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You know what really grinds my cycling gears?

May 6, 2009
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Ok it is a rip-off from Family Guy and another sports forum I visit and no it does not mean I need to lube my chain. But this is a place if you just need to rant about anything to do with cycling (could be from the latest pro to test positive, or Lance Armstrong, or to the guy in your local crit who sits at the back and does no work until the finale and wins the bunch sprint - we have a few guys that are good at that in my Sunday crits).
 
I remember my first Cat 5 race. I was among the strongest 10 or so of the group, and we all took turns at the front, pulling the group along, keeping the pace high, whittling it down, etc.

And then at the end, on the final climb, this guy that none of us had even seen at the front once jumps past us all and rides away. I guess it's good tactics to let everyone else work for 58.5 miles and then work hard for yourself for the last 1.5, but in a Cat 5 race? When you're obviously close to if not the strongest rider in the group? Then I think it's just poor form. I wouldn't have been upset if he had done ANY work at the front, but we never even saw him until he attacked.

I didn't like it one bit. :mad:
 
Mar 18, 2009
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mr. tibbs said:
I remember my first Cat 5 race. I was among the strongest 10 or so of the group, and we all took turns at the front, pulling the group along, keeping the pace high, whittling it down, etc.

And then at the end, on the final climb, this guy that none of us had even seen at the front once jumps past us all and rides away. I guess it's good tactics to let everyone else work for 58.5 miles and then work hard for yourself for the last 1.5, but in a Cat 5 race? When you're obviously close to if not the strongest rider in the group? Then I think it's just poor form. I wouldn't have been upset if he had done ANY work at the front, but we never even saw him until he attacked.

I didn't like it one bit. :mad:


I had a similar experience...but only at the opposite end of the spectrum...as in our little group was the weakest in the race :eek:...but we still worked together taking our pulls...and at the finishing stretch one dude, who didn't pull at all in the last half of the race, jumped to win the "bunch sprint". Even though we were well behind the lead pack!

But it still rankled me...the nerve of that guy! :mad::D
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Twittering (cyclists).

Do I really care about your daily training rides? What breakfast you have? Whether or not it rains? Your bike got dirty?

That's probably the reason I did not sign up, and have not turned into a follower.
 
A sad confession

When you are on a cold wet training ride in a group and there is a slightly slower out of shape guy who you keep waiting for... and then he punctures...and you wait while he faffs about for 10 mins ... off you go... and then 10 minutes later he puntures again....and asks if anybody has a spare tube!

And I know I shouldn't be p!ssed but yes it really p!ssed me off. I don't know about grinding my gears but i was certainly grinding my teeth. :rolleyes:
 
Apr 12, 2009
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You know when everybody in the group decides to take a nature break and then there's that one guy who doesn't need to go and then 10 minutes later he want's to stop and get's ****ed when nobody want's to wait on him, that grinds my gears
 
Mar 18, 2009
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It always gets me when some bonehead decides that he's going to sit at the front all day doing all the work and then gets PO'd when you beat him in the sprint. There's more to cycling than brute strength.
 
grindsmygears4.jpg


When I am out training and am riding slow because I did a hard day yesterday or I did two hours of trail running or it's the time of year that I just plain suck, and someone chases me down and gives me a smug look like he just made the winning move at Paris-Roubaix as he passes me. That really grinds my gears.
 
Apr 1, 2009
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Fat guys on cycling shorts. The inmortally famous Cycling Muffin Top...
People who think that riding a century is a big accomplishment and needs to be facebooked.
Racers who thing that crashes happen more ofen in the category 4.
People dropping the hammer in the first 10 mintues of a road race and then the hammer droppers get dropped.
Condoms that break
People diving into corners at crits.
Team in Training
Female cyclists
 
but in a Cat 5 race? When you're obviously close to if not the strongest rider in the group?

You think that's bad? Back in 1991 when I think Cat 5's got started, there was some guy in my town named Jay something. He won race after race after race after race. Like 15 races in a row, first place. Maybe more. Cleaning up on first year Cat 5s. The local USCF officials kept telling him he needed to move up, and he refused saying they couldn't force him to and kept racing in other areas to avoid it. I was a Cat 5 and never beat the guy, but I moved up to Cat 4 just to give you an idea how pathetic he was.

The UCSF finally got the paperwork and literally forced him to race with the Cat 4's. Then, he started cleaning up in those races as well. Guess what he tried to do then? Well, the USCF was ready this time and moved him up pretty quickly to Cat 3. It was fun watching him in the groups that were Cat 2-3 as the other riders knew his bs and he got boxed out of everything and was reduced to pack fodder. But he ripped off a lot of other lowly riders from having fun.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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When people expect everyone to race according to their self imposed rules (in their heads) and won't accept the world works in many ways, even against them.
 
Apr 1, 2009
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tifosa said:
Thanks for sharing.

Hey that is my experience. what can I do.
the last race I did 3 weeks ago, I was with the leading group and we caught the cat 3 women group. There was one lady who was slightly ahead of her bunch. We caught her and all of a sudden she is barking that we should allow her to go. She was complaining that we caught her and we slowed the pace. Come on, a group of 15 testosterone charged dudes came from the back caught her and all of a sudden she gained strenght and she demanded we let her go? We got to the next hill and she was off the back, thrown to the garbage like a used condom...
Now why wouldnt I dislike female cyclists?
 
A

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Dr. Wattini said:
Hey that is my experience. what can I do.
the last race I did 3 weeks ago, I was with the leading group and we caught the cat 3 women group. There was one lady who was slightly ahead of her bunch. We caught her and all of a sudden she is barking that we should allow her to go. She was complaining that we caught her and we slowed the pace. Come on, a group of 15 testosterone charged dudes came from the back caught her and all of a sudden she gained strenght and she demanded we let her go? We got to the next hill and she was off the back, thrown to the garbage like a used condom...
Now why wouldnt I dislike female cyclists?

can i suggest perhaps, just disliking her.. ;)

things that really used to get to me...

people who thought the more expensive your bike the better rider you where,
and those who seemed to think penis size was invertly represented by how small a cogset you could run..
 
May 6, 2009
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Dr. Wattini said:
Hey that is my experience. what can I do.
the last race I did 3 weeks ago, I was with the leading group and we caught the cat 3 women group. There was one lady who was slightly ahead of her bunch. We caught her and all of a sudden she is barking that we should allow her to go. She was complaining that we caught her and we slowed the pace. Come on, a group of 15 testosterone charged dudes came from the back caught her and all of a sudden she gained strenght and she demanded we let her go? We got to the next hill and she was off the back, thrown to the garbage like a used condom...
Now why wouldnt I dislike female cyclists?

Worse for me was two years ago I lead an attack on the climb in my local crit and I caught two of the higher grades on my own and even passed one of them on the hill, but the two groups came together and it got sandwiched and they would not let me move to the outside so I could ride on my own and not look like to the commissaire that I was not cheating by gaining a draft (and their slower pace made it likely I would get caught), Later on there was a crash on the hill which forced me to stop and I finished 4th.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Weight weenies when it comes to cycling equipment. Completely assinine to put your bike on a diet when it's (usually) the rider who needs to lose the weight. Start eating right and quit *****ing about your bike already. It's not the bike--it's you!

Anyone feeling the burn of self-recognition yet?
 
tifosa said:
Weight weenies when it comes to cycling equipment. Completely assinine to put your bike on a diet when it's (usually) the rider who needs to lose the weight. Start eating right and quit *****ing about your bike already. It's not the bike--it's you!

Anyone feeling the burn of self-recognition yet?

I am too busy checking the mail to see if my aluminum chainring bolts (anodized to match my frame color) have arrived to feel the burn.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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tifosa said:
Weight weenies when it comes to cycling equipment. Completely assinine to put your bike on a diet when it's (usually) the rider who needs to lose the weight. Start eating right and quit *****ing about your bike already. It's not the bike--it's you!

Anyone feeling the burn of self-recognition yet?

I'm feeling it :D Sometimes I can't help myself...as if shaving 20 grams with ti skewers will get me up that hill any faster!!!
 
Apr 20, 2009
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gear grinding

I have a total dislike to people who ride recumbents and think they are the best rides on Earth.These people can't come to terms that these contraptions aren't used in the Grand Tours , why most riders don't have a mirror attached to their helmets and why all riders are not required ( by law) to wear reflective vests.For your own sakes, don't get into a conversation with these guys, they will have an opinion that you can't budge ( just like the aero-dynamic bubble mounted to the front of their rides...AAAAAAHHHH