went anyway. 

They seemed to lift the pace but I hammered away. I had a thought there for a second of helping them but heck, I was more focused on trying to catch the chick.

Later down the road,  I could see the paceline about 50 yards behind me. Then I passed a couple other fit looking guys.

One I surprised on a double underpass. I had my momentum passing him on one of the uphill sections. Glad I was able to take him by surprise because he looked as if he would have taken my wheel. 

Seems he fell back and eaten up by the paceline.  We hit the windy section, 3 miles left to go. I turn my head a bit picking up something in my peripheral vision. At this point,  I slowed a bit for a drink and a deep breath. I guess they saw me slow figuring I was done.

I  gave a good look back and the lead rider, the dude I had just passed was up on his pedals giving it all. They had closed the gap on me but you know what,  F THAT!!!

I had put in too much already to be that guy I laugh about too often. 😂 The pass and fade guy.

So I went down in the drops and hammered again.  A minute later I looked back and they were toast. I could tell they had given up. But I was still feeling strong after catching my breath so I hammered on hoping to close the gap on the chick. 

So now there is about a mile left to a place called 4 corners where it's convenient for riders to stop. I'm guessing the chick will stop there and wait for her teammate. 

But the last mile,  I  hammered as hard as I could down in the drops but the chick had the same game plan. 

In the last half mile,  I swear she doubled the gap on me. I figure she knew she was going to stop so she went all out.  I am not sure if she even knew I was chasing but she sure hammered me there.

But sure enough, she stopped there to wait for her partner. I looked at her as I rolled by. A little Asian chick. Little chick with a big engine. 👍

Ooh well,  got in a good workout.  On the 10 mile stretch back I had a 20 mh average. Which is good figuring it's just about always windy and often I'm doing 15 to 16 fighting the wind. 

A couple one mile plus segments with a 21 to 22 average speed.  Pretty good for a solo rider. 

Max of 27.5 mph. I felt good,  I felt strong but damn, that chick hammered me good. 😄

 

 

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Fun story!

In general, I find if I can see a rider in front of me, I'll catch and pass them assuming they're going my same direction for a bit.  IOW, if you don't see them, and then you do, it's just a matter of time before you reach them.

On the other hand, if someone catches you, it's pretty dependent on whether they just turned onto the route and spotted you as a "carrot" and gassed themselves to catch you (and will not be able to stay ahead) or if they're just the faster rider.

Sadly, where I am, the women are FAR outnumbered by the men, and it would be a uniquely rare even to be caught and passed by a solo woman cyclist.  

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9 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

Fun story!

In general, I find if I can see a rider in front of me, I'll catch and pass them assuming they're going my same direction for a bit.  IOW, if you don't see them, and then you do, it's just a matter of time before you reach them.

On the other hand, if someone catches you, it's pretty dependent on whether they just turned onto the route and spotted you as a "carrot" and gassed themselves to catch you (and will not be able to stay ahead) or if they're just the faster rider.

Sadly, where I am, the women are FAR outnumbered by the men, and it would be a uniquely rare even to be caught and passed by a solo woman cyclist.  

Yeah,  at times I've been out solo looking around for other riders and nothing. Then in an instant. I'm getting passed. Where did he come from? There was nobody around for a mile back that I could see. 

On my Sunday trail, there are about 30%women that I see with groups. I see solo female riders now and then, maybe 3 a week. 

I'd say a month ago, saw a gal at the golf course water fountain,  very friendly but awesome physique. 

I  had just started so warming up into my pace and I could see she was probably midride and warmed up. 

I took off figuring she might catch me seeing I wasn't warm.

She passed me 2 miles later with a friendly hello. 

She was flying and left me behind in a blink of an eye. Wouldn't have mattered if I had been warm.

Different gal I think but both Asian chicks.

50% of the cyclists I see on this trail on Sundays are Asian.  Many large groups. 

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9 hours ago, Mr. Beanz said:

Yeah,  at times I've been out solo looking around for other riders and nothing. Then in an instant. I'm getting passed. Where did he come from? There was nobody around for a mile back that I could see. 

My experience driving on the autobahn :D  Check mirror, nothing I'm rear view mirror for a mile, change lanes to pass, look in mirror and set a Porsche/Mercedes/BMW rapidly filling the mirror, complete my pass, and feel the car shake as the maniacal German flies past at 130 mph!  Yeah, WTF did they come from????

9 hours ago, Mr. Beanz said:

She was flying and left me behind in a blink of an eye. Wouldn't have mattered if I had been warm.

Wait...WHAT?!?!?  You can't let a chick pass you!!! :frantics:

SoCal has a different breed of cyclists altogether.  The "hard core" types - men and women - really can benefit from the year round awesomeness.  I think you have a chance to encounter many more fast ladies than I do. Out where I am, you quickly realize there is a much smaller group of year round riders, and it is rarely the women riders.  I only remember regularly seeing on "serious" woman regularly - the Bar Mitts couple - and while she is a consistent rider and on a local racing team, she isn't particularly fast. Maybe she has endurance, but I generally see her just drafting off her hubby's wheel for most of their rides, and if his pace is simply the speed she can match, it's not too fast.  

One woman I rode with a few time on group rides was the leader of those rides.  She was very strong - but also one that would yo-yo with me - where she was stronger on some terrain and weaker on other bits, so on the right course, she could definitely put some hurt on me (and vice versa).  Haven't seen her in a while, but maybe she just stopped leading the rides.

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Freaking cell phone view..

 

What I meant is that the girl was fast, blew by me as I was warming up and even had I been warm, she still would have been doing a better pace than I could handle hypothetically. 

Ftr, I never try to keep up with someone that passes me. Either they are stronger or going to fade. I rarely chase anybody unless it's some clown looking to play games. 😄

There are quite a few fast women around here. I see one gal Amber Neeben( spelling?) all the time. Some kind of a state 🏆 champ.

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13 minutes ago, Mr. Beanz said:

There are quite a few fast women around here. I see one gal Amber Neeben( spelling?) all the time. Some kind of a state 🏆 champ.

:D

Yeah, I'm sure I could easily catch and drop her :party:  She's only a former US national champion and an Olympian.  But she's a chick, so easy peasy :scratchhead: 

I think that, though, is the difference.  Where you are - you can and will run into pros and super fit amateurs who train year round.  Where I am, that is way more rare.  I think out in CA I would get used to being caught and dropped by faster folks - men and women.  More cyclists there and many in great shape.  I really liked that vibe.  Nice to see "my tribe" all over :D

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4 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

:D

Yeah, I'm sure I could easily catch and drop her :party:  She's only a former US national champion and an Olympian.  But she's a chick, so easy peasy :scratchhead: 

I think that, though, is the difference.  Where you are - you can and will run into pros and super fit amateurs who train year round.  Where I am, that is way more rare.  I think out in CA I would get used to being caught and dropped by faster folks - men and women.  More cyclists there and many in great shape.  I really liked that vibe.  Nice to see "my tribe" all over :D

Yeah on my Sunday ride on a different trail. I'll get dropped by 2 or 3 FAST riders. And only those 3.   

Only riders I see out there that day. Only 3 and they are dropping me hard.🤣

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2 hours ago, Mr. Beanz said:

Only riders I see out there that day

I generally see a lot of the "serious" folks going the other direction when I'm riding.  I think, for the ones going my same direction, the speed differential isn't great enough for me to get caught from behind too often, but it can and does happen.  Most of the time, though, I'll get passed right at the start of my ride when I am warming up and going easy.  That sort of sucks because then it looks like I'm racing them when I hit the 10 min mark and start to speed up.  "Dude, if you can't drop and distance me when I am idling along, it is definitely not a race."   

The other day I had a fun experience that felt like it was gonna go a different way.  I just started my ride - literally 30 seconds in - and a young guy on a road bike zooms past me (politely) and keeps cranking hard.  I just did my normal warm up pace, but noticed the gap stop growing, and then the gap decreased, and then I passed him and said hi as I went by.  Anyway, at a light a little farther down the trail, he caught up to me and said he liked my bar tape. We made a minute of small talk about that stuff and then the light changed, but he kept wanting to talk, so I just cruised along with him chatting.  He was new to the sport - very proud of having put 100 miles on his bike already - so I switched into encouragement mode. Complimented his bike, listened to a couple of his recent ride stories, and generally enjoyed his enthusiasm.  It was a nice chat, and I'm happy I didn't just blow past him with a grunt.

The older "serious" guys are going to ignore a hello at least 75% of the time when I pass them.  I don't get the "I can't reply when I'm riding" BS.  

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