shovelhd

Picked up a second set of race wheels today. The 606's are wicked fast and fairly light but I wanted something lighter for road racing and shallower for windy days. I found a set of 2014 HED Stinger 3's with six miles on them. Turns out the guy is a UHC pro and a national pro crit champion.

rideaz

Good luck!!!

furiousferret

I take that drive about 3-5 times a year, did the coastal thing once, usually just go the 5 now since its so much faster. The other thing you can consider is taking the 15 up to the 395, then go on the 55 through the Techapi, into Bakersfield and up the 5. That's longer but it avoids the rush hour on the 210 in Pasadena.

Good luck to all on the TT. Including @ovoleg who I saw on the start list. The man is back.

big john

Isn't road rage wonderful? Been a while since I've had my life threatened by some cretin in a car. Once, a friend of mine, Viet Nam vet, lots of head injuries, chased an a-hole in a pick-up through traffic and the a-hole freaked out and almost ran over some kids in a crosswalk trying to flee the area.

harolddelaney

​Say you are a 30 something year old fellow racing at the Cat 1 or 2 level. Your glory days are a thing of the past. No matter how many intervals you do, you'll never get any better than you are and you'll always finish mid-pack. You put in 20 hours a week to finish in 53rd place. Do you keep at it or move on to other things in life?

Ygduf

wat. that false dichotomy tho...

race masters or roll dice in crits/flat road races

mattm

on the one hand, that's partually why masters racing is a thing. (I think)

however, it could be that you still have potential and just need to try new tactics/approaches.

himespau 

Everyone else is doing it and not getting in trouble, so you talk to the doctor about getting a low T diagno...Oh wait, I thought this was the ethics thread.

caloso

For some of us, this is the other thing in life we moved on to.

gsteinb

there's no reason one can't be competitive into their 40s.

carpediemracing 

You in it to win (or crush others, other similar genres)? Then do Masters or move on. You in it because bike racing? Should be enough to keep you in the game just doing the same.

Masters are pretty hard though, at least in the M35-M40, you're skimming off the top of the P12s. At M45 I noticed that when the top top guys aren't there it's manageable for someone like me (so someone placing in a P12 race would be a top finisher). M35, not manageable. M40 can go either way. One of the members here I count as a top top guy locally.

I knew one Cat 1 who pretty much hated the actual cycling part of bike racing, said he'd never ride again after he stopped being a pro. He wanted to crush people on the bike. He quit riding after his short (low level) pro career, by then he'd been racing maybe 7-8 years. I don't live near him or keep in touch with him but a friend of mine that knew him on/off the bike said that after he stopped racing he literally didn't ride a bike for years. They eventually lost touch as my friend is a lifer cyclist and they knew each other because bikes.

I overheard an interesting conversation between a former top level US Euro pro and some of his lessor peers (before a benefit ride that the Euro pro came to support, so it was 5-6 guys just BS'ing while the small group ride was getting ready). Someone (another ex-pro, currently an TV commentator) asked him off the record if he got back into the pro career (the Euro pro "retired" a year or two before) for the money or for the racing. The Euro based guy admitted that he got back into it for the money, he'd rather not be riding as much but the money was good. I was floored at that answer, I realized he must make more than the $40-50k for a lower level good rider. The only place I'd seen the Euro guy before was on TV, and I read that he was making in the low 6 figures as a pro. Again, it was a shock for me to hear this guy talk about cycling as a hated thing. Just in it for the money.

If I raced to win I'd have quit 30-odd years ago. I race because it's immensely rewarding when I can do okay with my admittedly limited physiological resources.

bmcphx

The purpose of competition is to win, right? But some of us can't win so what's our purpose? For me it's fun to get to know the guys I'm racing with and make friendships.

I've only raced for two years (three of I get to race at all this year) but I quickly found that to win you have to have a perfect day for an average racer. I realized after seeing the bottom two steps of the podium a few times, but never the top, that I maybe won't win. It's ok, racing is still fun.

shovelhd

Define glory days.
20 hours of junk training is still junk training.
What drives you? Winning? Success? Being competitive? Enjoyment?

The first thing you have to ask yourself is why you are racing. Those answers will form your options. If you want to race to at least be competitive, then you need to closely examine your training routine.

My racing age is 58 and I still race P/1/2/(3) races. 53rd place is fine with me, although I often top 20 and I might even grab a prime. For that field, that defines success, defines what I consider competitive, for me. Not so when I race Masters. M40+ is different than M45+ which is different than M50+ which is very different than M55+. In your case, in your 30's, you might consider a downgrade to Cat3. M30+ and M35+ races aren't that common around here, so you should enter fields where you can be competitive. If you get all your points back, then that's a different problem, but a good problem to have.

Good luck.

TMonk

Good luck mattm! Where we the elephant seals? Near Hearst Castle?

Good luck on the race.

Grumpy McTrumpy

something fishy about this

bmcphx

Today I decided that bikes make a lot of poor situations feel like good situation.

mattm

Yeah right near that at piedras blancas.

hundreds of em just lying around and barking/etc like a nat geo special.

aaronmcd

So I see people online speak of tipping the shop mechanic, and I always thought that was a little (a lot) weird. But now my bike is in the busy shop for a rush fix before closing so I can race it tomorrow, and I'm wondering if a tip might not be all that weird...

mike868y

bike mechanics love 6 packs.

revchuck 

Most of the ones I know are too fat to have a six pack.

Ygduf

yeah, but if you let them touch yours...

Ygduf

@tetonrider said hello to me today. we sat at the back of the pack together for the first couple laps.

revchuck 

Good one!

furiousferret

Planning to go out and watch the SDSR tomorrow, outside of the Tour of California and Redlands Classic (where I can throw a rock from my front yard into the peleton) this'll be the first race I'll actually drive out to watch. Might take my nephew, although he just keeps asking when a crash is going to happen.

harolddelaney

i know a few of you scoffed at my question from earlier, but the legit answers were mighty eye-opening. thank you.