NinjaCycler

First off, I've never been sponsored and the closest thing to professional I got was riding in the same timezone as professionals.

With that said, I've been thinking about my approach to riding lately. I used to race everything and now I just ride. Even in Central Park when there's runners and bikers (and you can see them racing time) and horses I oddly enough don't feel like I'm on the same road with them anymore. I pay attention to collisions and laws of physics but mentally just enjoy it like when I was a kid and just out my Mach One GT and just rode in raw Arizona desert.

My friend recently yelled at me for riding when it was 90 degrees and a week of heatwave. I admit I was tired but I've just been riding again for three weeks after an eight year hiatus and I tend to go all in pretty quickly. So I thought about it.

The stress to keep up or pass someone is gone but I'm doing it anyways more or less. My timing method is roundabout calculations in increments of five minutes now no longer seconds. I bike roughly 24 miles (mapquest and don't really use it's route) a day in NYC on a commute and it's fun. AND I'm not on a subway frustrated, sweaty, and ill-temperament in a box although it is an amazing mass transit system and I love it in off hours. My commute takes me 40 minutes longer roundtrip than the subway but I see everything above ground. I can't multitask like on the subway but I can concentrate and focus like some type of meditation or get smeared against something yellow and made of metal.

I ride more and enjoy it more. Is this retirement I'm feeling? I don't know if I miss racing but I am upgrading the ride for more sport comfort and performance. Anyways, I don't think I race, I just ride as fast as I can now...

PepeM

You have never raced, have you?

Dan333SP

If we count "racing" as finishing a race, I don't think you have either.

rms13

A racer is someone who actually competes in organized races

bmthom.gis

90 degrees? I would love to have a day that only got to 90 degrees.
I ride. Sometimes fast and aggressively, sometimes just to spin the wheels.

CliffordK

I raced as a midget. But it has been so long ago that they no longer call them midgets anymore. Perhaps a more PC term?

I'm more of a bike commuter than anything, although perhaps a bit of bike touring/recreation mixed in.

I did join Strava, and have had some fun tracking rides, and racing against my times... And even snagging a few top 10 finishes.

However, I have also chosen to speed up my riding a bit. No need to doddle through life. And it takes work to get faster. And the little Strava challenges work (as well as tracking my own training segments).

I will advise caution, especially when "racing" using Strava in populous areas such as NYC. Don't risk yourself or others just to get that KOM.

rms13

Yeah, it's been 90 by 9am most of the summer where I am and we have mountain roads. Cruising through Central Park sounds like a recovery ride

caloso

If you're pinning a number to your jersey and there is a prize for being the first over the line, then you are racing. Anything else is just riding.

RJM

The competition side of cycling has really no interest to me and I just can't get motivated to commit to racing. I shut my strava down too, so I don't even have to care about virtual fake competition.

sevenmag

I just ride. The only thing I race is numbers and they always win.

dougphoto

I raced when I was an undergrad and grad student as a Cat 3, that was like 25 years ago. Now I still do a few time trials every year, for me it's important to have a goal, however the idea of mixing it up in crit and bunch sprint at 46 has little appeal for me. I really wish there where some road races near me not just crits and time trials.

noodle soup

90 is perfect for me. It's 104 in the shade now, and probably 110 when stopped at a major intersection.

Doug28450

PepeM

True, that's why I don't call myself a racer.

Also, it sounds kind of dumb.

PepeM

Reported.

NinjaCycler

I've been in the NYC tri in 2007 and few biathlons if that counts as an organized race which did have a number pinned to me. Never been in any tour though.

Dan333SP

I guess it's like someone who occasionally enters low level kart races calling themselves a race driver in casual conversation. You do make a good point.

alexaschwanden

i am just a rider, a long distance rider that does 50-120 miles a day 7 days a week. i believe exercise is very important and knowing your way around with out needing a GPS.

Homebrew01

I've been a rider & raced a lot over the years, with a variety of years off here & there.

Doge

I started racing my son (I'm stopped racing me as a mediocre Cat 3). It is really kind of how people say they race horses, or soccer parents play their kids. It is just weird for this forum where most post about how they pedal the bike. Not so weird for Belgium parents.

Juniors have a hard time remembering their shoes and helmets so it is required a parent race them. And USAC requires a signature. We (dads) buy the stuff to make them faster. The better my son got the more we traveled, the more rules and equipment I got into and the more extensive and complex it all became. Last few years I became a team assistant travel coordinator, bike builder, recruiter and house watcher (10 teens in a house is not always a good thing). The LUX juniors are a serious team. I have always been a cycling groupie/race watcher/fan.

This spring my son had to decide if cycling was going to become a profession or college and maybe something else, not closing the door on cycling. He was accepted to the USAFA and while an easy decision, also a hard one. So I no longer race bikes.

I do ride 1-2X a week with my wife. Just racing ourselves is not interesting to me - she may start again.

Doctor Morbius

I'm just a rider, but I love to drope the hamar on some unsuspecting lackey in front of me. It feels like victory!

Corbin

I like to watch all the races but couldn't care less about actually competing or who wins what. I ride for fun, for fitness, for freedom. Ankle socks FTW! I do push myself to get faster though.

That's only if you make it that. I got on for record keeping. It's nice to see how I rank around here but no KOMs yet and I don't care. As someone else once said: "If it wasn't for Stava I'd still think I was fast".

No doubt. 90°f Is the perfect temp down here. Anywhere 80-100 is pretty good. I quickly found this year I don't like going out above 100.

silversx80

I ride mostly. Sometimes I try to ride fast to steal a KOM on Strava. I've also tried my hand in organized races and that has provided me the most fun time on a bike (but also the most stressful). I'm always looking for the next race, and always looking forward to the next ride.

Machka 

I am currently a rider ... a long-distance rider. A randonneur!

But I used to race in actual organised competitions. I raced for 3 years in Manitoba, and a few years later I did a 24-hour time trial in 2005 and again in 2006.


Sometimes I think I'd like to get back into Time Trialling ... short and long distances.

FeltF2Tarmac

I am a rider, a spirited rider but the only competition is me against myself. I like to ride hard and I like to push myself. I would have enjoyed racing when I was younger but it was not in the cards back then. I am hoping to nudge my daughter in that direction but I want to teach and provide her with an activity that she will enjoy for a life time as well. I know cycling can be a lot of things for people and the aspect of freedom is one part of it I would hate to see lost from pushing and being over bearing.
I am at a point in my life that any time on the bike is priceless and keeping time open for it can be challenging at times. My only goals are to ride Haleakka at 50 and again after I retire. Would love to say I would ride it at 100 but that could be a pipe dream.