macca123

who is or was the best cyclist here? be brutally honest on this one. This should be bloody funny.

Maybe we should have categories: Best young rider, best climber, Best Overall, Best Veteran and who trains the most. This should be interesting as i get the feeling most of you ladies and gentlemen are just social riders...maybe this is the wrong forum lol. anywho post youre details and achievements etc.

My Details: No wins not even an official race yet lol although i have about 10-15 club races behind me so far. However i have been told by everyone at the club i have a lot of potential. i train 500 km's a week avg. 15 years old, climber/ triallist, weird combination i know lol, i havent got a sprint...at least i dont think so, never actually had a sprint finish yet in my short career. I am 5-9 and 118 pounds.

Dont be shy...post you're details even if you haven't actually got anything to brag about like me yet...

i would like to know what the actual ROAD hierachy would be around here.

EURO

There are probably some quiet people here who are pretty fast. Best way to determine this would be power-weight ratio.

At the end of last season I was at a value of 268w for just over an hour, climbing the Izoard, which constitutes a power/weight of 4 - a 'good' rating

Last saturday I recorded a 7 min output of 343 watts (power/weight 5.1, which constitues 'Very Good').

In my commute I ride up a 3% incline and when I push myself I can go up it at 20mph for 5 mins, which is 406w (power/weight 6.05 which constitutes 'excellent').

My physiology definitely favours shorter-term outputs of high power.

macca123

yeah we might need to find a way of sorting out statistically who is the best. Most of the serious cyclists are probably too busy to post on here regularly tho like you said.

EURO

I don't get this idea (which I see bandied around quite often). Some the best riders I know spend time spamming forums, on messenger, or chatting via email. Just because you are a good rider, it doesn't mean you don't sit in front of a computer all day at work or at college.

macca123

once again the voice of reason. god i love you EURO, what teh hell was i thinking. apparently lance armstrong of all people loved spending his spare time on the net. I STAND CORRECTED

EURO

I hope you aren't being sarcastic, because Lance has had laptops confiscated from him by Bruneeyl because he spends so much time surfing the 'net.

spinnaker

I'd like to know why would you care?

I would think that as long as you are out there, that is what that is important. What difference does it make who is faster? I get my satisfaction knowing that I am in much better shape from the time I started till now. And I look forward to improving from here.

Matt Gaunt

+1. Ride for the love of riding, not because you want to boast about who you're quicker than. Not the way to make friends around here, matey, I promise you!

EURO

sandy - thanks for the abusive PM. I've forwarded it to one of the moderators.

Nice to know that the rascist and homophobic stereotypes of those from the American south are still being carried on today

TheKillerPenguin

I assume the 268W is in the drops?

And, if that's all it takes to be top 1000 in your country, you're racing in Luxemburg.

oldspark

I can put out 1200 watts for one hour-wups sorry that's my toaster.

Retro Grouch 

I don't know what criteria you use to define "best" but I nominate myself for "Worst Road Cyclist."

I've been riding road bikes and messing with road bikes for a lot of years, but I don't ride a huge number of miles per year, I don't consider myself to be particularly skillful, and I can't beat hardly ANYBODY in a fair race. I do, however, enjoy the pastime.

Uh - If your opinion differs from mine, too bad.

pedex

Last few years Ive had a sick obsession with my own personal hour record. So far best ive done was 26.74 mph on an outdoor track, works out to about 300 watts roughly. I weigh around 160lbs. Best time happened last summer, this summer best I managed was about 25.5 mph for an hour. My messenger business has been getting busier which makes it tough to add any sort of regular training to my riding w/o doing like 5-600 miles a week, I wasnt as busy last summer.

gapowermike

Isn't that a stereotype?

EURO

Eh? the amount of power output your legs put out is not dependant on your riding position. You SPEED is, but not power.


Cool, thanks for the input. What's your best performance on a 20km climb, at an average of 6%?

FYI - an output of 329 watts over just under an hour at my weight is about what you need to keep up with the slower tdf guys on a grand tour climb.

Regarding my power output in comparison to people in the top 1000 in my country - I know the guy at number 200 very well - his power/weight over the course I did in 7 minutes (343 watts) is 6 to my 5.1.

Oh, and the small district of the city I live in has just over a third of the population of Luxembourg.

duane041

I am, because my mom said so.

And I haven't fallen off my bike yet, which must count for something.

bbattle

No Way, ®etro Grouch, worst rider kudos belongs to me. I've only been at this a few months and get passed by women with child carriers. The Knave doesn't even consider me worthy of getting dropped by him. Clydesdales sportin' GMC Denalis sail past me on the way to the coffee shop, and they do it while eating their Krispy Kremes.

The only thing that saves me when I finally get to the coffee shop is my superior team jersey and swank Orbea.

roadrasher

As I sit here at 7.37 am mtn time.In this otherwise empty office I am easily the best cyclist in the room.

'Rasher

bbattle

Euro obviously hasn't been to the American South but the more he posts the more I'm convinced Chipcom's got his number; Euro's not from France but from Newark.

pedex

There's more to it than just speed though, many guys are fast till you put them in a crowd or have them try to do anything besides go in a straight line. Some have crappy or non existent handling skills. Im not real comfortable in a crowd, Id rather ride with cars, they are more predictable. I ride fixed gear most of the time so Im comfortable with that skillset including bunnyhopping a fixed. Downhills and cornering dont phase me at all, but I dont think I will ever be comfortable in a group of squirrely riders.

TheKillerPenguin

Not true. Your legs put out less power when in the drops, but you're more aero so you don't need as much power anyway.


No 20KM climbs around here. My regular training climb is only 2.2 miles, at 7.75%. I can do it in 12 minutes, @ 384W, an avg. of just over 5W/kg. I'm also a US Cat5.

Retro Grouch 

Nope! You're still a newby and might get better. To win worst rider laurels you have to qualify with decades of experience and you ain't got it. You sound like you've got the right equipment and attitude to take a run at it though. I admire that.

EURO

Spending a week in Charlottesville VA on business count?

mirona

I'm pretty much the best road cyclist here.

spinnaker

I would think that someone form Georgia would say "those damn Yankees", if you mentioned Charlottesville.