Iron Man kind of rode with them a while....

[05fjrBluedevil]

Man those folks sure are in good shape...

I bought a cyclocross bike and converted it into a road bike....

So then I road out Sunday morning and went up a killer hill then out onto hwy42 their route back to start the run.

So since they had 42 blocked for riders, I picked a great day to increase my bicycle riding distance...

I was heading in and they were heading out to Lagrange ky. boy were they in for a hilly ride out there and back.

It was kind of funny as they were looking at me as if I was returning from the ride already and folks on the side of the road were cheering for me

So I road all the way to their starting point some 15 miles away and then turned around to head back home, so now I am riding along on their outbound route... still folks clapping and stuff good job etc....

So I see a bicyclist behind me and managed to keep the distance I had on them for about 15 miles, then as I was climbing the last hill before I would turn off on Goshen lane, I missed the shift to the big chain ring and she(iron women had caught me, then another iron man caught me and I just let him pass so i would not be trying to make a left and block his path...

So I had one heck of a ride for me over 30 miles and very hilly..... man that motivated me to try and do better and try to reach 50-75 miles before winter sets in....

hats off to those folks, lot of determination for the ones that finished and I am sure the ones that did not make it felt the way I did when i fell over trying to use clipless pedals for the first time last week...

 

[Randy]

My guess is they were doing an olympic distance triathlon which is usually about a 1.5K swim, 40K bike (about 25 mi), and 10K run. Sprint distance triathlon is .75K swim, 20K bike, and 5K run. There are many other variations of triathlons all the way up to the full Ironman distance which is 3.8K swim (2.4 mi), 180K bike (112 mi), and then a full marathon (26.2 mi).

I just got into training for the sprint distance tri's and I'm planning on doing the New York City Triathlon next year which is an olympic distance event.

 

[jmarran]

I bought my Fuji in 2000, which was a good entry-level road race bike. During the year, I really got into it and became a bit quicker than the touring group I was going out with. So, in 2001 I started showing up for training rides and then did a few races.

By 2002, I was obsessed, and got and used my US Cycling Federation cat. 4 racing license. At one point I was averaging over 200 miles a week, including climbing intervals and races. In 2004 I bough my Felt F-15 racing bike and even had my first crash in a race.

I think it was either late '04 or early '05, the ridiculous training schedule finally wore me down and I started losing my drive.

Then in July of '05 I had a bad crash when I was forced to avoid a dog and my buddy's rear wheel while going about 35mph downhill.

I then bought my FJR in August of '05 and now I'm a fat-ass.

Bicycling is a great sport and it's great excercise though!

Good luck to you on your riding!

 

[Barabus]

I have been doing about 60 miles per week for fitness. Wife and I ride with various couples. It is fun and great excercise. I could not compete but admire those that do!

 

[clsonfjr]

I did my first triathlon way back when it wasn't a real sport (27 years ago), and I've averaged between 2 and 3 races a year since then. Unfortunately, the older I get, the harder it is to maintain the kind of training volumes I'm used to. For the last 3 or 4 years, I've only been able to turn in 1 good result a year - any more than that and I'm sick for weeks or limping for months. On the one hand, it's pretty frustrating to see your race times getting slower; on the other hand, at 51 I'm still fitter than any of my family or friends have ever been.

Keep riding, it's a great sport.

Chris

ps. Counting the FJR, I have two bicycles and one motorcycle that are worth more than either my car or my wife's van (a fact I'm reminded of every time we fight over money)

 

[05fjrBluedevil]

My guess is they were doing an olympic distance triathlon which is usually about a 1.5K swim, 40K bike (about 25 mi), and 10K run. Sprint distance triathlon is .75K swim, 20K bike, and 5K run. There are many other variations of triathlons all the way up to the full Ironman distance which is 3.8K swim (2.4 mi), 180K bike (112 mi), and then a full marathon (26.2 mi).
I just got into training for the sprint distance tri's and I'm planning on doing the New York City Triathlon next year which is an olympic distance event.

This is what they did, full Ironman distance which is 3.8K swim (2.4 mi), 180K bike (112 mi), and then a full marathon (26.2 mi). I only road from my house to their bike mounting location, maybe 14 miles there and was motivated to try and hold the iron women off as long as possible, I did not know it was an iron women following me for the 17 plus miles and i am sure she was pacing her self as she still had 80 plus miles to go when i missed that shift and she finally over took me on the hill.........

I wish I had started biking earlier and maybe i could have tried to do the century ride, but that will come in time....

Right now just have to keep progressing, So I rode that 30+ mile ride Sunday morning and followed it up with a slightly shorter ride yesterday after work maybe 25 miles...

And again tonight I'll take another ride.... so I'll get there eventually...

i have noticed that it has been harder to drop weight at 40+ than it was in my 20's and then again in my 30's...

So I plan to drop another 30 pounds before next spring, fingers crossed......

Yeah they are tough, any one that can do the full iron man is doing something, i did notice they use all kinds of fuel,,, I was on water only and might have to start thinking about taking gatorade etc for longer rides.....

 

[jmarran]

Is there a cycling club in your area? When I started riding I joined the Berkshire Cycling Association and met a ton of great people and discovered there was a club-based ride of some sort almost every night/day of the week. Doing group rides on the bicycle is a really great way to meet new people and it gives you more motivation to get out there. My local club was founded by racers for racers, but now has way more casual riders that utilize the club for the organization/community than racers.

PS- I don't want to be perceived as negative, but the general rule is do not ride causally (even if you're dying it's casual compared to them) in the same direction of a time-trial or any other type of race. If you need to go in that direction, you'd either want to pull off if/when someone is coming up on you. Triathletes and/or time-trialists are riding based on their heart-rates or power meter info, they actually can't be within a certain distance of another rider or they'd be disqualified for drafting. Also, I know of some folks in time trials that were going a bit too hot and were so out of it they were completely oblivious to what was in front of them. (One local kid - who is now a pro - crashed on the final turn because his brain was somewhere behind him.)

That being said, you may even make me feel guilty enough to get back out on what I USED to consider my fast bike!

Keep up the good work! Just pace yourself.